Back

Economic Development a Government Concern
Published Saturday, February 8, 1997

Our County doesn’t have a healthy economy.  If you’ve spent your life here, you’ve seen the damaging effects of declining mining and logging operations. Recent arrivals see the following conditions: 1) they drive “down the hill” to make a decent living; 2) they apply for low-paying local jobs along with 50 or more other candidates; 3) their kids leave town after high school graduation to find decent jobs.  Further, a lot of folks just plain don’t have jobs.
 
Economic growth is essential for our County.  Can we agree on that?  Let’s ignore that endless debate about “good” growth vs “bad” growth.  Instead, let’s ask what entity can best solve the problem.  That entity is government, not quasi-government groups or private enterprise.
 
Why government?  First, County government is the only institution with the authority, resources and accountability to promote economic growth.  Second, County government is the cause of our anti-business environment.  And third, amateur groups like the Economic Resource Council (ERC) and the so-called “Action Team” are not accountable to anyone.
 
County government has authority, even though our current Supes have no courage to exercise it.  They admitted in December that they hadn’t done much for business.  They are simply fumbling away our future.
 
We would have an economic development program by now if the County had hired a decent consultant months ago.  The usual uninspired approach is to buy a marketing plan and start begging corporations to relocate.  Instead the County designated the ERC as an agency, promised a paltry $38,000, and (according to The Union on January 18th) put the ERC in crisis by not paying $28,500 of it.  It’s up to the ERC to come up with the same uninspired approach, but with no budget.
 
We could have had a film commission, like Placer County, any time in these last two years, if the supervisors had simply voted funds for a single half-time staffer and a minimum budget for promotion.  That doesn’t take a whole lot of resources and produces disproportionately large benefits.
 
A second reason why government should promote economic growth is that government damaged it in the first place.  Those who are regulated by the Planning, Building, or Environment Health Departments can tell you some great stories about road-blockers and log-jammers.  Well, we could have had bad regulations overturned, bad bureaucrats disciplined, and processes streamlined by now, if the leadership had the will to do so.  Instead, we have a study group, described below.
 
The most important reason economic growth is the province of government is its accountability.  If nothing comes out of the ERC or Action Team, what difference will it make to them?  Those teams don’t owe you any answers.  In a normal county, the Supervisors would promise growth and make the moves to accomplish it.  In our little Bangladesh of the Foothills, the Supes distance themselves from the problems.
 
And our non-government groups will fail.  They are underfunded, poorly conceived and have no obligation to succeed.  The Union published articles on January 18th and February 3rd about the ERC and the Action Team.
 
ERC President Monty East said, “This shows what can be done when we come together and all work together.  That’s what we need right now. This is a critical time.”  Not deep.  Not moving. Not inspiring.
 
By the way, the upshot of the ERC article is that the ERC doesn’t have any money, and it’ll ask you and me for a contribution soon.  This is much like the Gentle Giant project, so be sure to read The Union for the next several years to see if this situation improves.
 
The “Action Team” (no, I don’t make these names up) is described as a new ten-person group dedicated to untangling regulations.  Incongruously headed up by bureaucrat Terry McAteer, Nevada County Superintendent of Schools, members include two supervisors, Karen Knecht and Peter Van Zant.  This is hardly a prize crew, given that Terry is a regulation enforcer and the Supes are regulation makers by avocation.  Someone should remind Knecht and Van Zant that THEIR “Action Team” meets in the Rood Center every Tuesday.
 
I’ll bet IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Intel are holding their collective breaths, just waiting for us to clean up our act.  I hope they can hold their breaths for years, during which time more committed counties across the nation beat the pants off us.
 
Barry Schoenborn is a technical writer, and a ten-year resident of Nevada County. You can write to him at barry@wvswrite.com. The opinions of columnists are not necessarily those of The Union.
 

Back