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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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | Nebraska prepares to update incentives Saturday, May 22, 2004 Business leaders in Nebraska are continuing to discyuss how the state should update its economic development incentives. The challenge is to update the incentive strategy to move toward more knowledge intensive businesses. Read more about what is going on. Go. At the foundation, this change is far more than meets the eye. Shifting incentive strategies involves more than moving from "traditional manufacturing" (whatever that means) to "high tech" (whatever that means). Instead, the real shift should be from luring companies to educating individuals. We need to be improving our skills continuously. Yet, incentives are still based on older concepts of subsidizing investments for developers and companies. posted by Ed | Regionalism discussions in Pennsylvania Late last year, the Brookings Institution published a report on development patterns in Pennsylvania. The report has had a big impact. It has touched off a series of discussions throughout the state on the opportunites for broader collaboration. (You can download the Brookings report from this page. As I noted in an earlier post, people in Pittsburgh held an interesting conference on Friday. On the other side of the state, community leaders were working on the same issue. How do you manage no growth sprawl? Read more. posted by Ed | OneGeorgia If you are looking for a state policy to promote rural development, Georgia has come up with an interesting model. The OneGeorgia Authority provides grants and loans to spur developmentin rural counties. Last week the authority announced its latest round of awards. Read more. Visit the OneGeorgia site. Go. posted by Ed | Portland's display makers begin thinking like a cluster Portland has a cluster of digital display companies. But until recently, the companies have not come together to collaboprate. That is changing. Here's the lesson to EDPro's. A cluster organization will not form without clear value propositions. So it is interesting that the first meeting of this group focused on some clear value propositions: Networking: Create a point of contact between display industry entrepreneurs and venture capitalists who are seeking display investment opportunities; Retention and attraction: Attract new companies into the region, while supporting companies already here; Training: Work with local universities to develop technical and business curricula that will help the local display industry prosper; and Branding: Put the region on the map as a world-class center for digital display expertise, and especially, get the Society for Information Display to hold its annual symposium in Portland. These are good places to start in just about any cluster organization. Read more. posted by Ed | Maryland worries about biotech ratings California seems to be always first. Massacusetts seems to be always second. Maryland and North Carolian battle for third. So goes the biotech ratings game. Now, however, Maryland has slipped beehind North Carolina, and the criticism has begun. Read more. posted by Ed | Framing regionalism in Detroit In both Cleveland and Pittsburgh, the discussion of regionalism touches off fears that the Afgrican American community will lose power in any bargaqin is struck. Fueled by distrust, racial concerns threaten to slow down, if not derail, critical discussions on how to manage the region's economy more effectively. In Detroit, the mayor is leading the discussion in a different direction. By reaching out to surrounding communities -- including Windsor, Ontario -- Mayor Kilpatrick's leadership is triggering strong support throughout the region. Read more. posted by Ed | NASCAR buzz is building in the Pacific Northwest Communities are continuing to buzz on the possibility of a NASCAR track in the Puget Sound region. Backers of the track have released a new economic impact study to bolster their case. Read more. Read more background on the proposed track. Article 1. Article 2. Article 3. posted by Ed | Pittsburgh's regionalism discussions last week, I participated in an engaging program in Pittsburgh that explored regionalism in Southwest Pennsylvania. The University of Pittsburgh Institute of Politics, the Pittsburgh Foundation and Sustainable Pittsburgh sponsored the program. View the agenda. Sheryl Snyder, a corporate attorney from Lousville, provided us with some important insights into how Louisville, over the course of nearly fifty years, moved toward a city-county merger. (The first vote on a city county merger occurred in 1956 in Louisville.) The most significant factor in this conference, though, was the framing of the issue. The sponsors "connected the dots" among sustainability, competitiveness and regional governance. Equally importnat, they prommoted the idea that reginalism is a big, global concept. By focusing on the emerging partnership between Turin, Italy and Lyon, France (separated by 200 miles and the Alps), the conference sparked some good discussion on building collaborations between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Here's an article on what happened at the conference. Read more. posted by Ed | Northeast Ohio begins to think as a region You cannot act as a region until you begin thinking like a region. In Northeast Ohio, we are beginning to think as a region. Team NEO, a new multi-county economic development effort, represents years of effort to begin the process of thinking regionally. Bob Farley, Team NEO's top executive, gives his assessment of where the region is today. Read more. posted by Ed | Background on the Appalachian Regional Commission The Appalachian Regional Commission is one of the oldest economic development initiatives of the federal government. Here's a good overview article that provides some background on the ARC's work and the controversy that surrounds it. Read more. posted by Ed | Kentucky moves to expand rural broadband Last week, Governor Fletcher in Kentucky signed legislation to promote the depolyment of broadband in the state's rural counties. Read more. The legislation is part of a broader strategy spearheaded by connectkentucky, posted by Ed | North Carolina's bonding initiative This November, voters in North Carolina will decide whether the state should provide broader development bonding authority to local governments. Here are a couple of articles to get you up to speed on the issue. Article 1. Article 2. You can also visit the web site for the proponents of the iniative. Go posted by Ed | Pennsylvania's Growing Greener initiative Pennsylvania is on the right track with its Growing Greener initiative. Started several years ago, the strategy is designed to position Pennsylvania as a leader in sustainable development. You can learn more about the Growing Greener initiative here. Last week, Governor Rendell proposed legislation to provide a sales tax holiday for the purchase of energy-efficient appliances. The Green Tax Holiday legislation will promote the use of energy efficient appliances such as clothes washers and dryers, dehumidifiers, dishwashers, refrigerators, freezers, and room air conditioners. An average consumer pays about $1,400 on energy bills. Energy efficient applliances can cut as much as $400 off the bill. Read more about the Green Tax Holiday proposal. Go posted by Ed | Colorado's Entrepreneurial Hothouse Initiative Last week, entrepreneurs in Colorado launched a new effort to remake the entrepreneurial climat in the state. The Colorado Entrepreneurial Hothouse Initiative is being shaped by entrepreneurs in the state. last week, they held a summit meeting to define the idea more clearly. The promoters have started by recruiting a CEO leadership group. In addition, they have assembled a team of academics to research Denver's "core entrepreneurial competencies, entrepreneurial climate and resources." Read more. posted by Ed | Portland, OR is focused on creatives Count Portland as another region focusing on "creatives". One of their initial ideas, a Creative Services Center, has misfired. But thaat does not appear to have dampened the enthusiasm opf supporters. Read more. posted by Ed | California's working poor A new report explores an issue of growing importance to our national competitiveness. We are subsidizing the working poor through state programs, particularly in health insurance. Health care costs will be a key component of competitiveness in the coming decades. It's not clear that our system is working all that well. We pay a higher percentage of our national income to health care than other advanced economies. Yet, we cover less of population with health insurance. Read more about the California study. Go. You can download the report from this page (Free registration required.) posted by Ed | Early childhood industry in Louisville Early childhood continues to move into the economic development sphere. This movement is happening in two ways. First, I have seen a series of reports on the impact of early childhood development on brainpower. The basic point of these reports: early childhood education represents a good economic development investment. The Minneapolis Fed recently held a conference on this issue. Read more. The Committee for Economic Development has also issued a report on early childhood education. Download the report. Second, communities are starting to measure the economic impact of their early childhood industry. In effect they are starting to view early care as a critical cluster. Last week, Louisville released this type of report. Read more. Kansas City has also completed a similar report recently. Read more about Kansas CityGo. If you are starting to learn about early childhood issues, start here. posted by Ed | Loose rules in Florida brownfields Tuesday, May 18, 2004 It looks like communities in Florida are "gaming the system". They are designating braod areas as brownfield redevelopment areas. That designation enables local communities to tap into additional economic development incentives. There's only one problem. A lot of the areas are not contiminated at all. For example, just three of the 93 designated brownfield sites in Miami-Dade County actually are contaminated.Read more. posted by Ed | Outsourcing report is updated Forrester Research Inc. has updated it's widely quoted study on outsourcing. Forrester now expects 3.4 million U.S. services jobs to move offshore by 2015, or 6.4 percent of the jobs in the affected categories. That's up slightly from its 3.3 million job projection of last year. Read more. posted by Ed | Web Watch: Texas Energy Center The Texas Energy Center, patterned after the Texas Medical Center, is an emerging cluster of leading research organizations, large energy companies and top universities assembled to produce vital, global energy solutions. The Center has activities in ultra-deepwater, petroleum exploration and production applications; advanced natural gas technologies; clean coal, hydrogen and next generation "zero emissions" power plants; advanced automotive fuels and infrastructure; fuel cells; and wind power. Visit the Center's new web site. Go. posted by Ed | Rural areas should explore new governance models Rural areas need to embrace regional approaches to economic development, but this strategy entails overcoming difficult governance issues. The Center for the Study of Rural America at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City sponsored a meeting to explore these issues this week. Learn more. posted by Ed | Weddle moves to RTP Rick Weddle, chief executive officer of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, will be the new president and CEO of the Research Triangle Foundation. Congratulations, Rick. Read more. posted by Ed | Interview with EFM: Building civic collaboration For those of you curious about how I've been spending my time in Northeast Ohio, here's a recent interview with me in Cool Cleveland. Read the interview. We face a big challenge in economic development: building collaborations in the "civic space". By the civic space, I mean the space that exists outside the four walls of any single organization, profit or non-profit. Building civic collaborations is tricky, because there are no rules in the civic space, unless we create them. At REI, we are building the infrastructure -- the tools and the training -- we need to build these alliances. SBC Foundation is supporting our work to develop these new approaches for communities to use. posted by Ed | Economy Watch Sunday, May 16, 2004 Here are some good articles from last week. US consumer optimism hits lowest this year U.S. Treasuries defy strong data to march higher Dollar Posts Gains After Economic Data U.S. trade gap hits record high Producer Prices Up; Retail Sales Down Dollar posts gains after U.S. economic data Economic momentum begins forcing companies to hire posted by Ed | Interested in promoting angel investing? Saturday, May 15, 2004 You might check out an upcoming seminar at the University of Southern Illinois. This is the type of seminar you could launch in your community in order to explore interest in angel investing. Read more about the seminar or visit the web site. If you want to learn more about angle investing, visit the Angel Capital Association web site. The Kauffman Foundation promoted the formation of this Association and is a major supporter of this approach to economic development. Read more. posted by Ed | Greensboro searches for collaboration Greensboro faces the same problem confronting many regional economies. The ground has shifted under our feet. We can no longer focus on a narrow "local" economy. We need to "think globally and act regionally". In Greensboro, that means trying to find the right path to collaboration. The Greensboro Economic Council is suppposed to find these pathways, but it is not easy.Read more. Meanwhile, in Maine, they are facing the same challenges of deifning and executing a regional agenda. EDPro Chuck Lawton advises Mainers to focus on small steps. Read more. posted by Ed | CSI: Indianapolis? In Indianapolis, work is underway to develop a hub in forensic sciences. The anchor investment will be a $4 million lab. The Indiana Forensic Science Initiative is promoting the idea with a coordinated strategy. Yesterday, the Indiana Commission for Higher Education approved a new bachelor's degree in forensic science to be offered in the fall at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Read more. posted by Ed | School buys town for anti-terror training Now here's an interesting idea. New Mexico Tech has purchased an old mining town from Phelps Dodge. The school plans to use the town for anti-terrorism training. The town includes houses, an apartment building, a community center, a bank, a library and a bowling alley. Read more. posted by Ed | Are the winds of change sweeping Louisiana? Louisiana's got a new governor. I might be dreaming, but it appears that change may be starting to take hold in the Bayou State. For years, efforts at economic transformation have been derailed by insider, corrupt politics. Huey Long's legacy still lives on. This may be changing a little, at least in the southern part of the state. (It's too much to hope for wholesale reforms.) Here are some articles that provide hopeful signs that the conversation is shifting. Biotech researchers and entrepreneurs met last week in New Orleans. Read more. Information technology executives held a summit in Lafayette. Read more. And the Universrity of New Orleans held an entrepreneurship summit in New Orleans. Read more. Harvard University has selected the manufacturing extention program in Lafayette as one of a handful of finalists in its Innovations in Government awards. Read more. LSU, a day after the biotechnology gconference, announced formation of a venture capital fund. Read more. And Jimmy Lyles, head of the Baton Rouge Chamber, gracefully decides to move on after a distinguished career and taking the time to set the table for his successor. Read more. posted by Ed | Web Watch: Fremont, CA Some communities don't have a lot of incentives to throw at retail companies to bring them downtown. (That's a good thing.) In Fremont, CA EDPros are capitalizing on something that they do have: information. They have built a useful GIS-based web site to provide information to attract retail development. Read more and visit the site. posted by Ed | Blacksburg Electronic Village The Elecetronic Village in Blacksburg, VA represents a model for a connected rural community. People in Humboldt County, CA have begun to look at Blacksburg for some lessons on how to get connected. Blacksburg Electronic Village is a protal that serves as the starting point for citizens to get connected. It also serves as a valuable source of lessons on how to build a connected communtiy. Read more. posted by Ed | North Carolina's biotech bet Friday, May 14, 2004 North Carolina has bet big on biotech, even though some EDPros remain skeptical of its potential. The pay-off may be there, but most agree that it will be a long time coming. Currently, biotech's 18,000+ jobs account for less than 0.5% of the state's workforce. Here's a good overview of where North Carolina stands in biotech. Read more. posted by Ed | Chicago's 311 service for city services For the past five years, Chicago has been operating a 311 system. It's a one-stop call center for residents and businesses to find out about city services. This approach makes sense as a good business retention initiative. This week, Chicago held a conference to share what it had leared from its 311 service. Learn more. posted by Ed | Combatting brain drain Student entrepreneurship initiatives are one way to get smart people to stick around. Read about what is happening at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Albany, NY. Go. posted by Ed | Senators try to reverse MEP decision Fifty-two senators have written the Seecretary of Commerce to try to reverse a decision to cut drastically the Manufacturing Extension Program (MEP). Congress earlier passed legislation to cut the pgoram from $106.6 million to $39.6 million. (A number of EDPro readers joined me in a letter to the Congressional leadership last January. Our letter objected to the cuts before they passed the Congress.) The Senate letter suggests transferring funds within the Commerce Department to restore funding for MEP. Read more. You can keep up with the MEP program (including links to the letter) from the website of the Modernization Forum. posted by Ed | Northern tier of Massachusetts looks for opportunities Consultants for the northern tier of Massachusetts have identified five promising areas for growth: manufacturing, renewable energy, the arts, ecotourism, and homegrown entrepreneurial businesses. Read more. posted by Ed | The changing dynamics of site selection Thursday, May 13, 2004 During the Charleston Innovation Summit, David Ginn, head of the Charleston Regional Development Alliance, made an intersting point about how the Internet has changed the site selection process. In the pre-Internet days, Charleston would learn of projects 18 months ahead of the investment. Now, 80% of the site selectors rely on the Internet as a principal source of information. Places like Charleston learn of projects later in the cycle. When Charleston learns of a typical project, the decision is four to five months out, and Charleston is typically competing against four to six locations in two states. The point is simple: marketing cycles in economic development are compressed and intense. Communities need to be ready. posted by Ed | Charleston Innovation Summit explores strategies for the region Wednesday, May 12, 2004 For the next couple of days, I will be tied up with events in Charleston, SC. I will be attending the Charleston Innovation Summit, where business leaders will be exploring innovation strategies in the Charleston Region. The agenda gives you an insight how we are thinking about the challenges ahead. Read more. I'll pick up EDPro on Friday. posted by Ed | Incentives issues brewing in Nebraska Tuesday, May 11, 2004 Before it is even published, a KPMG study on tax incentives is drawing controversy in Nebraska. Read more. If you are interested in a listing of statewide tax reform studies, visit this page from the National Council of State Legislatures. I recently commented on the tax reform proposal prepared by Governor Fletcher in Kentucky. In my statement, prepared for the kentucky Industrial Development Council, I outlined tha main factors to consider in state taxation policy for economic development. Read more. posted by Ed | Michigan pushes regional skills alliances Suppoted by a $450,000 grant from the Mott Foundation, Michgan Governor Jennifer Granholm has announced a $1 million program to promote regional skills alliances. This initiative should be interesting to watch. For years, we have relied on a dysfunction Workforce Investment Act as a means to address training issues. A wide range of initiatives on the local level suggest, however, that employer consortia, work skills certifications, flexible career pathways, and more flexible credit transfers work. We'll see if the Michigan initiative can successfully leverage these lessons. Learn more. In another promising initiative, Michigan is moving to an on-line permitting system. The Michigan Timely Application and Permit Service will automate more than 32 different manufacturing-related permits and licenses. posted by Ed | Forbes magazine's best places for business Forbes magazine has published it annual list of the best places for business. Madison, WI heads the list of leading metros. Sioux Falls, SD heads the list for the best among smaller metros. Find your city. Go. posted by Ed | Columbia schools resist incentives Here is an increasingly common story. A local school district resists the pressure from economic developers to offer tax breaks. The school officials are right on this one. Local economic developers, citing a survey of firms, indicated that incentives ranked as the most important factor in location decisions. Before jomping on these "facts", economic developers should pause. There is very little economic evidence that incentives matter much. But let's assume that they do work. Does it make sense to add to the costs of a local school system (by adding families through successful recruitment) at the same time that you are reducing the tax base? Let's assume that you add a plant with 250 employees, and that translates into 200 families, or about 400 school age kids. If the expenditures per pupil are, say, $6,000 per year, your recruitment effort adds $2.4 million in added operating cost to the school system. (Capital costs -- the investment in new school buildings -- is another factor, but I'll exclude that.) The strategy is simply not sustainable, especially in a global economy where brainpower matters. Read about what's going on in Columbia, MO. Go. posted by Ed | The survival challenge for rural hospitals Hospitals often form the hub of rural commmunities. But anyone who has spent much time in rural areas knows, these hospitals are having a tough time surviving. Here's a good article that reviews the situation. Read more. posted by Ed | Economy Watch Sunday, May 09, 2004 The most helpful articles I found last week: The Coming Week: An Eye on Prices 300,000 new jobs added in April Economic momentum pushes companies to add new workers Deficit Threatens Economy, Greenspan Says Services Growth Hits Record, Jobs Gain Outlook Brightens as Factory Orders Up Return of an economic demon: oil shock posted by Ed | Organizing a clean-up Saturday, May 08, 2004 It sounds simple, and it's one of the easiest places to start in economic development: Organize a clean-up. Mobilizing volunteers translates vague ideas into action. This step is critically important, especially in communities where cynicism runs deep: "Nothing ever gets done around here". Too much whining can paralyze economic development. Get inspired. Read what citizens are doing in Laramie, WY; with an old mill in Maryland; in Fairbanks, AK; in Prescott Valley, AZ; in Pascagoula, MS and along the Cuyahoga River here in Cleveland. posted by Ed | Quality urban design and economic development Building quality, connected places represents one of the central challenges in economic development in the years ahead. Smart people can live anywhere. They will choose to live in regions which pays attention to the details of quality urban design. Increasingly, we will be seeing the integration of urban design and economic development in leading edge communities. In rural areas, leading communities will embrace Main Street programs. States will support rural redevelopment by promoting quality design through programs like Renaissance Kentucky. (Learn more.) In metro regions, the issues are more complex, but no less important. Here's an example of a good resource from Kansas City. Go. At the state level, we are seeing this issue emerge through the growing attention to "smart growth" or redevelopment of existing infrastructure. Here's an update, for example, of what has been happening in Alabama, Mississippi, and Ohio. (In earlier posts this week, I also noted the challenges of "no growth, sprawl" in places like Pennsylvania and quality growth in South Carolina.) Importantly, these new initiatives transcend the old divide of "pro-growth" versus "no growth". They focus on a much more important issue of how to support quality, sustainable growth. In the past month, the European Union has released an insightful report on sustainable urban design. The report explores these issues, including the costs of sprawl and the challenges of building an affordable infrastructure to support growth. You can download the report from this page. posted by Ed | Anatomy of a deal: Williams International Last year, Utah enacted an incentive to lure aerospace firms to the state, and they have used it to attract two companies so far. Here are some details on Williams International. Read more posted by Ed | Richard Florida: Maine's got a mixed message The Richard Florida Creative Class Tour hit Maine this weekend, and his assessment was mixed. Read more. My guess is that Maine should not lose sight of the other aspects of its economy, though. Both the state's marine economy and boatbuilding are likely to be larger than Florida's "creative economy". Read more. And both are also good source of higher value added jobs. posted by Ed | Civic responsibility tax on the Big Boxes Here's an idea that's likely to get some legs: a "civic responsibility tax" on big box retailers. It's based on the premise that the national chain retailers do not reinvest in their communities to a sufficient level. Read more. This grassroots trend against the national chains is building some momentum. Austin has emerged as the epicenter. In Austin, the City Council has voted funds to study the local economic imapct of big box retailers. Learn more. The effort in Austin started with an independent bookseller, Steve Bercu. He commissioned a study on the economic impact of national retail chains. Learn more. You can download the economic impact analysis here. posted by Ed | Arkansas bags a Japanese auto parts plant Friday, May 07, 2004 Eastern Arkansas lost the Toyota plant to San Antonio, but they are continuing to market aggressively. This announcement makes the fourth parts supplier tied to Toyota that has announced a location in Eastern Arkansas in the past year. Read more. posted by Ed | SCEDA focuses on clusters Cluster mania has hit South Carolina. Fueled by a recent report by The Monitor Group (Michael Porter's firm) and another report by Regional Technology Strategies (RTS), the state's economic developers are turning their attention to cluster development. Here's an update from their meeting this week. Read more. Read more about what's going on in South Carolina. Download the Monitor presentation from December 2003. Go. Download the RTS report from March 2004. Go. posted by Ed | Pennsylvania launches cyber security initiative Thursday, May 06, 2004 Pittsburgh's Digital Greenhouse has launched the Pennsylvania Cyber Security Commercialization Initiative (PaCSCI), as a new economic developemnt initiative. The goal is to accelerate the development of student ideas into Pennsylvania-based businesses. PaCSCI will provide university student teams with support as they work to move their products and ideas from the conception phase at the university to commercialization. Participating students will receive support at the university in the concept phase where their cyber security ideas are initially developed. Students will continue to receive support from PaCSCI for the research and development of their product or idea. If the product proves to be successful, the students will then receive assistance from the program to form a Pennsylvania-based company. The final step of the program will be to provide early stage funding for the new company. Read more. posted by Ed | Madison's mayor begins dialogue with business leaders Madison, WI has a lingering reputation of being "anti-business", and the mayor is out to change that. He has published his vision for the city and asked business leaders for their thoughts. Madison represents a good case for competitive mid-sized cities. Learn more about what is going on. Download the mayor's vision. posted by Ed | Quality growth for South Carolina Wednesday, May 05, 2004 A new report by the Urban Land Institute calls for a new approach to managing growth in South Carolina. The report represents the first statewide effort to guide how cities should grow. It calls for more efficient land use planning to decrease the amount of land developed. It also encourages revitalization of existing communities, mixed-use development, and the preservation of natural resources. Read more. Download the report. posted by Ed | Not enough scientists A new report alerts us to a growing challenge: not enough young people are heading into careers in engineering and science. In the past, we did not have to worry so much, because foreign students came in to fill the gap. Increasingly, though, curbs on immigration and more intense global competition are drawing these foreigners to other markets. United States ranks 17th in the share of its 18-to-24-year-olds who earn natural science and engineering degrees, behind Taiwan and South Korea, Ireland and Italy. In 1975, we were third. Read more. (Free registration required.) posted by Ed | No growth sprawl Pennsylvania is facing the worst of all worlds: no growth sprawl. To illustrate, between 1982 and 1997, Pennsylvania's population grew by 2.5 percent, but the "urbanized footprint" in the state grew by 47 percent. This pattern of growth consumed farmland and open space. The consequence is higher "social overhead": the costs of providing public services -- everything from school buses to water lines -- goes up, but the economy is not expanding. David Rusk, a noted expert in the field, offers some suggestions on what to do. Read more. posted by Ed | Medical device industry attractive to Massachusetts Tuesday, May 04, 2004 In Massachusetts, the medical device industry represents about 6% of the manufacturing base, but it is one segment that is poised for long term growth. Equally important, the state views medical devices as a key leverage for other technologies in biosciences, pharmaceutical sciences, and nanotechnology. Learn more. posted by Ed | Venture capital market is starting to turn Here's a good article from the Washington, D.C. area that explores the shift underway in the venture capital market. First quarter activity is up from a year ago. Depending on how you measure it, nationwide activity is up between 10% and 24%. Read more. posted by Ed | SW Virginia explores broadband options A number of rural communities are too small to attract private investment to deploy broadband. Added to that problem, federal and state regulations often hamper smaller communities as they try to build their own systems. A group in Southwest Virginia explored these issues in a recent Internet confernce. Read more. Article 1. Article 2. posted by Ed | Ohio commission pushes for business support of higher education A commission appointed by Ohio's governor has recommended that the business community get more engaged in impriving higher education in the state. The Commission calls for creating a private-sector-led Ohio Business Alliance for Higher Education and the Economy. The group would promote an expanded role for colleges and universities as contributors to the state's economic development. The commission's report is one of several state-level commissions on higher education in recent years. Business and political leaders are starting to connect the dots on the importance of higher education to economic development. Read more about the Ohio commission. Go. Download the Executive Summary or the full report. posted by Ed | Economy Watch Sunday, May 02, 2004 Here's what's going on in the economy. Vital Signs for the Week of May 3 Consumer spending rises modest 0.4 percent in March keeping economy rolling Economy and prices rise in U.S. Dollar Sags as U.S. GDP Comes in Below Expectations US economy grew 4.2 percent in first quarter; inflation creeps higher Insourcing Benefits For US Workers Debated High Energy Prices Could Affect U.S. Economy, Greenspan Says posted by Ed | |
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