Aug. 30--We have a group of people sitting on the Areotropolis Leadership Board with a goal of continuing to build on the expanded Piedmont Triad International Airport to spur job creation and business growth by promoting the region as a global logistics center on the East Coast.

Even if that scenario seems hauntingly familiar, that's a noble goal.

It's familiar because the North Carolina Global TransPark (GTP), developed at Kinston in the late 1990s in eastern North Carolina, was intended to help transform that region from an agricultural base to one of skilled labor and industrial manufacturing. The TransPark is a 2,400-acre combined airport-industrial complex developed by the state in Lenoir County. Due to the rise in outsourcing, globalization and lagging economy of the immediate area, the Global TransPark has not met the expectations of its proponents (who originally compared it to the Research Triangle Park) and is considered a boondoggle and white elephant by many North Carolinians, a Wikipedia report claims.

We understand the desire locally to try to get as much development out of the opportunity it has with the FedEx Corp. easing into operation of its $300 million cargo hub at PTIA, with which it already has had some small successes. That may take longer than expected, however, because FedEx will continue for some time the low-key operation of the hub with 200 workers -- 160 transferred from another, smaller location at PTIA and 40 employees brought on when the hub opened in June. When FedEx announced plans for the hub in 1998, it pledged to have 1,500 full -- and part-time workers once full operation was reached (projected for the summer of 2009). Citing economic conditions, FedEx indicated last week that it won't be expanding rapidly or otherwise anytime soon.

The delay could prove to be a plus rather than a minus because it gives the Areotropolis Leadership Board more time to get its ducks in a row so it is ready to move forward quickly once economic conditions improve.

There is cause for concern, however. The ALB and its overseer (Piedmont Triad Partnership) want to do as much as it can behind closed doors, making grandiose plans for thousands of acres of land near the airport. It's a tactic some of the same principals initially took with the Heart of the Triad project, which involves plans for about 18,000 acres of largely undeveloped land along the Guiford-Forsyth county line. That was a onerous tactic then, and it's a onerous tactic now.

Part of ALB's ducks-in-a-row procedure should be keeping all of the stakeholders, including property owners, in the areotropolis area informed along the way. Stakeholders should be able to attend ALB meetings, and at least a brief time should be set aside at each session for "public comment." Otherwise, it's going to be a winding, rocky road from Point A to Point B.

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