I must admit, this morning I am eating crow - the thing I hate the most to do. Not because I was called out or corrected by a peer, but because I had a realization. I was fortunate enough to network over coffee with one of the city's bright, young, minds in the sphere of local economic development, and he motivated me beyond belief. After my last rant about the mental thrashing I felt I took with our Director of Innovation, it was extremely uplifting to commiserate with someone of like mind and beliefs about the potential of our town. But it made me realize that Mr. Smith is not wrong in his views about how to develop Louisville (although I disagree with some of his views), but just a contrasting point in the overarching argument that we both share.
Rebuilding Louisville into the great city she used to be a century ago is no easy process. Like any old home in a state of disrepair, there are many steps to the cleansing and beautification process that must take place before the finished product comes to fruition. Luckily we have workers tending to many phases of the revitalization.
To achieve true exponential growth there are three phases of achievement that must take place. In one sector new businesses must be brought in to add immediate job creation and revenue generation for the city. These additions bring excitement to the city because they are the most detailed and publicized developments we see. This is Mr. Smith's task of "growing the pot." The second phase of development is to parlay the current infrastructure for better use - transportation, public education, parks and city services. This was my point on enriching the soil. But the third area, and one that is greatly overlooked, is the cultivation and development of the start-up and entrepreneurial community. These would serve as our shots of nitrogen and fertilizer in the hypothetical pot analogy I made in the last entry.
You see start-ups bring energy and new blood to the community. They bring a more robust buy-in towards the community because people now have to come together and unite under the common goal of making this new idea into a reality and molding a successful company out of a dream. When you get many successful start-ups in one community at the same time you now have a group of thinkers and doers who can unify under the umbrella of not only turning ideas into reality, but also making their overall environment a place that is nurturing towards their whims. Once this energy combines with the renewed growth generated through the consolidation of other systems, and the expansion of the pot through outside investment, you now have an equation for success that creates exponential explosion throughout the entire system. This combination of factors can only take place when there's a total system buy-in from everyone involved, and the entire community is committed to making a Major League Louisville.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Job Growth in the Ville: Growing the Pot vs Enriching the Soil
Recently I had the pleasure of meeting and having a long discussion with one of our city's great assets, recently appointed Director of Economic Growth and Innovation for Metro Government - one of Mayor Fischer's right-hand men. In our meeting I nervously meandered through a list of ideas, problems, and solutions that I had tried to thoroughly construct over the week I had to prepare, and, despite my best intentions, there were no groundbreaking solutions, no job offers, and little gained from our talk other than a better understanding of what Metro Government aims to do as a leader in growing the city's economic base. Grow the Pot. A phrase I heard at least 50 times during our discussion. And while it is well-intentioned, and certainly is the ultimate aim of any economic developer, shouldn't we consider easier options within the confines of our great city first? For sake of context, some of my ideas were as follows:
- A program that allows young JCPS teachers to get tuition assistance for the pursuit of advanced degrees in exchange for agreeing to teach at some of the county's most under-performing schools for an extended period of time. (As it stands now young JCPS teachers can transfer out of the "doldrums" of poor schools as soon as they have tenure enough to do so within the confines of the union).
- A partnership with one of the national banking institutions present in the city that would bring young finance workers to the city where they could complete many of the analytical and back-office tasks that are currently performed directly on Wall Street at a much higher price to the company.
- Advanced entrepreneurial incubators where MBA students from surrounding universities could gather and bounce ideas off each other with ease. A situation that the city, UL, or a donor, could fund in hopes of some of these ideas taking flight and becoming major corporations in the city.
- A revised TARC route that would lend the transport service to actually being used. Could you imagine actually trusting that a certain bus would arrive at its pickup and drop-off locations on time? And that the routes would be easy and clear to understand?
All of these ideas were brought up amongst friends before I even began thinking of presenting them to Mr. Smith, all of them were met with strong approval, and they all were quickly rebuffed as the meeting progressed.
I understand his point, for Louisville to grow we need to get more dollars injected into the economy by direct investment from currently foreign entities. That's the easiest way for our city to grow its employment base the fastest - and that's true. But it's also the most complicated and the path of most resistance in a lot of cases. The truth of the matter is that Louisville, as an institution, have a lot of systems in place that are really good in purpose, but have been half-assed (sorry mom) in execution. For example, when we discussed the teacher education idea Mr. Smith launched into a deep diatribe about how the problems with the school system really root in the downfall of the busing system and how the private school system has cannibalized the cities best students - both valid points. But what if the cities best and brightest teachers chose to stay at the schools which needed them most? The students there would be exposed to professionals who participate in their craft at its most rudimentary of levels: to mold and shape young minds, and to make a positive impact. Believe me, it's the kids at these places who need it most. Restoring hope at the lowest levels of schools would span greater confidence in ALL of our cities public schools and bring many students back into the fold whose parents would have otherwise had them home-schooled or sent to one of the many private institutions locally (many of whom employ these very same young teachers anyway).
The TARC idea was another one I was passionate about, and something I was prepared to personally take on if given the chance. Unfortunately I was told that TARC was a private entity and that the city could not ask them to do anything - BS! The city has every right to ask TARC to evaluate its operations in order to improve efficiency and its reputation around the city. While I have no public records to back this up, I am certain that TARC receives SOME type of funding from City Hall. And even if they don't, I doubt it would take much more than the offer of a grant or future funding to help get the ball rolling. I surveyed countless young people who said that if they had reliable info on how the TARC routes operated, were confident in the promptness of their arrival, and felt like the service was affordable, that they would frequent TARC as much as possible for the purposes of transport for commutes and for leisure activities on the weekends. And what better advertisement to a national organization looking to move 5,000 jobs than by saying "We don't have a subway or any sort of light rail, but our bus system is among the most efficient and effective in the country"? Mr. Smith didn't seem to care.
The downfall of outsiders coming into Louisville and making big decisions, as Mr. Smith is, is that they often fail to see the usefulness that abounds in many of the city's most aged institutions. Like trimming a plant in the spring, often times things must be consolidated in order for new growth to begin, and while growing the pot might be the goal it's extremely shortsighted to say that the only way to do it is through the attraction of new businesses. Simply adding a new taxpayer to the community only creates one or two points of impact on the local economy, but expanding or improving a current asset to provide more growth provides exponential impact. It might take a little longer to get new growth by enriching the soil, but in the long run it will create a much more fruitful plant.
- A program that allows young JCPS teachers to get tuition assistance for the pursuit of advanced degrees in exchange for agreeing to teach at some of the county's most under-performing schools for an extended period of time. (As it stands now young JCPS teachers can transfer out of the "doldrums" of poor schools as soon as they have tenure enough to do so within the confines of the union).
- A partnership with one of the national banking institutions present in the city that would bring young finance workers to the city where they could complete many of the analytical and back-office tasks that are currently performed directly on Wall Street at a much higher price to the company.
- Advanced entrepreneurial incubators where MBA students from surrounding universities could gather and bounce ideas off each other with ease. A situation that the city, UL, or a donor, could fund in hopes of some of these ideas taking flight and becoming major corporations in the city.
- A revised TARC route that would lend the transport service to actually being used. Could you imagine actually trusting that a certain bus would arrive at its pickup and drop-off locations on time? And that the routes would be easy and clear to understand?
All of these ideas were brought up amongst friends before I even began thinking of presenting them to Mr. Smith, all of them were met with strong approval, and they all were quickly rebuffed as the meeting progressed.
I understand his point, for Louisville to grow we need to get more dollars injected into the economy by direct investment from currently foreign entities. That's the easiest way for our city to grow its employment base the fastest - and that's true. But it's also the most complicated and the path of most resistance in a lot of cases. The truth of the matter is that Louisville, as an institution, have a lot of systems in place that are really good in purpose, but have been half-assed (sorry mom) in execution. For example, when we discussed the teacher education idea Mr. Smith launched into a deep diatribe about how the problems with the school system really root in the downfall of the busing system and how the private school system has cannibalized the cities best students - both valid points. But what if the cities best and brightest teachers chose to stay at the schools which needed them most? The students there would be exposed to professionals who participate in their craft at its most rudimentary of levels: to mold and shape young minds, and to make a positive impact. Believe me, it's the kids at these places who need it most. Restoring hope at the lowest levels of schools would span greater confidence in ALL of our cities public schools and bring many students back into the fold whose parents would have otherwise had them home-schooled or sent to one of the many private institutions locally (many of whom employ these very same young teachers anyway).
The TARC idea was another one I was passionate about, and something I was prepared to personally take on if given the chance. Unfortunately I was told that TARC was a private entity and that the city could not ask them to do anything - BS! The city has every right to ask TARC to evaluate its operations in order to improve efficiency and its reputation around the city. While I have no public records to back this up, I am certain that TARC receives SOME type of funding from City Hall. And even if they don't, I doubt it would take much more than the offer of a grant or future funding to help get the ball rolling. I surveyed countless young people who said that if they had reliable info on how the TARC routes operated, were confident in the promptness of their arrival, and felt like the service was affordable, that they would frequent TARC as much as possible for the purposes of transport for commutes and for leisure activities on the weekends. And what better advertisement to a national organization looking to move 5,000 jobs than by saying "We don't have a subway or any sort of light rail, but our bus system is among the most efficient and effective in the country"? Mr. Smith didn't seem to care.
The downfall of outsiders coming into Louisville and making big decisions, as Mr. Smith is, is that they often fail to see the usefulness that abounds in many of the city's most aged institutions. Like trimming a plant in the spring, often times things must be consolidated in order for new growth to begin, and while growing the pot might be the goal it's extremely shortsighted to say that the only way to do it is through the attraction of new businesses. Simply adding a new taxpayer to the community only creates one or two points of impact on the local economy, but expanding or improving a current asset to provide more growth provides exponential impact. It might take a little longer to get new growth by enriching the soil, but in the long run it will create a much more fruitful plant.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)