It’s time to hand out end-of-year awards and I may as well do our Newsmaker of the Year right here.
Congratulations go out to Greater Oshkosh Economic Development Corporation Chief Executive Officer Jason White for nabbing this year’s honor. It was a huge year for White as GO-EDC spearheaded two of the biggest developments in the city’s history.
First, White was able to convince the developers of the new Menoninee Nation Arena to eschew locating on a site along the Interstate 41 corridor–with easy access for people coming from out of town and plenty of space for parking–not to mention various hotels and dining options located nearby–and instead build on the blighted sight of the former Buckstaff property downtown. The next challenge will be for the city to improve the infrastructure in the surrounding area, put up proper signage to get out-of-towners to the arena in the most efficient way possible and to replace all of the other aged buildings in the surrounding area into new developments that will compliment the arena.
White’s second major victory of the year was to keep his negotiations with the Oshkosh Corporation about buying Lakeshore Golf Course for a new world headquarters quiet until it was too late for any type of public opposition to be organized. If I hadn’t played out at Lakeshore so much last summer, we likely would never have known about survey crews out working at 7:30 in the evening or DNR wetlands delineation studies on the site. The next challenge there is to improve the infrastructure around the Oshkosh Corp site and to do away with older buildings and businesses that today’s “bright new talent” don’t want around where they work.
Newsmaker of the Year Jason White will likely have to tackle his biggest challenge in 2018: convincing aviation businesses to locate to an Aviation Business Park that has no direct access to an airport. In having to work with the Winnebago County Board to secure a taxiway through the fence, he will face a body not nearly as desperate as the Oshkosh Common Council for new development–especially the half of the board that sees Wittman Regional Airport as an “Oshkosh facility” and not something that benefits any other portion of the county. If he can negotiate his way out of that situation, Jason may have a shot at Newsmaker of the Year next year as well.
