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Thursday, September 02, 2010
By Stephanie Allen, Project Assistant.
I first heard of the idea of local currency while visiting Ithaca, NY nearly a decade ago when I was in college in New York State. I thought it was a quaint idea for such a supportive community of aging hippies, college students, and professors, but I didn't think much at all about the economics involved. Recently I was talking to two friends from graduate school, and we somehow stumbled into a conversation about local currency. These guys both use...
Monday, July 26, 2010
By Matthew Tarleton, Project Associate
This past week I had the pleasure of visiting with Mike
Gaymon and the entire staff at the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce. During
my visit, I tagged along with Mike to his weekly radio appearances. We’ve heard
so much recently about the struggles of traditional media and the rise of new
media. I could digress for pages, but I’ll spare you (just this one time). Suffice
it to say, traditional media isn’t dead. And it shouldn’t be ignored...
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
By Matt Tester, Project Associate.
…is increasingly called a bicycle.
American cities are warming to the idea that bike-sharing systems are a valuable means of generating downtown activity, providing viable alternative transportation, and encouraging healthy living. And this, despite their European roots! Several major cities debuted or announced major downtown systems in 2010, and some recent federal policy changes could continue building bike-sharing momentum.
...
Friday, May 21, 2010
By Alex Pearlstein, Director of Projects.
It’s funny how things work. About a week ago, I was scheduled to fly from
Des Moines to Nashville via Minneapolis when my old nemesis, Delta Airlines,
reared its ugly head and delayed my outbound flight due to “flight attendant
illness.” Must admit, that was a new
one. I would miss my MSP connection,
which was the last flight to Nashville that day. Delta could get me to Nashville the following
day around...
Friday, May 14, 2010
By Will Corbin, Project Associate. Microfinance is a very interesting and important concept in the world of economic development. Its usage has grown increasingly over the last quarter century - most notably by nations in the emerging world that have large proportions of poor residents, such as India.
Essentially, microfinance is the lending of small sums of money to poor or low-income individuals who otherwise may not be able to get a larger, more traditional loan from a mainstream...
Monday, April 19, 2010
By J. Mac Holladay, Market Street founder and CEO.
The Merriam-Webster definition of perception begins with observation, concept, and consciousness.
Last week we all watched as another horrible mine disaster engulfed the State of West Virginia. Twenty-nine men lost their lives and the state was once again cast in the national limelight based on “perception.” While mining has been a part of West Virginia’s economy for decades, today the sector employs ONLY 4% of the private sector...
Monday, February 01, 2010
By Ranada Robinson, Project Associate.
My alma mater, Tougaloo College, which is a private college located right outside of Jackson, Mississippi, offers an early admission program for high school juniors who meet certain criteria, like GPA and ACT scores. A participant in that program, I bypassed my senior year of high school to start college with a full scholarship. In my 15-year-old thoughts, I could not rationalize staying in high school for an extra year when I was planning to go to...
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
By William Teasley, Project Manager.
High quality public education is one of the greatest assets in economic development. The ability to generate a high quality workforce is paramount to the success of existing a future businesses in any community. It is often one of the top three questions asked by business looking to relocate in a community and telling the prospect that you have really good private schools does not address their questions.
In numerous districts across the...
Friday, January 22, 2010
By Christa Tinsley, Project Associate
The U.S. Department of Labor awarded $100 million in green
jobs training grants to 25 communities earlier this month. Austin, Texas received $4.8 million of this money to train for and create 1,000 green energy
jobs. A thousand jobs is a boost for a local workforce of any size, but $4.8
million is a pretty steep price. The real payoff occurs not when those initial
thousand jobs are created but when that employment spurs a...
Monday, December 28, 2009
By J. Mac Holladay, Founder and CEO.
It is hard to believe that we are headed to a new year and a new decade in a few days. Time Magazine called the last 10 years “The Decade from Hell”. The pace of change has continued to accelerate and certainly some of the changes are unprecedented. Two recessions, a cascading number of corporate scandals too numerous to list, natural disasters led by Katrina and Rita, and two ongoing wars. Then the last two years of “The Great Recession” (as...
Friday, December 11, 2009
By Alex Pearlstein, Senior Project Manager. Time magazine has taken pity on Detroit. It is sponsoring a campaign called “ Selling Detroit ” that aims to help “America’s most struggling city (attract) business and talent.” Part of a yearlong project – Assignment Detroit – reporters and editors from Essence, Fortune, Money, Sports Illustrated, Time and related Web sites are living in a Detroit house and writing about the city from an on-the-ground perspective. Maybe Detroit is less depressing...
Friday, June 26, 2009
By Ellen Anderson, Research Manager.
Is it just me, or does it seem like in the last few years every city in the country has developed plans, built, or expanded an existing convention center? We have all been to conventions, and while the facilities might be nice enough, the $12 sandwiches and lack of connectivity to anything besides a hotel and a sea of parking spaces leave something to be desired. I do not drive, so at conferences I often feel stranded: marooned on a desert island with...
Friday, May 22, 2009
By Ranada Robinson, Project Associate.
During this time of economic struggle and record-breaking amounts of foreclosures, an issue for cities that may become increasingly significant is property vacancy. Vacant or abandoned buildings can present a major challenge for cities as they attract crime, negatively impact property values and tax revenues, and can discourage development. To combat this waste of space, Smart Growth America, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, the Metropolitan...
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
By Alex Pearlstein, Senior Project Manager.
First it was Youngstown, Ohio . Now, according to a recent New York Times article , Flint, Michigan . Many more cities are likely to join the movement to “shrink” themselves in order to survive.
What does this practice of “smart decline” really involve? Well, the essential acknowledgement of the shrinking cities movement is that these urban areas’ populations simply will not grow. Rather than continuing to grasp onto a fading hope...
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
On February 1st, Tom Friedman wrote a column in The New York Times titled, “Elvis Has Left the Mountain.” (It can be viewed online or as a PDF by clicking here ). Since I was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee and had the chance to see “The King” on several occasions, I had to read on.
Whenever I had the privilege of seeing Elvis Presley perform, after he left the stage an announcer would say, “Elvis has left the building.” The purpose was always to calm the crowd and tell the...
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Continuing a trend initiated by books such as Richard Florida’s “Rise of the Creative Class” and perpetuated by a growing movement of economic development professionals that argue workforce talent will be the key driver of future growth, communities are increasingly focusing on their local “amenities” to retain and attract skilled professionals. A recent article in the Boston Globe discussed the latest research to support this theory.
In a report published by the Federal Reserve Bank...