Editorial: One more chance for Ford plant jobs

The Ford Motor Co. plant in St. Paul is on life support for one more year, providing a glimmer of hope that the eventual reuse of the property might include much-needed manufacturing jobs in the heart of the Twin Cities.

For that to happen, though, state and local officials need to aggressively explore options ranging from convincing Ford to continue operations at the plant to recruiting other manufacturers to the property. Without bold leadership, the plant will close and more jobs will disappear from St. Paul.

At its peak in 1979, the 82-year-old Ford plant had 2,600 employees. Union members recently voted to ratify a new contract to keep 925 Ranger truck plant workers on the job until 2009, or a year longer than had been planned for the plant's closing.

The extension provides more time for creative consideration of possible uses for the plant and surrounding property. Fortunately, some of the important groundwork is underway.

In June, a task force that had been working with a consulting firm approved five potential redevelopment scenarios for the property, two of which include industrial or light industrial use. Ultimately Ford will make the call on the plant and the potential sale of the property, but the company is cooperating with the task force and the city in addressing possible uses and related zoning issues.

On the state level, the Minnesota Legislature established a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle task force in 2006, in part to analyze what it would take to encourage Ford to produce plug-in hybrids at the St. Paul plant.

The best outcome, as argued elsewhere in this section by David Morris of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, would be for Ford to use the plant to produce plug-in hybrid vehicles. Unfortunately, there's been no indication from Ford that it will use the plant in its ongoing hybrid development.

All is not lost if Ford abandons St. Paul for good in 2009, however. The Ford site and a quality Twin Cities workforce could draw interest from other industries. Manufacturing related to wind energy is an emerging part of the economy in rural Minnesota, Iowa and other other states.

St. Paul has lost thousands of manufacturing jobs in a steady erosion of its economic base in recent years. Mayor Chris Coleman is quick to point out that the state seems more interested in rural than in urban economic development.

Chopstick factories aside, this is the kind of situation in which the late former Gov. Rudy Perpich would have been at his best, looking at how the Ford problem could be turned into an opportunity.

Today we have a governor with a developing interest in advanced energy technologies, and we have a plant and training facility that could find new life as an urban center for green manufacturing. Let's hope our leaders see the potential before it's too late.