Economic Development on Steroids
Summary
Zimmerman and Kotkin were joined by Sherle Schwenninger, Director of NAF’s Economic Growth Program, and Mayor Dennis Donohue of Salinas, California, in a detailed discussion about the proposed bank at a September 2008 roundtable event held in Washington, D.C. Panelists focused on the need to invest in and develop the country’s vast and often overlooked interior region, noting that while thousands of Heartland communities, outside of its major metropolitan areas, possess many underutilized assets, economic development has been stymied by infrastructure inadequacies and bottlenecks.Yet, said Kotkin, the region’s excellent public schools, strong employment growth, cheap land, affordable housing, and smaller communities make it attractive to those seeking to improve their quality of life.Yet, said Kotkin, the region’s excellent public schools, strong employment growth, cheap land, affordable housing, and smaller communities make it attractive to those seeking to improve their quality of life.A couple hundred miles away in Bismarck, N.D., we have an advanced multi-modal shipping center.”Other areas around the country where critical infrastructure really made the difference in economic development, he added: Wenatchee, Washington, a community that landed a Yahoo data center after building a technology center that tied in with its high speed optical and cheap power, and Lancaster County in Pennsylvania, where they built a business park that capitalized on telecommunications and water waste capabilities.“These are places where infrastructure really was the driver of economic growth.It has locations in Fargo and Grand Forks, N.D., and Duluth, Minn.About New AmericaThe New America Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute that invests in new thinkers and new ideas to address the next generation of challenges facing the Untied States.