California Turf War Erupts Over New Tesla Plant; We Side with Long Beach

Tesla Motors will be looking at Los Angeles County to be the home of its new Model S assembly plant.  Blogs report the locations have been narrowed down to Long Beach and Downey.  Both cities have had long histories in aeronautical development and commercial service.  Downey’s mayor, Mario Guerra, wrote an open letter that appeared on The Canalis Report, hoping to promote Downey’s qualities and motivate residents to do the same.  Mayor Bob Foster of Long Beach and Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske are following suit in order to pull the tide in their favor.

Yours truly has been a resident of both cities.  I don’t want to appear biased, but Downey is a cramped town that’s now covered nothing but McMansions and is about as exciting as a WNBA tournament.  Again, I am being objective here–it’s messy, polluted, and has been compared to such places as Damascus and New Dehli.

Long Beach, however, has a coastal breeze, plenty of life, and existing facilities to support new industry.  I’m being strictly objective, I repeat.  Let me put it in automotive terms: Downey is like a Bug with a carburetted Dodge V-8 and Long Beach is like, well, a Tesla.