Expert: Lack of leadership, confidence in government hurt region

The Pikes Peak region has several critical issues to overcome if it wants to add jobs, but none more urgent than local residents' mistrust of government, a consultant said Tuesday.

"The lack of confidence in your government, the lack of leadership and vision, is what I see as the biggest inhibitor to economic development in your region," said Angelos Angelou, who heads Austin, Texas-based consulting firm AngelouEconomics.

That observation was one of the preliminary findings outlined by Angelou at an Antlers Hilton news conference.

His firm was hired in January by a coalition of business and civic leaders to conduct a $160,000 wide-ranging examination of local economic development efforts. Operation 6035, named for the city's elevation, is funded by nearly 20 community and business groups and local governments.

The final results, scheduled for release in June, will include strategies and recommendations on types of employers and jobs the Pikes Peak region should pursue. Community leaders have called the study the most extensive economic development game plan in almost 20 years.

For several weeks, Angelou said, his firm has been learning the area's political, economic and business landscape - seeing how Colorado Springs compares with its competitors in areas such as tax rates, private sector investment and work force quality. Also, Angelou's firm has conducted more than a dozen focus groups and 15 one-on-one interviews with community leaders, and has fielded more than 1,200 responses from residents and business people invited to take an online community survey.

Angelou found:

- A "lack of community vision, leadership and collaboration," along with "polarizing differences in the political arena," have been endemic in the Colorado Springs area for years. And if local residents don't trust government, don't expect employers to do so, either, he added.

- The area's low property taxes are an advantage, yet tax-limitation measures restrict local governments' ability to invest in public improvements and services.

- A decline in young professionals - ages 25 to 44 - as a percentage of the population has been "particularly alarming." It suggests the community has been unable to create quality jobs for many technology professionals who were laid off during the dot-com and semiconductor downturns of the past 15 years.

- Colorado Springs has been an entrepreneurial backwater when compared with other cities. Venture capital funding totaled $7.4 million locally last year, a figure that should be $15 million to $35 million if the Springs were keeping pace with national trends. Two years ago, Albuquerque, had venture capital funding of about $100 million.

- Colorado Springs has several assets, including an attractive quality of life and climate, an affordable cost of living, recreational opportunities and a strong higher education presence.