Illinois' latest initiatives take its legacy industries into the new millennium.

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n the ongoing debate about Chicago's economic strength, some observers see the glass as half empty, while others see it as half full. According to nay-sayers, Chicago is losing its business-capital status due to drastically lower numbers of financial firms and a serious lagging in New Economy companies. Others, however, see the city as having a strong economy and being a sure-fire survivor of wavering business cycles by not putting all its eggs in the financial and dot-com baskets.
     Ford Motor Co. apparently agrees with the latter. The Big Three automaker has chosen the Southeast Side of Chicago for its US$400 million North America automotive supplier manufacturing campus -- only the second such project for Ford, with the other being located in Valencia, Spain. The new facility will create 1,000 new jobs over the next 10 years.
     It wasn't an easy win for Illinois or the city of Chicago, however. The state fought fiercely, wielding an incentive package that rivals any other in its history. Eventually the state produced a $100.9 million inducement package to land the deal. Included in the package were $63.4 million in transportation improvements, which will prove crucial to Ford's success.
     "It is infrastructure No. 1 for Ford," said Ford Vice President Jim Padilla at the facility announcement. "Having suppliers immediately adjacent to our [Taurus and Sable assembly plant] will allow us to respond more quickly to changes in the marketplace. We can make modifications and get them to customers in a much quicker fashion."
     The state will develop new underpasses to ease local rail and auto congestion, and it will build a direct connection between the supplier park and Ford's assembly plant half a mile east of the site. The infrastructure improvements, including restoration of an urban brownfield, are being funded by Gov. George Ryan's Illinois FIRST program.