Some clarity
This discussion went all over the map yesterday, but since we got talking about economic development efforts, I did want to clarify one thing.
Much was made about 'The Mayor's Fund' as a tool to attract business, specifically larger businesses which have the potential to offer comprehensive benefits for their employees. Criticism was leveled at the use of said fund because it had benefitted small local businesses such as Jittery Joe's Roasters and Big City Bread's bakery expansion.
Such a fund, however, doesn't exist. What does exist is a small business development fund, which gives start-up funds to local entrepreneurs to either expand existing small business or create a new one, as long as those efforts are focused on helping low-income citizens. This fund supplies gap financing for businesses that are to create one job for someone currently considered a low-income wage earner for every $10,000 loaned.
Businesses which have benefitted include Rainbow Seafood, Pharaoh's Trucking, Dawg Pedaler and several others.
While one can make a rational argument that the Economic Development Foundation deserves more financial support from all of its partner entities, it's misleading to use this fund as a reason larger businesses, particularly manufacturing ones, are not coming here when it can't be used for those purposes at all.
Much was made about 'The Mayor's Fund' as a tool to attract business, specifically larger businesses which have the potential to offer comprehensive benefits for their employees. Criticism was leveled at the use of said fund because it had benefitted small local businesses such as Jittery Joe's Roasters and Big City Bread's bakery expansion.
Such a fund, however, doesn't exist. What does exist is a small business development fund, which gives start-up funds to local entrepreneurs to either expand existing small business or create a new one, as long as those efforts are focused on helping low-income citizens. This fund supplies gap financing for businesses that are to create one job for someone currently considered a low-income wage earner for every $10,000 loaned.
Businesses which have benefitted include Rainbow Seafood, Pharaoh's Trucking, Dawg Pedaler and several others.
While one can make a rational argument that the Economic Development Foundation deserves more financial support from all of its partner entities, it's misleading to use this fund as a reason larger businesses, particularly manufacturing ones, are not coming here when it can't be used for those purposes at all.
posted by Jmac at 6:57 AM
11 Comments:
I cited the fund to show the disparate in the actions of economic development. I believe that the type of jobs that will help reduced poverty and its negative impacts are stable jobs with a living wage and benefits. I cited the mayor’s discretionary funding to show that this does make efforts towards economic development however, those efforts create the same low wage, sans benefits jobs that keep unemployment low but one third of our residents in poverty. Heidi cited Jittery Joes and Big City bread in her campaign as examples of her efforts in economic development so I think it’s more than fair game to reference them now, paired with the abysmal efforts in the recruitment of decent jobs for the working poor, as an illustration of her priorities in economic development.
If you have some illumination that the current leadership is proactively, strategically and effectively pursuing living wage jobs with benefits, by all means, share with the rest of the class. You have said yourself that economic development is a major need uncovered by PPA. So what has been the county’s response considering they don’t need permission from anyone to increase EDF funding to a less laughable level? And that’s assuming that until PPA said we need a better approach to economic development, the Mayor and Commission were completely ignorant of the need for good, stable jobs. This is not year one for the mayor and her economic development policies. It’s year five.
I know the lending program cannot be used for small businesses. I also know that the mayor does have over 400k in discretionary funds that can be used for economic development. It is a fund used to close economic development deals.
So what exactly are we arguing? I referenced the financial supporting of coffee shops, restaurants and dawgstores, the lack of any substantive marketing presence, the lack of a communicated vision for economic development in ACC, all to illustrated misaligned priorities. My belief is that we are not proactively pursuing economic development that will alleviate poverty. I base this belief on the lack of funding, actions and the fact that the economic develop initiative that the county does pursue does not result in good jobs for the working poor.
So what exactly is your position? Are we as a county doing all we can to pursue good jobs with benefits that benefit the working poor? Do you agree with the county’s strategy for economic development and if you do, could you share whatever it is with everyone else? You’ve heard my suggestions that we distill a strategy to recruit the types of jobs we want and put real resources towards that strategy. Are you just saying I’m wrong and if I am, what are your suggestions?
Of course, when I said "the fund cannot be used with small bussinesses", I meant "atrracting large firms".
Jeff, buddy, please ... this is getting to be exhausting.
Heidi cited Jittery Joes and Big City bread in her campaign as examples of her efforts in economic development so I think it’s more than fair game to reference them now, paired with the abysmal efforts in the recruitment of decent jobs for the working poor, as an illustration of her priorities in economic development.
Actually, they were cited specifically as ways small business has grown and how entrepreneurship thrives in this community (and, last I checked, these are essential components of economic development). And, though you refuse to see it this way, these are apple-and-orange comparisons.
Plus, as an aside, it is ridiculous to criticize the Mayor and Commission for not using funds that are specifically designated to help small businesses to go out and lure larger firms (along with the fact that it's absurd and insulting to this discussion to continue to call this 'the mayor's discretionary fund' when no such thing exists).
Now your argument would also indicate that nothing has been done to lure larger businesses here, which is a laughable assertion to make. We do have trouble luring larger businesses here (of course, as a reader noted yesterday, this is a national problem and not an Athens-centric one, unless you want to lay the blame for the effects of globalization at the mayor's feet too).
In fact, we have been in negotiations with several large firms - Novartis and Solvay come to mind off the bat - and we have had trouble getting them to sign on, but this can hardly be attributed solely to a lack of a brochure as numerous other factors (support from the state, appeal of other competing sites, internal finances and policies set by the business itself, et.c) come in to play.
Economic development is not something the mayor does all by herself. There are numerous players in this from the existing business community, the leaders at the state level, elected national figures, the University of Georgia, etc. and etc. So it's more than absurd to criticize solely her for some shortcomings when there are so many players at the table.
Believe it or not, economic development is not something you snap your fingers and overnight it appears. It isn't as if the mayor could just say 'gee, let's go after Boeing today!' and within weeks they'd set up shop.
There's considerable groundwork to be done, and it includes more than printing a few hundred brochures that say 'Athens-Clarke County is swell.' It includes improving your educational system, training your workforce, improving quality of life, strengthening neighborhoods, building a good infrastructure, working with regional partners, etc. and etc.
All those things you seem so eager to criticize her for.
"they were cited specifically as ways small business has grown and how entrepreneurship thrives in this community (and, last I checked, these are essential components of economic development)."
Exactly. That's all that can be shown of her and the commission’s economic development efforts.
“Plus, as an aside, it is ridiculous to criticize the Mayor and Commission for not using funds that are specifically designated to help small businesses to go out and lure larger firms”
Good point. That’s not what I said but thanks for playing.
“this is a national problem and not an Athens-centric one, unless you want to lay the blame for the effects of globalization at the mayor's feet too”
Good dodging. You could have also blamed Halliburton.
'the mayor's discretionary fund' when no such thing exists”
Really? Because I billed it for an ad in Georgia Trend four years ago. Want to go for the bonus round.
“Novartis and Solvay come to mind off the bat”
So, what exactly did the M and C do that attracted these firms? I worked on the Solvay project. It came from the state.
“improving your educational system, training your workforce, improving quality of life, strengthening neighborhoods, building a good infrastructure, working with regional partners, etc. and etc.”
You try to make it sound like nobody cared about any of these things before Heidi. My criticism is that the M and C do not have an effective strategy for prospecting, recruiting and retaining good jobs with benefits. I believe the priorities of plans offered as economic development are wrong. My beef is about nothing but that.
Jmac, I own a business. I’ve been to the capitol and met with economic development officials. I given time, energy, money and materials to the recruitment of suitable jobs for this area.
Don’t sit in your cheap seats and pretend you have a clue about economic development. I said we need a strategy but you seem to want to harp on the idea that all I want is a brochure. I want action and all you can offer is continual talk. All I want is better efforts for better jobs.
I think your post shows perfectly what you want.
Don’t sit in your cheap seats and pretend you have a clue about economic development.
Ah yes ... let's belittle your opposition.
I take some issue with your interpretation of some of the issues, and we resort to saying 'screw you Jmac, I run a business ... what do you know about economic development?'
Well then, in the face of such a blistering retort, what can I do?
Honestly, I'm not sure what the end game is here partner.
You say 'they ain't done jack about poverty' ... and I say look at OneAthens.
You say 'they don't want to bury the hatchet with anyone' ... and I say look at the coordination orchestrated by the Mayor and Commission to get PPA and OneAthens going, as well as the uniform support from both the local government and the Chamber of Commerce to lure NABF here.
You say 'she ain't done nothing to get businesses to come here' ... and I say that Novartis, Solvay, NABF and the Navy School beg to differ.
You say 'whatever, the state worked to get those other things here' ... and I say it's true they took a lot of lead, but it's probably good that the state supports us in our efforts and is taking a lead on some economic development initiatives that we can work with them on. Besides, having a lot of folks work together is a good thing since there are so many components involved in luring good-paying jobs to our community.
You say 'a discretionary fund exists 'cause I billed an ad for one' ... and I say, perhaps, but based on my conversations with folks over there as well as other research, I come across no mention of it, only one geared toward small businesses that EDF doles out.
You say 'we need to get big businesses and high-paying jobs here' ... and I say I don't disagree, but it's a complicated process that is compounded by the struggles the manufacturing sector is facing across the nation.
You say 'way to dodge the question' ... and I say, uh, how?
You ask for my thoughts on economic development ... and, upon offering some of them as well as a what I interpreted as a level-headed response to the criticisms of the Mayor and Commission, you say 'you don't know anything about economic development.'
So, quite frankly, I'm at a loss here. You obviously won't hear out the defenses I make and are only interested in hearing everyone say 'golly Jeff, you are so right ... let's make you czar of wooing good-paying jobs to our little ole town.'
I don't own a business. I suppose it doesn't matter that my daddy and his daddy did. Or that my uncle is a regional vice president of a major company. Or that I routinely work with banks and other non-profits to encourage financial literacy in town. Or that I've engaged in a variety of other avenues related to economic development.
You run a business. Yes, indeed you do. More power to you.
I don't. Suppose I should keep my mouth shut.
We are not going to agree on the status or strategy of economic development in this town. That much is obvious. I appreciate your rebuttal but I just don’t agree.
Listen, far be it from me to say everything is hunky-dorey, but I think it's misleading to suggest there has been little to nothing going on in terms of economic development.
To say I'm content would be misleading on my part (make no mistake, I'd like to see us add staff to EDF and increase its budget even more), but I'm also not willing to throw folks under the bus who are working hard for this community and for what are, in my opinion, several things beyond their control.
One of the things that gets glossed over, but I talked about it almost to the date last year, was the lack of a trained workforce in this community. This hurt us with Novartis (it was one of the primary reasons they said they turned to the Research Triangle). As a result, we've taken steps to better educate and equip our low-income citizens (career academies to fight drop-outs and additional funding for Athens Tech to expand its resources).
A long way to go, but a step nonetheless.
"Jmac, I own a business. I’ve been to the capitol and met with economic development officials. I given time, energy, money and materials to the recruitment of suitable jobs for this area."
I own a car, doesn't make me Bill Ford.
The sad part is, Jeff is (kind of) right in part of his rant. The really sad part is that he's managed to obscure a few nuggets of truth within a cloud of black helicopters conspiracy theories and pure vitriol that would make even Chuckie blush.
This could have been a civilized discussion - heaven knows we need more of those in this community. But Jeff, c'mon. The "everything Heidi does is bad" line didn't work last year, and it's still not going to work.
I disagree with some of the stuff that the M&C have done with respect to economic development, and I definitely disagree with some of the staffing decisions made at places like CVB. (As I believe you do.)
But, there are externalities that you're not considering. Actually, I think you are aware of those externalities, but you're ignoring them in favor of throwing cheap shots at the local government. Either way, the tone of your recent comments implies that the M&C are actively trying to stifle economic development, or at the very least, they can just pull jobs out of their legislative hindquarters.
Surely someone with the extensive economic development experience you claim would know better.
The fact is, small business creates jobs too. Many times, a small business that grows up creates more jobs than bringing in an outside entity, that will import their management and supervisory (ie high-paying) jobs from existing operations. How many people does your business pay, either fulltime, part-time, or contract? Probably quite a few, because you guys are booking the clients in, from what I hear. As far as I know, we didn't lure you in from Madison Avenue, right?
So, I can't speak to the strategy that the M&C is employing; truth be told, I don't know. But I do know, from reading here and in the bidness section of the Banana Herald, that from this layperson's POV, small business seems to be doing just fine in Athens.
Can we do more? Sure we can. But maybe, just maybe, we shouldn't be putting all of the blame on the gummint. What is the private sector doing to bring in business to ACC? What is Snowden-Tatarski doing? What is the Chamber doing?
While you're talking about the M&C and EDF's budget, my question is, where's everybody else? Now, I'm optimistic that the dynamic is changing, but all I've seen out of the Chamber, for instance, is a lot of sniping and harping at EDF and DDA. EDF's budget is tiny, but who else is stepping up?
Either the private sector and the Chamber aren't lifting a finger to bring in business, or they share some of the blame with the M&C for any supposed shortfalls in that process. Since I know the Chamber is doing stuff, you can't put 100% of the blame on Heidi.
That's not to bash the Chamber; we've had enough of that too. But you can't blame one actor and not the others.
I'll start you guys off with something good for Athens and good for S-T. The BDAs on Madison Avenue just finished up with that grand circle-jerk known as Advertising Week. Let's get together and do something similar here, highlighting the marketing, branding, communications, advertising, PR, interactive, whatever businesses in the South. Maybe we'll show some of those guys how friendly ACC can be to those industries. Oh, and unlike Advertising Week, let's not make it a self-important circle jerk, and let's not invite Deutsch.
Maybe the private sector should stop relying on the M&C to solve all of their problems and be a little more proactive.
I cannot agree with most of your points. The M and C have more power than any over Economic Development efforts.
To blame the Loss of Novartis on the education system is to be unfamiliar with the issue. Novartis would train their own people through Athens tech. The Research Triangle of NC has long had a strategy for bio tech.
In Athens, we don't have a strategy. So I guess we got what we've been asking and preparing for.
Sure, small business creates jobs. I think I know better than most. And yeah, ST folks get good pay, benefits, profit shares and such.
And most all have ten industry experiences.
The type of jobs that will help alleviate poverty will not be washing dishes at the grit, developing brand strategy at st or being a scientist at NBAF. It will be thoughtful and robust industries that we as a community go out and invite in.
I can’t tell you what the chamber is up to and despite john’s defense, the cities strategy and action is far behind cities half its size. So what is Snowden Tatarski doing? We're giving out services to organizations that need it. Groups like the school system, Safe Campuses Now and the police department. We're mentoring Ad, PR and marketing students while allowing them to great work for organizations in need. The PPA logo was a free donation from ST. The Safe Campuses Now posters have been an ongoing donation for 4 years. Last week I wrote an ad for the Economic Development Foundation at no charge.
That’s, of course, when we are not involved with adopt a class, The UGA student ad agency, and many other places where this company and I put our time and resources where everyone else talk seems to be.
You also must not leave out the entire award winning campaign that we proposed to the city, chamber, cvb, classic center and others (That was offered without charge)which was shot down by The Mayor and CVB in favor of using an out of town firm. The result of this effort was, after at least two years is Athens: Life Unleashed.
I would love to keep up the discussion crew but I am in Iowa on assignment for a client. You see, you need to look outside the boarders of Athens in my business because our government goes to either Atlanta (Classic Center), Macon (CVB), St Simmons (Chamber, or nowhere (ACC) when it come to getting marketing service they intend on paying for.
I can’t keep sitting on the blog when their corn in the field. I have a few speaking engagements next week where I am suddenly motivated to talk about the state of this community’s marketing strategy and efforts. You might try to come ask a question and stump me in front of the crowd. E-mail me if you want to come:
Jeff@sn-ta.com
You're busy ... yet you had time to compile 20-plus lengthy posts over the past two days?
I mean, since obviously none of us possess the grand understanding that you have when it comes to how to make our economy super-duper, we'll all just sit back and shut our mouths.
The number of times I've offered a 'fair enough' or mea culpa' and you've come back time and time again by spitting in face?
Whatever dude.
Sanctimonious, much?
Of course when I post it comes out of my time since I own where I work. The time I spend posting takes away from my bottom line so, sorry, I need to get back to work.
I'm not saying you should just sit back and shut your mouth. But I am now on a trip and will have less opportunity to engage in this little joust.
I have tried to ease things and say I simply disagree with you and that we mostly likely will not find common ground on this issue. My rebut about Novartis is not a slight at you, it's true. My comments about the types of jobs that small businesses offer are not always the best jobs is not just some bullshit I pulled out of the air. I use these examples because they are real and they concern me. I know how hard and expensive it is to offer benefits to employees when you own a small business because I write the check.
So don't get so pissed.
mea culpa. 'fair enough'
“Sanctimonious much?”. Let’s not start this. Seriously.
I think the petty insults have gone too far already.
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