Chamber ponders development questions

    I am a dweller. More accurately a stewer and a dweller. This past week I have been steadily dwelling about a comment from a business person and member related to our City Wide Commercial Open House this last weekend. The comment was, this is first thing we’ve done which has been “economic development” since January of 2009.     We have had a continuing discussion at the board level, and indeed with the City Council the last few years regarding what is the definition of Economic Development. Is there only one? What is it? I occasionally think it is a nebulous creature, something akin to Bigfoot when folks speak as if there’s only one definition: where is he anyway? We have occasional sightings, and then poof, he’s gone again, not even a footprint in the mud. Maybe he’s not something to catch, maybe we should be coaxing (I am going to come back to this in a moment).
    If you follow the blog, or the weekly articles in the Aroostook Republican, you may already know something of our first stab at a City Wide Commercial Open House, and you may know some thoughts I intend to reiterate regarding what I believe economic development is. Before I begin, I googled “what is economic development,” I skipped over wikipedia, and I did go to several scholarly type sources, and a few of what the ladies in the office think are incredibly dry official economic development sites (reknowned, international, standard). Because occasionally comments from folks really catch me off balance if you will, and I tend to not ever have an “at the ready” reply. This then leads me to dwelling, and wondering if we’re doing what we should be doing. Are we spending tax dollars wisely? Are we spending tax dollars effectively or efficiently? Are we trying new things? Are we taking risks? Are we missing key things politically we should be involved in? Are we representing our members? Are we doing what we should be doing with your taxes? Dwelling. Stewing and dwelling.
    So, I went over some current pieces of literature online – with the International Economic Development Commission, our own Economic Development Association (federal), and some more localized post secondary New England based institutions, including the Margaret Chase Smith Center for Public Policy. I have a few snippets to share.
    “Many lay people mistakenly believe that economic development is simply a hands-on profession. The economic developer promotes sites, visits existing industries, runs a revolving loan fund, and so forth. But this is only the field’s external face. Economic development activities and outcomes are also shaped by public policies. Funding for infrastructure, tax and regulatory policies, new workforce training grants, and countless other examples influence the environment for investment and commerce. Called ‘business climate,’ this contested term refers to the extent to which the political and policy environments of a particular state or locality, compared with other jurisdictions, are seen to be supportive or burdensome to businesses. The implication is any area whose business climate is not ‘competitive’ will be shunned by businesses, and will find it difficult to attract or grow.” (IEDC).
    Economic development involves initiatives ranging from improving local amenities (e.g., building a museum and aquarium) to reforming the K-12 educational system, from retaining existing businesses to fostering minority ownership of business enterprises.
    Economic developers were recently found by IEDC to be in general agreement about:
    Changes in information technology, communications technology, and the growth of the Internet will have a major impact on Economic Development as a profession (are you tweeting, blogging, stumbling up or linking-in to your Facebook friends? Who are your Facebook friends, who’s following you, who are you following?)
    Existing business development will be central to economic developers in the years ahead, and the ability to forge political consensus within a community will be critical to successful ED efforts.
    Time and again, I believe our organization proves we are responsive to our members, the businesses and the taxpayers of the community. UPS traffic brings over 2,000 visitors annually through our doors. Information requests traffic another 1,000 to 2,000 annually through the office, the phones, the Internet. Each and every week we have dozens of random calls and visits looking for information on literally hundreds of different things, in addition to member referrals, and annual events.
    I believe each and every encounter as an economic development opportunity. Each and every day, every interaction anyone has in their community with “the public” could be considered an opportunity to facilitate a positive business climate, a positive sense of place, and positive experience, or memory. The sum total of all these encounters, may well lead to that next opportunity, which makes someone decide to open a business in our community. The sum total of these encounters may lead to someone choosing to be in Caribou, rather than another community. We all make choices. Every day, all the time. We chose to be here, we chose to work here, to live here, to raise children here. We chose to be a part of a community.
    There are many ways economic development is traditionally gauged: job creation, increased tax base, general wealth of businesses operating in a community, median incomes, population etc. If our only gauge was consensus, and community involvement, I would tell you, most of the surrounding communities have nothing on Caribou (OK, well, Houlton and Fort Kent are giving us a run for the money aren’t they)? Or if you were to gauge just what our loan clients pay to the city in property taxes as a basis for considering the value of the tax monies spent by our organization, I would tell you we are an investment worth our weight (we have been appropriated $147,500 for 2010, and in 2009 our loan clients paid just under $175,000 in property taxes).
    I hope you may consider what your definition of economic development is, and share it with us. We appreciate your consideration and input — even if it does cause us to dwell and possibly stew awhile.
    Wendy Landes, MPA, is the executive director of the Caribou Chamber of Commerce & Industry. She can be reached in person at 24 Sweden Street, Suite 101; by telephone at 498-6156 or via e-mail at wlandes@cariboumaine.net.