Tuesday, July 3, 2012

New Agency May Keep Us From Becoming Another Goldfield


This morning I popped open my daily online edition of Mesquite Citizen Journal, and there was an Op-Ed by one of my favorite local conservative columnists, Dr. Leo Black. [Click here to see Dr. Black's article.]
Dr. Black is an anomaly.  He's a guy with a degree that somehow has managed to maintain that most uncommon of traits -- common sense.  He usually makes a lot of sense, and he has some good points in his most recent diatribe about governments trying to foster "economic development."  The truth is, government almost always sucks at business.  And no municipal government has sucked worse at it in the last five years than the City of Mesquite.  Solstice...Desert Falls...NCS...the lack of promised solar and wind energy facilities in an area with an over-abundance of both...  Allowing the City of Mesquite to participate in a "joint development agreement" is like the kiss of death.  Our city government is to business what Tom Cruise has become to the box office -- poison.
That said, I think he's a little bit off the mark in his most recent column.
I agree that the city's "Economic Development" department has been an Orwellian entity, accomplishing almost the exact opposite of what its name indicates (like renaming the War Department the Department of Peace).
Business in Mesquite is worse than in many other places in this economically-challenged nation.  A lot of it is because our city officials haven't heeded Dr. Black's ongoing battle cry for government to "get the hell out of the way."  Some of it is because of an anti-business attitude among its citizens, exemplified by the plethora of "no soliciting" and other business-unfriendly rules found in nearly every HOA in town, as well as the extremely strict ordinances against door-to-door marketing that has previously resulted in even the Boy Scouts being banned from holding food drives. 
Oppressive sign ordinances, onerous zoning, and unreasonable license and impact fees have scared away plenty of potential businesses. 
Pile on top of that the fact that chains and national retailers can't trust the Mesquite government.  For years the City has lied about our population numbers, claiming we were well above the 21,000 mark and on our way to 25,000, when the 2010 Census showed Mesquite actually has only 15,276 people.  That number won't draw the fast food chains or any other big retailers, especially since out-of-town corporations can't believe the City or its numbers.
Meanwhile, our consistently dysfunctional clique-driven Chamber of Commerce has been stuck in neutral for years, doing little for local businesses beyond parties and luncheons, while failing to lure tourists or new businesses to our resort-driven town.
This is precisely why (and the justification for) a new business agency is desperately needed.  For our town to do away with all "economic development" activity would be societal suicide. 
Like it or not, we are in competition with every other forward-thinking city and town in America; thousands of municipalities using property tax abatements, free land, and other inducements and incentives for businesses to build in and bring new jobs to their area.
More importantly, we simply need to work at this.  Mesquite's days of explosive growth and overwhelming tourist volume are behind us, and with it a lot of the things that lured businesses to our town without a lot of effort on our part.  Now we're going to have to earn it.
To do that, it will take money.  More importantly, it will take some very smart, motivated people.
Like Dr. Black, I'm philosophically opposed to governments providing funds for the benefit of private enterprise.  I have railed vehemently against the bailouts of AIG, Chase, and other banking concerns. 
But if anybody listened to me, I wouldn't have a nice Dodge in my garage today.  Without the government backing Chrysler back in the 1980's, that company would have joined American Motors and DeSoto in the history books.
The truth remains that government sucks at business.  However, when it comes to cash, success doesn't care about the source.
The city is putting up $50,000 toward a new economic development agency.  For starters, compared to the hundreds of thousands of dollars budgeted annually to economic development by the city over the last few years, that's a stone-cold bargain.
More importantly, this agency won't be run by the government bureaucrats Dr. Black alluded to in his article.  It involves super-sharp businessmen like Dave Ballweg, a guy who not-so-many years ago brought his multi-million dollar international company to Mesquite.  He could have gone anywhere, but he chose us.  And he certainly didn't get much help from city government.  For anyone to refer to him as a "bureaucrat" or to insinuate that he isn't good at business?  I love ya, Leo, but you're just flat wrong. 
We should be heaping praises and thanks upon Ballweg for taking time out of his busy, successful international business to help us.  All of his customers (meaning all of his income) come from out-of-town, so it in no way benefits him to spend his time and resources on trying to help us get our economic house in order; yet there he is at every City Council meeting, every development meeting, every political and public gathering, offering ideas, suggestions, and his help.  All without ANY political agenda.  He's not running for office, isn't particularly connected to any specific council member, and isn't trying to promote some partisan viewpoint.  He should be praised and lauded, and we should be deeply grateful to him and the other businessmen volunteering their time.
It's because of Ballweg and the others that I believe this agency will succeed.  Money alone couldn't have saved Chrysler in the 1980's.  It took a brilliant, determined businessman named Iacocca to turn that mess around.  Ballweg may well be our Iacocca.
I also believe that, unlike most government agencies and taxes, this one doesn't have to be permanent.  Once it's up and running, it's very likely that the agency will find its own funding (which it can do, since it will be an independent corporation unto itself), or that the Mesquite Chamber of Commerce will one day experience the internal revolution which will return it to a place of relevance and respect in our community, and will start picking up the tab for this endeavor.  That's only right -- a business organization that actually works for and funds the improvement and expansion of business.  Or maybe, if the Chamber doesn't improve, the new agency will absorb and replace it.
So while I am fundamentally in agreement with Dr. Black's assessment that government shouldn't meddle in the private sector, I have to disagree with his opposition to the new agency in Mesquite.  I believe it is desperately needed, and that the city's seed money is well spent.  If that $50k results in new businesses coming here, and more tourists and retirees rediscovering Mesquite as a destination and new place to call home, it will bring in more residents and more tax dollars.  It will be the catalyst for our rebirth as a thriving community. 
Otherwise, we'll just be another dying Tonopah or Goldfield -- a town with tremendous potential that wasn't smart enough to figure out how to survive when the "gold" played out.

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