Excerpts from a lengthy article in the Jul 6, 2005 issue of the Toledo City Paper. The Web version of this story is not available on the TCP's Web site.
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Can regionalism solve Northwest Ohio's economic woes?
Northwest Ohio boasts world class rail, air, truck, and waterway transportation facilities. It is home to several major institutions of higher learning with strong programs in emerging technologies and engineering. It has clusters of industries in growing sectors of the economy like information technology and alternative energies. And it has geographic advantages as well, being in close proximity to the majority of the populations of the US and Canada.
"We have tremendous sustainable competitive advantages for economic development right here in Toledo and the surrounding areas," says Jerry Jakes, director of the Lake Erie West partnership. "What we need is a perception of that region and a corresponding effort to market it." Lake Erie West [is] a way to promote the region without referring to jurisdictional boundaries.
"Toledo is right in the heartbeat of where things can happen," adds Pat Nicholson, former director of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority. "We have strong labor, business community and university leadership. And we are getting the right economic development structures in place."
"Teamwork can't be overemphasized in the effort to retain and attract jobs to the Toledo region," said Toledo City Councilman Frank Szollosi. One outgrowth of teamwork is the ongoing merger of the City of Toledo and Lucas County offices of economic development into the Lucas County Improvement Corporation (LCIC).
At a meeting on July 1 [2005], the Board of Directors was reconstituted and an Executive Committee of seven members was created from both the public and private sectors. Members of the Committee include Mayor Ford, Commissioner Gerken, Oregon Mayor Marge Brown (representing county municipalities) and Swanton Township Trustee Dennis Tippie (representing county townships, all of which are now full members with representation on the board of the LCIC). Private sector members include local businesspeople Tom Uhler, John Henry Livingston, Jerry Jones and Jeanie Hylant (who is the chair of the committee) and local attorney Opie Rollison.
The City-County merger has drawn glowing praise from development professionals like Jim Hartung, director of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority. "It creates an economy of scale to better market our region's development opportunities and resources," he says.
"Inefficiency and underperformance."
That's the conclusion of the Hammer-Siler-George study in regards to agencies delivering support for Lake Erie West development. The study notes that there are "extensive number of agencies and other entities that list economic development as part of their mission and work program (but no) organizational strategy to assign and allocate each economic development function to a lead agency with roles of all participating agencies defined and agreed to."
The study further notes, that "there are many other entities which have direct and/or indirect roles in economic development" for the Toledo region, leading to "gaps, overlaps, and equally important, confusion on the part of business and governmental 'customers' as to how to access what they need." The phrase "many other" is an understatement. At least 50 agencies list economic development as a mission. Identifying lead agencies with well-defined roles is essential to an efficient regional development strategy, according to the study.
But, while public agencies like the LCIC "have a supportive role to play, only the private sector can drive economic development at a regional level," says Nicholson. According to Jakes, "the public sector can work to enact regional policies, but politicians will always have specific constituencies to which they owe allegiance. The private sector can think across political boundaries more readily."
Nicholson also notes that the private sector can work in confidence more easily than the public sector. "Getting deals worked out, assembling land, offering incentives, these types of things must be done behind closed doors," he maintains. "That's the role of the private sector in drawing investment." The Regional Growth Partnership, which was a public-private partnership until June 30 [2005], just completed conversion to a 100 percent privately funded agency for regional marketing efforts.
Nicholson spent two weeks traveling to other regions to see how they had adopted the regionalism approach -- visiting the Research Triangle (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C.), Philadelphia, Pa./Wilmington, Del., Lehigh Valley (Bethlehem/Allentown, Pa) and the Route 128 corridor in Boston.
"The most uplifting place I visited was the Lehigh Valley," he said. "It is comprised of two counties of about 600,000 population, very similar to Lucas County." Like Lucas County, Bethlehem has a university with 6,000 students, and just east of town is 1,800 acres of abandoned steel mill representing 25,000 lost jobs.
"But those two counties are also the current home to 49 industrial parks," said Nicholson. "Their economic recovery has been phenomenal, and they have come back. First, they have built strong collaboration. Individual entities don't attract capital or grants. Second, they have built on their strengths, what industries were already available, rather than what's 'hot' at the moment.
Closer to home, Cincinnati has developed a strategy for regional marketing and development with its "Cincinnati USA" initiative, the brainchild of the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce. "Economic development is regional, not jurisdictional," says Nick Vehr, vice president of he Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce.
Jakes has a similar vision for Lake Erie West and is convinced that it currently exists, just too often under the radar. "ProMedica Health, MCO, and Mercy Health Partners have investment across the Ohio-Michigan border. There is a virtual 'Biotech Boulevard' along US 23 between Toledo and Ann Arbor that should be marketed." Jakes compares that to "Automotive Alley" up I-75 between Toledo and Detroit. "And there is a major Photochemical Sciences program at BGSU, that is useful in both biotech and the automotive industry," he adds. Jakes compares the Lake Erie West region to the Research Triangle. "The Research Triangle is a loose strategic alliance of three cities with strong university participation," he says. "And yet their overall resources pale in comparison to ours."
Ohio Revised Code (ORC) Section 715.69 provides for municipalities to enter into contractual JEDZ [Joint Economic Development Zones] in order to share the costs of economic development projects, while typically sharing tax revenues generated.
Another regional strategy tool for economic development is the ongoing Toledo Regional Industry Cluster Strategy Project, a partnership under the auspices of the UAC [University of Toledo's Urban Affairs Center].
A Project report defines clusters as "geographic concentrations of interconnected companies who work closely with each other, local suppliers, infrastructure providers, educational institutions, and other relevant agencies." The goal is to identify current underdeveloped and potential clusters based on the region's resources, then target expansion of existing and attraction of new investment. This was accomplished in the Lehigh Valley, according to Nicholson.
Clusters currently identified include "information technology, advanced engineering, transportation logistics, alternative energies, automotive, plastics, glass, and specialized agriculture."
The ultimate success of all these initiatives will depend on one simple strategy, says Nicholson. "We must all pull together and stop being our own worst critics," he says. "We know the impediments to drawing investment to our region -- high energy costs, high medical costs, environmental issues like ozone, but we can work on them."
Jakes has the same goal for Lake Erie West as a total region. "We must develop a perception of our region that draws investment, a positive perception we can be proud to share with the world."
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Also listed in the July 2005 TCP article, this sidebar of information about local agencies. Not sure about the status of all of these organizations as of August 2007.
Regional Economic Development Agency
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current date: 03-Dec-2008 7:13 P.M.