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McKinney, Texas: America's New Green Heartland?
What are they putting in the water down there in McKinney, Texas?
About a month ago, Wal-Mart announced that it had opened a “new, more resource-efficient store” in McKinney, which is located about 30 miles north of Dallas. The store features low-VOC paints, low-water grasses and plants for landscaping, and pavement that allows rainwater to filter to the soil in a more natural way. Wal-Mart says it hopes the new store will serve as a environmental benchmark for future retail outlets.
Now, the Dallas Morning News reports that Toyota plans to build the nation’s first certified “green” auto dealership in that same august city. Dealer Pat Lobb says he's looking at everything from solar panels to milk-based paint to recycled rainwater and recycled carpet for the store. Mr. Lobb also is asking the city for an exception to building requirements to allow recycled aluminum composite panel and a possible green wall.
Harvested rainwater? Milk-based paint? I repeat: What’s going on down there?
Okay, so the city’s official motto, according to the city’s Web site, is “Unique by nature.” And true, the city was recently designated as the “fastest-growing city in the United States” -- that is, among U.S. cities with populations over 50,000. So, maybe there’s some insight to be gleaned from those two data points. But not really.
But why would Wal-Mart and Toyota choose McKinney to introduce their good, green innovations?
Anyone have a clue?
August 15, 2005 in State of the Art, Trendwatching | Permalink
Comments
“But why would Wal-Mart and Toyota choose McKinney to introduce their good, green innovations?”
I’d bet it has something to do with demographics. For example, I bet they both did a ton of research (or there is research available somewhere) that says McKinney is the perfect microcosm for America.
Therefore, if they build something there and it works, it SHOULD work in the rest of the country (in general). This is just a guess but it would seem to make the most sense to me.
Jason Trout
GreenBusiness.net
---------------------------------
Join in on the discussion with other eco-entrepreneurs over at http://www.GreenBusiness.net
Posted by: Jason Trout | Aug 22, 2005 9:27:37 PM
I'm sure, as Mr. Trout says, that Wal-Mart and Toyota did their research. But I also believe another reason they chose McKinney is that our "little" town is truly a city with a wide variety of people in a fairly small area. We have from the very poor to the very rich and the distance between them is not that great. We also have many different ethnic groups in McKinney. Any business can try out their new ventures here and probably get a pretty good idea as to how the "general population" will respond.
Posted by: J.R. Gardner | Oct 14, 2005 1:33:09 PM
It's because McKinney is close to Dallas, its land is cheap and they are DESPERATE for businesses in this bedroom community trying to be a city. Plus, the Mayor is also desperate for attention and so will advocate any tax incentives he can get his crooked little hands on. Those are the real reasons.
Posted by: McKinney Bubba | Mar 30, 2006 11:15:07 AM
I live in McKinney and I don't know why its happening. I like it though. We also have a green office building that recently opened. Long before that, the ISD built a couple of elementary schools that are "environmentally friendly". Although I think these are more hype than substance, I don't mind if we get a reputation for prototyping green building concepts.
Posted by: Jack | Jun 8, 2006 1:30:47 PM
I am condidering moving to Mc Kinney Tx, and I was wondering if you could offer any real honest information about this city? I have three children and my husband. We live in a very nice city in California and we want to make sure that we are doing the right thing. How is the racial diversity there and the living environment? We saw an area call Stonebridge Ranch and it seemed to be very nice. Do you know anything about this area? Could you possibly reccomend where we could get more information about living in Mc Kinney, Tx? Another area we looked at when we were there in June, was Grand Prairie Tx. However, when I looked at the cencus information I was a little dissapointed. I saw no shopping areas in Grand Prairie. However, the housing community we looked at was Mira Lagos, near Joe Pool Lake. I think I favor Mc Kinney more and possibly Plano, Tx. Anyway, please advise with you best honest opinion! Thank you, Camille
Posted by: Camille W. | Jul 23, 2006 4:41:47 PM
To Camille:
I moved to McKinney seven years ago from Dallas. You will not like Grand Prarie. No offense to anyone from Grand Prarie, but it is too different for a Californian. I live in Stonebridge. Both Stonebridge and the city of McKinney are wonderful for children. Although it is growing quickly, the old town square helps anchor the city and keeps that small town flavor. My children love it here. There are many children and ample opportunity to make new friends. The schools are close and some of the better in the metroplex.
We have ethnic diversity within the city as a whole, but honestly within Stonebridge it's pretty caucacian. That being said, I don't know of any bias against other races, in fact most people here just want good neighbors regardless of color,etc.
We have several large companies near by and people are transferred in and out. We even have several Californians!
I wasn't born here, but after twenty-one years in Texas, McKinney feels like home.
You will find Texans to be warm, friendly and full of Texas attitude. Even so they are the first to offer a hand and a handshake still means something here.
Hope that helps.
Posted by: tracy | Jul 26, 2006 8:48:21 PM
McKinney has what is known as a development fund or enterprise fund where an addition to the state sales tax is collected and then used to entice business to relocate to McKinney. The prize package can include total reimbursement for moving expenses, reduced land costs (the tax fund buys the land), and 10 yr tax abatement.
The results are that Mckinney has the highest tax rates in the metroplex.
Traffic is a huge problem, as in the 14 yrs I have lived here, the population has increased by 500% and there have been no new or imporved roads constructed.
If one works in Plano or Dallas, there is no need to live in McKinney. Traffic is as bad here as in P or D., and there are no improvement projects on the table.
One other problem is the lack of water. McKinney is part of the North Texas Water District which has only one source of water, being Lake Levon, built in the 1950's. All of the communities drawing water from the Lake have experienced the same growth rate as McKinney. The result is there is not enough water. Major problem!!
Posted by: john | Aug 4, 2006 7:20:55 AM
I have just moved into Mckinney and it is a Gem. However the water shortage is a proble. I am considering drilling a well, does anyone know what depth the water table lies at?
Posted by: Deon Kleynhans | Aug 7, 2006 9:52:32 AM
Seeing green by going green
A rare win I win for the environment, employers, and employees by doing your payroll on the web.
It was not long ago most employees received a physical paycheck, their employers printed voluminous payroll reports that they dutifully placed into filing cabinets and the government agencies and other interested third parties received their entire required payroll reporting via paper.
The web began to change all of this in the last few years by allowing companies to transmit information to each other, move the required payroll liabilities electronically, place greater emphasis on their employees direct depositing their paychecks into their bank accounts and for employers to receive their reports, online. But even with all of these advances most small and mid sized companies, especially those using outside payroll services are still printing way too much paper, and are still having their payroll delivered to their offices. This causes an unnecessary burden on the environment, costs onto the employer, and inconveniences to the employee. But why haven't most companies gone "green" and embraced a totally paperless payroll operation?
First is awareness. Many companies today are just beginning to understand and embrace all of the choices, options and regulatory changes that allow employers to offer employees options outside of receiving a physical paycheck or deposit advice, such as Pay-cards for un-banked employees, or employee access via the web to view their pay information on-line.
The second is choice and cost effectiveness. Going paperless required a considerable investment in software and internal capability. Payroll service companies offered half solutions thus limiting these conveniences to mid and large sized companies.
But now thanks to next generation, innovative Payroll Services companies, any size company can go completely paperless from their :first processing and with their employee's first payroll. In doing so the employer saves money by not printing checks and reports, pays no delivery costs, and allows employees to access their pay information as needed, on-line. Companies can now save as much as 20-25% on their payroll processing, while gaining internal efficiencies and doing something good for the environment.
Examples of such innovations are a real time payroll processing engine that allows employees to select direct deposit I Pay-card as they are hired and access to their pay information on-line eliminating the need for a paycheck, a robust reporting tool that allows employers to securely store, access, transmit or archive all of their payroll and Tax reports rendering printing them obsolete, and taking the same payroll information and presenting it in a graphical format that allows employers to make the information immediately actionable and make better business decisions.
Noel F Lynch
Agent - Owner
Perquest, Inc
2805 Sunset Ridge
McKinney, TX 75070
Office Phone: 469.742.0705
Fax: 469.742.0705
Email: Noel.Lynch@perquestpay.com
Web Site http://www.perquest.com/
Posted by: Noel Lynch | Nov 5, 2007 11:17:03 AM
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