COMMENT OF THE DAY: HEARD IT HERE FIRST “Keep up the interesting news on the ExxonMobil property. I work for XOM and they’re telling us NOTHING!” [Insider, commenting on A First Look at the Plans for ExxonMobil’s Humongous New Corporate Campus North of Houston]
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Those who know nothing are the first to be made redundant.
@Craig: Re Comment of the Day, “Those who know nothing are the first to be made redundant.â€
Haha, yes, never stop fearing!
@ Insider: I think we snoops will be happy to oblige you in spilling some beans.
@ jg: Re Comment of the Day, “Exxon has sufficiently resurrected the 1980s suburban mall layoutâ€
So true!
The site plan does look goofy – sort of Soviet – and like a fortified medieval city.
My first thought was that a great deal of land work and infill would be necessary to build on that large chunk of river bottom, and, to insure the effort didn’t continually wash downstream, the ring road would serve as a fortified barrier, a sort of reverse/anti moat, if you will.
But in fact, security is very important to the project.
At the COH Planning meeting of 5/3/10, reasons given for asking for a variance (to not provide public thoroughfare through the tract) are:
“The applicant is trying to create a secure campus for its employees…
Providing a public street through the middle of the campus would violate the security requirements of the development…â€
Why are Exxon employers so very vulnerable? Insider, an ideas?
I work for XOM too and this is true! I’ve learned more about the project from the internet.
Most likely Exxon will institute a no weapons on campus policy. They may also bar cellphone use whilst driving on the campus as a number of other oilfield companies do. Both of these safety initiatives would be impossible to put in place if there was a public street running through the middle of the place.
This thing is reminding me of the EDS Campus of lore back when it was in the boonies.
I have bee to the XOM headquarters in Las Colinas (you can see it on Google Map’s satellite view). It too is well-fortified/isolated. I was told it was to deter protesters and corporate espionage. It’s not like they are the most popular company on the planet.
How is this any different from the old Compaq campus?
That place was a true fortress back in the day.
I know another XOM employee who has heard nothing official from Exxon.
This will be the world’s largest company’s largest campus. Doing something in front of an inhuman monolith and in so doing turning that monolith into a branded logo signifying nefarioius activity would be precisely the aim of many politicians, activisits, media, terrorists, et al.
Likewise, Exxon certainly wouldn’t want to build anything too nice for its employees. Otherwise they might be accused of enjoying the fruits of a windfall profit.