TESLA

[Tulsafanzz]

What’s your opinion on Tulsa’s all out efforts to have Tesla build a factory here?

My opinion: I consider it a win for Tulsa to be one of 2 finalists. I think Austin will eventually get it & our lobbying may be a little over the top, but I really like the enthusiasm of our state & local efforts. This has given us more publicity than we have had in quite a while.

As a 60 yr old, this is something I haven’t seen in many years. In the late 70s - early 80s, one of the most popular bumper stickers you’d see around town was “I ❤️ Tulsa”. There was tremendous civic pride. OKC friends were jealous of Tulsa. The oil bust, lack of vision mayors ( like dumbass Mayor Terry Young killing a proposed Oklahoma Dome) & a stagnant economy, changed our city for the worse. Over the next decade, OKC woke up & became more Tulsa than Tulsa.

If nothing else, I hope this effort helps build a new era of civic pride in Tulsa. The BOK Center,The Gathering Place & the future revitalization plans for the river are part of a new beginning. Getting some big economic news could really get Tulsa pride going again.

 

[Gmoney4WW]

I think we may have really become lucky to have profited from the lack of covid spread in Oklahoma, and we should pull out all the stops for getting this to happen. If we get it, we will profit for years to come, and possibly bring in more industry if the Tesla thing works for profitability for Tesla. Could be a model for other industries/companies.

 

[Tulsafanzz]

If we get Tesla, there is no question we will get more, related companies/jobs. A factory that employs 10,000 workers will create 20-30,000 more jobs related to the factory. It would be game changing for Tulsa.

 

[Gmoney4WW]

If we get Tesla, there is no question we will get more, related companies/jobs. A factory that employs 10,000 workers will create 20-30,000 more jobs related to the factory. It would be game changing for Tulsa.

That's job's related which is cool. What I'm talking about is a new unrelated company coming in here, which would bring even more jobs.

 

[HuffyCane]

Tulsa is getting jobbed all right. Jobbed by the lobbying and PR people that do things like that circus yesterday at the Golden Driller.

Jobbed by Tesla and any consulting firm that uses desperate communities like Tulsa to low ball towns like Austin into better tax breaks and incentives.

Zero chance that Tesla comes to Tulsa. Zero. I’m not an economist but those that are always advise moving industries like these into areas where many different companies are closely located to leverage human capital. Detroit, Silicon Valley, the military industrial complex of NVa, etc. Tulsa neither makes cars or the technology behind them. No other automaker is looking at them. The taxing and education systems have systemic issues going back a century. The education system is bust. It’s location is remote from the state’s flagship university. People making billion dollars decisions look at hard numbers. It will be Austin or they will simply say we aren’t leaving at all after all.

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if there is no intention to move and Texas and Oklahoma were thrown out as possible destinations because they knew that would embarrass California the most.

 

[bluegold70]

In Texas we have TSTC (Texas State Technical College) and they have campuses all over the state. When I taught at Red Oak, we donated part of the land on our new high school campus to TSTC so they could build an extension in the Dallas area and they accepted. The TSTC campus in Red Oak and the one in Waco already offer classes in Tesla repairs and it is being set up by Tesla. That may also have a lot to do with the decision to move the plant. Maybe TCC should look into something like this. With that being said, I still hope they move to Tulsa. Austin has enough.

I'm also pretty sure the state of Texas will offer them no taxes for a certain number of years to get them to move. That's one of their favorite tactics.

 

[TU Sepp]

I was not aware that Tesla was moving their plant. The original plant is staying in CA, the plant they are talking about is a new plant that will build trucks. Tulsa has a better geographic location for transportation when it comes to Interstate access and with the port we have a direct link to the Gulf. Austin geographically does not compare to Tulsa. Both cities have their pluses and minuses, it just comes down to which pluses Tesla values the most.

 

[Li'l Eric Coley]

Alls I know is that Elon Musk dood is crazier than a house rat.

 

[Tulsafanzz]

I was not aware that Tesla was moving their plant. The original plant is staying in CA, the plant they are talking about is a new plant that will build trucks. Tulsa has a better geographic location for transportation when it comes to Interstate access and with the port we have a direct link to the Gulf. Austin geographically does not compare to Tulsa. Both cities have their pluses and minuses, it just comes down to which pluses Tesla values the most.

To reiterate Sepp’s point, Tulsa & Austin are competing for a new Tesla plant, not for a relocation of the current Tesla plant in Fremont, California.

However, Musk has been unhappy with California politics and has threatened to potentially move Tesla headquarters and the Fremont factory out of California. Even if Austin does get this new factory, I could see Tulsa getting some type of Tesla facility in the future.

I am very glad our mayor and our governor have reached out and made efforts to get Tesla. It’s a risk to look foolish if you fail, & it can be more politically expedient to not stick your neck out. But you’ll never succeed if you don’t get off the couch & take a chance.

 

[TU 1978]

Here’s my prediction - because I have family and friends in Austin.

Austin gets the Tesla HQ.
Tulsa gets the truck manufacturing.

Austin is overrated when it comes to quality of life, because of the continual pain in the ass in just getting around town. Californians may be used to that sort of crap, so the HQ may not be a problem. Austin is not keen on having a truck manufacturer there - too low brow for them. They’d rather have an Apple, IBM, or Dell.

 

[nevadanatural]

It’s all about the benjamins. Tesla was shopping around for a place to put their “gigafactory” to make batteries and Reno was in the mix with Texas and some other places. Reno ended up getting the factory for a few reasons, we’re about 2 hours from their California assembly plant, Northern Nevada has a lithium mining and refining industry and Nevada basically let them slide on taxes for a number of years. I’m pretty sure it was the last point that made the difference.

It has been a big boon to the state as a whole and Reno in particular though. Besides the jobs it provided a number of other tech companies have moved to the area including an Apple cloud center, Switch Data, and a number of drone companies. If you end up having packages delivered by drone some day it will be partly because of data developed from drone studies the DOT has conducted in downtown Reno.

Don’t assume Tulsa won’t get it because it’s little old Tulsa vs Austin but the state and local governments will need to pony up to get Musk in the state.

 

[Tulsafanzz]

It’s all about the benjamins. Tesla was shopping around for a place to put their “gigafactory” to make batteries and Reno was in the mix with Texas and some other places. Reno ended up getting the factory for a few reasons, we’re about 2 hours from their California assembly plant, Northern Nevada has a lithium mining and refining industry and Nevada basically let them slide on taxes for a number of years. I’m pretty sure it was the last point that made the difference.

It has been a big boon to the state as a whole and Reno in particular though. Besides the jobs it provided a number of other tech companies have moved to the area including an Apple cloud center, Switch Data, and a number of drone companies. If you end up having packages delivered by drone some day it will be partly because of data developed from drone studies the DOT has conducted in downtown Reno.

Don’t assume Tulsa won’t get it because it’s little old Tulsa vs Austin but the state and local governments will need to pony up to get Musk in the state.

I agree with Nevada’s last statement. BTW, from what I hear, Tulsa’s putting up a good fight.

 

[HuffyCane]

FWIW, if you dig around, you’ll see chatter that Oklahoma is only one of a few states that prohibit Tesla dealerships by law. Factory owners must sell and deliver their cars to dealers who sell them to consumers. Tesla rejects this model. You buy it online or from company owned brick and mortar.

Tulsa is less than competitive in a lot of economic development because of antiquated laws like this one.

It’s hard to believe he would make a long term investment worth billions of dollars over time in a state that won’t sell his cars.

I’d bet in Vegas he is dangling this opportunity to force a statute change, then selects another state.

 

[drboobay]

I understand this statute is relatively recent in Ok.

 

[GoldenCaneKC]

According to a twitter account that supposedly tracks Elon Musk’s/Space X’s private jet, it made a stop in Tulsa today. Take that for what you will...
https://mobile.twitter.com/elonjet

 

[TUMU]

This was expected to happen, according to Tulsa World a few days ago

 

[GoldenCaneKC]

Rendering of the potential plant and some interviews with community business leaders involved in recruiting Tesla. https://www.newson6.com/story/5f03a...tential-proposal-for-tulsa-tesla-gigafactory-

 

[HuffyCane]

Went to Austin. Statement by Musk flatters Tulsa. Which is nice. But also suggests implicitly that they never were giving Tulsa serious thought until well into the selection process. He wanted to be in Austin all along and the knowledge and labor base but also the attractiveness of the city to those he would have to recruit there looks like the major reasons. Oklahoma needs to move its politics back towards the center if it wants tech investment. Plain and simple. Musk doesn’t care but he doesn’t want to pay people extra to attract and retain them to his operations.

 

[Gmoney4WW]

Went to Austin. Statement by Musk flatters Tulsa. Which is nice. But also suggests implicitly that they never were giving Tulsa serious thought until well into the selection process. He wanted to be in Austin all along and the knowledge and labor base but also the attractiveness of the city to those he would have to recruit there looks like the major reasons. Oklahoma needs to move its politics back towards the center if it wants tech investment. Plain and simple. Musk doesn’t care but he doesn’t want to pay people extra to attract and retain them to his operations.

Disappointing, but expected.

 

[TU 1978]

And of course there’s this idiot taking credit - as usual.

https://tulsaworld.com/news/trump-s...cle_629e28d9-edaa-58e3-888d-ec6fd1501576.html

 

[HuffyCane]

Oklahoma really really needs tax reform.

 

[Gold*]

Oklahoma really really needs tax reform.

I disagree with you on a lot of issues, but you are right here. The small counties have manipulated the system for generations. The best example of this is midtown real estate: people pay obscene money to live in TPS and have a 20 minute shorter commute. Tulsa County raises the taxes every year. Pttisburg and Comanche Counties have worse schools, but no real estate speculation, and the taxes never go up.

The state needs to let the counties be free to do what they need to do. If you live in the pandhandle and want to pay elementary schoool teachers $26,000, sure, do that. Tulsa and OKC can pay $60,000 to keep good teachers.

 

[Li'l Eric Coley]

Oh dear, don't get me started on property taxes lol.

 

[GoldenCaneKC]

It’s no Tesla plant, but glad to hear the Milo’s production facility is getting up and running! 110 jobs and a $60M capital investment is nothing but good for Tulsa. Got to celebrate the wins and not just mourn the losses!

Alabama Tea Company Milo's Expands Production To Oklahoma

A new business is bringing more than 100 jobs to Tulsa County and it officially opens on Tuesday in Owasso. Milo's is the biggest seller of brewed sweet tea in the nation, and you've likely seen those gallon jugs of tea in the grocery store.

www.newson6.com

 

[GoldenCaneKC]

Also, since all of you reading this are message board type people, here’s a forum focused on all things Tulsa (the local business development board is by far the most active).

The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow - Index

The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow - Index

www.tulsanow.org

 

[Chris Harmon]

What's with the TESLA building at 61st and 129th in BA? Is it an office...dealership?

 

[Gmoney4WW]

What's with the TESLA building at 61st and 129th in BA? Is it an office...dealership?

Maybe this?

 

[drboobay]

Yes I saw that, a service center. Plus they also said a showroom was in the works around downtown.