Utah Creates New Community and Arts Division

Utah is getting more serious about using the arts to promote economic and community development. Click here to read the story.

Ottawa's Goal: 100,000 High Tech Jobs

At last count, Ottawa's technology sector had just over 67,000 employees. Even at the height of the high-tech boom in 2001, the total never crossed 80,000. And in 2008, the head of Ottawa's economic development agency is saying, we're going to hit 100,000? That's 50-per-cent growth in three years. Read here how they plan to achieve this ambitious goal.

Spokane's Proposed Gay District

Here is an interesting one to read. Maybe Spokane is trying to up its rank on Richard Florida's creative economy index. It will be interesting to see how this one plays out. Read the article here.

Ohio Looks at New Business Tax Plan

Ohio might end up losing its existing tax credit program, if the courts continue to hold on their position, but this is not deterring Ohio ED officials from exploring new strategies. Click here to read about the new approach this is being considered.

Alternative Energy Gets Attention in Nex Mexico

The Regional Development Corporation, based in Santa Fe, is creating a new program initiative in Renewable Energy which it says will help create jobs in New Mexico in wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and other renewable energy projects. Read more here.

Casino Deal-Making in New York State

Let's make a deal. That's the message the Seneca Indians are sending to state and local officials about future casino plans. The head of the Seneca Indians said the tribe would consider building a casino in Buffalo, instead of one of its suburbs, in exchange for the right to build an additional casino in the lucrative Catskills resort area. Read more here.

McMaster University Research Park

Hamilton, Ontario is excited about the prospect of a new research proposed by McMaster University. To read more, click here.

Targeting Family-Owned Businesses?

If so, you might want to read this article, which describes some new research findings about what makes family businesses tick.

Indiana's Move on Ag Biotech Front

The BioCrossroads Agriculture Advisory Board has just released its recommendations for a statewide ag strategy. These recommendations are based on a year-long effort to catalog Indiana’s ag assets and complete a comprehensive analysis of Indiana’s strengths and weaknesses in this sector. Click here to read more.

US Alliance Will Boost R&D in Ireland

Interesting R&D development in Ireland. Click here to read more. Could this be an open door for your area to cooperate with businesses and researchers in Ireland. The door opens both way! Use it.

Fort Wayne Gets New Fiber Optics Capacity

This will help the Fort Wayne area's future economic development prospects. Click here to read more.

Northern Colorado Lands New Call Center

Who said call centers were not developing in the US? Northern Colorado is about to get a new one. Click here to read more.

Missouri Hires New Development Chief

Lots of changes in the world of ED. Missouri has just hired a new development director. Click here to read more.

UN Global Poverty Report

Click here to read some sobering news about the extent and depth of poverty across much of the world today. It reinforces that economic development is needed just about everywhere you look.

Marion County, IN Looks at Tax Hike and Govt. Consolidation

The Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce has recommended raising local income taxes in Marion County to offset the cost of government.

The proposal calls for Marion County to raise its local income tax to the maximum amount allowed by law, 1 percent, which estimates show would raise roughly $45 million for local government.

The recommendation is part an effort being made by Democratic Mayor Bart Peterson to consolidate local government. His proposal, known as Indianapolis Works, would do away with township government and merge police and fire departments. The proposal has been introduced in the Indiana General Assembly.

More here.

Michigan Lands Financial Services Firm

Raymond James & Associates, a leading U.S. financial services company, plans to locate its regional operations center in Southfield, creating 311 new jobs. Assistance offered through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation helped convince the company to locate the $15 million facility in the state instead of a competing location in Texas. More here.

Social Investing Trends

if social investing is on your agenda for 2005, click here to find out about the leading trends in this field.

Eco-Tourism

Many communities are giving greater attention to ecotourism as an economic development strategy. To learn more, click here.

Seattle Looks to Brownfield Redevelopment

This clip says it all: "The shortage of developable land and continuing urban sprawl is an increasingly critical problem shared by both the private and public sectors. Adaptive reuse of our nation's inner-city brownfields offers incredible opportunities to reverse this trend. They can serve as a sorely needed source of underutilized, close-in land for housing -- and as a practical way to clean up our environment -- while providing robust risk-adjusted returns on real estate." Source: BizJournal Seattle.

Base Closing Impacts on California

The closures of 19 military bases in California directly cost more than 44,000 civilian jobs, and fewer than 26,000 new ones have been created to replace them, according to a government report that says California's recovery lags the nation's.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon still must spend more than $1.6 billion to clean up chemicals and unexploded munitions at some of the shuttered bases in the state, the study says.

Get the full report at GAO here.

Iowa's New Marketing Campaign

The Iowa Department of Economic Development has launched a new state marketing campaign. It incorporates the department's slogan "Iowa: Life Changing" into advertising, Internet sites and glossy folders and brochures.

Using $6 million in marketing money provided by the Iowa Legislature as part of the Iowa Values Fund, the department has assembled a multimedia approach to selling Iowa to businesses and people outside the state and to generate enthusiasm on the part of those already living here.

More here.

One to Think About

"Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves."

--Carl Jung