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>I'll get the ball rolling by posting the op-ed that >will appear soon in Portland Business Journal - along >with some comments from others on the op-ed and its >earlier drafts. As you'll see, early comments were >incorporated in the final version. > >It drew on earlier columns and articles in PBJ and the >Oregonian by Craig Wessel, Don Mazziotti, Ralph Shaw >and Ted Sickinger. I'll try to find URLs for these, >and post them here later. -FP >------------------------------------------------- > >Picture a place with vast natural resources, few >people, a great port. With few viable indigenous >business firms and losing more of them each week. A >plum of a place, just waiting to be exploited by a >foreign, imperialistic invader. Is this some >Caribbean banana republic? No. It is Oregon, and >Oregon is in danger. Here is what we need to do. > >1. Fix elementary education. Successful economies >as diverse as Japan and Malaysia grew by emphasizing >primary education. Oregon can do this too. >Entrepreneurs and investors will bring jobs here, if >they find a literate, numerate workforce in Oregon, >and fine public schools for their own children. Pre-K >and K-14 education must be Oregon’s Job One. > >2. Get multicultural. The Oregonian recently >highlighted the mutual discomfort of Wood-burn’s Anglo >and Latino communities. I’ve observed the same in >Hillsboro. Anglo Oregonians must reach out vigorously >to our Mexican-American neighbors, because we are >hospitable people, and also for a selfish reason: >Anglos are not having many children. The growing >cohort of Mexican-American children will, during their >working years, pay the Medicaid taxes that benefit us >as we grow old. Let’s ensure that all minority >youngsters become productive, valued members of Oregon >society. > >3. Start crosstalk. The many organizations now >engaging in development dialog must talk to each >other, to avoid fragmented effort. High-tech people >must talk to creative services people, and they with >arts and community activists, and all with the tourism >sector, finding common ground and efficiencies. We >must craft a regional strategy that includes >neighboring states and provinces. We must influence >federal policies that affect our development. >The world has become global, so to speak, while Oregon >remains inward-looking. We must build global contacts >that allow our entrepreneurs to find international >customers and suppliers quickly. > >4. Get entrepreneur-friendly. If we want to grow >Oregon companies, investor attitudes and government >regulation must change. Oregon VCs have astounded me >by complaining, “Entrepreneurs [with clumsy business >plans] are wasting my time.” Investors must educate >talented but inexperienced entrepreneurs. Otherwise, >VCs will continue to return funds uninvested, at a >time when new technological developments are opening >vast new business opportunities. >Complex zoning, permitting, and licensing processes >favor large companies that can afford to navigate and >lobby the bureaucracies, and they work against small >and new businesses that cannot afford it. We must cut >regulation to the minimum needed for consumer >protection, and let small businesses run with it. > >5. Get real about spreading the wealth. Modern >industry clusters must achieve critical mass. A >limited state budget cannot create critical mass >uniformly across Oregon. We have to pick and choose >our industry and geographic targets, and – not to be >too Reaganomic about it – make the resulting wealth >trickle down to outlying areas. Yes, there’s >political pressure to spread opportunities equally to >all Oregon counties immediately. In an August op-ed, >Portland Development Commission Director Don Mazziotti >responded aptly: "We’re committed to Portland’s >economic success and ultimately the success of the >region." > >6. Invest in ourselves. Attracting companies via tax >breaks too often leaves us holding the bag. Instead, >invest in infrastructure. Attract companies by >saying, "You will have the best workforce, roads, >schools, air connections, industry associations, and >wastewater treatment anywhere." If the company >locates here and then fails, we still have the >infrastructure. We can use it to attract or grow the >next company. > >7. Toot our own horn. Even Cleveland – without a >fraction of Portland’s quality of life – has Drew >Carey to yell, "Cleveland rocks!" Who is shouting >"Portland rocks?" The time for quiet pride in Oregon >is past. We must become madcap marketers. No >out-of-state visitor should leave our offices without >a gift bag full of Made in Oregon products, and a pile >of brochures. Take your visitors fishing or skiing. >See? Marketing can be fun. >And we must get more skillful at it. Have you noticed >how hard it is to find a product made in Oregon >outside the Made in Oregon store? Have you noticed >what an unfocused muddle our new state tourism >magazine is? Mazziotti mentioned the Regional >Economic Development Partnership. Have you ever heard >of it? Neither have I. How can it engage the >public’s imagination and energy if the public isn’t >aware of it? > >8. Break the pattern. “Proactive” must be our >watchword. It means not waiting for a crisis. My >hometown, Austin, didn’t turn to high technology until >the economic crisis of the 1980s. No momentum >developed in Portland until the current prolonged >recession. From Helsinki to Shanghai to São Paulo, >other regions have got sophisticated about attracting >the very same people, companies and technologies that >Portland wants. What are we waiting for? Proactive >means avoiding me-too tactics. Why jump on the >biotech bandwagon when its axles are already strained >by hundreds of other cities? Let’s find a promising, >unfilled biotech niche and build our own wagon. > >Why the urgency? First, other regions are investing >far more than Oregon in their development strategies. >Second, globalization now allows foreign cities and >nations to compete with Oregon in ways that were >unimaginable ten years ago. Third, new WTO treaties >forbid, after a ten-year phase-out period, many of the >incentive agreements localities now use for attracting >companies. Fourth, the “lock-in” effect that >characterizes most highly networked tech clusters >means the chance to grow each such cluster comes only >once. >If we don’t initiate the kind of growth we’ll like, >we’ll be forced to accept the kind we won’t like. We >have a narrow window in which to build a new Oregon >that Oregonians will still enjoy. > >------------------------------------------ > >Fred... > >Well said!  Lots to agree with there, even the k-12 >comments.  On the other hand, I wish we could be the >first place to focus our attention on pre-K through >life, rather than merely k-12...a more accurate >portrayal of what the 21st century will require.  Fix >k-12, sure, but only because we have bigger fish to >fry. > >Interesting to note that our metro area does not have >strong, visionary, risk taking business-led >organizations.  In essence, there is too little vision >of partnership and collaboration, and too much concern >with 20th century business climate notions....time to >move on!  Until business-led groups get real about >seeing the region through the eyes of other people, I >fear that we won’t do more than polish up the same >thinking that keeps us arguing the same points.   > >We continue to want to see the economy through what we >perceive to be our inputs, when it’s high time we >viewed the economy through the lens of what we can >truly, creatively offer to the world.  In the end, >thought there is money to be made in transactions, >it’s high quality stuff that folks want that will be >the core for our future success. > >Ethan Seltzer, Director >Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies >Portland State University >P.O. Box 751 >Portland, Oregon 97207 >(503) 725-5170 >(503) 725-5199 fax >seltzere@pdx.edu > >---------------------------------------- > >From: "Ralph R Shaw" <ralphs@shawventures.com> >To: "'Fred Phillips'" <fphillips@admin.ogi.edu> >Subject: RE: economic development >Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 21:36:32 -0700 > >Thanks, Fred, for sending me a copy of your message to >Craig Wessel. You are on target, as I see it! > >                             Best regards, >                                   Ralph > >--------------------------------- > >From: "Larry Wade" <larry@sao.org> >To: "'Fred Phillips'" <fphillips@admin.ogi.edu> >Cc: <cwessel@bizjournals.com> >Subject: RE: economic development >Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 16:28:16 -0700 > >Fred - Thanks for copying me on your Op-Ed. On my >first reading I find myself agreeing on most of your >points. If you get encouragement to expand and >clarify, I would be happy to be a reviewer. My >additional two cents worth. > >I can see the argument on K-12 but I think you need to >be more specific. Motherhood and apple pie aren't >good enough for what we need now. I would like to >ping on two points that I feel strongly about. The >first is the K. I think the opportunity really starts >with Pre-K, meaning starting with 3 year olds. We >need to focus on Early Childhood education and do >everything we can to prepare these babies to enter K >well-prepared, socially, physically and >intellectually. My wife is an early childhood >educator so I get to see more of the issues than the >average person, but I worry greatly that we frame the >problem as K-12 and ignore the fact that much of the >human potential is developed before age 5. On the >other end of the spectrum let me gore the other ox, >12. I propose changing that number to 65. I think >the fundamental problem is continuing education, not >higher education. The rate of obsolescence of new >graduates is higher then ever, and yet we don't have a >corporate culture that encourages continuing >education, nor do we have the higher ed capacity to >accommodate it.  > >The other major issue for me is our poor >transportation system, which I see as a quality of >life issue. For me the most precious commodity is >time, and I really resent having my and everyone >else's time wasted by our poor transportation system. >Why aren't we outraged by it? Why do we accept the >endless traffic jams on Hwy 26 and the freeways? >Don't we care about the drain on the quality of life, >the time lost for business productivity, the time lost >to our families from burdensome commuting, the erosion >of relationships with our families? > >---------------------------------- > >To: <larry@sao.org>, Ethan Seltzer <dkes@odin.pdx.edu> >From: Fred Phillips <fphillips@admin.ogi.edu> >Subject: economic development > >Thanks, guys, for the thoughtful replies. Ethan and >Larry, you both zeroed in on pre-K and lifelong >education - I agree of course, and thought you'd want >to see each other's comments. > >As someone who has been preaching this stuff >(strategic focus on technology & economic development) >for a long, long time, I was trying in yesterday's >message to reveal my impatience with all the talk and >blather. If I STILL committed platitudes, then mea >culpa. I didn't think urging that we drop everything >else to fix K-12 was motherhood and apple pie, but >perhaps, Larry, you meant that it needed specifics. >I'm not the one to provide them, being an expert only >in graduate education. I only see what ordinary >citizens see, a timid legislature and scandals and >inefficiencies at the top levels of the school >districts. > >As for transportation, I believe in a Parkinson's Law >of traffic: if you build more capacity, traffic will >expand to fill it, and we'll be back where we started >;-) It seems inevitable that we'll have commercial >passenger flights from Hillsboro or McMinnville, and >the north-south commuter rail should help reduce car >trips too. As Max adds new lines, ridership will rise >more than proportionately. Dean Kamin's gadget won't >work in Portland until it gets a rain hood! > >East Portland is nice because of multiple village >centers that let people walk to shops and restaurants. > Beaverton and westward, there are vast tracts of >housing without village centers, and that just pushes >people into their cars. So a lot of the problem is >not transportation infrastructure, but neighborhood >design and zoning.

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