About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 2, 2018)
4A Sunday, December 2, 2018 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com LOCALANATION Auto Insurance Specialist • Easy Payments • Any Driver • Any Age NEW LOCATION! 2415 OLD CORNELIA HWY., GAINESVILLE Next to Rabbittown Cafe 770-450-4500 Salaried workers beware: GM cuts a warning for all BY TOM KRISHER AND JOSH B0AK Associated Press DETROIT — For gen erations, the career path for smart kids around Detroit was to get an engi neering or business degree and get hired by an auto maker or parts supplier. If you worked hard and didn’t screw up, you had a job for life with enough money to raise a family, take vacations and buy a weekend cottage in north ern Michigan. Now that once-reli- able route to prosperity appears to be vanishing, as evidenced by General Motors’ announcement this week that it plans to shed 8,000 white-collar jobs on top of 6,000 blue- collar ones. It was a humbling warn ing that in this era of rapid and disruptive technologi cal change, those with a college education are not necessarily insulated from the kind of layoffs factory workers know all too well. The cutbacks reflect a transformation underway in both the auto indus try and the broader U.S. economy, with nearly every type of business becoming oriented toward computers, software and automation. “This is a big mega-trend pervading the whole econ omy,” said Mark Muro, a senior fellow at the Brook ings Institution who has researched changes being caused by the digital age. Cities that suffered manufacturing job losses decades ago are now grap pling with the problem of fewer opportunities for white-collar employees such as managers, lawyers, bankers and accountants. Since 2008, The Associated Press found, roughly a third of major U.S. metro areas have lost a greater percent- I Inside How layoffs could have local effects, 1D age of white-collar jobs than blue-collar jobs. It’s a phenomenon seen in such places as Wichita, Kansas, with its downsized aircraft industry, and towns in Wis consin that have lost auto, industrial machinery or furniture-making jobs. In GM’s case, the jobs that will be shed through buyouts and layoffs are held largely by people who are experts in the inter nal combustion engine — mechanical engineers and others who spent their careers working on fuel injectors, transmissions, exhaust systems and other components that won’t be needed for the electric cars that eventually will drive themselves. GM, the nation’s largest automaker, says those vehicles are its future. “We’re talking about high-skilled people who have made a substantial investment in their educa tion,” said Marina Whit man, a retired professor of business and public policy at the University of Michigan and a for mer GM chief economist. “The transitions can be extremely painful for a subset of people.” GM is still hiring white- collar employees, but the new jobs are for those who can write software code, design laser sensors or develop batteries and other devices for future vehicles. Those who are being thrown out of work might have to learn new skills if they hope to find new jobs, underscoring what Whit man said is another truism about the new economy: “You’ve got to regard edu cation as a lifetime process. You probably are going to have multiple jobs in your lifetime. You’ve got to stay flexible.” Photos by AUSTIN STEELE I The Times Beth Oropeza, co-director of Good News at Noon, talks Thursday, Nov. 29 about the renovation of a second building. Thomas said. “.. There is a great need for truly afford able housing that is under $1,000 (a month) and as we try to grow into the afford able housing arena, we see that certain things are being pushed out of the city, for better or for worse. We have to be mindful of that as we try to consider how can we provide those services.” Thomas said she hopes stakeholders in the commu nity can continue to work together to address home lessness, and that develop ment and compassion for those in need don’t have to be mutually exclusive. “We all want Gainesville to be even better and an even stronger community, and we do realize that things have to change as the city grows, as the county grows,” Thomas said. “We do want to always have our leadership be mind ful that there is a place for everyone here, whether they are more affluent or those in need, and we do have to strike a balance of them all for our community to truly be the best that it can be.” HOMELESS ■ Continued from 1A well as aggressive panhan dling, have not directly affected My Sister’s Place yet. Police officers some times refer people to the shelter so they have a place to stay, Thomas said. 2016 estimates put the city’s homeless population at about 200 to 400 at any given time. Sgt. Kevin Holbrook with the Gainesville Police Department said as of Fri day afternoon, police had not issued any citations for urban camping or aggressive solicitation since those ordi nances had passed. Police stay in contact with nonprof its about how to help people who are homeless, Holbrook said. Rosa Hightower, lead house monitor for the Sal vation Army, said police have also brought people by that shelter. Ever since the homeless camp under the Queen City Bridge was cleared in 2016, Hightower said the homeless population has been more dispersed as people settle into smaller camps or live separately. The Salvation Army can accommodate nine men and five women and also has five family units. Hightower said there is a shortage of shelter space in the area, especially for women and children. The Salvation Army also sees a lot of people from Gwinnett County, where there are not as many resources available, she said. “(Homeless people) will find an empty building, they’ll find a little crack, a little safe place for them.... There’s not a lot of places for these people to come out of the elements,” Hightower said. Ken Pullen, director of the Gainesville City Baptist Rescue Mission, said that the mission had also not seen direct effects of the new rules yet. The mission is in the city’s Midtown Overlay Zone, where officials just banned 30 new uses, includ ing shelters, crisis centers, pawn shops and coin laun dries. The mission, like all the existing buildings and Santa loves reading the newspaper, and there's no better way to get his attention than with a Letter to Santa published in The Times. Send us your letter to the jolly ol' elf bv Dec. 15. and we will print them in The Times beginning with the Dec. 19 edition. Submit letters by email to Santa@qainesvilletimes.com, through traditional mail addressed to 345 Green St. NW, Gainesville, GA 30501, or drop them off at The Times. a — ^ SPONSORED BY: north paw At§© Hardware V gainesvilletimes.com The heipfui piece. Good News at Noon’s recently renovated second building can house 12 men overnight. nonprofits in the area, is being grandfathered in and can stay. Pullen said he likes the Midtown Greenway and is anticipating news about what might happen at the former Hall County Jail site, which officials have said they are recruiting developers to build on. He hopes that with changes in midtown come some new affordable hous ing so it is less difficult for people to transition out of homelessness. “It’s already hard for them. ... My guys can stay here for up to a year, and it’s expensive to move out,” he said. The men he works with often have multiple jobs but still cannot afford a place to live because of the shortage of affordable housing, he said. Good News at Noon on Davis Street recently com pleted renovations on the former Good News Clinics building to convert it to a shelter where 12 men can sleep each night. Co-direc- tor Beth Oropeza said Good News has also not yet seen the effects of the new ordi nances and has been con tinuing work as usual. Men arrive at the shel ter every evening between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. and Good News has not yet had to turn someone away due to a lack of space, Oropeza said. The men have to leave in the morning so they can consider their “next steps” and look for employment or housing, she said. Oropeza said she has noticed redevelopment in the midtown and downtown area, especially with new housing. “It’s just been built up and cleaned up,” she said. Thomas said she has also seen the redevelopment in midtown Gainesville and is watching the progress to see how it could affect the peo ple My Sister’s Place serves. “We are keeping an eye (on redevelopment), because we do see a great need for additional resources out side of immediate housing,” 7:30 PM FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2018 FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF GAINESVILLE TICKETS: $12 IN ADVANCE ($18 AT THE DOOR) LGr 2\Citt S'-nt Tickets available at lanierchambersingers.org
