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End of the Line
GM guaranteed the people of Janesville, Wisconsin, a good wage for a hard job. Those were the days.
For a related photo essay by Danny Wilcox Frazier, click here.
DRIVING THROUGH JANESVILLE, WISCONSIN, IN A DOWNPOUR, looking past the wipers and through windows fogged up with cigarette smoke, Main Street appears to be melting away. The rain falls hard and makes a lonesome going-away sound like a river sucking downstream. And the old hotel, without a single light, tells you that the best days around here are gone. I always smoke when I go to funerals. I work in Detroit. And when I look out the windshield or into people's eyes here, I see a little Detroit in the making.
A sleepy place of 60,483 souls—if the welcome sign on the east side of town is still to be believed—Janesville lies off Interstate 90 between the electric lights of Chicago and the sedate streets of Madison. It is one of those Middle-Western places that outsiders pay no mind. It is where the farm meets the factory, where the soil collides with the smokestack. Except the last GM truck rolled off the line December 23, 2008. Merry Christmas Janesville. Happy New Year.
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The Janesville Assembly Plant was everything here, they say. It was a birthright. It was a job for life and it was that way for four generations. This was one of General Motors' oldest factories—opened in 1919. This was one of its biggest—almost 5 million square feet. Nobody in town dared drive anything but a Chevy or a GMC. Back then GM was the largest industrial corporation in the world, the largest carmaker, the very symbol of American power. Ike's man at the Pentagon—a former GM exec himself—famously said, "What was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa." Kennedy, Johnson, Obama, they all campaigned here. People here can tell you of their grandparents who came from places like Norway and Poland and Alabama to build tractors and even ammunition during the Big War. Then came the Impalas and the Camaros. In the end they were cranking out big machines like the Suburban and the Tahoe, those high-strung, gas-guzzling hounds of the American Good Times.
Today, some $50 billion in bailouts later, GM is on life support and there is a sinking feeling that the country is going down with it. Those grandchildren are considering moving to Texas or Tennessee or Vegas. Who is to blame? Detroit? Wall Street? Management? Labor? NAFTA? Does it matter? Come to Janesville and see what we've thrown away.
For years, the people here heard rumors that the plant was on its way out. But no one ever believed it, really. Something always came along to save it. Gas prices went down or cheap Chinese money floated in. Janesville was too big to ignore. Too big to close.
And then they closed it.
The local UAW union hall is quiet now. A photograph from a 1925 company picnic hangs there. The whole town is assembled near the factory, the women in petticoats, the children in patent leather, the men in woolen bowlers. The caption reads, "Were you there Charlie?"
Todd Brien's name still hangs in the wall cabinet—Recording Secretary, it reads. But that is just a leftover like a coin in a cushion. Brien, 41, moved to Arlington, Texas, to take a temp job in a GM plant down there in April. He left his family up here. He is one of the lucky ones. Most of the other 2,700 still employed after rounds of downsizing had no factory to go to. But now, what with the bankruptcy of GM, he's temporarily laid off from Texas, and back in Janesville to gather his family and head south.
Janesville Assembly was one of General Motors' oldest plants, employing 4,000 people at its height, turning out classic Chevy and GMC vehicles. In December, the last GM truck rolled off the line.
"It was always in the back of my mind around here...They can take it away," Brien says. "Well, they did. Now what? Can't sell my house. Main Street's boarding up. The kids around here are getting into drugs. You wonder when's the last train leaving this station? I just never believed it was going to happen." Today, freight trains leaving from Janesville's loading docks take auctioned bits and pieces of the plant to faraway places: welding robots, milling machines, chop saws, drill presses, pipe threaders, drafting tables, salt and pepper shakers.
Janesville is still a nice place. They still cut the grass along the riverbank. The churches are still full on Sunday. The farmers still get up before dawn. But there are the little telltale signs, the details, the darkening clouds.
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Comments
GM et. al. did it to themselves
Submitted by GarySeven on Sun Sep. 6, 2009 7:16 PM PDT.
You can't get blood from a turnip, and you can't get loan payments out of people that are long past broke, either. GM became a bank that also built cars, they are/were a global concern, an expensive one, with assembly plants and parts suppliers in more than one country, probably with a fiendish overhead, and reliance on engines and models that did not achieve good fuel mileage. When the price of gasoline went to $4, people couldn't afford to continue shopping, and businesses went out of business, the people that worked in those businesses lost their jobs, people quit taking car loans, and as a result GM and other automakers started drowning in red ink. Then, right before they went down for the 3rd time, the government threw them a life raft, so there's still a company called GM in the US, but they've had to downsize to stay open, and may have to downsize more yet.
One of the things that's plagued the US auto industry has been unions, another their utility costs, yet another the increasing reliance on taxes generated by their company from payroll to sales taxes, and finally, just like an overloaded and overheated transmission or engine on a hot summer's day on a 10-mile uphill grade, their business model started shedding parts and left a nice red trail over to the breakdown lane, and had to sort of call Uncle Sam AAA.
High executive pay, lots of bonds and stuff, branching out into real estate, all that peanuty goodness, an overleveraged corporate model that finally could no longer sustain all the demands being placed on it, and it went broke. Hats off, last respects, GM is dead, long live GM. Maybe in the midst of all this high-dollar economic geopolitics, someone will remember where they left their tools and go back into the business of fixing and building cars, which is what GM does/did best, and what they should stick with in the future. Go for what you know, and leave the rest of that stuff on the stock pages alone. People need low-cost, easy-to-maintain, reliable transportation, that gets decent fuel mileage, and doesn't require a mechanic with a master's degree and a 5k insulated counter-rotating screwdriver, flown in overnight from Munich to change the fuse for the light in the heated vibrating tandem cupholders. If GM strips all the overhead and sophistry out of their corporate model, can they do that? If not, some other car company will...
Klaatu marachas necktie
Why are you blaming unions?
Submitted by justinhubbard (not verified) on Mon Sep. 7, 2009 4:48 PM PDT.
How exactly have unions destroyed the car industry? Do you see the companies producing cars in Europe going under? They are certainly organized, yet are not failing.
This whole lie that 'unions' are to blame has come from what, Fox News? Where are your statistics to cite that unions actually had anything to do with the companies faltering? When the pay for labor for each auto produced amounts to between eight and eleven percent. Had you read this article, you would also realize that these factory workers described certainly weren't making the extravagant figures that Fox News purports, "$71 to push a broom".
If you can actually substantiate how unions have destroyed the auto industry, then get at me. If not, stop propagating this lie.
it's called a bicycle
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Nov. 18, 2009 7:31 AM PST.
In resposne to a few posts I've read: We all did it to ourselves, friends. I'll take some blame! (When I was 16 years old my dream car was a big Jeep, or better yet, a Huge Hummer). I highly doubt you all are free of blame!? Take a look in the mirror and try to do your part to make society (and this fantasy we call the economy) better. Pointing fingers doesn't help! -- I'll toot my own horn here in an effort to make my point. In the past three and a half years I've put nearly 6,000 miles on my bicycle (an american made schwinn, yes, one of the last homegrown schwinns, made 2001) commuting to work and getting aound town. In that same time I've driven fewer than 1,500 in my car (a 2000 Ford Contour). I could do better. I could do more, but heck, I'm trying "to be the change" I want to see in the world . . . Pointing fingers at unions (or even the automakers -- they were just pleasing the American consumer) doesn't do any good. A bike ride is a beautiful a thing -- many comments here remind me of the senseless fits of road rage I laugh at while passing all the cars on my way to work. Go get some fresh air, some exercise, and enjoy a nice bike ride. Try it for six months and then post again.
My dad went to work for
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon Sep. 7, 2009 5:04 PM PDT.
My dad went to work for Janesville Products, a supplier to GM, in 1974. We moved to Janesville when I was 5. I went to elementary school in Janesville, and remember the 70s there well. Janesville was always busy. There was always something to do and something going on. It was a bit like Mayberry - we rode our bikes to the park and to school, we went sledding on the huge hill behind the Janesville Mall, we saw the fireworks on the Rock River at the 4th of July, we went to church and then to The Left Guard for brunch afterwards, we took the bus downtown to the library. It sounds like a series of cliches, but it really wasn't.
Looking at the photos and reading the article, the Janesville I remember seems a lot further back in the past than 30+ years ago.
I am still grateful for the childhood I had there, and I hope that the kids who are there now - the kids walking the halls of Jefferson Elementary, as well as all of the other schools in Janesville - somehow get a chance to have a cliched childhood too.
I lived in a city where a
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon Sep. 7, 2009 5:53 PM PDT.
I lived in a city where a steel mill cosed in the late 60's.The loss was immense and the fabric of the city was shaken. Various attempts by governments were made to attract a replacement industry. Grandiose schemes were announced and reannounced particularily just before elections.
This situation continued for 20 years. The city and region depopulated and civil society took a hit.
Things turned around in the early 90's where new small business grew, education
backed by government and tax incentives were introduced. The area has rebounded and has a new vitality.
General Motors should be forgotten but nor forgiven just as the steel company in my
city as they broke a living bond.
what the last guy said is a
Submitted by Mike Kuze (not verified) on Wed Sep. 9, 2009 7:48 AM PDT.
what the last guy said is a bunch of crap and ......oh I cant arabic or whatever scrible that is. Write in ENGLISH please.
Post has been deleted
Submitted by Clara Jeffery on Wed Sep. 9, 2009 11:29 AM PDT.
Some kind of spam. thanks
I meant to say I can't read
Submitted by Mike Kuze (not verified) on Wed Sep. 9, 2009 7:54 AM PDT.
I meant to say I can't read arabic, sorry! Great article and the state of the middle class is in flux. I hope we can all hold on.....
Priorities?
Submitted by Old Grady on Wed Sep. 9, 2009 2:44 PM PDT.
It seems to me that GM's top priority should have been making profits. However, it should have never been at the expense of destroying their own golden goose. Looking at the cost of an automobile today as opposed to when I was a kid (50's and 60's) it strikes me as something that was inconceivable at the time. But, unions want higher wages (and to feed the corrupt machine that gives them their strength), GM and others want higher profits, understandably (that's why they're in business). Oil and utility companies want more money (the cost of which is passed on to GM and others like them). Ultimately, it's the consumer who will pay. I don't know where it can stop, but I can't imagine that the government is the place we should look to for answers. If you pick the fruit of a tree it can sustain you -- but you MUST care for it. If you take the leaves and limbs, start chopping away at the roots, you will probably kill the tree. R.I.P. USA, my heart is broken at the loss of you.
Having marched in the Children's Crusade in 1963 at age 11, and having had crosses burned in our yard because of our families associations with "coloreds", having our home shot up (no one injured, thank you), I've seen the changes that my country has gone through.
Looking around at today's youth, the attitudes of our legislators, and the divisiveness in our country today whether it be Democrat/Republican, or Black/White, or Gay/Straight, or you pick your conflict -- I speak only for myself, but I don't think when we were marching that this is The Dream we had in mind.
It Strikes Me As Inconceivable That...
Submitted by justinhubbard (not verified) on Wed Sep. 9, 2009 10:38 PM PDT.
You don't understand that companies always want higher profits! Unions want more money because they have been forced since the 1960's to be part of speed ups, in order to extract even more surplus value from the workers. Remember, unions, as organizations of workers, are consumers, too! Imagine that! Is it all that inconceivable that workers shouldn't demand more control and profit from their own labor? Mr. Bossman certainly gets his, and he raises his prices when the union comes a knockin' for what belongs to them.
Was the US really ever the dream that people remember it to be? What I am attempting to point out is that America was never free for people on the bottom. Of course, folks on the bottom try to define themselves and make a life of their own, but out of choices that have been predetermined for them. By who? Certainly not the folks on the bottom.
"...surplus value from the
Submitted by Old Grady on Thu Sep. 10, 2009 8:04 AM PDT.
"...surplus value from the workers." "...when the union comes a knockin' for what belongs to them." Somebody's deluded. Unions are not partners with companies--they are labor force and nothing "belongs to them" except the wage and benefits that they agreed to work for in the first place.
I'm quite sure that there is a union job out there that I could do better and more efficiently than the union guy who does it. And I'd be happy to do it for a lot less than the exorbitant union wage that he's being paid because that's what it's worth.
Unions served a wonderful purpose once upon a time, but that was before minimum wage, OSHA, worker's comp, etc. Now it's not so much collective bargaining as it is collective extortion.
Imagine that you start a company of your own, you build it up at great expense and effort, you hire someone, an employee, to work for you because you want your company to grow. You want to make more money because that's why you started your business in the first place, and you need some hired help to make it happen.
You live up to your agreement with your employee, you pay him the agreed upon wage, but then he realizes that your boat is bigger than his. So, in the name of fairness, he blocks your door and says that you can't do business unless you give him a bigger piece of the pie. Oh, and, he says you can't hire some scab to replace him either. Oh, and a liberal government backs him up.
So, you increase the price of your product to meet his demands. Oh, crap, the consumer won't pay the increased price of your product, you've priced it beyond what the market will bear. Does the government now owe you a bailout?
Please, consider the reality of this scenario, look at it from both sides before passing judgement from a limited perspective.
Flame On!
You do realize that the man you marched for...
Submitted by justinhubbard on Thu Sep. 10, 2009 12:04 PM PDT.
died while supporting UNION members? Considering that what, maybe 13% of American workers have unions, the decision to demand more money is generally a new thing. What are exorbitant union wages? When the price of goods increases, people need more money. Unions don't make the call as to who raises the price of goods they produce. When the labor for a UAW produced car is between eight and eleven percent of the total value of the car, that doesn't even approach HALF! I apologize that folks have to live.
I guess you support the same parasites who have destroyed this country, that subjugate whole communities of color.
There is so much wrong with your statement, as it is mostly fluff in the context of an abstract statement. I'll start:
'I'm quite sure that there is a union job out there that I could do better and more efficiently than the union guy who does it. And I'd be happy to do it for a lot less than the exorbitant union wage that he's being paid because that's what it's worth.
Unions served a wonderful purpose once upon a time, but that was before minimum wage, OSHA, worker's comp, etc. Now it's not so much collective bargaining as it is collective extortion.'--Well, I'm sure there are non-union jobs that can be done in the same manner. Also, I'd like some statistics rather than just pie-in-the-sky fantasies...'i'm quite sure there is a union job...' In the case of the UAW, the increasing moronization of the workplace has been due to automation and the atomization of labor in order to do what? Oh, extract more surplus value. Did the UAW ask for that? In fact, it was the opposite. Yes, things like minimum wage, OSHA, workman's comp ex cetera have been achieved, but those are only beginnings. Minimum wage is no where near a living wage. OSHA is rarely enforced. Look to the incidents that have occurred at auto production facilities throughout the years; 'Detroit: I Do Mind Dying' provides more than a few examples. Workman's Comp: ha! If companies like Wal-Mart didn't get over on workers for it all the time, then I'd believe you. Or even FMLA: there are loopholes, such as unpaid leave that ensure workers may not be able to pay for care in the event that they must leave.
If you indeed marched against the jailing of Dr. King, you would recognize that employers only paying people what they are 'worth,' that's how employers have been able to keep Blacks in such subjugated positions. So, do you support Dr. King's ideals, or are you just one of the folks stepping on the backs of your forefathers?
Corporations are not people
Submitted by Trippp on Thu Sep. 10, 2009 4:05 PM PDT.
Old Grady,
You are presenting an argument which rests on the idea the corporations are people, and which says that we must look at things as if what happens to a corporation is the same as what happens to a person.
Your "imagine if you owned a business" story was compelling but it has nothing to do with how corporations work at this time.
The sad fact is that corporations are artificially created legal entities which may, in some ways, have some of the characteristics of a normal person. Even so, for the most part corporations are amoral and fanatical about their sole purpose which is to make a profit. Corporations lack any of the normal traits people are capable of having such as mercy and judgment and wisdom and compassion.
You are attempting to reason by using a very flawed analogy and it is distorting your conclusions.
Corporations should be treated like people
Submitted by Old Grady on Thu Sep. 10, 2009 5:22 PM PDT.
Does this mean that we now have the right to demand mercy, judgement, wisdom and compassion from a real person? Should we honestly expect it? I, as an individual, may offer those qualities to my fellow man (which I honestly try to do), but no one, whether corporation or individual, can or should be compelled by law to extend them. That would be like telling me I have to be a Muslim, or a Catholic or a Jew in order to embrace another's moral imperatives.
No sir, those are qualities that we would LIKE to see in business, but it's not likely to happen.
Today we are a hungry nation. Everybody wants something (which is OK), but it seems that an inordinate amount of people feel as though it's owed to them. I grew up believing that we are entitled to that which we earn, whether it be love, or money, or something as fundamental as respect. True, many corporations have taken MUCH more than they've honestly earned, but look where it has gotten them.
Given a choice I would bail none of them out, let nature take its course. The laws of nature are very strict and there's no wiggle room. I feel no joy in writing this, I just feel that certain truths can't be painted with rainbow colors for the sake of that warm fuzzy feeling. We as a nation have deluded ourselves for so long (and I include myself in this) that we are not willing to face a harsh reality.
No sir, I feel that my conclusions, sadly, are very clear.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Individual Responsibility
Submitted by Old Grady on Thu Sep. 10, 2009 4:28 PM PDT.
Mr. Hubbard, please tell me you don't believe all that hype because you do seem to have some brain cells firing properly. To answer your question, no, I definitely do NOT support ALL of Dr. King's ideals, but I'm not eleven years old any more. I have a few more years of my own experience and education to draw from and I have my own ideas today. Some of his ideals read a lot like communism to me now. And I don't believe that unions wielded quite the same power in 1963 as they do today.
I do see that the things that I marched for were achieved many years ago: Equal Rights For All. Everyone can vote. Everyone has equal access to education no matter what color they are (I don't know how this got to be about color, but since you brought it up...). Everyone, by law, is protected against discrimination for damn near any reason at all. Everyone has the OPPORTUNITY to succeed. It's so sad that so many people believe,truly believe, that they're entitled to a happy ending and that somebody else owes it to them.
Granted, some with family money, better connections, maybe some who aren't rude and arrogant and can speak the language properly, maybe some who don't insist on wearing their pants down around their knees or their hat sideways with the windows rattling in their car because the music's so loud, maybe those who didn't drop out of high school to start having babies at age 14, those of ANY color-- maybe they improve their chances by taking responsibility for themselves.
Not everybody wins, not everybody gets the first place trophy. MANY don't make the team, and many more don't even try out for it; that's just life.
Perhaps that which so many like to call racism or prejudice isn't about color at all. Maybe it's simply that they find certain behavior and "culture" offensive and disgusting. Personally I do, whether it be someone looking to the government, or to a union, to kiss it and make it better.
Nice house, by the way. Union job?
Individual Responsibility Is a Lie...
Submitted by justinhubbard on Fri Sep. 11, 2009 7:48 AM PDT.
As it is prefaced on the assumption that all have equal access. Some social critics call this the 'cradle to prison pipeline': the systematic exclusion of communities from equal access to schools, social services, jobs, etc. It has been accomplished by multiple parties. One of the groups that has taken a large stake in doing so, is the Black middle class. By practicing a 'politics of responsibility,' they attempted to distance themselves from 'the undeserving poor,' whose 'language, morals, and actions' were the reason for their impoverishment. It appears that you, sir, have been doing the same since your turn in 1963. Of course Dr. King turned to socialism later in his life, as he connected the disenfranchisement of workers and communities of color in the US to the genocide being committed abroad in Vietnam. Notice that the same line that the US used abroad, 'civilizing the savages' is the one used for Blacks and Native peoples in the US, a curious token the US inherited from the British, who developed a policy of arranging degrees of humanity especially in regard to Ireland, as it evolved from feudalism.
Back to the cradle to prison pipeline, the logic goes: a child is born to poor parents. That family's location, by way of their structural exclusion whether as the urban or rural poor, is not welcome to the same services available to more tax wealthy locations. There was actually a more modern development of this process in NYC, known as redlining. Anyways, not having access to these services such as equal education, nor to jobs that would provide a stable lifestyle, children begin to turn to extralegal activities. This lands them in jail, and thus the cycle repeats, as they return to the labor force and have to tell employers they have a knock on their record. Of course people have 'freedom of choice' as to whether or not to partake in illegal activities, but it is not really freedom as the field of choice has already been precluded and limited. Take a job at McD's or hustle for some dro? Which would you choose, being stuck at minimum wage, with no real chances for advancement, or push drugs? Such a situation has empirical backing, Ruth Wilson Gilmore's 'Golden Gulag' illustrates the process masterfully as she depicts the rise of the prison system in California, as it attempts to house 'surplus populations,' who have been both deindustrialized and impoverished. Curiously these are the same communities of color that have been excluded for centuries.
But of course, I know you'll raise the issue that people still have 'freedom.' The lottery that buttresses the 'American Dream' was the highlight of Joe the Plumber. He not only didn't live in reality, he lived in a fantasy, one that was far from ever being realized. As Americans, white, Black, Brown, etc. have convinced themselves that 'today might be my chance,' they allow their employers/overseers to steal out of their pocket daily. Living in his imagined life, Joe the Plumber, and thus many Americans, project the lives that they masturbate to, but never happens. For the millions of Americans who don't 'make it', are you just going to say they didn't work hard enough? They didn't deserve it?
I notice that you do a lot of distancing of unions from their membership. Unions ARE their membership. There are good and bad experiences, just as there are good and bad experiences with democracy. Just because George Wallace won primaries or Strom Thurmond was democratically elected to the Senate for a half a century, both on the basis of populist racism, does that mean that you reject the democratic process? Unions are the only way for workers to exercise power in a workplace, as they don't have to ability to pick off workers and fire them. As to whether unions exercise more or less power, they were actually more powerful during Dr. King's time, if we gauge union membership levels which began to decline in 1954, and hit an all-time low in 2006 at 12%. So your point is moot. Period.
As to myself, that's an apartment. And no, not mine. And yes, I used to work as an organizer for a union.
P.S. I guess you'd rather cut your momma's throat than hold your sister's hand. Not everybody wants to be a political entity, but we all are because 'the personal is political.' Whatever gets you further ahead in this life, I guess.
Cut my momma's throat?
Submitted by Old Grady on Fri Sep. 11, 2009 11:56 AM PDT.
Please seek help. Seriously.
That's all you have to say?
Submitted by justinhubbard on Fri Sep. 11, 2009 12:46 PM PDT.
Really, all you have to say is 'get some help'? I will take that as a forfeit on your part.
Out of that whole post, you
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri Jan. 15, 2010 9:30 AM PST.
Out of that whole post, you focus on this part, then need to say for them to get help? Take a look in the mirror. Sorry but if that's all you got out of that post then sorry to say, you may need to seek help as well.
Several of the statements
Submitted by nanc (not verified) on Sun Sep. 13, 2009 5:51 AM PDT.
Several of the statements made in this anecdotal article were misleading and the bleak mostly black and white photographs are in no way representative of the city. Take any city, photograph the worst parts in black and white, darken the images, smudge the lines and it will look bad. Those pictures were really over the top. Come on! The pictures of a house with a couple of vacuum cleaners in the yard, a dilapidated building with a pray sign (I think that sign went up in response to 9-11-2001), some gothic-like picture of a house with a scary tree...and so on. In particular the author should have researched the number of people employed by GM throughout its rocky history in Janesville. It has largely fluctuated with a high of over 7000. The majority of high school graduates have not wanted/nor expected to work there in decades. And why is the only strip club in the town closing (by the way-not having a thing to do with GM) a bad thing? And while I am sad that both of our major industries whose founders lent their names to our (recently beautifully remodeled-state of the art) high schools are no longer here, there are other employers and industries vital to the area. Janesville and surrounding communities have much going for them and I have every confidence that we will get through this.
Agreeing with Nanc
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Sep. 16, 2009 3:50 PM PDT.
Charlie,
I hope your article is met with the same rejection and ridicule as your apology for your plagiarism accusations.
Garbage.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Sep. 16, 2009 3:54 PM PDT.
Hats off, LeDuff. Your Pulitzer must be for fiction writing.
Anonymous
Submitted by Mike Kuze (not verified) on Wed Sep. 16, 2009 7:03 PM PDT.
You pussy...Be a man and quit hiding. You are jealous punk who can't write. Pus-pus-pus-PUUSSSSYYY
Not a pussy.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu Sep. 17, 2009 9:43 PM PDT.
I'm just from Janesville, speaking in response to the manufactured personas in this article. And I only wrote one of those comments. I just find it disgusting that Mr. Leduff is making a career of producing inflated representations to weave together a sappy (and inaccurate) melodrama (see Nanc's comments).
I have lived in Janesville
Submitted by Bbqer (not verified) on Sun Sep. 20, 2009 9:16 AM PDT.
I have lived in Janesville for almost 10 years. There is no doubt that Gm closing will have a negative effect on Janesville. But, in my opinion Janesville is a better place to live now than it was when I moved here and Gm employed 5-4 thousand. Downtown has always been rundown and probably always will be (if anything is is better now than 10 years ago). There have always been rundown houses and always will be. I you want to feel sorry for anyone, feel sorry for the people in this community that did not work at GM. People in this community talk about supporting local labor and businesses, but when it comes down to spending dollars they would rather go to Wal Mart or Buffalo Wild Wings than support a downtown business.
The problem with this community is apathy. IMO, there still a mindset, probably because of the past presence of GM, that everyone is entitled to a $28/hr job. They are content to sit around and wait for a savior rather than work hard and get an education. The smart young people go off to college and realize that there are places that will appreciate and value their education and skills more than Janesville ever will. The local government is a joke. They would rather deal with issues like stray cats and sidewalks than the major financial and social issues that face the city.
Times have changed, and I hate to see GM leave on one level, but long term the community will be a better place long term because of it, although it will probably take another 10 years to recover. When you get past it all the town has a lot going for it; not too big not too small, it is along a major interstate and is close to Chicago, Milwaukee, and Madison. The people and and government just need to learn how to exploit these strong points.
Milwaukee?
Submitted by PackCrewfan (not verified) on Thu Oct. 1, 2009 10:37 AM PDT.
Seriously? There aren't very many jobs in Milwaukee either, I live here and everyone is either going to school or moving out of here for places like Chicago because you cannot find a job. Janesville residents will not find jobs here either, the point of the story is, as we've all been saying, when a community has so many people dependent on one company and that company folds, you will see a lot of bad happen. Gas stations, motels (as cited in the story), grocery stores, etc. will all have less business and it will decline. Even the local papers here talk about the plight of Janesville. Don't pretend like its great, maybe that is your pie in the sky fantasy or maybe you have a well paying job and posh digs so you cannot see reality. Most of us are hurting, unless you are going to work for fast food, you probably won't find a job.
If you can read this - w/o a
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat Nov. 28, 2009 3:19 AM PST.
If you can read this - w/o a TEAR IN YOUR EYE - better SEARCH YOU SOUL!!!!! AWESOME - should be REQUIRED READING for EVERY MEMBER OF CONGRESS, - HECK - EVERY MEMBER OF ANY FORM OF GOVERNMENT in this Country.....AMEN!
GM is one of the biggest working centers. A lot of people are working for GM all over the world. It must answer for every worker. I wrote research paper about it.
This story. A different perspective.
Submitted by Justin Grube (not verified) on Thu Jan. 14, 2010 5:42 PM PST.
Living in Janesville, I can assure those who read this article that this city is not without hope. Sure, the General Motors factory closed. And yes, it is true; many people have lost their jobs. Like dominoes falling, many of the factories supplying to GM have also shut down. However, the community is still strong.
Having lived in Janesville since childhood, I could speak of all the qualities that this city has that separate it from the many other cities of similar size. Strong schools with teachers and staff that show commitment to their students, community organizations that strive to give back to the residents, and a city council that has been focused on improving the town for its current and future citizens; would only be a start to describing what Janesville is truly like. Also, note the fact that Janesville is the city of parks; a title that accurately reflects the community's desire to offer recreation to all residents regardless of income, simply by allotting space for play, exercise and gathering throughout the city. Furthermore, the cost of living in this city is relatively inexpensive when compared to other communities of the same size.
Yet, there wouldn't be much of a story in telling that aspect of Janesville. Unfortunately, people are always more interested in a fall from grace. Like those who slow down to stare at a car wreck, we often find comfort in the misery of others. However, you won't necessarily find it here.
Plenty of people have been affected by GM leaving. For those that worked at the plant, their employment could be seen as a mixed blessing. Often times, those who weren't affiliated with GM could see this more clearly. For many, GM paid great wages; far more than one could have ever expected elsewhere do to either a lack of formal education or professional development. Yet, the opportunity to obtain the same lifestyle as those who had these traits was still there.
Unfortunately, without GM, there is no other opportunity for them to look for. Instead, they must start over from scratch. For many of these people, they will fall hard. Much of what they felt they had worked hard for will be lost. As unfair as that may be, it is the reality of such a situation in life. Yet, the strongest of these people will do what they have done their whole lives. They get back up, and deal with it.
The local colleges in Rock County have experienced surges in enrollment. People who previously needed no secondary education have decided to obtain one. Many of these people have families they still need to support, while still dealing with the same challenges that many people push through during the last years of their youth. With all the responsibilities that come with being an adult, they are still managing to accomplish their goals.
For many of the others, they have decided to relocate. With unemployment being what it is, this isn't an easy task. Yet, solid work history is still a desirable trait in the eyes of any employer. The wages will still be less, but the work ethics these people hold don't just disappear because of a pay cut.
As for the many people and places that have been mentioned in the story, next time branch out. It's far easier to cherry pick only the things that support your conclusion than it is to really investigate the matter you plan to report on. Pointing to a failed strip club, that had strong opposition from the beginning of its short lifespan as evidence that the community is failing is just too easy. The only reason it is an AA meeting place now is the fact that there was little the owner could do with the vacant building.
In regard to the Zoxx 411 Club, I’ve been there. It’s not the funeral parlor that you desperately described it as. It still does a fine job of catering to is patrons. They may not be the same workers that stopped there after the end of a shift. They no longer see the occasional worker that stops in during a lunch break for a drink. But to imply that that is in some way relevant to the demise of the Janesville plant is just ludicrous. Like so many other reporters that have touched on that notion, you fail to include any rational with the idea that a multi-national corporation would somehow be unable to deal with such a minor problem as this one bar. Perhaps you do so because it was not the problem that you simply try to contrive it to be. Instead, you may have been better off mentioning that Zoxx is doing the same as anyone else in this town, adapting.
Gloom on the horizon, maybe. But I doubt it will be the destructive storm that you want people to believe is on its way. Instead, like every era in the history of this city that is Janesville, the people will bounce back. It may take some time, but it will happen. We don’t give up, despite what others may think. No sir, we endure and move forward. We still get up in the morning, still mow the grass, and are still willing to say hello to one another. Regardless of the decisions made by GM, or any other company that decides it no longer wants to be a part of this community, we will still be here making the most out of life.
Mr. LeDuff and Mr. Frazier. When looking for a story to cover, try and look a little deeper. Sure, any situation can look bleak depending on the context. Yet, not every situation can offer as much hope. When there is available evidence to support an optimistic outlook, why ignore it. Everyone knows that hopeful endings aren't as sensational as discouraging ones. Yet, ignorant reporting and misrepresentation are only acceptable to the uninformed. To write a story like this is not only poor journalism, if it can be called that, it is also just plain tacky. Especially from someone such as yourself who has the accomplishment of earning a Pulitzer.
This Article is so Poorly written-it made me Laugh !
Submitted by ZOXX 411 Club (not verified) on Thu Jan. 14, 2010 9:00 PM PST.
I cannot even begin to comment on how poorly written this article is or the numerous errors it contains about the entire city of Janesville.
I would like to comment specifically on ZOXX 411 Club.
ZOXX 411 Club is NOT located on the grounds of GM.
ZOXX is, and always has been located on its own property-with its own property taxes.
Had Mother Jones actually taken the time to check their facts, they would know this - property ownership is public record and very easy to look up.
To say that we are located on GM property and within 500 feet of a time clock is incorrect and extremely poor journalism.
To suggest that ZOXX in any way had anything to do with GM’s demise shows exactly how unintelligently this article was written.
Since the authors did not even take the time to check their facts, I have to assume that this article was Charlie LeDuff and Danny Wilcox Fraziers' very first article.
Also, to say that ZOXX has become a funeral parlor is laughable.
I will say that Mr. Fraizer drank a lot of 24oz beers and triple shots while visiting ZOXX –I guess his memory was fuzzy by the time he wrote the article.
Being the responsible server we did offer Mr. Frazier as free safe-ride back to his hotel, but he declined.
Yes, ZOXX did need to adapt and become more of a “weekend” bar, but we have a wonderful, loyal following and are doing fine, despite GM closing.
Mother Jones is a magazine that attempts to write articles based on doom and gloom; however by not checking facts and allowing articles to be published with statements based on intoxicated memory shows the kindergarten level of their publication and the journalist’s who write for them.
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