The headline in the Az Star Business section March 28, says it all.
Why then would we want to give away our tax dollars? The rating as 44th best by the Fortune/Money Group Division of Time Inc. is great news.
Why not have our Economic Development people use that to entice new Hi Tec businesses, in lieu of giving away tax dollars?
In a recent address to the Town Council, former Economic Development Administrator, David Welsh said something foolish about "blackmail," as it pertained to the Sanofi-Aventis constuction tax rebate.
This is the same Mr. Welsh, who after taking a business trip to Portland Oregon for Oro Valley, quit is job to work for TREO (Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities.)
Now he has the audacity to tell us how to spend our tax dollars.
Perhaps a good start for the new Town Council to save us money would be to discontinue our "contribution" to TREO. When Welsh shows he can help us gain new businesses (without giveaways), we can re-institute that "contribution."
Want to read the Fortune article? Click here.
Want to read what Fortune says about Oro Valley? Click here.
Click here to read the Arizona Daily Star article.
1 comment:
I think this posting opens the door for healthy discussion about future economic development in Oro Valley.
Let’s take a look at two excerpts from the article.
“We scoured the country for towns that combine a great business environment with alluring leisure opportunities.”
“We built our list by assessing economic conditions, such as local tax rates and startup activity, alongside natural beauty, affordable housing, and easy access to such diversions as museums and hungry game fish. We also pushed past the statistics and interviewed local entrepreneurs, city officials, and economic experts.”
I believe any right-minded (no pun intended) thinking person can draw several conclusions from the above statements. First the communities chosen already have a positive business environment. As I have said many times before, business begets business. They also mention tax rates and startup activity. So one can conclude the fact we have wide spread startup activity, is a positive. The fact the business aspect was mentioned before leisure or natural beauty, TWICE, would indicate to me that simply having scenic views and warm weather alone isn’t enough of an attractor as some profess. I would also point out that affordable housing is a factor. We are lacking in this area although there is affordable housing reasonably close to Oro Valley.
It is interesting that there were local interviews conducted. That would indicate to me that the recent satisfaction results, which showed that 85% of the residents were satisfied with Oro Valley are validated here and the small minority of folks that think Oro Valley is on a path to self-destruction are just that…,a small minority.
Lastly I have mentioned in several previous posts that we compete with many other cities and towns for business and we cannot be complacent in our marketing activity. We must continue to look for ways to attract good, clean business to our community. We need to use all of the tools available to us. You can bet that the 43 cities and towns above us are using everything within their power.
44th isn’t bad. But next time I want to move up the ladder, not down or remain in place.
Post a Comment