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Comparing Phoenix and Philadelphia
Tuesday, June 22, 2004 Here's a good example of the positive role journalism can play in economic development. The Arizona Republic in Phoenix has completed a series of articles comparing Phoenix and Phildaelphia. (Both cities have about 1.5 million people.) The purpose: uncover the lessons that an older industrial city has for a younger city. The Philadelphia Story: East Coast city can teach Phoenix Eds and meds' the latest hope to revive moribund economy 2 cities, 2 climates for entrepreneurs Proud tradition slows Philly economy Old, decaying neighborhoods experiencing rebirth Philadelphia government: 'Corrupt and contented' Mexican migration viewed as hope for expanding Philly's population Reinvestment, partnerships remade downtown Philly into a place to be Years of political neglect stirred exodus from Philadelphia posted by Ed Morrison | Pennsylvania takes a step toward tax reform Monday, June 21, 2004 A governor's commission has released its interim report calling for a braoder tax base (translation: fewer loopholes) and lower rates. This approach is the most sensible when it comes to economic development. Do away with tax incentives that selectively erode the tax base and undercut horizontal equity. (Translation: treat similar firms with the same tax rates.) Read more. The state chamber of commerce is not satisfied, though. They want something more from the governor. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Chicago's mayor presses a "green" agenda Mayor Daley in Chicago has made a bold commitment to green building technology. It's a smart move as a way of postiioning redevelopment in his city. Read more. He is not alone. Citizen groups in Cleveland and Pittsburgh are also embracing green building design. In Cleveland, EcoCity Cleveland shapes the agenda. Sustainable Pittsburgh serves the same function in that city. Focusing on environmentally sensitive design represents an important strategy for revitalizing older industrial areas. (Brownfield reclamation is part of the same approach.) As metro regions sprawl, we are creating less efficient cost structures under our metro economies. We are building new, more dispersed infrastructures to support lower population densities. Our "social overhead" is increasing: more roads, water lines, fire departments, and so on for a given level of economic activity. Mayor Daley's strategy represents a positive alternative. posted by Ed Morrison | Economy Watch Sunday, June 20, 2004 Here's are the best articles I came across last week on the state of our economy: Truckers Face Bumpy Economic Road Bush, Democrats spar on jobs Rosy US outlook as jobless claims fall and wholesale prices rise Fed Sees U.S. Economy Moving Forward in Its Report Terror attacks top risk to U.S. economy-CFO survey Other views: Asia's shifting sense of U.S. power Reuters Summit-Bush, Kerry advisers clash on economy Greenspan says economy strong but susceptible to many factors, including terror posted by Ed Morrison | Presidential Commission recommends NASA reforms Saturday, June 19, 2004 The Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy released its report last week, and it is recommending major reforms in the way NASA does business. If followed, the Commission's recommendations will result in major shifts in the way in which NASA's field centers operate. Read more. Download a copy of the report. Go. posted by Ed Morrison | NSA will invest in Maryland start-ups Geography matters. The National Security Agency announced last week that it will commit several million dollars to Maryland-based start-up companies. The commitment will come in the form of both investment and purchases. The NSA also wants to push technology out of its Fort Meade facility into the commercial sector. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Kansas City will launch manufacturing pilot The National Association of Manufacturers has selected Kansas City as a pilot site for its "Dream It Do It" initiative. The pilot program will be designed to attract students to manufacturing careers, create a network of manufacturing training initiatives, and promote manufacturing as a core economic development strategy. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Tech transfer can be improved in Maine A conference in Maine this week explored how technology transfer channels in Maine work and how they could be improved. View the program. Catherine Renault, program manager at the Center for Technology Applications at the Research Triangle Institute in North Carolina, recently wrote a report on improving technology transfer in Maine. In her view, the networks between business and university researchers are not strong enough to commercialize research. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Virginia launches rural broadband initiative Governor Mark Warner announced a $12 million plan to provide braodband access to rural Virginia. The network will connect five cities, 20 counties and 56 industrial parks. The Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission and the U.S. Department of Commerce are each contributing $6 million. Construction is scheduled to begin in October and expected to be completed by January 2006.Read more. Good quote from the governor: "As important as the railroad was 100 years ago, as important as the interstate was 50 years ago, I believe they will both pale in the 21st century to making sure you have this broadband connectivity." posted by Ed Morrison | Resource: Building entrepreneurship in small communities Here's a concise, practical guide to best practices for building entrepreneurship in smaller communities. The Kauffman Foundation drafted the report: Grassroots Rural Entrepreneurship, Best Practices for Small Communities. Download a copy. Go. posted by Ed Morrison | The other side of outsourcing Last week, the Massachusetts Alliance for Economic Development sponsored meeting that explored a different hypothesis about outsourcing: Today, some of America's best-paying jobs may exist because of outsourcing. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Peoria positions its incubators Peoria, IL is moving ahead with an incubator targeted to women-owned and minority-owned businesses. This project represents an effort to broaded opportunities in the city. A high tech incubator is well underway, but that project does not reach critical segments of the community. Read more. This approach underscores an important point. Building an entrepreneurial culture in a metro area does not happen with one initative. Instead, it represents a series of interconnected initiatives to build a network that supports entrepeneurship and innovation. posted by Ed Morrison | Regional collaboration in the Mon Valley? Getting regional cooperation in the Monongahela River Valley near Pittsburgh is tough. The economy is down, and the region has not recovered from the first wave of globalization that hit the region in the 1970's. Mayor John DeLuca of Monessen, PA (population: 8,700), has been trying to rally his colleagues to form a council of governments. Last week, he managed to persuade 10 or 22 river communities to attend a meeting. Supported by David Lewis, an architecture professor from Carnegie Mellon University, DeLuca is showing the type of determination that's needed to move regional economic development forward. As DeLuca noted at the meeting: " "We feel our problems are all the same. Our roads are bad, our buildings are dilapidated, tax bases are shrinking while labor and other costs are going up,. We need to work together to find ways of sharing these burdens if we are going to survive." Regional approaches to economic development are not easy. But in a global econoomy, they are the only path forward. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Winston County faces up to the youth challenges Winston County, MS is facing the challenges that many other counties face, but refuse to acknowledge: high dropout rates and young people unprepared to meet the challenges of a knowledge-based economy. The facts are simple: a high school diploma is no longer a ticket to the middle class. And dropping out of high school represents a life time disability. Mary Snow, a former teacher, put the challenge clearly. "Along with the juvenile crime and drug issues, we're facing a 30 percent dropout rate and youth who are not able to meet the minimum ACT requirements for getting into college. We're at a critical stage in providing a skilled workforce for business development. Industry has changed a lot over the years. "Our youth need help staying in school and developing into a workforce that is capable of moving this county into the next decade. I used to look at a classroom, and I was a teacher, and think my class was only as strong as the weakest member. Today, I look at our county and believe that Winston County is only as strong as its poorest, weakest child." Read more. In Georgia this week, a symposium addressed the same issues. According to Georgia Southern University, drop-outs are costing the state $17 billion in social services. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | North Carolina child care report North Carolina is a leading state when it comes to thinking about child care as a critical industry for an innovation economy. Eleven years ago, former governor Jim Hunt launched Smart Start, an initiative guided by the vision that every child would enter school healthy and prepared. In a short-sighted move, North Carolina legislators have been cutting appropriations for Smart Start over the last three years, even as they have considered new incentives for companies. Investments in early childhood care are critically important for economies that run on brainpower. You can learn more about the economic impacts of early child care from this site. The report released last week represents an effort to educate the legislators on the need to expand investments in early child care. Read more. You can download the report from this page. (Free registration required.) You can see how your state ranks in preschool education from this site. posted by Ed Morrison | Resource: Report on education and economic development The Knowledge Foundation has released a report on education and economic development. Not surprisingly, the report, Public Schools and Economic Development: What the Research Shows, concludes that high quality public schools can help make states and localities more economically competitive. This report is part of a broader reframing of the role education plays in a knowledge-based economy. Instead of thinking of education as a government service, we need to start thinking of education as an investment with direct economic returns. Investments in education at all levels build brainpower. Download a copy of the report. Go. posted by Ed Morrison | Export report for the Southern states At its annual meeting last week, the Southern Growth Policies Board released a report on exporting. The report finds that the Southern states are exporting at a rate below the national average. Read more. Download a summary of the report. Go. (The full report is not yet availabe on the Southern Growth Policies Board web site.) Read a perspective on the report from Alabama. Go posted by Ed Morrison | Rural counties need to collaborate That's the message that came from the last session of the annual meeting of the Southern Growth Policies Board held in Oklahomna City last week. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Northern KY Triange development starts Developers broke ground last week on the first major development within the Northern Kentucky Technology Commercialization Triangle. Campbell County, the state Office of the New Economy and Northern Kentucky University are promotioing the development to lure knowledge-based businesses to Northern Kentucky.Read more. Learn more about the project concept. Go?. Northern Kentucky University is suipporting this development with the Institute for New Economy Technologies. Learn more about the Institute. Go posted by Ed Morrison | Wyoming launches entrepreneurship pilot Goshen County in Wyoming has launched Planned Approach to Community Entrepreneurship (PACE) in an effort to build entreprenurship netowrks inthe local economy. The initiative represents a joint venture between the Goshen County School District, Eastern Wyoming College and Goshen County Economic Development. This initiative represents the type of collaboration that more communities will be exploring. EDPros have bascially three strategies to build their economy: recruit new companies, help existing companies expand, and support new companies. More and more communities -- especially in rural areas -- are moving resources from the first strategy to the other two. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Arizona moves to expand Mexican trade From now until September, a wroking group of the Arizona-Mexico Commission will be identifying opportunities for Arizona to expand its trade with Mexico. Go. As the article points out, developing trade relationships takes time. Tucson has spent 3 1/2 years developing its connections with Ottawa. (Learn more about the Ottawa/Tucson connection.) As one EDPro notes: "We need to build a brand for Arizona in these new markets." posted by Ed Morrison | Toyota in San Antonio: How many jobs? An economist at the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas has raised questions about how many jobs the new Toyota truck plant in San Antonio will generate. The big question: how many suppliers will open around the plant? No one disputes that the plant itself will generate 2,000 jobs. The state comptroller's office estimates that suppliers to the plant will generate another 10,000 jobs. The University of Texas at San Antonio's Institute for Economic Development estimates that there will be about 5,300 supplier jobs. The Fed economist estimates the supplier jobs will be more like 2,000. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Denver's international economy According to a report released last week, 9.5% of the jobs in Denver's metro economy are tied to the global economy. The researchers estimated the number of jobs from foreign companies located in Denver. They added an estimate of the number of jobs tied to exports. They then applied a multiplier to this base. Read more or download the report. posted by Ed Morrison | Iowa Values Fund in the ditch Friday, June 18, 2004 On Wednesday, Iowa's Supreme Court has struck down the legislatio that created the Iowa Values Fund. This seven year initiative is designed to pump $500 millionn into the state's emerging innovation economy. The sticking point now: The fund has already made financial commitments to a range of companies. The goveror and legislative leaders are now trying to scramble to fix the damage. The original legislation included provisions that Reppublicans in the legislature wanted, buyt the governor opposed. These items included a tax cut and regulatory reform. The governor used a line item veto to eliminate them. The Supreme Court held that the governor's veto violated the state's constitution. Read more. Article 1 and Article 2. Visit the Value Fund site. posted by Ed Morrison | Turning Arizona State into a catalyst for growth Tuesday, June 15, 2004 Entrepreneurial college and university proesidents are becoming a bigger factor in economic development. Here's a profile of President Michael Crow of Arizona State University. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Resource: Measuring performance Monday, June 14, 2004 Keeping score is a tough challenge for economic development professionals. Don Iannone passes along this web site as a good resource to get started. View the site. posted by Ed Morrison | Economy Watch Sunday, June 13, 2004 Here are the best articles I came across this past week. Gas prices taking toll on economy Economy isn't working for teens Consumer confidence climbs U.S. import prices surge, jobless claims rise G8 leaders spar over global economic risks Online Sales Surged In '03 posted by Ed Morrison | Blue Ridge Angel Investor Network Saturday, June 12, 2004 Another angel firm has formed, this one in Asheville, NC. This group is interesting, because it it's operating in rural Western North Carolina. Learn more about The Blue Ridge Angel Investor Network (BRAIN). Go. BRAIN is part of a leading edge entrepreneurial network that EDPros are designing and building in Western North Carolina. Learn more about the work of the Blue Ridge Entrepreneurial Council. Go. posted by Ed Morrison | Chambers in the Triad coordinate legislative priorities The chambers in the Triad region of North Carolina demonstrate one of the important benefits of collaboration: Defining a clear legislative agenda. For the second year, 22 chambers in the region, covering 12 counties, have submitted a unified agenda to their 33-member delegation. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Louisiana struggles to get stuff right Economic development in Louisiana is still having trouble getting stuff straight. First, the state invested $1.2 million in a television football network that never really got off the ground. (It has managed to produce a program on LSU football, though.) Next, the state invested $600,000 in another start-up, Trans Caribbean Airways. State officials thought the airline would start offering flights between New Orleans and the Caribbean destinations. The airline is broke, and state officials can't get in contact with the airline. Next, it turns out that the State has $71 million in unused worker training funds. Let's hope Governor Blanco's administration can start to strighten out this mess. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Michigan boosts international efforts The Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) will be expanding its international efforts. MEDC plans to expand the activities of its international division that looks for both foriegn market opportunities for Michigan companies and inward investment opportunities. Michigan's international program operates with a ten person taff and offices in Shanghai and Mexico City. In addition, MEDC supports the Michigan Global Partnership. The Partnership runs alongside the state's international business attraction activities. It represents a collaboration of MEDC with 20-plus companies and 30 local economic development agencies marketing Michigan to foreign prospects. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Ohio's Third Frontier Network As EDPros, we need to be developing quality, connected places. In Ohio, the Third Frontier Network is a state initiative to connect colleges, universities, and K-12 schools through a dedicated high-speed fiber-optic network. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Bennington, VT discusses strategy If you are an EDPro ina a rural county, you may be interested in followng this story. Citizens in Bennington County, Vermont discussed a short, 35 pge economic strategy last week. The story caught my eye because it sounds many of the important themes that we need to underscore: the importance of education to economic development; the emergence of sustainability as a key driver of business development; an increasing emphasis on collaboration; and the growth of global connections. There may be some good lessons here. For example, Vermont may be a good model for developing foreign markets for value-added agricultural products. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Iowa EDPros head for New Zealand More and more economic development oprganizations are building up their global connections. Here's a story out of New Zealand. A delegation from Iowa has headed for New Zealnand to develop new connections between New Zealand and Iowa's emerging biotech businesses. The connection came through serendipity. A member of the state's Economic Development Board lived in Auckland from 1990 to 1994. She decided that New Zealand was a potential market for Iowa's biotech companies, and she followed through on the idea. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Pennsylvania EDPros launch Smart Market brand As I reported in an earlier post, an eight county region in southcentral Pennsylvania has launched a new brand: The Smart Market. Here's a good quote from the launch event: "Economic-development expansions occur on a regional basis and are not confined to geopolitical boundariies. Companies first look at regions for the attributes they offer, such as work force, transportation systems, utilities, services, recreation and culture. By branding our region, we are conforming to the way companies think about local economies." That's from EDPro Robert McNary, president of the Lebanon Valley Economic Development Corp. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Web Watch: Missouri's new job site Missouri's Department of Economic Development has invested $600,000 to develop and launch a new web site. Greathires.com connects employers with potential employees. As job seekers register on the site, they choose from menus of words and phrases that are identical to those used by employers. The goal is to allow job hunters and employers to match up more quickly. We'll be seeing more of these types of sites in the future, as EDPros rescognize the importance of brainpower in driving their economy. Visit the site. posted by Ed Morrison | Fort Wayne venture fund launches A Fort Wayne-based venture fund has assembled $500,000 in funds for early start-ups. The goal is $1.2 million. The Imagineer Fund is designed to assist technology-based businesses. The fund is designed to fill the void in seed and pre-seed financing for entrepreneurs developing new technology. Investment will be made in for-profit businesses with new technology that promise rapid growth. Investments will typically be very early stage (seed or pre-seed) in increments of $5,000 to $15,000. Read more. The Imagineer Fund is part of a broader strategy to design a more flexible, responsive system of financing in Northeast Indiana. Learn more. posted by Ed Morrison | Maryland builds hot spots on I-95 Friday, June 11, 2004 Maryland has started to implement wireless hot spots at welcome stops along the Interstate 95. Smart move. With a relatively small investment, the state is building the state's brand effectively. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | The biotech buzz Wednesday, June 09, 2004 Skeptics (realists?) point out that biotech business development is a very long haul. Despite the fact that 29 states have formal biotech plans, the industry is still relatively small. Total revenues are about $30 billion and total employment is only 200,000. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Web Watch: Cleaning up the air Environmental groups have launched a new effort to clean-up coal-fired power plants. They have produced a report and web site to reinforce their campaign. View the web site. Go. posted by Ed Morrison | Georgia uses the global stage Georgia's leadership used the G8 Summit this week to position the state on the international stage. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Resource: Renewable incentives database Tuesday, June 08, 2004 Here's a good resource that covers the state incentives for renewable energy. Go. posted by Ed Morrison | Resource: State bioscience reports released BIO 2004 is underway this week, and the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) has released a new report on the state of biosciences. Completed by Battelle Memorial Institute and the State Science and Technology Institute (SSTI), the report finds that states are broadly committed to bioscience development. States are, however, learning the importance of specializing in specific sub-sectors. Download the SSTI report. The Milken Institute has also released a report on biotechnology development. According to this report, only a small number of metro areas are succeeding in developing a viable cluster. Download the Milken report. posted by Ed Morrison | Wisconsin group forms new manufacturing alliance Advocates for manufactuing in three counties in Wisconsin have formed a new manufacturing alliance. The group is designed to pursue a series of initiatives to strengthen the manufacuting base within the three counties. Read more. Ned Hill, an expert on manufacturing from Cleveland State, helped kick off the new alliance. Ned has been a tireless advocate of manufacturing, and he's a good speaker on the subject. (Ned and I sit on the board of the West Side Industrial Retention and expansion Network.) posted by Ed Morrison | Economy Watch Sunday, June 06, 2004 Herre are the articles on the economy that I found interesting lst week. White House's taxing dilemma Time to welcome China to the G8 table Job growth leads to hints of interest rate hike U.S. payrolls add 248,000 during May China Must Float Currency for New Status U.S. Service Jobs Up, Productivity Strong posted by Ed Morrison | Forming connections between India and the NC Triad region Here's a really smart idea. The vice chancellor for research and economic development at North Carolina A&T is developing research alliances with Indian Institute of Technology, the leading technology university in India. By building research alliances, he will start the process of forming the ties that may lead to foreign investment in the Triad region. Learn more. posted by Ed Morrison | Arts as an economic development strategy To be competitive in today's economy, communities must integrate physical planning and economic development. Why? Because smart people can live anywhere, and they will chose to live in quality, connected places. These shifts mean that arts play a different and more central role in economic development. In the past, economic development professionals viewed the arts as part of a community's "quality of life". True enough. But now, the arts play at least three other roles. One involves physical development. The arts community often provides the leading edge of development for downtown areas. Theaters, museums and festivals all provide anchor investments in a downtown. This is the strategy that Mesa is following. In this case, the arts community often serves to reduce the perceived or actual risk of real estate development. Go. But the arts have at least two other important roles in economic development. The arts can form a base for creative businesses, such as advertising and creative digital media. This strategy emerged in the late 1990's in the UK, when the government published a report on the "creative industries cluster". Now, you can see how the creative industries have become key strategic thrusts for London, Edinborough, and Northern Ireland. (See, for example, the Creative London web site. By 2002 or so, the New England Council took up the call and began to focus on the creative industries in New England. Providence, RI is using the arts strategically in this way. Finally, the arts play an increasingly important role in developing brainpower. This aspect of the arts and economic development is more difficult to document. It has its roots in the explosion of brain science in the 1990's. We have come to learn that arts education plays a critical role in brain development, especially in early childhood. posted by Ed Morrison | Professor Florida catches a few spears in Michigan Richard Florida spent some time defending his theory of economic development during a conference on Mackinac Island, MI. He's got a message that's a bit skewed. He's spending too much time defending odd notions about the connection between economic development and the gay community. While the content of his theory leaves some people scratching their heads, Florida is right about one point: Top-down economic development plans are virtually impossible to implement. The challenge is to design new approaches to economic development that rely on networks, distributed communities of practice, and open civic dialogue. Read about Florida's comments. posted by Ed Morrison | Angel group forms in Western Michigan A new angel investment group is forming in Western Michigan. The group will focus on investments that range from $200,000 to $1.5 million. The group is also focusing on three counties: Kent, Ottawa and Muskegon, aroundd Grand Rapids. Read more. Visit the web site. Go. posted by Ed Morrison | Incubators popping up in the Charlotte region Communities around Charlotte are focusing on building incubators as a strategy to boost the regional economy. While the strategy makes sense, incubators are more than real estate deals. The key is to offer services that extend the social networks of entrepreneurs in the region. These incubator projects look more like a fad than a strategy to me. The amounts of money are not large, and, generally speaking, cities and towns are not good promoters or operators of incubators. You need people closer to the market. Read about what is going on in the communities around Charlotte. Go. I like the GLIDE model at Lorain Community College here in Ohio. It's a partnership among the chamber, the county and the community college. Read more about GLIDE. Go. Learn more about incubators from the National Business Incubator Association. Go posted by Ed Morrison | Minnesota foundations promote regional economic development A group of foundations in Minnesota, led by The McKnight Foundation and the Blandin Foundation, are promoting regional economic development. Importantly, the foundations are working closely wiith higher education institutions in the state. The foundations provide the opportunity to align higher education resources more closely to the needs of employers. As one participant notes: "Higher education... is a critical component of regional economic development. When these institutions work closely with employers, communities and organizations like RED Group and the MIFs, we can more efficiently and effectively educate and train workers and apply research and technical assistance to economic development initiatives statewide. The fund will help foster this cooperation." Read more here and here. posted by Ed Morrison | BIO 2004 from a Massachusetts perspective BIO 2004 opens in San Francisco this week, and here's an interesting article on how the folks in Massachusetts see the opportunities. The comments suggest the limits of standard invcentives and selling to biotech companies. As one executive puts it: The major reason for us to stay in Massachusetts was the labor pool, especially skilled manufacturing labor." Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Pennsylvania governor outlines manufacturing actions Like many other states, Pennsylvania's manufacturing economy has been hit hard. Last week, Governor Rendell met with his Manufacturing Competitiveness Coalition. Last March, he held a manufacturing summit. Since that time, he has taken a number of steps designed to bolster the position of manufacturing firms in his state. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Tech park for nanotech manufacturing in upstate NY Saturday, June 05, 2004 Regular readers of EDPro Weblog know that we have been covering the development of the 1,350 acre Luther Forest Technology Campus near Saratoga. It is designed as a nanotechnology manufacturing campus. The project is part of a broader plan in upstate New York to move build a high performance technology base in nanotechnology. Public hearings are now being held on a loan package for the park. Read more. Downlad a site map. posted by Ed Morrison | Investments in medical devices: stents Who says U.S. manufacturing is dead? Drug coated stenms are a booming busness. A drug-coated heart stent is a tiny mesh tube that is inserted into clogged arteries. The drug coating helps to prevent arteries from reclogging. Indiana appears to be in the running for a new factory to produce stents. Jobs would pay about $70,000 per year. Here's an article that provides an overview of whathas been happeniung in the market. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | South Florida economic summit Friday, June 04, 2004 A huge economic summit took place this week in South Florida. About 1,200 business leaders come together to hear Governor Bush talk about the benefits of a regional approach to economic development. Palm Beach County, Broward County and Miami-Dade County started working on the collaboration last spring. The region includes 5.2 million people, which makes it about the size of Arizona. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Louisville set to evaluate the merger Louisville has become a poster child for city-county consolidation. It's good to remember, though, that the first vote on city-county merger took place in 1956. In 1982, another vote took place, and the measure failed by a small margin. Now, however, the merger has been completed, and Louisville is set to evaluate some of the consequences. Read more. Learn more about Louisville from this web site. posted by Ed Morrison | The complex job of economic development Thursday, June 03, 2004 EDPro Steve Kelley in Tucson has provided us with a good article on the complexities involved in economic development. Read it. posted by Ed Morrison | The impact of ratings Wednesday, June 02, 2004 Here's a short article from Akron that explores the impact of ratings on site selection decisions. The conclusion: While they may add some value, ratings probably do not have much of an impact on the site selection process. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Rural NC looks to homegrown revival For years, counties across the South have based their economic development strategies on branch plant recruitment. Now that that approach no longer works as well, rural counties in North Carolina are turning to local strategies to generate wealth. At the same time, state policies are not catching up with the new trend. Most state economic development policies in North Carolina are still based on recruitment strategies. Read a good overview article. Go. posted by Ed Morrison | Biotech conference set to open in SF For those of you interested in Bio 2004 in San Francisco next week, here are some recent background articles: Networking at biotech conference Other states challenging California for biotech jobs Dealmakers look to lure biotech out of California City's biotech ambition hits resistance Piedmont Triad Partnership to send delegation to biotech trade show posted by Ed Morrison | Wisconsin governor sets renewable energy goal Governor Doyle wants 10% of Wisconsin's electricity to come from renewable sources buy 2015. That goal doubles the current level of electricity from renewable resources. Read more. Doyle wants the state government to lead the effort by establishing even more ambitious goals for state government. He would like the state government to use renewable energy for 10 percent of its total electricity needs by 2006 and 20 percent by 2010. As the national power system moves toward more distributed forms of power, we will see more states and regions declaring specific goals for their regional energy systems. posted by Ed Morrison | Economy Watch Tuesday, June 01, 2004 Articles on the economy from the past week: Oil soars on Saudi concerns Consumer spending up solidly, income growth strong, good signs for economy Mideast Reform, Global Economy on G8 Agenda Is Good Economic News Really Good? U.S. online retail sales hit $114B in 2003: That figure represented 5.4% of all retail sales last year Consumer Optimism Slips in May posted by Ed Morrison | Perspectives on retail Monday, May 31, 2004 Each week, Chuck Lawson writes a column on economic development for the paper in Portland, ME. This week's column explores retail development. A good quote: "Economic development is about balance, about clear goals and long-term commitment." Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Status report on the South MDC, an economic development think tank in North Carolina, has issued its State of the South report for 2004. The report puts the South's demographic challenge in a nutshell: The black and Hispanic populations of Southern states are growing, and the young people in these groups continue to lag behind in educational achievement. If this trend is not reversed, then the South can expect to have a larger percentage of its population failing to get the education needed for 21st century jobs. Read more. You can download the report. Go. posted by Ed Morrison | Wal-Mart cracks the Chicago market Continuing its move into larger urban markets, Wal-Mart successfully managed a change in local zoning laws to open the way for its first store in Chicago. Wal-Mart's partial victory included only one of the two stores it hopes to develop. Read more. The project in Chicago is proceeding, despite a good economic report that raises serious questions about whether Wal-Mart (and by extension other Big Box retailers) really improve the economic development landscape. Here are some excerpts from the report from the University of Illinois at Chicago: "This study forecasts that Wal-Mart will displace more jobs and income than it creates. Generally, the entrance of new general merchandise stores in an urban community simply displaces existing economic activity in the service area and only rarely adds a considerable number of jobs and income to the city. In the case of Wal-Mart, the fact that it uses substantially fewer employees to generate the same amount of sales as its competitors means that it will displace more jobs than it creates. In regard to the fiscal impact, while it is estimated that the proposed store would generate a net gain in taxes for the City of Chicago, the net annual gain is minimal." Download the UIC report. Chicgo is not alone. Salt Lake City and Minneapolis are facing the same issue. posted by Ed Morrison | Get creative in Tampa Bay Young professionals in Tamp Bay are moving to build an economic development agenda around young, creative professionals. Creative Tampa Bay has released a report last week to move the agenda forward. The report claims that Tampa Bay's share of the important 25 to 34 year-old population is relatively smaller than most large metropolitan areas, ranking 47th out of the 50 top areas. The report includes the results of focus groups in five cities that explored why young professionals aren't moving in the region or staying in the region after college.Read more. Download the report. Visit the Creative Tampa Bay web site. posted by Ed Morrison | As NASCAR spreads, Indy sees opportunity NASCAR is spreading away from its traditional base in the Southeast. NASCAR has added races in Texas, California and Phoenix. Indianapolis senses an opportunity to provide a base for more NASCAR teams. Most are located in and around Charlotte. But that location makes it more difficult to get to the Western states. EDPros in Indy are preparing the ground to offer an alternative location. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Schools are urged to review incentives Local tax incentives for economic development are not free. They erode the tax base and undercut a community's ability to finance public services. (They are also not likely to have much impact on investment decisions, and they are very difficult to track in measuring results.) Not surprisingly, school officials are starting to notice. We can expect to see more stories like this one: In Columbia, MO an adviser to the local school board recommends that the board take a more active role in reviewing tax incentives for economic development. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Want a Bass Pro Shop? Be prepared to pay Bass Pro Shops have been moving into cities across the country and landing fat incentive packages in the process. In Buffalo, N.Y., Bass Pro is being offered $80 million in incentives to anchor a redevelopment of the city's empty municipal auditorium. Officials in the Tulsa suburb of Broken Arrow recently disclosed a $24 million incentive package to bring a store to a 65-acre development. All totalled, economic development incentives for Bass Pro Shops top $500 million, according to a recent report out of Oklahoma. In an age of global competition, luring fishing stores is not a very smart investment of scarce public funds. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Pittsburgh considers merging city-county economic development Now here's a good idea. Industrial cities like Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Buffalo, are carrying around too much economic development overhead. They have too many publicly financed agencies doing development work. (They also have too many other agencies doing other stuff, as well, but that's another story.) The result: relatively higher taxes. Pittsburgh and Allegheny County are reviewing the opportunity to merge their economic development departments. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Regional views taking hold in NC Triad The Triad Region of North Carolina has started to come together in new and different ways. last week, mayors of Winston-Salem, Greensboro, High Point, and Burlington took the stage for the first time to discuss how to build more regional focus to economic development efforts. Read more. In an unrelated announcement last week, universities in the Triad Region announced that they were going to collaborate on a design institute. Not being shy, they are calling the new organization the National Institute of Design. Read more. This initiative follows a recommendation of a recent strategy for the region developed by Angelou Economics. You can download the Angelou reports from this page. posted by Ed Morrison | Manufacturing offshore involves more than labor costs Here is a good article from Induwtry Week that highlights an important point: manufactuing location decisions involve more than simple calculations of labor costs. This fact is important, because it provides an insight into how U.S. manufacturers can remain competitive: proximity to market matters a lot. Manufacturing in China involves long supply pipelines. In addition, product design favors companies that are closer to the market. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Maine appoints a new director of innovation Thursday, May 27, 2004 In a smart move, Maine has created a position of director of innovation within its Department of Economic and Community Development. The new director will map the state's innovation system, including how research and development is conducted in different sectors, including private companies, the university system and nonprofit research labs. State's need to be taking a more strategic view of their research base and how to leverage this researchinto new business opportunities. Although not funded sufficiently, Maine's initiative is heading in the right direction. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Mississippi streamlines workforce development Wednesday, May 26, 2004 Governor Barbour has signed legislation to consolidate the state's administration of workforce development programs. In his first State of the State address Jan. 26, Barbour noted that a recent survey of Mississippi employers found that 94 percent said more state support for workforce training should be a top priority. Read more. Read a copy of the bill. Go. Read more background. posted by Ed Morrison | New branding initiative in SE Pennsylvania Southcentral Team Pennsylvania has launched a new branding program that includes a new logo and tag line. Covering eight countiesn, the initiative now brands the region as "The Smart Market". Learn more. Southcentral Team Pennsylvania started eight years ago to implement a business retention and expansion program. It is now the focal point of regional economic development efforts in this part of Pennsylvania. posted by Ed Morrison | Southeast Arkansas starts organizing as a region A group of leaders in Southeast Arkansas held their first summit this week. The Southeast Arkansas Economic Summit, sponsored by the Southeast Arkansas Cornerstone Coalition, focuses on a 6 county region with 100,000 people. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Anatomy of a Deal: Cabela's gets $600,000 Here's a good, critical article on the recent incentive awarded by Texas to Cabela's. It doesn't make much sense to provide these funds from the Texas Enterprise Fund. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Wal-Mart subsidies top a billion Over the past twenty years, Wal-Mart has received over $1 billion in subsidies from economic development organizations. According to the report, the largest numbers of deals were in Missouri, Illinois, Texas, California and Mississippi. Read more. Download the report. posted by Ed Morrison | Profile of a Pennsylvania incubator Monday, May 24, 2004 Here's an interesting story of an expanding incubator in Harrisburg, PA. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Economy Watch Sunday, May 23, 2004 Last week was thin for good economics articles. Here are the best ones I came across: Dismal science? Economists find forecasting fascinating G8 Ministers: Lower Oil Prices Would Help World Economy Gas Prices Spark Recession Worries Economist: Global competition strengthens U.S. posted by Ed Morrison | |
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