Texas lawmakers tour Sriracha plant in bid for relocation

[alp227]

Source: LA Times

A delegation of Texas lawmakers and officials toured the Sriracha hot sauce plant in Irwindale on Monday in another attempt to lure the beleaguered business from California.

Texas state Rep. Jason Villalba, state Sen. Carlos Uresti, state Rep. Hubert Vo and a group of Texas officials toured the plant and had lunch with Huy Fong Foods Chief Executive David Tran.

The meeting came weeks after Tran, whose plant has been locked in a months-long battle with Irwindale over a spicy smell, invited all potential suitors to tour the plant.

Villalba, who can be seen sporting a Sriracha pocket square on his Twitter account, was one of the first to accept.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-texas-lawmakers-tour-sriracha-20140512-story.html

[mike_c]

1. this would serve Irwindale right....

Asshats.

[pipoman]

2. For the money these guys are spending trying to buy jobs

It seems Irwindale could help pay for what ever filtration system is needed to keep them there. ...Irwindale must be awash in jobs...

[SunSeeker]

6. Irwindale already gave him a low interest loan to build the factory.

Tran should have built it properly, with filters to prevent the pepper emissions. His Rosemead facility does not cause the same problems. Tran is being arrogant and unreasonable.

The 100 or so low-paying jobs at the Irwindale Sriracha factory are not worth making the city unlivable. There are many other factories in Irwindale, including the Miller beer brewery, that are better corporate citizens. The city is actually in pretty decent economic shape.

[SunSeeker]

5. So Irwindale not wanting its people's throats and eyes burning is being an "asshat"?

The owner of the factory is being a bad neighbor who doesn't want to install basic safeguards to prevent eye and throat irritation from the pepper emissions from the factory.

[SCVDem]

3. Texas job creators?

More like giving away their citizens health and welfare for more low paying, toxic jobs.

They have created nothing.

Like to bitch out Irwindale? Let me hit you with a dose of pepper spray snd then see if you feel the same.

[Jake Stern]

4. Can't imagine being so desperate for a job

that I would tolerate Texas' openly cavalier attitude towards the residents of the state.

[SunSeeker]

7. Tran invited these Texans as a stunt to pressure Irwindale.

I hope Irwindale doesn't cave.

[yuiyoshida]

8. I just love Sriracha

Especially dribbled over popcorn!

[Hekate]

9. Sriracha's really popular in Calif, but it's well-known by cooks that carelessly handled hot peppers

... can cause irritation and burning in the eyes, nose, and throat. It's not just about a "spicy smell." If the neighbors around this plant are complaining, something is wrong with the way the sauce is being manufactured and the way the plant is being run.

Apparently David Tran would rather move his plant to a state that is environmentally more careless than clean up his act in Irwindale.

[DainBramaged]

10. Irwindale, California

Irwindale is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, in Los Angeles County, California. The population was 1,422 at the 2010 census, down from 1,446 at the 2000 census.

With relatively few residents, Irwindale consists mostly of rock quarries, which are the major revenue source for the city. The Irwindale Speedway is also located in the city, as is the Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area near the San Gabriel River, a plant of the Miller Brewing Company, and a plant of the Huy Fong sriracha sauce company.


The City of Irwindale offered a low interest loan to Huy Fong Foods in 2010 to locate its sriracha factory in Irwindale. Huy Fong took the loan and contributed $250,000 a year to the city as part of the deal. Huy Fong built a $40-million factory planned to generate about $300 million a year in sales. Shortly after Huy Fong paid off the loan early and stopped contributing to the city, Huy Fong became involved in lawsuits brought by its neighbors and the city of Irwindale, who complain of the odors of jalapeño pepper and garlic generated by the plant. The city's suit led to a court order for the plant to cease most operations.


Irwindale is dominated by 17 gravel pits,[10] which it was obligated to fill. Irwindale Chamber of Commerce views the sand and gravel mining industry as a significant part of the city’s strength.[11] In the summer of 1987, city councilman Joe Breceda approached Al Davis, owner of the National Football League's Los Angeles Raiders, about building a new stadium on the site of one of the disused pits.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irwindale,_California