April 2010
CHANGING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PARADIGMS - WHAT WE USED TO KNOW IS NOT THE SAME
Recently I started counting the iconic car dealerships that have closed recently. I’ve heard these names on the radio for over 20 years; Mantilia Ford, Mirriam Motors, Dworkin Chevrolet, Crest Dodge to name a few. Many were impacted by the economy and by the impact of the financial markets on credit. I also thought about the other industries that have closed, downsized and changed forever; including video, music and book stores. Even big boxes have reduced their footprint/exposure to these industries. Service industries have also been impacted greatly by the internet; travel, accounting, insurance, investing as examples. I can’t even get into what has happened to manufacturing. I think Pizza and Nail Salons are safe for now but who knows!
Because of Internet shopping, I Tunes, I Pods and products like Kindle and smart phones, this is obviously not a fad. It is a major paradigm shift for business and for us. Like the music industry and digital music, we in the economic development business have to adapt. We try to fill square feet, even though this goal is permanently impacted by these factors.
Other Contributing Reality and Changing Goals:
Telecommuting
Telecommuting makes businesses more efficient, helps the economy, is better for the environment and makes the employees more productive. But ultimately it will reduce the needed square feet in some industries. It is a business driven issue so we have to pay attention and react in intelligent and productive ways.
Job Creation is the Benchmark?
Jobs are obviously critical but are they the correct measurement of success in Connecticut? We have a manufacturing company that makes the machines that makes high-tech products. They provide the town with real estate taxes on valuable personal property. Is this business less valuable because they hire less people but are more productive?
Federal and state program regulations still require jobs for dollars and ask us to create, retain and count full time equivalent jobs in exchange for money. HUD requires a minimum of one job for every $35,000 spent on economic development projects. Our state job requirements for funding, although well meaning, are soooooooooo 1980s! Why are we not considering other measurements such as productivity, health benefits for workers and reduction of carbon footprint as criteria for having access to public funding?
This sea change has happened before our eyes while our elected officials and board members focus on the “we-increase-taxes-therefore-you-need-to-generate-more-real-estate-taxes” merry-go-round. Sometimes more development cannibalizes or competes with what we already have. With apologies to some of us, the need to maintain, fill or increase square feet is something that still dominates the lives of many economic development professionals.
Even our planning ideas; i.e. Responsible growth, smart code and regionalism can’t have the impact we need when changing 235 years of “Yankee” thinking in Connecticut in one or two legislative sessions. In the meantime we should take another listen to business and challenge some of our assumptions.
So What to Do?
I don’t exactly know but we have to recognize our changing roles by listening to businesses even more and remember first of all that Business Retention never goes out of style. We need to educate our Chief Elected Officials and other public servants as well as our EDC boards. We have to educate ourselves so we can really think out of our collective boxes, even though that term sometimes seems more like a slogan than what we are able to put into practice.
The Community Builders Institute (CBI), offered by Northeast Utilities in partnership with CEDAS, offers many opportunities to explore what is relevant today and get training in a diverse number of areas. NEDA and many other organizations also offer great training on diverse topics. We have to think creatively. After all, you can’t use creative financing (I’ve been to over 100 workshops!) if you can’t or are not allowed to think creatively. Our EDC members should also try and attend CBI sessions to help them understand how challenging our jobs really are.
Finally, the theme of this year's National Conference of the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) in September of 2010 is guess what………….. ?
“New Paradigms: The Practice of Economic Development in a Changed Landscape” I love it!
Learn more about the conference.
I hope that you will join CEDAS in reinventing our thinking about what economic development means to your town. CEDAS offers scholarships to members who are motivated to grow professionally by whose budget prevents them from attending important training and conference opportunities. If you would like to attend the IEDC conference but need assistance, contact Barbara Strother at 860-446-5981 regarding CEDAS scholarship benefits.
Maybe I’ll see you at the conference.
Dale Kroop
CEDAS President
