Janesville GM plant going the way of the dodo

This was probably a long time coming, especially given the price of gas and the renewed emphasis on the environment. But, GM announced the closing of the large plant in Janesville, WI today. Of late, this plant has been making SUVs like the Chevy Tahoe, and has been making Isuzu trucks. As gas prices go upwards of $4/gallon, people are predictably voting with their feet and going with smaller vehicles.

This post is not to blame GM executives or environmentalists or oil companies or politicians or labor unions. This is to speculate as to what might happen to Janesville. Janesville is a city of 60,000 people in southern Wisconsin, about 40 miles south of Madison. I have only been there a couple of times, but it seems to be a decent enough city. It's certainly nicer than the two cities down the Rock River from it, Beloit and Rockford. But, with this closing, Janesville could go downhill fast.

For that city's sake, I would hope there is a contingency plan that can be put into place. After all, auto plants in the United States have been closing as long as I can remember. Janesville leaders had to have known there was a possibility that they would be on the chopping block at some point. If I was a leader in Janesville, I would already have planned for an assessment to find out how much it would cost to tear down the plant, clean it up, and reuse the land (or at least find a way to reuse the buildings). I would find out how much GM would be expected to pay for this to happen. I can't imagine GM would want to keep a closed plant that likely won't re-open. So, get this land back into circulation, parcel it out to diverse companies looking to expand or relocate, and sell, sell, sell. This is a chance for a city that was heavily dependent on one industry to diversify its portfolio. With well over 2,000 people being laid off, there is a ready workforce there; at least some of whom are highly-educated (think engineers) and mechanically inclined (most everybody employed there).

As bad as this is for a small city like Janesville, there is a chance to become even better coming out of this. For their sake, the region's sake, and Wisconsin's sake, I think they really need to succeed.