Development isn't economic growth
I'd like our community to put its energy into positive strategies to maintain a healthy local economy. The Rocky Mountain Institute first turned me on to the sustainable and non-destructive economic development strategy referred to as localization. There is a conference in Denver this May on the subject of Entrepreneurs Building Living Economies.
The fundamentals of this approach are based on reducing costs, increasing efficiencies, plugging leaks in our economy, and supporting local businesses. I call it unlocking the prosperity within our community. It's much more efficient than competing with other cities in a race to the bottom, giving away the farm to steal companies that will have no investment in our community. We have many opportunities in Colorado Springs to address this. And this is one reason I went out of my way to have my campaign signs printed in Colorado Springs.
I find it interesting the Jobs Now issues committee supporting ballot question 1A is banking in Denver and spending tens of thousands of dollars out of state. I wonder where their signs were printed.
It's of note because if proponents of 1A are genuinely interested in the welfare of the businesses and citizens of this community, spending their money in our local economy would be walking the walk, not just talking the talk.
I'm suspicious of the real intentions of 1A because our community's economic development efforts have long been dominated by the homebuilding and real estate development industry. The Economic Development Corporation (EDC) was begun in 1971 by three real estate developers, and today the growth industry still represents the lion's share of EDC's "investors." The development industry understands that job attraction and creation in our community attracts workers from elsewhere, ratcheting up the population and creating a market for new homes.
The Upjohn Institute for Employment Research found only one in five new jobs go to local residents. I found that pretty shocking, but it does explain why homebuilders are such ardent supporters of the EDC, and of 1A. In fact, builders and developers are nearly the only contributors to the Jobs Now issues committee.
Don't despair for the committee, however. It clearly can afford the 50 million signs that adorn our city today, because the contributions are coming in $5,000 and $10,000 checks.
The growth industry is attempting to exploit our fears and sentiment about the economy and unemployment. Builders/developers conceived 1A and are the ones heavily promoting it. A developer established the Jobs Now issues committee. They've amassed a $100,000 war chest in a few short weeks, hoping to turn that small investment promoting 1A into $50 million of taxpayer funding for growth industry ad campaigns, junkets and incentives.
Unfortunately, their brand of economic development is designed first and foremost to keep the market of new home buyers expanding. Instead of employing our unemployed or increasing your income, that just increases costs for our community.
I wish we could snap our fingers and put our unemployed to work. But the citizens deserve the truth. Unless you're a carpenter or bricklayer, 1A is not an effective way to get you a job. It will attract people to move to our city and compete with you for any new jobs. And if you think revving up homebuilding will restore our community to a healthy state, please review the results of our last 15-year growth boom.
I propose instead we invest that $50 million in our community. We could lay off fewer city employees and even hire a few police officers or firefighters. We could plow our streets. And our local businesses might like to keep some of it to meet payroll, invest in research and development or expansion, and give a little to local charities.
Instead of gambling on 1A, let's assemble an advisory committee that truly represents the citizens we're trying to help. This committee should include an unemployed worker, a teacher, a police officer, a retiree and local business owners, rather than homebuilders.
They should study how our community can implement and benefit from more modern approaches to economic development. They can focus on strategies that truly support our local economy and don't simply add to our local population and increase our number of unemployed.
-
Gardner is a candidate for Colorado Springs City Council, District 3. Readers can e-mail him at dave@dave4council.com.
