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Obama to Tour Zidian's Summer Garden Food Plant
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- President Obama brings his "Betting on America" bus tour to the Mahoning Valley this morning with stops at Summer Garden Food Manufacturing in Boardman and Dobbins Elementary School in Poland. But unlike other stops on this campaign swing through swing-state Ohio, Obama's appearances here will be closed to the public.
Only 200 tickets were distributed for Obama's talk at the Dobbins School, with 15 reserved for officials of the Poland school system, sources say. The talk is scheduled to take place at 10:45 a.m.
At Summer Garden, a LEED-certified processing and manufacturing plant, the tour is scheduled for 9:45 a.m. It is closed to reporters except for the press pool.
In a press advisory from the Obama campaign, Summer Garden is described as a "manufacturing faciility that's expanding and creating jobs."
The setting is not by coincidence; an hour before Obama's tour, the U.S. Labor Department will announce the June jobs numbers. Indications are, according to published reports, that the national unemployment rate is likely to remain at 8.2%. As political observers often echo -- for instance this morning on the Politico website, "No president since World War II has won re-election with a jobless rate over 7.4 percent."
In December, it was learned that Summer Garden's parent company, Zidian Manufacturing Inc., would invest $11 million to expand its plant on McClurg Road. The project was awarded a $600,000 Ohio Research and Investment loan. The investment includes $6.5 million for a new building, $3.8 million for machinery, and another $740,000 for miscellaneous expenses, according to the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber.
Summer Garden Food Manufacturing produces the flagship brand Gia Russa as well as celebrity chef brands, private label and store brands. The company sits on a 10-acre campus that includes a LEED-certified processing and manufacturing plant, an on-site research and development center, quality assurance laboratories and a culinary arts center.
The $11 million expansion project is expected to result in the creation of 58 jobs and the retantion of 58 more jobs, according to the company.
"Throughout Ohio and Pennsylvania, President Obama will talk about his efforts over the last three years to get our economy back on track, doubling down on American workers by saving the auto industry, investing in manufacturing and bringing jobs back to America. He will also discuss his administration’s decision to hold China accountable for unfair trade practices that hurt American workers in the auto industry," states the campaign's media advisory. "President Obama bet on the American worker when he supported the auto rescue and he knows that -- with a level playing field -- American workers will always win."
Following the plant tour, Obama will travel the short distance to Dobbins Elementary School where he will deliver remarks on the economy.
In the afternoon, President Obama will wrap up the “Betting on America” bus tour at a grassroots event at the Center for the Arts Lawn on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.