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"When Jim Davis hears someone lament the absence of an interstate highway in the Shoals, he points out that the region has a major transportation corridor."

""That's our interstate. It's just like a major highway," Davis said as he pointed to the Tennessee River flowing past his office at Wilson Dam.
"

That's TimesDaily staff writer Dennis Sherer's opening salvo in "Cheap Ride; River transportation more affordable than rail, truck".

Cheap ride, cheap shot.

Dennis blathers on an on about how comparatively inexpensive it is to ship using water than ground.

Yada, yada, yada...

Okay.

SO WHAT!

How does the river benefit the Shoals?

So bazillions of dollars of goods flow through this area. So what?

How does the Shoals DIRECTLY benefit?

That's the burning question on most folks minds!

Here we are with an asset that is, in some places, a mile wide, and stretches from Mississippi to Georgia & Tennessee. And, it cuts right through the heart of the Shoals, dividing, in some sense, and uniting in another.

But to determine how to use it to our industrial advantage has thus far escaped modern Florentines, whose lower elevation on the river has distinct advantages over their tri-city neighbors in Colbert county.

Dear God, please, please send a visionary leader to the Shoals!

(edit=title change: "How does the TN River benefit the Shoals?" to "TN River benefits the Shoals?")
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What public officials have voiced their thoughts, or been outspoken proponents of using the river to the Shoals area's benefit?

For example, in the Port of Florence how many tonnes of goods are off-loaded or how many embarkations occur annually?

According to information from the Port of Florence website (http://www.portofflorence.org/) "Lauderdale County Port Authority is a public, not-for-profit organization chartered by the Lauderdale County Commission and the City of Florence. The Authority owns the Port of Florence, leasing land and equipment to private operators and managing the public dock."

Again, I ask, "How is the City of Florence and Shoals area benefitting from the TN River?"

A not for profit organization... what's wrong with this picture?

In stark contrast is the NYC Port Authority, which "is a financially self-supporting public agency that receives no tax revenues from any state or local jurisdiction and has no power to tax. It relies almost entirely on revenues generated by facility users, tolls, fees, and rents."

In fact, the New York City "Port Authority manages an extensive real estate portfolio containing over 12,000 acres of land and 45 million square feet of office, industrial, retail and technical space to support its trade, transportation and economic development mission."

Risking redundancy, "How is the City of Florence and Shoals area benefitting from the TN River?"
Do we have any info on what the offload taxes are at the port of florence? I have no idea so I really can't speak much to the issue of whether or not it is being operated efficiently.

I will say that it is no surprise that it is a not for profit corporation. Many corps are not for profit, including many hospitals, colleges, and numerous other boards and authorities throughout the state. All that means is at the end of the year, money isn't paid out to shareholders. It doesn't mean that money is not being made or that employees are volunteers.

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