Economic development for the rest of us
By Norm Winick
Could our economic development efforts be upside down?
Maybe the economy isnÕt developed by bribing companies to hire our people. Just
as trickle-down economics has proven to be a miserable and painful failure,
maybe the local community can best be strengthened by redirecting our money and
efforts towards improving life for the people and businesses that are already
here.
The more I have thought about economic development and
GREDA, the more I think itÕs time to disband it and try something else.
I donÕt mean replace it with another group. WeÕve
tried EDCs and Galesburg 2000s and now GREDA. Every community has something similar. In Freeport, itÕs
NIDA (Northwest Illinois Development Alliance) and they have an empty
industrial park, too, that the taxpayers bought and the good olÕ boys control
and essentially own. Some communities try economic development privately, some
publicly and some jointly (like we have, for decades) but they all have only
sporadic successes.
The first major economic development effort was
redevelopment of the shuttered Galesburg Mental Health Center — now
Hawthorne Centre. The State of Illinois gave the property and a couple of
million dollars to the City of Galesburg. Assistant City Manager Chris Lear, a
city employee, parceled it out, designed and implemented the infrastructure
improvements, sold the parcels, and gave the money to the private Knox
Development Corporation. That was the endowment that future economic
development groups would rely on. Most were public-private partnerships getting
tax dollars from the City and County and some private funds. Others, like
Galesburg 2000, were totally private but eventually merged into the EDC and
renamed GREDA.
Over the years, there have been successes and there
have been failures (not all as spectacular as Wittek) but there has been
nothing for a long time. The process is and always has been rife with
opportunities for profiteering. Consultants have been paid hundreds of
thousands of dollars by the various economic development groups and the City of
Galesburg to sell us boilerplate studies that sit on shelves. The information
we could actually use, such as why companies that rejected Galesburg did so,
was carefully guarded and never shared. They operated in secret and always had
three businesses just about to make a decision every time their tax funding was
being questioned.
The EDC developed two industrial parks on South
Henderson Street that eventually were mostly developed. They tried building a
spec building which was eventually sold to a local investor. Then GREDA decided
that we needed a ŌLogistics Park.Ķ Taxpayers in the City of Galesburg paid $4
million, well-above market price, for farmland along the interstate highway. A
realtor connected with GREDA was even paid $30,000 commission for negotiating
the purchase. Millions more tax dollars have been spent running sewer and water
lines and roads to the empty acreage. The company they hired to market it
bailed on us. The sign promoting it sits lonely along I-74.
GREDA officials also spent untold hours and lots of
money courting Chinese business. There were press conferences here with our
Chinese guests and multiple trips to China. We kept hearing that the Chinese
work very slowly and methodically. That may be true but there was never any public
sign of progress. Other local individuals who went to China have told us that the Chinese were
stringing Galesburg and dozens of other U.S. cities along. ItÕs a great game
for them. They love the attention; we want their money. Game over.
Tourism is not economic development. ItÕs nice but it
doesnÕt revive a community. Branson, Orlando and Las Vegas survive on tourism
alone, but they are the exceptions. Tourism, unless itÕs on a massive
scale, cannot save a community. It
provides low-wage service jobs and not much else.
I donÕt in any way think itÕs the people at GREDA who
are the problem. ItÕs not because they arenÕt trying. ItÕs because itÕs an
impossible job — and thankless, too. They are probably the best
incarnation of economic development folks weÕve had in a long time
— or ever. They are not nearly as secretive or arrogant as most
weÕve seen. They are not dominated by existing industries whose real motivation
is to keep away employers paying higher wages. I donÕt think they are in it for
their own personal enrichment — as were some in the past. They donÕt play
games by claiming they always have something big on the cusp. They seem
generally honest and hard working — but clueless. They are clueless
because they face an impossible task with unattainable expectations.
ThatÕs why I am proposing we give them a rest.
We need to understand why individuals or companies
might locate in one place over another. They do not go somewhere because they
want to help out a community thatÕs hurting. They go where they think they can
make more money or provide the best service to their customers.
If a company needs special incentives to be
profitable, they donÕt have a good business plan and we shouldnÕt want them. If
they are looking for lower wages, theyÕll probably end up in Mexico or China
eventually.
They donÕt go somewhere to hire the unemployed. They
want to be able to hire workers
with the specific skills they need or the ability to be trained. Old work
habits learned at a now-shuttered factory are a disincentive, not an advantage.
We also need to understand what Galesburg can offer a
business. We have all the basics that every mid-sized community has —
access to roads, rails, water and sewer, health care facilities, schools and churches.
We offer one thing that many, especially the suburbs do not offer — low
real estate prices. We have bargain-basement prices for empty industrial
buildings and very affordable homes for their employees.
GREDA has tried marketing Galesburg for years with no
success. I say itÕs time to play hard-to-get.
Redirect our efforts into making Galesburg a better
place to live. Spend money on a new library, better roads, an information
superhighway infrastructure, recreational facilities and sprucing up our neighborhoods
and parks. Tax-funded improvements may very well lead to private improvements
as well. Encourage more innovative programs in our schools. Work to get the
cultural offerings at Knox and Carl Sandburg colleges more accessible to the
community. Improve our quality of life and make us more inviting to individuals
and families.
Retirees or young couples who work over the Internet
can locate anywhere. Make them want to move here for a safe, attractive
community with all the services of a big city plus good schools, affordable
housing and a low cost of living.
We also need to make Galesburg more desirable for the
commuter. There are thousands of them, now, who drive to Peoria or the Quad
Cities every day for work. We should look at public transportation, organized
car pooling or buses or even commuter rail, to make that more affordable.
Our future might be primarily as a retirement
community, a bedroom community, or some of both. We cannot force it as much as
let it develop. If we can quell the population decline and start to grow, we
will get noticed. Retailers and restaurants will want to locate here. As the
economy recovers, other businesses might take an interest as well. If they need
some information or services to make their choice, let the cityÕs Community
Development department assist them.
It will
take time. It could take a lot of time — but the big benefit to this plan
is that it makes Galesburg a better place to live for those of us who are here.
We deserve it. We have witnessed and participated in the economic decline of
our city yet we have stayed. We wait patiently for trains and bounce along
bumpy streets without complaining. We have contributed generously to fruitless
economic development efforts for a generation. Galesburg is home to 30,000 of
us and we should try spending our tax dollars to help make it a better place
for us.
11/20/08