What's Up with San Angelo's Economy and New Businesses?

San Angelo is fluid?
There's plenty of fluid associated with the closing of locate businesses.
TEARS have only begun to fall from staff, out of work, displaced clients and their families as well as the unmet future needs of this city In regard to the closure of the only ADULT DAY CARE in this 13 county area. San Angelo has NOT EVEN begun to miss this facility yet!

All businesses, not just restaurants, depend on people with money. Oil money has always been feast or famine and may return in the future. But a solid economy for San Angelo should not depend solely on oil.

One of the major drawbacks to creating new businesses in San Angelo in a word is transportation. The absence of a direct connection to the interstate system is a concern for many companies and limits their desire to locate here. Rail transportation is limited. Air service is currently limited to Dallas although rumors remain of a connection in the future to Houston. The ability to move products in a rapid manner is a deterrent. Having interstate connections, part of the Ports-to-Plains discussion, would improve things tremendously. Your comment (9/14) against having an interstate does not recognize there is already a "drug corridor" running up US 87 and US 277. Drug cartels are not concerned with the absence of an interstate. With an interstate San Angelo would have more to offer any business desiring to relocate. Not only does limited transportation cause concern for businesses, but also, it leads to loss of workers as people with skills move to other cities.

It took around 30 years, start to finish, to get Loop 306. It would be nice if an interstate happens in much less time.

This town has seemingly RUN away from keeping Middle Class jobs or make any viable effort to introduce, encorage or entice that level of industry into our willing and able community. However, welcoming the establishment of what now totals FIVE walmart stores paying a bit more than minimum wage though never employing a single soul in a full time position somehow is a good frigging idea!!?? Where is the introduction of skilled labor employment without the misguided premonition that a formal education is required?? San Angelo needs jobs with sustainable income and real benefits while providing an environment that encourages continued personal improvement. These petty minimum wage retailers will never provide that much needed opportunity. So, who do we Really have?? Frontier communications?? Ethicon?? Let's get real, having a formal education doesn't give you the work ethic or real life knowledge needed to make these companies successful. It's a bit cliché, but if you BUILD IT, they will COME! There are many highly ethical and morally correct potential employees in this town who can and have delivered high level results in corporate environments and have NO formal education. It's long since been time for a San Angelo to pull its proverbial Head out of its backside and bring what the people need! THEN, your beloved retailers will come in, be successful and hmm, STAY!!

When i was in elementary school a long long time ago , one of my old time teachers , took me aside and told me some things about the future . She asked me about a question i had posed in the classroom . I had asked if every one goes to college , who will do the dirty jobs ? She explained that not every one would become college educated , that some would learn trades or go to vocational school . Others she said , would find menial employment , and somehow survive . The future she said , belongs to those who can adapt to the ever changing times . How right she was , those time continue to change . Gone are the jobs that payed well but required little training or education . Those jobs will never come back . Instead of whining and complaining about the situation we are in , people need to try and do something about it . You can point the finger of blame until it falls off , that is fine . Instead people need to understand that formal or informal training are the way of the future . San Angelo needs to have a well trained work force to attract new modern business . There is a great lack of vocational training in this city , older people need to be trained to meet the demands of the future . If you go to the local workforce commission and ask about training , they will laugh you out of the building , because there are no programs available in San Angelo . Not every one wants to be a truck driver . I think that is the only vocational training they offer . San Angelo is still the same way it was sixty years ago . At that time a large company came to San Angelo to check things out for a new company that would employ many people . They did a survey and concluded that most of the people in town were unskilled Texans in blue jeans . Need i say more .

That's what San Angelo is and that's what people in charge want it to remain as. They want a zillion places to eat or shop but don't want any industry to follow because look at what the crime rate did when the oil boom hit.

I feel bad for young people in this town working two and three jobs just to make ends meet.