pathways guide
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Discussion guide on "smart growth" opportunities for localities produced by the SGPB.TRANSCRIPT
S O U T H E R N G R O W T H P O L I C I E S B O A R D
Pathways to Prosperity:
Choosing a Future for Your Community
PATHWAYS TO PROSPERITY:
Choosing a Future for Your Community
OKAR
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KYNC
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Unlike many other Southern Growthpublications, this guide does not put for-ward a set of recommendations or advo-cate a specific solution or point of view.Instead, it outlines an issue of importanceto the region, along with severalapproaches for dealing with it. Thesealternatives reflect different points of viewthat have been heard in discussionsaround the region. Each approach has itsown priorities and agenda, as well as itsown trade-offs and consequences.
The goal of this guide is not to offer asolution to the issue, but rather toencourage Southerners to listen to oneanother and to explore areas of agreementand disagreement among diverse inter-ests. At first glance, some readers mayconclude that some of the approachespresented are simply bad ideas.
Other ideas may, at first reading, seemto be the obvious “right” answer. But thepoint of these discussions is not to jumpto conclusions too quickly. This guide ismeant to inspire thoughtful examinationof differing points of view, not debate.Once people understand why somegroups hold differing views, they areoften able to find common groundaround which a solution can be crafted.The common ground may be one of theoutlined approaches, some combinationof them, or a completely new alternative.
The Southern Growth Policies Boardhopes that, like the National IssuesForums, this guidebook will be used tostimulate discussion among a wide vari-ety of groups, from leadership groups toreligious organizations, from economicdevelopment organizations to serviceclubs. Reports on the outcomes of theforums will be shared with Southernleaders, including Southern Growth Poli-cies Board members, to give them insightinto what the public is thinking aboutimportant issues in the region.
ABOUT THIS DISCUSSION GUIDE
ith this discussion guide, the Southern Growth Policies Board is embarking ona new process to engage Southerners in dialogue about important regional issues.
The guide has its foundation in the National Issues Forums process, a process that has beenused for nearly 20 years by thousands of groups throughout the country to deliberate aboutnational issues ranging from Social Security to child care.
PATHWAYS TO PROSPERITY:
Choosing a Future for Your CommunityBy Tony Wharton and Linda Hoke
S U M M A R Y
ONE
Q U E S T I O N N A I R E S
Rapid growth has transformed the South from the poorest region in the nation
to the world’s third-largest economy in the span of a single lifetime. But even as
many communities prosper, continued commercial and population growth raise
troubling questions. What of those who are left behind? Does our enthusiasm for
economic progress endanger a distinctive and valued way of life? How do we con-
vert growth into prosperity? It is important to give serious thought to these ques-
tions while there are still choices to be made.
Create Jobs
In this view, the best way to achieve prosperity for all is to create more well-pay-
ing jobs. Paychecks are the remedy for small cities and rural areas that have been left
to decline by changing economic trends. This approach calls for providing incen-
tives to attract businesses, easing government regulations that tend to stifle the devel-
opment of business and industry, and investing in infrastructure to support existing
businesses and attract new ones.
Develop Human and Community Resources First
Although considerable progress has been made, many Southerners lack the edu-
cation and skills needed to keep up in today’s changing workplace. Proponents of
Approach Two maintain that this and other social problems, such as poverty and poor
health, are the true roadblocks to prosperity. Remedies include spending more money
on education and worker training, ensuring easy access to health care, creating pro-
grams to help bridge racial and cultural divides, and developing community-leader-
ship skills.
Manage Growth
Supporters of this approach are not opposed to growth. They are opposed to
uncontrolled growth, which is swallowing up farms and small towns, driving up
smog to unacceptable levels, and overcrowding schools. They fear that this type of
growth will choke the region’s future prosperity. Planning is the answer, in this view.
Both professionals and citizens should be involved in making deliberate and rational
choices about whether, where, and how a community should grow. Leaving those
choices to larger economic forces is a poor way to build the future.
Comparing the Approaches
4
7
12
18
24
27
TWO
THREE
I N T R O D U C T I O N
4
he American South has been trans-
formed in the space of a single life-
time. Just over 60 years ago, Presi-
dent Franklin Roosevelt called the South “the
nation’s number one economic problem.”
Today, the South’s economy is the world’s
third largest, and it generates new jobs faster
than any other part of the United States. It
has helped shift the balance of the national
economy from manufacturing to service
industries. Home to such companies as
America Online and WorldCom, it has made
great strides in becoming a leader in the
telecommunications revolution. And, with
states like Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana
leading the way, the South is an international
tourist magnet.
But as people and wealth have trans-
formed the South, new questions have
cropped up. Even while many cities and
towns work to encourage growth, others
wonder how to cope with its consequences.
The sleepy countryside and wandering roads
that inspired writers and poets from William
Faulkner to Zora Neale Hurston are disap-
pearing under miles of pavement and acres of
new subdivisions. Traffic has become so
heavy in some places it’s a deterrent to new
businesses and home buyers. Once the South
struggled to move beyond its historic tradi-
tion of farming; now farms disappear under
the builders’ bulldozers. Is the South, as a
place with its own rhythms and culture, slip-
ping away?
At the same time, old problems persist.
Inner-city neighborhoods sagged into poverty
and many still languish there, often visible
from the gleaming interstates rushing workers
from suburbs to downtown towers. In some
rural areas, too, poverty is deep and persis-
tent. And many small towns, once a hallmark
of the South, find themselves declining as
people and businesses are drawn to the cities.
Once-tranquil countryside
is increasingly covered
by highways clogged
with traffic.
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All of these approaches represent values
most Southerners hold in common — oppor-
tunity, equality, self-reliance, community, self-
determination, stewardship. But while we
share these values, we often interpret them
differently and give some higher priority than
others. We all have a different perspective on
the choices outlined in this discussion guide.
Oxford, Mississippi, where Faulkner
lived, is one place beginning to face those
choices. The picturesque town, complete
with courthouse and town square, was a well-
kept secret for decades. But in recent years,
national magazines have noticed its qualities
and begun to cite it as a good place to live.
Now, subdivisions are appearing outside of
town and real estate prices in the city are
shooting up.
Now, the people of Oxford are talking
about more than writers and football. Some
welcome growth, and note that some of
the town’s worst neighborhoods are being
spruced up. Others mourn the loss of old oak
trees and a change in the city’s character.
“Beauty is our money crop,” the 1986
Commission on the Future of the South con-
cluded. The rivers, forests, and swamps help
bring businesses, residents, and tourists to the
region. How, then, do we deal with develop-
ment encroaching on the Everglades in Flori-
da and ozone warnings in the Great Smoky
Mountains National Park? Growth — mean-
ing more people, new houses, and new roads
— is everywhere. But how do communities
convert growth into prosperity, meaning a
good quality of life for the whole community?
People’s responses to that question are
shaped by many factors — how long they’ve
lived in the South, what they do for a living,
what they think the future ought to look like.
Several ways of thinking about that
future have emerged over the years. For
some, the answer is simple: We need to keep
creating jobs. These are good times for the
South, and we should make sure nothing
interferes with that. As long as jobs are avail-
able for everyone, we’re on the right track.
Not everyone agrees. Some say that the
region’s economic success has been uneven,
leaving behind people, and sometimes entire
communities. In many of these areas, prob-
lems are too deep to be solved merely by try-
ing to bring in jobs. Unless we share the
South’s newfound wealth more equitably,
focus on deep-rooted problems of poverty,
education, and infrastructure, and give people
the tools they need to compete, long-term
prosperity is likely to remain elusive.
Others argue that we’ve lost control of
residential growth and the accompanying
commercial development. If we don’t do a
better job of managing this growth, we will
destroy the quality of life that makes our com-
munities attractive to citizens and businesses.
We also need to plan better for the transition
of farmland to development, and protect the
natural resources of which the South is
justly proud.
Job and Population GrowthSouth and Non-South, 1979-1998
Source: BEA Regional Economic Information System, U.S.Department of Commerce, 1998
60%
40%
20%
0%PopulationJobs
19%
South Non-South
25%
38%
50%
6
“We know we’re going to grow, and we
don’t want to be perceived as ‘no-growth,’ ”
Mayor Pat Lamar told the Atlanta Constitu-tion. “But we’d like to see the ambience and
history of Oxford duplicated as we grow,
rather than have miles and miles of asphalt
and subdivisions.”
History suggests that Oxford will contin-
ue to grow, but how much and how fast?
Many of the newcomers probably will be
among those speaking out for a slower pace,
while some of those who have lived in town
the longest will welcome the changes.
Oxford is struggling, too, with what
limits should be drawn around its new popu-
larity. People want to choose where they live,
but they also want controls on where things
should be built. It’s hard to have both. Those
individual experiences and perceptions shape
the conversation.
People need to talk with each other
about what they want their community to
look like. What do they care about? How far
should people have to drive to work? How
many parks should there be?
This kind of conversation can go on
continuously, bringing in new residents,
including the many immigrants the South is
already attracting, and adjusting to new cir-
cumstances. What matters is that we keep
talking with one another and take actions
together in our communities.
Pict
or
The Everglades and other natural
treasures of the South are already
endangered by unwanted side effects
of rapid growth.
7
he I-85 corridor between Raleigh-
Durham and Atlanta has been
dubbed the South’s “road to pros-
perity.” More jobs have been created along
this 400-mile stretch of highway than in any
comparable place in the country. And these
are good jobs, paying good wages. In North
Carolina’s Research Triangle Park, more than
40,000 workers are employed in research-
based businesses such as IBM, Glaxo Smith-
Kline, and Cisco Systems. In Greenville,
South Carolina, BMW recently expanded its
car assembly plant, nearly doubling its work
force; and in the Atlanta, Georgia, metropoli-
tan area, more than half-a-million jobs have
been added since 1990, many in fast-growing
industries like communications.
Contrast this to the scene in South Nor-
folk. Once a proud city on its own, South
Norfolk is now a part of Chesapeake, Vir-
ginia. South Norfolk is lined with turn-of-the-
century houses with hardwood floors,
Toverlooking broad avenues. In the 1950s and
1960s, the town also had theaters, shops, and
businesses lining its streets.
Not anymore. The elegant houses are still
there, but many are deteriorating, too often
used as rentals instead of as single-family
homes. There are too few businesses, and the
ones left don’t employ many people. Unem-
ployment and crime are higher there than in
other parts of the city. In other words, growth
is not an issue in South Norfolk.
“Spend a couple of weeks in South Nor-
folk on this block and you won’t worry about
growth and traffic,” Terry Scott told the
Virginian-Pilot newspaper. Thieves broke
into his home three times in five years, and he
doesn’t feel safe going out after dark to bring
the cat in.
ONE
The Dale Bumpers National Rice
Research Center has spurred
biotechnology activity in rural
Stuttgart, Arkansas.
Create Jobs
Cou
rtes
y of
the
Dal
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atio
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Res
earc
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8
and Heflin,” he told the Anniston Star. “It’s
about the tax base, future income, and keep-
ing young folks at home.”
The community put together a total of
$2.6 million in incentives to bring in the new
plant, and it’s been worth it. The company,
which originally planned to hire 120 people,
now employs 200.
Each community should put its best foot
forward and show it is business-friendly, say
supporters of Approach One. Like Heflin,
states and communities may choose to pursue
new industry with incentives. A little boost to
give a company an edge up in today’s
competitive market is worth it in the long run
in terms of jobs and taxes.
Well-placed incentives can also trigger
additional investment by related businesses.
“It’s like a new subdivision,” Gregory Wing-
field, president of a Richmond, Virginia, eco-
nomic development organization, told the
Richmond Times-Dispatch. “The first lot is
discounted to attract a buyer.” Like computer
companies in Silicon Valley, carpet manufac-
turers in Dalton, Georgia, and furniture
makers in Tupelo, Mississippi, similar busi-
nesses are often strongest where they cluster
together. This puts them near their suppliers,
gives them access to bankers, CPAs, and other
service providers who are familiar with the
industry, and increases their chances that the
local work force is skilled in the industry.
While Alabama was criticized for spend-
ing $253 million on incentives for a new
Mercedes plant, the auto manufacturer
brought several supporting companies with it,
and the state’s new prestige prompted Honda
to open a plant there as well. As a result,
many people have seen their incomes rise by
$40,000 to $50,000 a year. To top it off, in
August 2000, Mercedes announced plans for
a $600 million expansion that would add
another 2,000 jobs to the local economy.
This same approach can work in rural
areas, too. In the farming community of
Supporters of Approach One believe
that creating jobs is our “road to prosperity.”
If we create jobs, everything else will follow,
they say. People will have the money they
need to buy good houses and send their
children to good schools. In time, crime will
go down. This approach, more than any
other, has made the South what it is today.
Why change what’s already working?
Let’s not worry so much about control-
ling growth, says Bill Goode, president of
the Business and Industrial Development
Corporation in Charleston, West Virginia.
“Economic developers worry ‘smart growth’
can mean ‘no growth,’ ” he recently told the
West Virginia Gazette. “We’ve been focused
on job development. More and better jobs
are a more immediate need.”
Bring in JobsJobs are what make a community pros-
per; without them, it stagnates and dies.
When you’re adding jobs, you’re strengthen-
ing the community and its social fabric,
advocates of Approach One say. Eddy Dry-
den, a funeral home director in Heflin, Alaba-
ma, appears to agree with this philosophy.
He personally raised more than $90,000 from
fellow business owners and neighbors to help
bring in a new wire manufacturing plant.
“This is about the future of Cleburne County
1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
250
200
150
100
Source: Morrison/Dodd Group, L.L.C., U.S. Department of Commerce,Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Economic Information System
Index of Employment Growth, 1970-2010(1970=100) U.S. employment growth
Southern employment growth
ONE Create Jobs
9
Stuttgart, Arkansas, known as the “Rice and
Duck Capital of the World,” are the begin-
nings of what the town hopes will become a
capital of biotechnology. Anchored by the
new National Rice Research Center, a half-
dozen laboratories are using biotechnology to
try to improve everything from cotton to cat-
fish. The town’s efforts are buoyed by an
Arkansas law that provides tax breaks aimed
specifically at the biotechnology industry.
The state also is building its capacity to grow
new businesses by strengthening its university
research base, adopting policies that encour-
age faculty members to commercialize their
inventions, and teaming up with private
investors to form a pool of venture capital to
finance innovative companies.
Growth Needs to Be aConscious Choice
Supporters of Approach One say we
need to make a conscious choice to encourage
growth. It will not just happen on its own. At
the same time, opinions are often divided over
how active a role government should play in
encouraging growth. Some favor a pro-active
role for government, such as in Heflin and
Stuttgart, where government has provided tax
and other incentives to attract growth. Others
think that the best thing that government can
do is to provide a healthy climate for business
growth, but to otherwise get out of the way.
Most agree that government has a key
role to play in providing the infrastructure
that businesses need to succeed. In the past,
this meant roads, water, and sewer. In today’s
economy that list has expanded to include
telecommunications infrastructure and access
to global markets via ports and airports.
In this “information age,” telecommuni-
cations infrastructure is becoming increasing-
ly critical to business formation and growth.
The ability to tap into new markets around
the world has spawned many new businesses.
Existing businesses are using the Internet for
everything from managing their inventories to
providing more efficient customer service.
The U.S. Government Working Group on
Electronic Commerce reports that on-line
retail sales could reach $144 billion by 2003,
while the value of Internet transactions
between businesses could go as high as an
astounding $3.9 trillion. The digital revolu-
tion has made it possible to do business from
anywhere in the world that has access to
telecommunications infrastructure.
As technology makes trade with other
countries easier, exports are accounting for
more and more new jobs. In fact, exports
account for 40 percent of all new jobs created
in the U.S. since 1993. Businesses that export
tend to be stronger, paying higher wages, cre-
ating more jobs, and having greater chances
for long-term survival. Providing efficient
transportation systems that connect our busi-
nesses to global markets is an important role
for government, say supporters of Approach
One.
Regulations Stifle Growth“Don’t just stand there, undo some-
thing,” economist Murray Weidenbaum told a
congressional committee on regulations. The
former chairman of the President’s Council of
Economic Advisers wrote later that new busi-
nesses “…need the flexibility to adapt quickly
to the rapid changes that occur in the modern
global economy. Too many governmental
jurisdictions unwittingly place a bureaucratic
straitjacket on business.”
ONE
Sout
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arol
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Empl
oym
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Secu
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Com
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/Rod
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Wel
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Supporters of Approach One say
that the creation of jobs is the
pathway to prosperity.
Create Jobs
10
Regulations all too often have huge costs
relative to only marginal benefits, point out sup-
porters of Approach One. It’s not right that
boarded-up factories stand vacant in inner-city
neighborhoods where jobs are needed, passed
up by developers worried about liability con-
cerns and too-stringent clean-up standards.
Why require groundwater at an abandoned rail-
way yard to be cleaner than our drinking water?
In Support✓ If we create jobs, everything else will fol-
low. People will have the money they need
to buy good houses and send their chil-
dren to good schools. You don’t have a
high quality of life if you don’t have a job.
✓ Business development generates the
tax revenue needed to operate schools,
pick up the trash, and fight crime. Resi-
dential development rarely pays its own
way in terms of taxes. Without business
development, home owners would either
have to pay more for community amenities
or cut back on services.
✓ New business development provides
alternatives for employment and makes our
communities more resilient.
Many supporters of Approach One
believe that overzealous government regula-
tions stifle job creation and undermine our
businesses’ competitiveness in the interna-
tional marketplace. The regulatory burden is
particularly great for small businesses, the
type of businesses that are now responsible
for most of the job growth in our economy.
Figures from the Institute for Policy Innova-
tion put the cost of complying with federal
regulations alone at more than $5,500 per
employee for small firms.
Environmental regulations are often
among the most daunting. In 1995, the cost
of environmental regulations to American
businesses and taxpayers was estimated to be
$170 billion, according to the U.S. Chamber
of Commerce. Yet in looking at a single pro-
gram, the Superfund cleanup of hazardous
waste sites, less than
half the money was
actually spent on
cleaning up
waste, and the
rest went to
administration or
lawyers.
ONE
Niculae Asciu
What Can Be Done?
Supporters of Approach One generally favor the following measures:
. Invest in infrastructure, such as roads and telecommunications,to support industry.
. Streamline permit processes to make development easier for businesses.
. Provide tax and other incentives to attract industry.
. Reduce regulations that inhibit business growth.
. Support the development of new, entrepreneurial businesses.
. Help identify new domestic and overseas markets for business.
Create Jobs
11
✓ Growth attracts people to our commu-
nities and helps keep our property val-
ues high.
✓ More development means more conve-
nience and more choices. It’s convenient
to have a grocery store, gas station, and
video rental store down the street.
✓ A strong and growing economy gener-
ates resources to protect the environ-
ment. A look around the world shows
that it is poor areas that are most likely
to pollute.
✓ A growing economy provides the
opportunities needed to keep our young
people at home. Without growth, our
children will need to move away in order
to make a living.
In Opposition✗ Business growth doesn’t necessarily
reduce unemployment. Faster-growing
communities often attract new residents
just as quickly as they create new jobs.
✗ Not all jobs are good jobs. While all the
talk is about high-paying computer jobs,
the reality is that many of the new jobs
being created are still in low-paying
positions, such as janitors, waiters, and
retail sales clerks.
✗ We already have enough jobs. The
unemployment rate is at a 30-year low.
We should be worrying more about how
to help businesses fill the jobs that are
going unfilled due to a lack of skilled
workers.
✗ Attracting new industry can be expen-
sive, both in terms of infrastructure
required, as well as an increased need for
services by new workers moving to the
community. New development often
doesn’t pay the full costs of its impact on
the community, especially where busi-
nesses have been given tax breaks.
ONE
For Further Reading/ Create Jobs
✗ Incentives divert money that might oth-
erwise be spent on schools, medical
care, and other services that would make
our communities more attractive in the
long term.
✗ Competition for new business pits
one community against another. Those
areas with fewer resources (especially
rural communities and inner cities) find
it difficult to compete with already-thriv-
ing communities.
✗ Uncontrolled development can hurt
economic development in the long run
by making the community less attractive
to potential workers and businesses.
. Bob Davis and David Wessell, Prosperity: The Coming Twenty-Year Boom and What It Means to You (New York: Random House, 1998).
. National Association of Manufacturers, Pro-Growth Agenda.
View on-line at www.nam.org
. Naomi Lopez, Barriers to Entrepreneurship: How Government Undermines Economic Opportunity, IPI Policy Report #149 (Lewisville, TX: Institute for
Policy Innovation, June 15, 1999) and Naomi Lopez, Tom Giovanetti and
W. Michael Cox, “Turning Lemonade into Lemons: How Government Puts the Squeeze on Entrepreneurs, IPI Insights (Lewisville, TX: Institute for Policy
Innovation, June 1, 1999) both at www.ipi.org
. See also the Web sites of the Heritage Foundation at www.heritage.org,
the Cato Institute at www.cato.org, and the Competitive Enterprise
Institute at www.cei.org
Create Jobs
12
own along the Mississippi Delta,
one of the birthplaces of the
blues, you’ll find Jonestown,
Mississippi, home to about 1,500 people.
Cotton once provided all the work people
needed, but that day is past. Now people
drive or ride the bus for miles, to towns like
Clarksdale or Tunica, to get to their jobs —
or they move out of Jonestown.
Jonestown used to have businesses,
doctors, and schools of its own. Today
trash collects in the empty storefronts along
Main Street. The old school building has
stood vacant for years. It’s said that people
have even burned their dilapidated old homes
in the hope that Habitat for Humanity would
build them new ones. Two-thirds of Jones-
town’s people live in poverty and the commu-
nity is plagued with illiteracy, teen pregnancy,
unemployment, and teen violence.
“Most people here worked out on the
farms at one point,” said Jonestown’s mayor,
Joe Phillips. “But not as many people are
needed to work the crops as used to be. So
they moved to the town. But they really didn’t
have the education or the skills to get other
jobs. And there wasn’t enough work anyway.”
Develop Human andCommunity Resources First
D
Pict
or/M
artin
Rog
ers
Education is the key to success,
Approach Two advocates say.
TWO
13
In communities such as Jonestown,
problems often are so ingrained they can’t be
fixed simply by bringing in a shiny new man-
ufacturing plant, even if one could be con-
vinced to locate there. Approach Two argues
that communities need to develop their per-
sonal and economic capacities before they
can participate in the opportunities of today’s
economy.
Education and retraining are particularly
important. Too often, we have left some peo-
ple, particularly minorities, in low-paying,
dead-end jobs that require few skills. We must
also pay attention to deep-seated issues, such
as race relations, that we often put off in favor
of easier, but potentially less lasting, solutions
to community problems.
Those who advocate Approach Two
believe true prosperity will be elusive or
incomplete until a community makes the
development of its people and its resources
the first priority. Only then can a community
develop its economy from a position of
strength rather than weakness.
Build Self-SufficiencyTowns and small cities across the South,
far outside the booming cities, are in a
predicament similar to Jonestown’s. Often,
they relied on a single industry, such as cot-
ton, or textiles, or tobacco, and when those
jobs disappeared through uncontrollable
shifts in the national or international econo-
my, people were left with few prospects. Even
some of those living in the Sunbelt’s booming
cities do not have the education or the
resources to take advantage of the good times.
Vance County, North Carolina, wants
some of the prosperity that has transformed
the Triangle region of that state. Instead,
Vance County is full of empty tobacco ware-
houses and textile mills; it has one of the
state’s highest unemployment rates and work-
ers who don’t have the skills or the education
that employers need. It’s a potentially devas-
tating combination that could not only endan-
ger the county’s future but become a costly
burden for state and federal taxpayers.
“Most people aren’t taking applications,”
said Patricia Williams, age 41.“There’s just
so many people out there out of a job.” She
used to make less than $9 an hour at Burling-
ton Industries and thought she would always
work there. But Burlington closed the plant
and Williams realized her 18 years there had-
n’t prepared her for any other job. Recently,
Williams started taking classes in early child-
hood education at a community college,
planning to become a teacher’s aide or day
care worker.
In the old economy, it was traditional
and safe to rely on one source of jobs. Not
anymore. When a company leaves or an
industry collapses, the upper-level executives
and managers can find new jobs or move. But
low-paid employees, frequently minorities
and usually poor, never learned other skills
and must scramble to find a new living.
Such is the legacy of the coal industry
in Letcher County, Kentucky. “They took
the raw materials, the resources, and the man-
TWO
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997
Source: Winning the Skills Race, Council on Competitiveness, 1998(from Coopers & Lybrand data)
America’s CEOs Say That Skill ShortagesAre the Number One Barrier to Growth
Percentages of U.S. Growth Company CEOs ReportingSkilled-Worker Shortages as Top Barrier to Growth
Perc
ent
%
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Develop Human and Community Resources First
14
power that was available and used them to
make their millions of dollars,” Charles
Hawkins, a longtime resident, told the South-
ern Rural Development Initiative. “When they
got all they wanted, they sold out to somebody
else — and then they came in and got all they
wanted.”
Many in the community are understand-
ably wary of pinning their hopes for the future
on bringing in another big business. Instead,
Letcher County residents are looking to build
their future on the strengths of their communi-
ty, including strong family relationships and
rich cultural traditions. Creating programs to
teach parenting and life skills, promoting com-
munity schools, and further developing the
community’s arts and crafts traditions are
among the ideas that have emerged from Sow-
ing the Seeds, a citizen-initiated planning
process.
Educate and RetrainDespite significant progress, citizens of
many Southern states lag in math, science, and
reading achievement; high school dropout rates
are higher than average; and there is a lower
rate of adult literacy than in other parts of the
country. Other factors such as poverty,
teenage pregnancy, and lack of prenatal care
also put our children at risk for failure in the
future.
Supporters of Approach Two believe
these are the true roadblocks to prosperity in
the region. Investment in quality education,
skills training, and health care is essential not
only for individual success, but for communi-
ty success. If we develop healthy, educated
citizens, well-paying jobs will follow — the
kind that will sustain our families and com-
munities in the long term.
Investing in education, research shows,
provides the kind of returns any Wall Street
trader would approve of. One dollar spent on
quality preschool for a child saves us $7 that
we would otherwise spend later on special
education, social programs, and other costs
for that same child, according to a long-term
study. Developing our communities and our
citizens simultaneously is a smart strategy.
In Little Rock, Arkansas, one program
provides adult education and preschool in
the same building. So, while Mary Glover
studied for her GED, her sons Zachariah and
Caleb attended a preschool program across
When factories close and businesses move
out, they leave behind workers without needed
skills to pursue other economic opportunities.
Develop Human and Community Resources First
NY
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rman
TWO
15
South’s population grows increasingly
diverse. The issue is no longer just black and
white. For the U.S. as a whole, growth rates
for Hispanic and Asian populations are
almost double that for blacks or whites. Four
Southern states, led by Arkansas, are among
the top five states in the nation in terms of the
growth rate of the Hispanic population. To
put things in perspective, today, one in six
Nashville residents is foreign-born. Approach
Two envisions communities working together
to find ways to turn this diversity into a
source of strength rather than tension.
Make the Community aDesirable Place
Vance County, North Carolina, is build-
ing an arts center because people there under-
stand that jobs and new businesses by them-
selves don’t make a community whole. Many
executives who work in the county still
choose to live in Raleigh’s suburbs because
they want its cultural amenities.
Henderson, Vance County’s principal
town, has recruited native son and prominent
television journalist Charlie Rose to produce
a fund-raising video. The town is hoping to
raise $15 million to build the new arts center.
the hall. Mary was proud to be a role model
for her children, and parenting education
classes helped make the family stronger. At
the end of their first year, Mary started a new
job as an assistant in a Head Start classroom.
She soon enrolled in pre-algebra and comput-
er classes at a local college as a first step
toward fulfilling her dream of becoming a
child psychologist.
Both of Mary’s boys are doing very well
in school. “The benefits they received from
the classroom are countless,” she said.
Those benefits are greater than ever.
Education is the ticket for success today.
Despite a booming national and regional
economy, income inequality is at its highest
level since the U.S. Census began tracking
this data in 1947. Many economists say the
main reason for this gap is the rising value of
education. On one end of the scale are high-
paying jobs in fields such as microelectronics,
robotics, and electronic commerce. At the
other end are service sector jobs that require
fewer skills and command lower pay. A 12
percent unemployment rate for 25- to 34-
year-old male high school dropouts stands in
sharp contrast to an unemployment rate of
only 1.5 percent for those with at least a
bachelor’s degree.
Bridge Racial and Cultural Divides
In Fort Myers, Florida, a new shopping
center at the corner of Sabal Palm and Martin
Luther King, Jr. boulevards serves as a sym-
bol of progress in a community that was once
referred to as one of the most racially segre-
gated in the South. The shopping center,
which serves a low-income area, is just one
of the more tangible results of a process that
brought citizens together to address issues
of race, racism, and segregation in the
community.
This kind of pulling together will only
become more important in the future as the When coal mines in Letcher County, Kentucky, closed, coal miners were out of work.
A citizen initiative, called Sowing the Seeds, now looks to developing other strengths
in the community.
Pict
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Rog
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Develop Human and Community Resources First TWO
TWO
16
Niculae Asciu
Supporters of Approach Two generally favor the following measures:
. Spend more money on education, from preschool through higher education.
. Implement aggressive dropout-reduction programs.
. Develop programs to provide training and retraining to those already in the work force.
. Strengthen families through programs in family literacy, parent education, abuse prevention, and other areas.
. Make sure everyone has easy access to quality health care.
. Increase home ownership as a tool for building family wealth and stronger
communities.
. Conduct programs to help bridge racial and cultural divides.
. Provide incentives to encourage investment in inner cities and rural areas
that have been left behind in the new economy.
. Develop programs to build community leadership and civic engagement.
What Can Be Done?
Similarly, Jonestown is embarking on
a project with Mississippi State University
to reclaim and renovate its old school
building as a community center. The goal is
to provide a focus for the town’s activities
and provide some much-needed services
such as day care, recreation, and adult edu-
cation in one place.
“As a mother of a three-year-old, I was
amazed to hear that many young mothers
leave their homes at 5 a.m. to catch a bus to
Tunica to work,” said Shannon Criss, direc-
tor of the Small Town Center at Mississippi
State University. “After working for eight
hours, they then travel back to be home by
8 p.m. Who attends to their children?
What kind of family life is there for these
kids?”
Jonestown also is building a small
nature trail on the bayou near the school
building, and the local community college
is renewing its effort to provide job train-
ing. Those who live in Jonestown are com-
mitted to changing their lives and their
community from the ground up, making it
a better place, before any new businesses
come in.
Develop Human and Community Resources First
TWO
17
In Support✓ Education is the ticket to success
today. A growing percentage of busi-
ness leaders say that skills shortages
are the number one barrier to business
growth. Communities that develop a
skilled work force will be well on their
way toward attracting high-growth,
high-wage businesses.
✓ The South’s population is becoming
more diverse. With the economy
becoming increasingly global, we
would be wise to find a way to turn
this diversity into a strength rather
than a source of tension.
✓ Strong families are the backbone of
prosperous communities. Studies
show that teens who have close family
relationships are least likely to engage
in risky and violent behaviors.
✓ The health of our inner cities and
our rural areas affects the entire region.
We all pay when these areas suffer
business closings, high unemployment,
and low wages.
✓ Research has shown that strong com-
munity groups and involved citizens
are a key ingredient in a community’s
economic success.
In Opposition✗ Having everyone hold hands and sing
“kumbaya” sounds nice, but realistical-
ly, how is this going to solve a commu-
nity’s long-term problems?
✗ Investments in prenatal care, early
childhood education, and the like will
take a long time to show any payback.
We need to improve economic
conditions now.
For Further Reading/ Develop Human and Community Resources First
✗ Investments like the ones we’re talking
about are expensive. We would have to
raise taxes to pay for these programs and
that would slow economic growth.
Besides, there’s a lot of waste in govern-
ment programs already.
✗ We have been trying to improve our
educational system for decades. Throw-
ing money at the problem doesn’t seem
to work. Per pupil funding for K-12 edu-
cation has almost doubled in the past 30
years and we still lag in achievement.
✗ Everyone should be able to make it on
their own if they just work hard enough.
Government should not be meddling in
family affairs.
Develop Human and Community Resources First
.Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000). See also, Robert Putnam,
“The Prosperous Community,” in The American Prospect, Volume 4, Issue 13,
March 21, 1993 at www.prospect.org/print/V4/13/putnam-r.html
.Brookings Institution Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy,
The Value of Investing in Youth (Morino Institute).
See www.brookings.org/es/urban/morino.pdf
.Michal Smith-Mello, Reclaiming Community, Reckoning with Change (Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center, December 1995).See www.kltprc.net/PDFs/Reclaim.pdf
.U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Now Is the Time: Places Left Behind in the New Economy (Washington, D.C.: HUD, April 1999).See www.hud.gov/pressrel/execsumm.html or order a free copy through
HUD USER at 1-800-245-2691 or www.huduser.org
18
tlanta burned during the Civil War,
but you would never know it now.
Between 1990 and 2000 alone,
the metropolitan area’s population grew by
more than one-third, to 4.1 million people.
Suburban development around the city con-
sumes 50 acres of forest every day. The aver-
age commuter drives 35 miles a day, more
than anywhere else in the U.S., and often in
heavy, aggravating traffic.
Growth is swallowing up once-rural
counties and small towns. Ozone and smog
levels are so high the federal government
began to withhold money that would build
roads. The very health of Atlanta’s residents
has been threatened. Scientists even say that
Atlanta now has so much pavement, it is cre-
ating its own weather.
Fearing that such growth will choke the
region’s future prosperity in traffic and smog,
Georgia’s leaders are trying to get things under
control. But years of habits in decision making
— to build more subdivisions, more malls and
more highways — are hard to turn around.
“We’re trying to slow down the QueenMary, and we’ve just now seen the rocks in the
water ahead,” said Lucy Smethurst, director
of Atlanta’s Clean Air Campaign, in the NewYork Times.
Supporters of Approach Three say
Atlanta’s predicament illustrates that if we
don’t manage growth, the South as we know it
will disappear. Blindly allowing more develop-
ment, in the name of prosperity at any price,
will leave us with an ugly place where no one
wants to live — and that’s not prosperity by
anyone’s definition.
“So many American cities today have lost
their souls — they have let go of the very charac-
ter that made them special,” observed John
THREEPi
ctor
A
Manage Growth
Atlanta is among the most prosperous
cities in the nation. But at what price,
proponents of Approach Three ask.
19
consider itself fortunate, because many towns,
particularly in the Midwest and Northeast,
actually have lost jobs and population. And
Approach Three does not necessarily mean
growth must be tightly controlled. A commu-
nity may decide that at this particular time, it
wants a significant rate of growth. But every
city should give conscious thought to that
choice and make the decision in full aware-
ness of its advantages and its consequences.
Elaine Ogburn, 65, once saw farms and
trees through her kitchen window in Varina,
Virginia, east of Richmond. Now she sees
new houses.
“I used to be able to know who was in
the cars driving on Midview Road, but not
anymore,” Ogburn told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “It’s been a real change to see hous-
es pop out of the ground on land that was
cultivated.”
The farm her family once operated has
been cut up into subdivisions, like many oth-
ers. Ogburn and her neighbors, and even
Williams, chairman of the Metropolitan
Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, in testimony
before Congress. “We have adopted an Any-
where, USA, persona that is damaging to local
economic growth.”
Those who advocate Approach Three
think the best strategy is to manage growth in
a rational way, using all the expertise avail-
able. Growth is still better for a community
than the alternative, but it needs to be proper-
ly planned. Communities can and should be
able to preserve their unique qualities. That
includes the way our cities and neighbor-
hoods look, the number of trees we allow to
be uprooted, the kind of jobs we want our
children to have, and the level of daily stress
we’re willing to tolerate.
Simply leaving those choices to larger
economic forces is not the best way to build
the future. Emphasizing economic develop-
ment over planning, even with a focus on the
people and places left out, is a dangerous
course to take. Witness the overcrowding in
so many of our children’s schools. When
communities can’t build enough schools to
keep up with growth, that should sound an
alarm. Get control of the growth first, and
other problems will be easier to tackle later.
If we take stock of what we value,
whether it’s a river, a historic district, or a
park, we can lay a solid foundation for making
intelligent decisions.
This kind of planning benefits everyone
with a stake in the future: suburban com-
muters tired of battling heavy traffic; rural
towns worried about being swallowed up by
expanding metropolitan areas; farmers who
need to know whether they’ll be able to devel-
op their land; and low-income residents who
don’t want to be left behind in the rush to
build.
Planning for the FutureBringing in more jobs and new residents
is good for a community, keeping it vibrant
and diverse. Any growing community should
Planning Saves MoneyCosts of public services in a planned growth area, in an unplannedarea, and in a rural area ten miles from existing public services, 1989
Source: J. Frank, “The Costs of Alternative Development Patterns:A Review of the Literature,” Urban Land Institute, Washington, D.C., 1989
$50,000
$40,000
$30,000
$20,000
$10,000
$ 0
In an unplanned area In an unplannedrural area
In a planned area
$18,000
$35,000
$48,000
Costs of public services per dwelling unit
THREEManage Growth
20
THREE Manage Growth
some of those new residents, fear that the very
qualities they saw in Varina are vanishing.
Sometimes that’s unavoidable. We
change the places we move into, simply by
moving there. But if that is repeated over and
over, without any thought to the conse-
quences, the results can be devastating.
This is a particular concern in the South,
which has historically had a strong sense of
identity and place. Growth increases stress on
people and livelihoods in many ways.
Farming, a long and respected tradition
in the South, has come under pressure from
growth in the last 50 years. Of the ten states
identified by the U.S. Department of Agricul-
ture as experiencing the highest conversion of
farmland to development, four are located in
the South. In Georgia alone, an average of
37,000 acres of farmland are being developed
each year.
Our cities, too, are facing pressure as
both residents and businesses flee to the sub-
urbs. In St. Louis, the regional population has
grown slowly but land development in subur-
ban areas has accelerated, as people move out
of the city. Between 1950 and 1990, the area’s
population increased by only 39 percent,
while the amount of land consumed increased
by 219 percent. Father James Edwards, a
Catholic priest active on this issue, put it
this way in the St. Louis Review: “The core
area has been emptying out for several
decades, with consequences for everyone.
The taxpayers keep paying for new infrastruc-
ture, new sewers and roads in new areas,
while the older infrastructure suffers.”
In similar ways, our current patterns of
development do little to bring us together as a
community, caution supporters of Approach
Three. As we abandon our downtowns, we
are increasingly becoming divided by race, a
phenomenon also playing out in St. Louis.
“This is a society that, since the beginning,
has always equated moving up with moving
out. We happen to be in a city, St. Louis,
where if you move west, you’re making
progress,” a law enforcement officer told Ray
Suarez, former host of National Public
Radio’s “Talk of the Nation.” Although blacks
make up only 18 percent of the metropolitan
area’s population, they account for 51 percent
of those living in the central city.
Supporters of Approach Three believe
we can address these issues if we take the
reins of growth firmly in our hands.
We already know a lot about how com-
munities grow. Knowing what kinds of houses
are being built, we can calculate how many
more cars will be on the roads and how many
people will commute between certain com-
munities. Using that kind of information, we
ought to be able to better manage that growth.
We should tap into the expertise of planners,
people we pay anyway in every city and town,
and consider their best advice.
Learning from InnovationOne approach is what’s called “planned
communities.” These kinds of towns, usually
small, are carefully planned from the start.
Frequently, businesses and homes are kept
closer to each other than they are in most
Williamsburg,Virginia. Historic sites are
part of a community’s character, and
it is important to maintain their
integrity by controlling development
around them.
Pict
or
21
suburbs, more like the way towns used to be
built. At its best, this approach eliminates
sprawl and maximizes community identity.
Seaside, Florida, is one example of a
planned community; where the emphasis is
on walking, not driving, where houses have
front porches and smaller lots. In Atlanta,
some builders are now putting up urban vil-
lages close to downtown, designed on similar
principles.
Not everyone can live in a planned com-
munity because there aren’t that many;
they’re small, and they can be expensive. But
there are lessons we can learn from the idea,
particularly about community character.
Planned communities know exactly what
they want to be. Ideally, every decision
springs from that self-image, and everything is
built with that picture in mind. That can be
useful in any city, because the wrong kind of
growth often results when people lose track of
what they want their community to be.
Many towns have a river, a hill, a forest,
or another natural feature that is an integral
part of the town’s character. If new houses
and businesses are built without keeping that
in mind, a community may start to lose a vital
aspect of its identity. This should be part of a
community’s deliberation: Are there water-
ways that contribute to the urban character?
Do people identify the region with particular
natural resources?
Farms are increasingly pressured by
urban sprawl. Of the ten states with
the highest rate of conversion of
farmland to development, five are
located in the South.
Pict
or
Planning gives people more control over residential, commercial, and industrial development
that affect their communities.
CO
RBI
S/St
eve
Che
nin
Manage Growth THREE
22
Manage Growth
The Tennessee River runs through the
city of Chattanooga, but by the 1980s no one
went near the river, which was lined with
empty warehouses and dilapidated factories.
In 1982, the city brought residents together
to talk about what they valued and what
ought to be done. During the months of dis-
cussions that followed, it became clear that
people cared about the river. A master plan
for the riverfront, which emerged from those
discussions, has produced a rebirth of interest
and investment along the Tennessee River.
More than $350 million has been invested in
revitalization projects, such as the Tennessee
Aquarium, most of it from private sources.
People in Chattanooga are enjoying the
river again, something that reminds them why
they love their city.
Similarly, historic buildings and sites
form part of a community’s character and are
equally vulnerable to development. Should
certain buildings be preserved by working
with business and government? Is there a
neighborhood that would be threatened by
encroaching development?
Coming Full CircleMany cities are learning that growth
needs to be kept in line with the community’s
plans for the future. Otherwise, it can endan-
ger prosperity in the long run, damaging the
quality of life and driving people away.
Some businesses are beginning to see
that managed growth is economically prefer-
able to uncontrolled growth. The quality of
life in a community has become increasingly
important to businesses, as the Internet and
other technological advances have made it
possible for them to locate just about any-
where in the world. The key question then
becomes, “Where would my employees want
to live?”
“We could almost go brain dead here
and still get economic development,”
observed a Nashville, Tennessee, metropoli-
tan-area leader during a series of discussions
on the future of the region. But, he said, “I’m
really concerned about transportation, roads.
We keep moving forward a step and then slide
two back. That’s what could stop us — the
quality-of-life issue. I see us hurtling toward
Atlanta conditions, just ten years behind.”
In Support✓ Growth is threatening our quality of life.
We are stuck in traffic jams, taking time
away from our families; our children go
to class in trailers because their school
buildings are bursting at the seams; and
our health is threatened by increased
pollution.
✓ Uncontrolled development is hurting
our long-term economic prospects by
making our communities less attractive
to potential workers and businesses.
What Can Be Done?
Supporters of Approach Three generally favor the following measures:
. Use regulations and incentives to direct development to specific areas.
. Favor existing communities rather than new developments when making public infrastructure investments.
. Ensure that new developments in outlying areas pay the full costs of services.
. Provide incentives to encourage historic preservation and the reuse of vacant buildings.
. Encourage more compact, mixed-use, pedestrian- and transit-oriented developments through zoning regulations and incentives.
. Re-create small, close-knit communities through design features such as front porches, smaller streets, and shared open spaces.
. Undertake comprehensive efforts to revitalize inner cities.
. Preserve farmland and open space through acquisition programs,incentives, and/or regulations.
. Provide more transportation choices, such as rail, bus, and/or bike lanes.
. Enact regulations to protect the environment.
THREE
23
✓ Communities are losing their unique
character as sweeping landscapes and
historic buildings give way to identical
shopping malls and cul-de-sacs all
across the South.
✓ Our communities are becoming geo-
graphically divided by race, with
minorities concentrated in inner cities
that have been all but abandoned as
growth flows to the suburbs.
✓ It is a waste of taxpayer dollars to aban-
don infrastructure in our inner cities
and rebuild it in our suburbs.
✓ Sprawling residential growth often
costs more in terms of public services
than it generates in taxes.
✓ Our very way of life is threatened as
farmlands and open space give way to
development. The natural resources of
the South are critical to maintaining a
lifestyle that draws and retains resi-
dents, businesses, and tourists.
✓ Our natural resources are finite. Once
they’re gone, they’re gone.
In Opposition✗ Growth restrictions violate personal
property rights. If individuals want to
buy property and build a house in the
suburbs (or sell their land to provide
money for retirement) that’s their right.
People should be able to decide where
they want to live and in what type of
house. We don’t need planners to
decide for us.
✗ Growth restrictions will make houses
more expensive and put the American
dream of home ownership out of the
reach of more and more people.
✗ It’s not realistic to believe that people
will use mass transit. It’s simply not
convenient. We shouldn’t throw more
money after an idea that hasn’t worked.
For Further Reading/ Manage Growth
. Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck, Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream(North Point Press, March 2000).
. Richard Moe and Carter Wilkie, Changing Places: RebuildingCommunity in the Age of Sprawl (Holt & Co., April 1999).
. Richard Florida, “Competing in the Age of Talent: Quality of Place and the New Economy,” a report prepared for the R.K. Mellon Foundation, Heinz
Endowments, and Sustainable Pittsburgh ( January 2000). View on-line at
www.heinz.cmu.edu/~florida/talent.pdf
. National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals,
Profiles of Business Leadership on Smart Growth (Washington, D.C.:
NALGEP, June 1999). View the executive summary on-line at
www.nalgep.org/smartgrowth.htm or order through NALGEP at
202-638-6254 or www.nalgep.org
✗ Growth restrictions discriminate against
newcomers to the community, including
immigrants. The elite want to pull up the
drawbridge after they’ve arrived.
✗ Restricting growth would hurt our
economy. We need business development
in order to pay for our schools, fire pro-
tection, and other community services.
✗ Growth is exaggerated as a problem.
Only 5 percent of the land in the U.S. is
now developed. Advances in technology
mean that we now need less land for
farming, and that our industries and cars
are cleaner and less likely to pollute.
✗ Purely localized growth management
will not solve the problem. It may even
make it worse by forcing growth to
more outlying areas without growth
restrictions.
Manage Growth THREE
Create Jobs
Jobs are the key toprosperity for all.If we create jobs,everything else will follow. Thisapproach, morethan any other, hasmade the South what it is today. Why change what’s already working?
What Can Be Done?
◆ Invest in infrastructure, such as roads and telecommunications,to support industry.
◆ Provide tax and other incentives to attract industry.
◆ Reduce regulations that inhibit business growth.
In Support
◆ Jobs are what make a community prosper; without them, it stagnates and dies.
◆ Job creation provides the opportunities needed to keep our young people at home. Without growth, our children will need to move away in order to make a living.
◆ Business growth generates the tax revenue needed to operateschools, pick up the trash, and fight crime.
In Opposition
◆ Not all jobs are good jobs. Many of the new jobs being created are in low-paying positions such as janitors, waiters, and retailsales clerks.
◆ Attracting new industry can be expensive. This money might be better spent on schools, medical care, and other services thatwould make our communities more attractive in the long term.
◆ Uncontrolled development can hurt economic development in the long run by making the community less attractive to potentialworkers and businesses.
A Likely Trade-off?
◆ Focusing solely on job creation may result in undesirable sideeffects, such as traffic congestion and air pollution, which endanger a distinctive and valued way of life.
ONE
“It’s the end of the world as we know it…(and I feel
fine),” penned by the Southern rock band R.E.M., is a
song remarkably attuned to recent times.
You could make the song relevant for any decade of
the twentieth century and its unprecedented pace of
change. It was the end of the world as we knew it after
World War II, when the South used its cheap labor, cheap
land, and low taxes to bring thousands of manufacturing
plants, and jobs, to our states. It was the end of the world
as we knew it when farms and small towns, once the hall-
mark of the South, began to give way to development. It
was the end of the world as we knew it when the first desk-
top computers armed us with powerful spreadsheet and
word-processing applications, and again when the Internet
forever altered the ways in which we communicate.
R.E.M.’s song is no less relevant today. But how fine
do we feel? What do we think of our quality of life? Many
of our most successful communities bemoan commute
times and other by-products of rapid growth while more
economically deprived areas hunger for jobs at almost any
cost.
Faced with all the changes that are taking place
around us, what is the best pathway to prosperity for our
communities? Our purpose here is not to suggest a single
correct path, but to support exploration of many pathways,
each with its own trade-offs and consequences. To spur
conversation, deliberation, and action, three possible path-
ways are outlined in this summary. These options and the
guide itself are intended to serve as the beginning points
for a community’s discussion about what is important as it
pursues sound, informed decisions about its future.
24
Comparing theApproaches
SUMMARY
DevelopHuman andCommunityResources First
The region’s economic progress has leftmany behind.Unless we address long-standing problems such as illiteracy,poverty, and poor health, prosperity is likely to remain elusive formany people and communities.
What Can Be Done?
◆ Improve education and training programs for children and adults.
◆ Provide incentives to encourage investment in inner cities and rural areas that have been left behind in today’s economy.
◆ Develop programs to build community leadership and civicengagement.
In Support
◆ Education is the ticket to success today. Communities that develop a skilled work force will be well on their way towardattracting high-growth, high-wage businesses.
◆ The health of our inner cities and rural areas affects the entireregion. We all pay when these areas suffer business closings,high unemployment, and low wages.
◆ Research has shown that strong community groups and involvedcitizens are a key ingredient in a community’s economic success.
In Opposition
◆ Investments in things like education take a long time to show anypayback. We need to improve economic conditions now.
◆ Providing cultural amenities and building nature trails are worthyactivities but, realistically, how will they solve a community’s long-term problems?
◆ We’ve been trying to address these types of problems for decades.Throwing money at them doesn’t seem to work. They’re likely to be with us always.
A Likely Trade-off?
◆ Investing in human and community resources may be a wise strategy in the long run, but this approach is likely to take a longtime to show results.
Manage Growth
If we don’t do a betterjob of managing growth,we will destroy the quality of life that makes our communitiesattractive to citizens and businesses. Growthis still better for a community than the alternative, but it needs to be properly planned.
What Can Be Done?
◆ Use regulations and incentives to direct development to specificareas.
◆ Favor existing communities rather than new developments whenmaking public infrastructure investments.
◆ Preserve farmland and open space through acquisition programs,incentives, and/or regulations.
In Support
◆ Growth is threatening our quality of life. We are stuck in traffic jams, our children’s schools are bursting at the seams, and our health is threatened by increased pollution.
◆ Uncontrolled development is hurting our long-term economicprospects by making our communities less attractive to potentialworkers and businesses.
◆ Current development patterns are often economically inefficient and waste taxpayer dollars.
In Opposition
◆ Restricting growth would hurt our economy. We need businessdevelopment in order to pay for community services.
◆ Growth restrictions violate personal property rights. People shouldbe able to decide where they want to live and what they can do with their land.
◆ Growth restrictions are elitist, making houses more expensive andputting the American dream of homeownership out of the reach ofmore and more people.
A Likely Trade-off?
◆ Taking a more pro-active approach to planning for growth may helpprotect a community’s natural resources, but it is likely to restrictindividual property rights and may slow economic growth.
25
QUESTIONAIRESSUMMARY
TWO THREE
Notes
PRE-FORUM QUESTIONNAIRE
One of the reasons people participate in discussion forums is that they want others to know how they feel about certain issues. So thatwe can present reports on your thoughts about the issue, we’d like you to fill out this questionnaire before you attend a forum. At theend of the forum, your moderator will ask you to fill out the Post-Forum Questionnaire. Before answering the questions, please make upa 3-digit number and fill it in here: .
Pathways to Prosperity:Choosing a Future for Your Community
1. Which statement best describes your thoughts about what should be done to build prosperity in your community and the region? Check one.
a. I am not at all sure what should be done.
b. I have a general sense of what should be done.
c. I have a definite opinion about what should be done.
Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly Not2. Do you agree or disagree with the statements below? agree agree disagree disagree sure
a. While much of the region prospers, too many people are left behind.
b. Professional planning is needed to manage growth.
c. Building an educated, skilled work force should be our top priority.
d. Government regulations stifle business growth.
e. Uncontrolled growth threatens our quality of life in both rural and urban areas.
f. Business growth is the key to prosperity for all.
g. Community input is needed to manage growth.
3. Are there any other things that trouble you about growth in your region? Please explain.
Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly Not4. Do you favor or oppose each of these actions? favor favor oppose oppose sure
a. Reduce regulations that inhibit business growth.
b. Provide incentives to encourage investment in declining inner cities and rural areas.
c. Spend more money on education and training programs.
d. Use public funds to preserve farmland and open space.
e. Provide tax and other incentives to attract new businesses.
f. Use zoning laws and other regulations to direct development to specific areas.
5. Are you male or female? Male Female
6. How much schooling have you completed?
Less than 6th grade 6th – 8th grade Some high school High school graduate
Some college College graduate Graduate school
27
28
7. Are you:
African-American Asian-American Hispanic Native American White
Other (specify)
8. How old are you?
17 or younger 18 – 29 30 – 49 50 – 64 65 or older
9. For which type of business or organization do you work?
Government Business Nonprofit Educational institution
I’m a student I’m not currently employed Other (specify)
10. In what state do you live?
AL AR FL GA
KY LA MO MS
NC OK PR SC
TN VA WV Other (specify)
11. In which type of community do you live?
Rural Urban Suburban
Please give this form to the forum leader, or mail to: Linda Hoke, Southern Growth Policies Board, P.O. Box 12293,Research Triangle Park, NC 27709.
PRE-FORUM QUESTIONNAIRE
29
Now that you’ve had a chance to participate in a forum on this issue, we’d like to know what you are thinking. Your opinions, alongwith those of others who participated in forums, will be reflected in a summary report that will be distributed to officeholders, themedia, and others in the region. Since we’re interested in whether you have changed your mind about certain aspects of the issue, a fewof the questions will be the same as those you answered earlier. Fill in your 3-digit number here: .
Pathways to Prosperity:Choosing a Future for Your Community
POST-FORUM QUESTIONNAIRE
Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly Not1. Do you favor or oppose the actions listed below? favor favor oppose oppose sure
a. Communities should make every effort to increase job opportunities through business growth, EVEN IF that may result in undesirable side effects such as more air pollution and traffic congestion.
b. Communities should focus on solving deep-seated social problems,EVEN IF it takes a long time to show any results.
c. Communities should work with city planners to control whether,where, and how growth should occur, EVEN IF this restricts where people can live and what they do with their property.
Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly Not2. Do you favor or oppose each of these actions? favor favor oppose oppose sure
a. Reduce regulations that inhibit business growth.
b. Provide incentives to encourage investment in declining inner cities and rural areas.
c. Spend more money on education and training programs.
d. Use public funds to preserve farmland and open space.
e. Provide tax and other incentives to attract new businesses.
f. Use zoning laws and other regulations to direct development to specific areas.
Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly Not3. Do you agree or disagree with the statements below? agree agree disagree disagree sure
a. While much of the region prospers, too many people are left behind.
b. Professional planning is needed to manage growth.
c. Building an educated, skilled work force should be our top priority.
d. Government regulations stifle business growth.
e. Uncontrolled growth threatens our quality of life in both rural and urban areas.
f. Business growth is the key to prosperity for all.
g. Community input is needed to manage growth.
4. Which statement best describes what you think should be done to build prosperity in your community and the region? Check one.
a. I am not at all sure what should be done.
b. I have a general sense of what should be done.
c. I have a definite opinion about what should be done.
30
POST-FORUM QUESTIONNAIRE
5. What principles or deeply held beliefs should guide our approach to building prosperity? Please explain.
6. Are you thinking differently about this issue, now that you have participated in the forum? Yes NoPlease explain.
7. Do you see ways for people to work on this issue that you didn’t see before? Yes NoPlease explain.
8. What, if anything, might you do differently as a result of this forum?
9. What else, if anything, troubles you about the challenges of building prosperity? Please explain.
Please give this form to the forum leader, or mail to: Linda Hoke, Southern Growth Policies Board, P.O. Box 12293,Research Triangle Park, NC 27709.
About the Southern Growth Policies BoardFormed by the region’s governors in 1971, the Southern Growth Policies Board
is a unique public-private partnership devoted to strengthening the South’s economy
and creating the highest possible quality of life. With the region’s governors, legislative
leaders, and private citizens as members, Southern Growth is a catalyst for the creative
and sustained actions needed to build a better South. Thirteen states — Alabama,
Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Okla-
homa, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia — and Puerto Rico partici-
pate in and support Southern Growth’s work.
Southern Growth is especially focused on globalization, technology and innovation,
the changing nature of the workforce, and the vital role of community. Advisory bodies
comprised of leading citizens from across the South guide Southern Growth’s work in
each of these areas. For more information, call Southern Growth at (919) 941-5145 or
visit our Web site at www.southern.org.
AcknowledgmentsThe Southern Growth Policies Board would like to thank the Kettering Foundation
for its support in developing and publishing this issue book. Special thanks are due to
David Mathews and Estus Smith, who saw the promise of developing materials to engage
citizens in dialogue aboout issues of importance to the South; to Carolyn Farrow-Gar-
land, who helped shepherd the project along in its development; and to Ed Arnone, Bob
McKenzie, and Bob Kingston, who helped guide the process of defining and framing the
issue.
Special thanks also go to members of the project’s advisory committee, who were
involved in every step of the project. Their contributions included conducting interviews
to help identify different points of view on the issue, framing the issue and developing
alternative choices, clarifying the presentation, and conducting test forums. Members
include Christine Chadwick, Executive Director of FOCUS St. Louis; Fred Sheheen,
Director of the Center for Citizenship at the University of South Carolina’s Institute of
Public Affairs; Susan Taylor, of Taylor and Associates, representing the University of
Georgia’s Fanning Institute for Leadership Development; and Angela Woodward, Direc-
tor of Leadership Kentucky.
For Additional CopiesFor additional copies of Pathways to Prosperity: Choosing a Future for Your
Community, contact: Linda Hoke, Senior Program Manager, Southern Growth Policies
Board, P.O. Box 12293, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709. Phone: 919-941-5145.
Email: [email protected]
At Southern Growth Policies BoardExecutive Director: Jim Clinton
Senior Program Manager: Linda Hoke
WritersTony Wharton and Linda Hoke
At the Kettering FoundationEditor: Ilse Tebbetts
Publisher: Edward J. Arnone
Production Manager: George Cavanaugh
Copy Editor: Betty Frecker
Design and GraphicsDesign: Long’s Graphic Design, Inc.
Cover Illustration: Long’s Graphic Design, Inc.
Inside Illustrations: Nicolae Asciu
Pathways to Prosperity: Choosing a Future for Your CommunityCopyright 2001 by Southern Growth Policies Board
All rights reserved
P.O. Box 12293Research Triangle Park, NC 27709(919) 941-5145
www.southern.org
Moderator Guide
Pathways to Prosperity: Choosing a Future for Your Community
Rapid growth has transformed the South from the poorest region in the nation to the world’s third largest economy in the span of a single lifetime. But even as many communities prosper, continued commercial and population growth raise troubling questions. What of those left behind? Does our enthusiasm for economic progress endanger a distinctive and valued way of life? How do we convert growth into prosperity? The Pathways to Prosperity discussion guide is designed to encourage communities to think about these questions and to choose a path to the future for their community. The guide does not advocate a specific solution or point of view. Rather, it is intended to inspire thoughtful examination of differing points of view and a movement towards common ground around which the community can make plans for its future. Equipment/Supplies Needed
� Pathways to Prosperity issue book (or “Comparing the Approaches” summary) for each participant
� Pathways to Prosperity video � Pre-Forum and Post-Forum Questionnaires for each participant � Pencils/pens for completing the questionnaires � VCR � Flip chart and markers � Ground rules poster (optional)
Copies of the issue book ($3 each) and the starter video ($12) can be ordered from the Southern Growth Policies Board. Call Niraj Goswami at (919) 941-5145 to place an order. The issue book can also be downloaded from the Internet at www.southern.org/pubs/ptp/pathways.shtml . Moderators are free to copy the entire book, or just the “Comparing the Approaches” summary and Pre-Forum and Post-Forum Questionnaires.
Suggested Format for a Two-Hour Forum Welcome (5 minutes)Welcome (5 minutes)Welcome (5 minutes)Welcome (5 minutes) Introduce yourself and tell participants about the organization(s) convening the forum. Stress the co-sponsorship if several organizations are involved. Give a brief introduction about the importance of the Pathways to Prosperity topic (growth and economic development) to the community. Explain that the results of the forum will be shared with Southern leaders through the Southern Growth Policies Board, by saying something such as the following:
Participating in this forum means that your views will be heard by Southern leaders. This issue book was prepared by the Southern Growth Policies Board, a regional, multi-state organization. Southern Growth’s work focuses on strengthening the South’s economy and creating the highest possible quality of life in the region. The organization was formed by the region’s governors in 1971 and counts the governors, legislative leaders, business leaders, and citizens as members. Fourteen states, including [your state], participate in and support Southern Growth’s work. Southern Growth plans to prepare a report on forum results that will be presented to the governors and other Southern leaders in 2003.
PrePrePrePre----Forum Questionnaire (5 minutes)Forum Questionnaire (5 minutes)Forum Questionnaire (5 minutes)Forum Questionnaire (5 minutes) Ask participants to complete the Pre-Forum Questionnaire. Explain to participants that the Pre-Forum Questionnaire is a way to get everyone focused on the issue and a way for each participant to take inventory of their initial feelings on the issue. Tell them that there’ll be another questionnaire for them at the end of the forum. GGGGround Rules (5 minutes)round Rules (5 minutes)round Rules (5 minutes)round Rules (5 minutes) Review ground rules with participants before beginning the discussion. Make clear that the forum is not a debate. Stress that there is work to do (this is not just a free flowing discussion with no purpose), and the work is to move toward making plans for the community’s future. The work will be done through deliberation. The following are suggested ground rules:
• The moderator will guide the discussion yet remain neutral.
• The moderator will make sure that:
o Everyone understands that this is not a debate o Everyone is encouraged to participate o No one or two individuals dominate o Every approach is considered fairly and fully o An atmosphere for discussion and analysis of alternatives is maintained
o Participants listen to each other The moderator should ask the group if they agree with these rules and invite them to suggest others to add to the list. Moderators can call the Kettering Foundation at (800) 433-7834 to request a free poster that outlines these ground rules. Show the StartShow the StartShow the StartShow the Starter Video (15 minutes)er Video (15 minutes)er Video (15 minutes)er Video (15 minutes) Explain that the video reviews the problems underlying the issue, then briefly examines three policy alternatives. In so doing, it sets the stage for deliberation. (Starter videos can be ordered from the Southern Growth Policies Board for $12. Call Niraj Goswami at 919-941-5145). Personal Stake (10 minutes)Personal Stake (10 minutes)Personal Stake (10 minutes)Personal Stake (10 minutes) Connect the issues to people’s lives and concerns – in the first few minutes – by getting participants to talk about their personal experiences with the issue. This makes the issue human rather than abstract. Some questions you might ask include: “Has anyone had a personal experience that illustrates the problems associated with this issue?” “Within your family or circle of friends, is this an important issue?” “What aspects of the issue are most important to you?” “When you think about this issue, what concerns you, and why?” Reviewing Possible Approaches (45 minutes)Reviewing Possible Approaches (45 minutes)Reviewing Possible Approaches (45 minutes)Reviewing Possible Approaches (45 minutes) The next step is to review and deliberate on each approach, one-by-one. Deliberation requires weighing the “pros” and “cons” of different approaches so it is important to be sure that both are fully aired. Questions to help ensure a fair and balanced examination of each approach include:
• What makes this approach a good idea? What do you find most appealing about this approach?
• What are the costs or consequences associated with this approach? Is there a
downside to this approach?
• How might others see this approach?
• What would someone who favors this approach be likely to say?
• If we followed this approach, what would be the effects on your life?
• How might your concerns differ if you were poor? Lacked a high school education? Were a business owner?
Review of Approach One: Create Jobs Begin with an overview of the approach, such as: In this view, creating jobs is our road to prosperity. If we create jobs, everything else will follow. People will have the money they need to buy good houses and send their children to good schools. This approach calls for providing incentives to attract businesses, easing government regulations that tend to stifle the development of business and industry, and investing in infrastructure to support existing businesses and attract new ones. Initiate discussion by using the general questions outlined above and/or some of the following:
• Do the job opportunities in your community adequately meet your needs?
What about the needs of young people who want to remain in the community after completing their education? The needs of others in the community?
• What barriers does this community face in attracting or creating jobs?
• How active a role do you think government should play in encouraging
business growth? • What should we do about rural communities and other areas that have not
been able to attract or create new jobs? Review of Approach Two: Develop Human and Community Resources First Begin with an overview of the approach, such as:
Although considerable progress has been made, many Southerners lack the education and skills needed to keep up in today’s changing workplace. Supporters of this approach maintain that this and other social problems, such as poverty and poor health, are the true roadblocks to prosperity. Remedies include spending more money on education and worker training, ensuring easy access to health care, creating programs to help bridge racial and cultural divides, and developing community leadership skills. Initiate discussion by using the general questions outlined above and/or some of the following:
• Does this community have the human and community resources needed to take advantage of opportunities in today’s economy? If not, what areas are in need of improvement?
• What role does education play in ensuring the community’s future prosperity?
If people received more education and/or training, what impact would that have on the community?
• How would you describe the relationships between racial and cultural groups
in the community? What impact would improving relationships between racial and cultural groups have on the community’s future prosperity?
• What role do you think families play in building a strong community? What
do you think should be done, if anything, to help strengthen families in the community?
Review of Approach Three: Manage Growth Begin with an overview of the approach, such as:
Supporters of this approach are not apposed to growth. But, they fear that uncontrolled growth will choke the region’s future prosperity. In their view, prosperity is about more than making a living, it’s about making a life. If we don’t do a better job of managing growth, we will destroy the quality of life that makes our communities attractive to citizens and businesses. Planning is the answer, in this view. Both professionals and citizens should be involved in making deliberate and rational choices about whether, where, and how a community should grow. Leaving those choices to larger economic forces is a poor way to build the future. Initiate discussion by using the general questions outlined above and/or some of the following:
• What do you like about living in this community? What traditions/values
make the community special? As the community grows, what do you want to retain?
• Does anything concern you about growth in the community?
• Do you think we need to manage growth and development in order to ensure
your desired quality of life in the future? In order to ensure that the community will be attractive to businesses?
• What role, if any, do you think government should play in managing growth?
Working through tensions or conflicts (10 minutes)Working through tensions or conflicts (10 minutes)Working through tensions or conflicts (10 minutes)Working through tensions or conflicts (10 minutes) Help participants see and work through the tensions or conflicts between the approaches by asking some of the following types of questions:
• What do you see as the tensions between the approaches?
• What are the conflicts that grow out of what we’ve said about this issue?
• What would be an argument against the approach that you like best?
• Can anyone think of something constructive that might come from the approach that is receiving so much criticism?
• Should communities make every effort to increase job opportunities through
business growth, even if it may result in undesirable side effects such as more air pollution and traffic congestion?
• Should communities focus on solving deep-seated social problems, even if it takes
a long time to show any results?
• Would you support working with city planners to control where and how growth should occur, even if this restricts where people can live and what they do with their property?
Moving towards a shared sense of purpose (10 minutes)Moving towards a shared sense of purpose (10 minutes)Moving towards a shared sense of purpose (10 minutes)Moving towards a shared sense of purpose (10 minutes) Remind people that the objective is to work toward a decision. Test to see where the group is going by asking questions such as:
• Can someone suggest areas that we seem to have in common?
• Would someone identify the values that seem to be clashing?
• What trade-offs are we willing to accept?
• What trade-offs are we unwilling to accept?
• What are we willing to do as individuals or a community to solve this problem? Ending the Forum (10 minutes)Ending the Forum (10 minutes)Ending the Forum (10 minutes)Ending the Forum (10 minutes) Before ending a forum, take a few minutes to reflect on what has been accomplished. Questions like the following have been useful:
Individual Reflections • Did you hear anything that surprised you? • Has your thinking about the issue changed? • Has your thinking about other people’s views changed? • How has your perspective changed as a result of what you’ve heard in this
forum?
Group Reflections • What remains unsolved for this group?
• Can we identify any shared sense of purpose or direction? • What trade-offs are we, or are we not, willing to make to move in a shared
direction?
Next Steps • What do we still need to talk about? • How can we use what we learned about ourselves in this forum? • Do we want to meet again?
PostPostPostPost----Forum Questionnaire (5 minutes)Forum Questionnaire (5 minutes)Forum Questionnaire (5 minutes)Forum Questionnaire (5 minutes) Ask participants to complete the Post-Forum Questionnaire. Please collect both pre- and post-forum questionnaires and return them along with a Moderator Summary Sheet to Linda Hoke, Southern Growth Policies Board, P.O. Box 12293, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709. This information will be used to help inform Southern leaders about citizens’ views on this issue.
Moderator Summary Sheet
Pathways to Prosperity: Choosing a Future for Your Community
After the forum, please complete this brief response sheet and return it with the questionnaires from the forum. Moderator’s Name:____________________________________________________ Phone:_____________________________ Email:___________________________ Date of Forum:____________________ Number of Participants:______________ Location of Forum:________________________(City) _________________(State) Briefly describe the audience of your forum (age, ethnic diversity, educational background, etc.): What concerns about growth/economic development emerged from the discussion? What were areas of disagreement? Was there a shared sense of the direction the community should take in the future?
Did the group identify possible actions or next steps? Please describe. What unique information came out of the forum that Southern leaders need to know? Please return this Summary along with the Pre-and Post-Forum Questionnaires to:
Linda Hoke Southern Growth Policies Board
P.O. Box 12293 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
Phone: (919) 941-5145 Fax: (919) 941-5594
Email: [email protected]