The Need For Simplification of Local Economic Development Concepts
I am a proponent of employing the latest academic and think tank research, of pushing the envelope with respect to conventional thinking and I openly ebmbrace new ideas and concepts. The field of economic development was reduced to civic boosterism (not that there is anything wrong with that) for so long that the intellectual energy has been sucked from the field...........
Although I find it a bit trendy to develop new concepts just for the sake of new concepts(read: gazelles, economic gardening etc) when someone like Richard Florida(http:/www.creativeclass.com) does offer an intellectually sound and well-reasoned concept, as he so often does, I am genuinely excited. I feel the same way when I read New Urbanist publications, although I do not embrace all that is advocated---there can be no denying that Andres Duany is a big thinker--and I like big thinkers. He is also a big personality and I like big personalities(that is personality--as opposed to celebrity. Embrace I do not, the community revitalizer as celebrity.)
My commitment to intellectual integrity, new ideas, creativity, innovation and change clearly set forth--my bona fides if you will-- allow me to scream--we complicate this field too damned much. A case that is emblematic of this unnecessary complication was made known to me yesterday when I was chatting with a potential client. His agency had an economic development study conducted a year or two ago and I inquired as to whether it was posted on line. He said it was so full of "charts and graphs" that it really made little sense to post it on line. He told me outright the study actually was unnecessary and that it just confirmed what he and his colleagues already knew.
Look the fact is we conduct too many studies in the field of economic development and commercial district revitalization and perform too little in the way of implementation. My position should hardly come as a shock to those who know me, I have been saying this for years. I conduct studies--but only studies that will lead to change and implementation. I spent too many years toiling in the trenches of economic development in down and out cities not to believe in implementation and transformation. Study until the cows come home--but eventually you have to pull the trigger and implement!!
Look we hemorrhage money in economic development. We conduct studies, ad campaigns, offer unnecessary incentives and do not take care of the basics. That unfortunately does not sound like a "BIG IDEA" --but it is an uncommon one.
Again I say we need to return to the basics. Yes of course we acknowledge we live in a global economy with a
technological imperative and that emerging technologies are changing our lives daily. Yes, creativity matters--far more than most economic development people will admit. That said, I return to the old saw, " THINK GLOBALLY--ACT LOCALLY." Before the next ad campaign, or before you coin the next trendy phrase to describe something we have already been doing for decades and decades--long before I was born(just for the record)--take care of the economic development basics.
Allow me to offer some of those basics as I see them. First, make sure that you address education. Without quality public education, you will never have quality local economic development. If you think education is not an economic development issue you are in the wrong field. Do not allow the local school department to tell you they have things well in hand, chances are --THEY DON'T!!
Take care of the businesses you have and help them innovate. If that means spending your money on innovative management consultants to help drive local innovation--do it--nobody cares about that ad campaign anyway. Improve every single commercial district in your community and have a manager for each one. I do not care which approach you use, but you need to save the historic buildings in the commercial districts, create markets for those districts, create excitement and promotional activities in those areas make sure they are clean, safe and well served by public transit.
Speaking of public transit, make sure you have a quality public transportation system--period. Take care of housing the less fortunate by rehabilitating existing houses, using infill housing and building new housing, if necessary, ensure that it is quality housing. The least fortunate among us deserve it and the community will benefit.
While you are at it, do not forget the neighborhoods--make sure they look god for crying out loud. Your local Community Development Department should not just be addressing low-income housing, but all housing to make sure that neighborhoods look good. Moreover, the police need to be employing the latest approaches to ensure the safety of residents in every neighborhood. If you don't think public safety is an economic development issue-the just look at the surveys conducted of corporate site selectors and CEOS about location--education and public safety are on that list under QUALITY OF LIFE.
Make sure there is cultural and artistic imperative at work. I worked on a Cultural Plan in a community back in 1986 as a staffers and it contributed substantially to the economic viability of the community. It's not fluff, but rather substantive economic development. Make sure your community has access to higher education--whether it is a community college or a division of a four-year school. This allows people to stay in the community and further their education at the same time. The residual effects of an institution of higher learning are too numerous to mention here.
Endeavor, if you will, to make your community a CENTER OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP. Bring together as many regional providers of entrepreneurship support services as you can and reach out to those with creative ideas to help them get businesses started. This will yield far more than any ad campaign touting your community as the best place to do business.
Work with the real estate community to develop zoning that will encourage quality--QUALITY--new development. More schlocky town houses may pay property taxes, but in the long run will have a deleterious effect on the community. You should be thinking about REDEVELOPMENT RATHER THAN NEW DEVELOPMENT whenever possible anyway. Fix what you have , before you build new. While you are at it, make the community walkable and create nodes of development that allow all citizens to be within walking distance of services that matter. This is ignored by so many communities that it is frightening.
Finally, (while thinking locally) think regionally. Nothing quashes creative economic development programming faster than parochial thinking. Work with other cities and towns in the region to share ideas, to share resources, to create regional plans and transportation systems. Reach out if you have to ---but do not stay stuck in your own community--even if that community is a major city.
I have bored you long enough----and this list is hardly exhaustive(although you are probably exhausted at this juncture). Unfortunately none of what I have suggested today is a grand idea---they are a series of small concepts that if strung together will have your community walking down the road(make that the sidewalk) to economic viability.
Chuck D'Aprix
http://www.economicvisions.com
http://www.downtownproject.com
http://www.DAPRIXBLOG.com
Although I find it a bit trendy to develop new concepts just for the sake of new concepts(read: gazelles, economic gardening etc) when someone like Richard Florida(http:/www.creativeclass.com) does offer an intellectually sound and well-reasoned concept, as he so often does, I am genuinely excited. I feel the same way when I read New Urbanist publications, although I do not embrace all that is advocated---there can be no denying that Andres Duany is a big thinker--and I like big thinkers. He is also a big personality and I like big personalities(that is personality--as opposed to celebrity. Embrace I do not, the community revitalizer as celebrity.)
My commitment to intellectual integrity, new ideas, creativity, innovation and change clearly set forth--my bona fides if you will-- allow me to scream--we complicate this field too damned much. A case that is emblematic of this unnecessary complication was made known to me yesterday when I was chatting with a potential client. His agency had an economic development study conducted a year or two ago and I inquired as to whether it was posted on line. He said it was so full of "charts and graphs" that it really made little sense to post it on line. He told me outright the study actually was unnecessary and that it just confirmed what he and his colleagues already knew.
Look the fact is we conduct too many studies in the field of economic development and commercial district revitalization and perform too little in the way of implementation. My position should hardly come as a shock to those who know me, I have been saying this for years. I conduct studies--but only studies that will lead to change and implementation. I spent too many years toiling in the trenches of economic development in down and out cities not to believe in implementation and transformation. Study until the cows come home--but eventually you have to pull the trigger and implement!!
Look we hemorrhage money in economic development. We conduct studies, ad campaigns, offer unnecessary incentives and do not take care of the basics. That unfortunately does not sound like a "BIG IDEA" --but it is an uncommon one.
Again I say we need to return to the basics. Yes of course we acknowledge we live in a global economy with a
technological imperative and that emerging technologies are changing our lives daily. Yes, creativity matters--far more than most economic development people will admit. That said, I return to the old saw, " THINK GLOBALLY--ACT LOCALLY." Before the next ad campaign, or before you coin the next trendy phrase to describe something we have already been doing for decades and decades--long before I was born(just for the record)--take care of the economic development basics.
Allow me to offer some of those basics as I see them. First, make sure that you address education. Without quality public education, you will never have quality local economic development. If you think education is not an economic development issue you are in the wrong field. Do not allow the local school department to tell you they have things well in hand, chances are --THEY DON'T!!
Take care of the businesses you have and help them innovate. If that means spending your money on innovative management consultants to help drive local innovation--do it--nobody cares about that ad campaign anyway. Improve every single commercial district in your community and have a manager for each one. I do not care which approach you use, but you need to save the historic buildings in the commercial districts, create markets for those districts, create excitement and promotional activities in those areas make sure they are clean, safe and well served by public transit.
Speaking of public transit, make sure you have a quality public transportation system--period. Take care of housing the less fortunate by rehabilitating existing houses, using infill housing and building new housing, if necessary, ensure that it is quality housing. The least fortunate among us deserve it and the community will benefit.
While you are at it, do not forget the neighborhoods--make sure they look god for crying out loud. Your local Community Development Department should not just be addressing low-income housing, but all housing to make sure that neighborhoods look good. Moreover, the police need to be employing the latest approaches to ensure the safety of residents in every neighborhood. If you don't think public safety is an economic development issue-the just look at the surveys conducted of corporate site selectors and CEOS about location--education and public safety are on that list under QUALITY OF LIFE.
Make sure there is cultural and artistic imperative at work. I worked on a Cultural Plan in a community back in 1986 as a staffers and it contributed substantially to the economic viability of the community. It's not fluff, but rather substantive economic development. Make sure your community has access to higher education--whether it is a community college or a division of a four-year school. This allows people to stay in the community and further their education at the same time. The residual effects of an institution of higher learning are too numerous to mention here.
Endeavor, if you will, to make your community a CENTER OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP. Bring together as many regional providers of entrepreneurship support services as you can and reach out to those with creative ideas to help them get businesses started. This will yield far more than any ad campaign touting your community as the best place to do business.
Work with the real estate community to develop zoning that will encourage quality--QUALITY--new development. More schlocky town houses may pay property taxes, but in the long run will have a deleterious effect on the community. You should be thinking about REDEVELOPMENT RATHER THAN NEW DEVELOPMENT whenever possible anyway. Fix what you have , before you build new. While you are at it, make the community walkable and create nodes of development that allow all citizens to be within walking distance of services that matter. This is ignored by so many communities that it is frightening.
Finally, (while thinking locally) think regionally. Nothing quashes creative economic development programming faster than parochial thinking. Work with other cities and towns in the region to share ideas, to share resources, to create regional plans and transportation systems. Reach out if you have to ---but do not stay stuck in your own community--even if that community is a major city.
I have bored you long enough----and this list is hardly exhaustive(although you are probably exhausted at this juncture). Unfortunately none of what I have suggested today is a grand idea---they are a series of small concepts that if strung together will have your community walking down the road(make that the sidewalk) to economic viability.
Chuck D'Aprix
http://www.economicvisions.com
http://www.downtownproject.com
http://www.DAPRIXBLOG.com
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