In his 1841 essay “Self-Reliance,” Ralph Waldo Emerson confronted individual conformity and false consistency. His most famous quotation in that essay is, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.” This essay should be compulsory reading for all Concord City Council members.
Mayor Jim Bouley recently addressed the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce in his “State of the City” appraisal. He gave an energetic synopsis of the current economic malaise in Concord and offered some sage advice on how he envisions a community “strike force” to encourage new businesses to locate in Concord.
I applaud him for his enthusiasm and his three- to five-year economic development plan. I agree with him that the city should hire a full-time economic development director. It is a splendid idea, and it needs to be taken seriously.
I part company with him on what he envisions as recruiting material.
He is quoted in the Monitor as perhaps including “folks who are successful” and “key institutions” on the strike force (Monitor front page, April 15). I respectfully remind him that Concord has many successful folks and key institutions, but little in the way of meaningful diverse economic development has been happening over the last two decades in the halls of those institutions.
They have had their chance for a long time and precious little to show for it other than some very expensive real estate cosmetic chicanery on Main Street. The jury will be out on the success of that venture for many years.
The few new large office buildings on our Main Street are basically occupied with scavenged business tenants from other landlords. That’s not new economic development. It’s just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
I wish that our city council was the “little engine that could” that we read about as children. Unfortunately, the current council has many members who operate on a “slow and steady” philosophy. All it has gotten us are slow and steady yearly increases in our property taxes.
We need a visionary who can lead us in the direction of sustained economic growth and prosperity. In the past, we had a strong mayoral form of city government that took care of that sort of thing. Maybe we should consider revisiting that idea.
If we are serious about hiring an economic development czar, I suggest we do something radical.
Let’s begin the process by casting a wide net. We should welcome qualified and talented local candidates and also encourage national candidate participation. Our focus should be on candidates with proven track records in understanding economic development criteria who have the motivational skills and credentials to court national and international business investors into considering Concord as a great place to do business.
The position should be given a large amount of latitude to operate independently and cooperatively with the city administration.
The candidate should work with “key” local institutions but not be held hostage by any preconceived parochial, political or commercial agendas. The new director should always be aware of who the boss is: the citizens of Concord. Anything less than 100 percent support from city hall will condemn the candidate to premature failure.
While our downtown sector has gotten all the attention lately, the new director should be reminded that there are other areas in Concord, including Penacook, East Concord and the Heights, that warrant equal economic development attention.
It will not be cheap. We will get what we pay for. The salary range should be well into six figures, with a contract that provides for performance bonuses. If we are going to do it, let’s do it right.
To give the candidate the necessary tools needed to attract successful businesses, a very generous expense budget is a must. The expense account would cover costs of attending trade expositions, entertainment, travel (including a slick motor-home-type traveling Concord showcase), support staff and professionally produced, high-quality media marketing presentations that celebrate the benefits of locating a business in Concord.
All of those things can be expensive. Doing it on the cheap will be a waste of energy and money.
Considering how lavishly we spent $14 million on our new Main Street and are about to spend over $27 million a year over the next 10 years on capital-intensive projects (excluding school projects), spending some serious money over a five-year period for a highly qualified economic development director may end up being a wise investment.
Now is the time to be bold!
I have always been a champion of Concord property taxpayers’ interests, and I do not like to spend tax dollars foolishly, but desperate times demand desperate measures.
Let’s put our money where our mouth is and hire an experienced economic development director. In the long run we may all benefit from lower property taxes by increasing the city property tax base with many new businesses. As an added bonus, new businesses hire new employees. It’s a win-win situation.
I have serious doubts that my ideas will be greeted with much enthusiasm in the city council chambers. They may end up hiring some political hack for a paltry salary, no expense account, expect miracles and put him or her low on the city hall pecking order and then pat each other on the back for a job well done.
Five years will fly by and we will still not have a robust and diverse economy – and our property taxes will continue going up.
Mr. Emerson will be vindicated.
(Jim Baer lives in Concord.)