Eco-Liberals Saw Job Force as 'Evil Empire'?

At a time when both the nation and the state of California are in dire need of
an economic boost, George Lucas came up with an entertainment business plan that
included the creation of hundreds of jobs.

Unfortunately, the employment
enhancing idea that Lucas was contemplating involved building a complex, which
was to be located in the liberal bastion of Marin County, California, a
community just north of San Francisco.

The “Star Wars” filmmaker had been seeking to undergo a significant expansion of
his media enterprise, Lucasfilm, in the form of a 269,000-square-foot
entertainment complex that was to include a 51-foot-tall mission-style compound
with two 85-foot towers, two indoor sound stages, and a large outdoor stage.
Screening rooms, guest housing, a general store, and an employee cafeteria were
also potentially in the works.

Now, courtesy of the environmentalists in
the Marin area, the would-be Lucas jobs are headed elsewhere, along with all of
the tax revenue that would have been generated.

Lucasfilm had planned to
start construction of the production facility in 2013. However, some homeowners
decided to join forces with environmentalists to stop the expansion.


Sympathetic to eco-concerns, Lucas’s company assured those who were
opposed to the project that open space would be preserved and steps would be
taken to minimize any adverse environmental impact.

Lucasfilm’s approach
to the environment was apparently good enough for the Marin County planning
commission that unanimously approved the new expansion back in February.
Opponents, though, appealed the planning commission’s decision and in March took it to the county Board of
Supervisors.

For Lucas, the appeal had evidently been the last straw, and
he would no longer be delayed.