Mayor K. Taylor's Husband moving his company to MO

[blueeyes]

I am new to TulsaNow.  Just wanted to express my frustration over our mayor's husband moving his company out of Tulsa.  I haven't seen a big story or news on this on TV or newspaper.  Should be front page.  The mayor's husband is moving his company, Vanguard Car Rental which is Alamo and National Car Rental to St. Louis, MO.  I thought our mayor was supposed to keep jobs in Tulsa and she can't even keep her own husband's company here.   I heard that it is around 400 jobs.  Sad...many of these families that don't want to leave Tulsa are having to do so because of not being able to find equivalent jobs in a short time.  Thanks Mayor!

[Gaspar]

Isn't Enterprise rent-a-car based in St. Louis?  Looks like they are positioning to be bought to me!

[Conan71]

Welcome to TulsaNow.  I don't wish to discourage you from posting here at all, but I think you have some bum information.

Unless I'm mistaken, it's Bill Lobeck's (KT's hubby) former company.  FAIK, he sold Vanguard a while back.  Also, they've outsourced jobs from Vanguard within the last year or two to south Florida, so this has been slow in coming.

Finally, a Mayor can help with incentives for businesses to come or to stay here, but they can't exactly make a company do anything just because they sleep with the CEO.

[TURobY]

Enterprise already owns Vanguard Automotive Group. This has very little to do with Lobeck, and more to do with Enterprise.

[cannon_fodder]

The above information about distancing himself from the company is true, but I share your frustration.

Didn't they just move here 3 or 4 years ago?

If they got bought and are essentially being told to come home to roost, so be it.  But WHY are they moving?  By all means leave, but let us know what our city could improve to keep you here.  Even if you were bought, what could Tulsa have done to make it worth while to keep an office here?

Business is a competition, our leaders need to be aware of what aspects companies are looking for - what we have to sell and what we need to make up.

And welcome to TulsaNow.

[RecycleMichael]

I am sorry that Vanguard would leave, but blaming the Mayor is wrong. Enterprise came to Tulsa and bought a company and wants to consolidate employees.

The Mayor's husband bought a couple of companies out of bankruptcy, built them back into profit and moved them to Tulsa. They became so profitable that someone else came after them.

What did you expect the Mayor to do? Tell her husband how to run his business? Do you think he tells her how to run the city?

My wife and I are both the top person at our companies and will often advise each other if asked. But I would never tell her what to do (I am afraid of her, for one thing, but that's a different story).

[USRufnex]

I thought the idea was that Vanguard was going to be sold to Tulsa-based Dollar-Thrifty... then Enterprise came in late...

anybody remember "the rest of the story" ?

[blueeyes]

Actually, I did get some bad information to some degree.  

I found out that Mayor Kathy Taylor's husband, William E. Lobeck, former CEO of Vanguard, sold his interest in Vanguard to Enterprise Rent-A-Car in February 2007. He no longer is connected with the company except possibly as a consultant, and he does not hold any executive authority over his former company. The downsizing of Vanguard in Tulsa has been going on in increments ever since the sale or merger.

[tim huntzinger]

Yeah, duhhhhhhh! I mean, it was understood that when the relo was made it was only temporary.  What rubes! All those people who were like, 'Cool, Mayor, I will leave my other job to take this temporarily.' knew exactly what the deal was. This was only a SYMBOL of the prosperity that the Taylor Administration was going to bring, not the real deal.  EVERYONE knew when the relo was announced amid much fanfare and self-congratulations that it was all a temp deal.  Sheesh.

[zstyles]

As a FORMER vanguard employee I can tell you that this was all a investment/political move to Tulsa for the Lobecks/Taylor Dynasty. Mr. Lobeck and all the executives with the company were NOT interested in building up a "economy" of employees in Tulsa just giving it the facade of a company that was hiring employess(700+ at the time of her election) and used it for her gain.

After the election the company was sold to enterprise, Dollar Thrifty was bidding for it but was outbid by about 1 billion dollars in back half which would have been a HUGE boom to the Tulsa economy with the combination of the two companies..but that is another comment....

The company was sold to enterprise of St. Louis and some employees were offered relocation packages but most refused and now they have about 1/4th of the # of employees at Cherokee that they had at the beginning of this time last year. If they would be given some sort of ecomonmic stimulator to stay I am sure they would look at it but the lease is expiring at the Verizon complex..and the doors are being shut one by one....it was a interesting ride form the start 4 years ago..

They have moved on and the Lobecks/Taylors made a VERY pretty penny(think hundreds of millions) and will be able to park the 4 Bentleys, 4 Porsche, fly the private jets to London for shopping more..move to Washington after being elected a senator in the near future...which I have no qualms with he/she did make the money himself and I applaud that..but as mayor I do believe she used the company to further herself politically by touting her husband as bringing jobs to Tulsa just to lose them soon after being elected and no one has said anything about her trying to talk them into staying which she has a automatic "IN" via her husbands connections.

[RecycleMichael]

quote:Originally posted by zstyles
...but as mayor I do believe she used the company to further herself politically by touting her husband as bringing jobs to Tulsa just to lose them soon after being elected and no one has said anything about her trying to talk them into staying which she has a automatic "IN" via her husbands connections.

Take a breath, dude.

So according to your "facts", he planned to keep the jobs here by merging with another Tulsa firm. He was then "offered a billion more dollars" by an out-of-state company.

Honestly, would you turn down an extra billion dollars?

[swake]

quote:Originally posted by RecycleMichael

quote:Originally posted by zstyles
...but as mayor I do believe she used the company to further herself politically by touting her husband as bringing jobs to Tulsa just to lose them soon after being elected and no one has said anything about her trying to talk them into staying which she has a automatic "IN" via her husbands connections.

Take a breath, dude.

So according to your "facts", he planned to keep the jobs here by merging with another Tulsa firm. He was then "offered a billion more dollars" by an out-of-state company.

Honestly, would you turn down an extra billion dollars?

even if you wanted to, would your investors let you?

[zstyles]

Never said he had plans to keep the job here..his wife touted the jobs that he brought to the City...no wouldn't turn down an extra billion dollars that is business and wouldn't be a good business decision..

I just know that "he" and the other executives  was never about the jobs..they were about making a buck just like they had done for the investment firm for the other companies they did the same thing for...but of course politically it was spun in their families favor...which turned into the mayor winning and getting to the next level of "running the company" All the executives were paid nicely..retired and moved out of Tulsa..which is what we are seeing now with the jobs being brought back to St. Louis and the shop closing down in Tulsa. Nothing wrong with ANY of this except the fact the politically it was used for a "good for her" slap on the back during the race.

[RecycleMichael]

Did you vote for her based on the fact that she helped bring those jobs?

[joiei]

That had nothing to do with the way I voted.  I didn't even consider the jobs for Tulsa when making my decision.