Social Justice and “good” jobs are equally important

1. An economic development plan must emphasize social justice. This counts with residents of Madison:

• City economic development policy should promote and expand job training and educational opportunities, particularly to benefit those members of our community who are low-income and members of minority racial and ethnic backgrounds.
  
• City policy should prioritize programs of economic and social aid and protection to our community's most vulnerable residents and should protect funding for such programs as part of an economic development agenda.
  
• City policy should seek opportunities to make affordable, quality health care benefits available to small businesses and the self-employed
  
• In granting contracts and economic support for development projects and when purchasing goods and services, the City should prioritize and favor locally owned firms, unionized firms and firms with a proven track record of recruiting and hiring a diverse workforce.
  
• Investment of economic development monies into community development helps economic development by providing the skilled workforce, social safety nets and quality-of-life infrastructure needed for attracting and insuring the success of new businesses. In other words, economic development investment in social justice enables strong economic development.
  

2. An economic development plan must create good jobs:

• Minimum wage jobs that meet the standard of a living wage and are indexed to inflation
  
• Offer a career path towards improvement.
  
• Support mechanisms and training to allow for advancement
  

3. If jobs created by economic development are not “good” jobs, there will be a negative benefit impact, creating additional burdens on the community from low wage earners in areas such as:

• Education
  
• Social Services
  
• Housing
  
• Public safety
  

Growth for growth’s sake gets us nowhere

Unbridled economic development simply to raise the tax base and to “grow” the economy can have hidden costs that make it undesirable, such as:

• Increasing population without providing accompanying public and social infrastructure. Example, who is going to pay for the new roads, new schools, public works, social services (especially if the new jobs are marginal ones),
  

Density is very important and spending TIF and other monies to accomplish this does aid economic development indirectly (example: enabling better public transit).

• It is short-sighted to simply say projects to increase density are for “neighborhood improvement” rather than for economic development.
  
• The opposite of density is sprawl which impacts agricultural land – an important “local” resource and it places additional stress on the area transportation networks.
  

The charge has been leveled that there are people in the Madison community who don’t want economic development.

• The issue isn’t economic development vs. no economic development. The issue rather is what kind of economic development do we want? It is more accurate to say that there are people in the Madison community who don’t want unbridled, thoughtless economic development.
  
• Growth for the sake of growth can be detrimental (more traffic, stress on infrastructure, more crime, additional burdens on schools, housing, a larger economically disadvantaged population, etc.).
  

What could be more inherent to Madison’s Culture than the Wisconsin Idea?

Emphasize the “Wisconsin Idea” in economic development planning, meaning a close partnership with the UW’s capacity for generating new business should be a major focus of any economic development focus and spending.

This partnership needs be applied to generating a broad range of job types, not just high-tech jobs.

Coordinate with surrounding Communities

Economic development must be coordinated between all the Counties boarding the Madison Metropolitan area. This applies to:

• Coordination and delivery of social services and infrastructure
  
• Developing solutions
  
• Creating regional authorities to solve problems that span municipal boundaries
  
• Developing appropriate revenue streams to fund solutions and multi-jurisdictional entities
  

Invest in local and basic sector industries

Investment in basic sector companies should focus on locally grown businesses whenever possible. Local companies have more of a commitment to the community and given Madison’s resources and with the UW as an economic engine, there should be a broad range of such investment opportunities without needing to cater to national and multi-national corporations that have no such community ties.

If Madison does invest in attracting an “outside” business, it should do so when that business is a basic-sector business (i.e. not a retail business, restaurant, etc.), and when:

• That business does not compete directly with existing locally-owned businesses
  
• That business provides good-paying jobs and good career ladders
  
• Factors exist to insure that business will make a long-term commitment to the community.
  

Regarding both non basic-sector and basic-sector businesses, investment of city resources should favor those businesses that re-circulate dollars within the local economy.

• Example, a business that uses banking, accounting, and other sourcing from outside the community is basically draining money from the local economy.
  
• Preference should be given to businesses that re-circulate dollars by using other local businesses and that invest profits locally.
  

Development must be sustainable

The City should critically evaluate prospective development projects to fully understand any potential environmental and economic impact.

Preference should be given to initiatives and programs that promote energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy by the City of Madison and its residents.

Leverage the use of TIF financing

• City policy should require businesses that receive economic subsidies, including Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) funds, from the City to pay their employees a living wage, indexed to inflation and provide health insurance benefits.
  
• TIF should be used to support projects that would not otherwise occur and where there are clear public benefits, economic and otherwise, and include Public Benefit Agreements.
  
• The location and scope of TIF districts should be driven by priorities set by the City.
  
• There should be a uniform application of minimum financial feasibility criteria for funding TIF Districts.
  
• There should be tangible, measurable economic benefits from developers receiving Tax Incremental Financing and developers who fail to produce these results should be required to repay the TIF subsidy with interest.
  
• City policies should promote and expand affordable and accessible public transportation options to promote economic development along transportation corridors making jobs and commercial activities more accessible.
  

In conclusion

City policy should promote economic development that:

• Benefits the general public in ways that favor and further the creation of family-supporting jobs; equal opportunity; a rising standard of living; a more equal distribution of wealth and workers' rights.
  
• Preserves the environment
  
• Strengthens neighborhoods
  
• Is guided by local resident associations
  
• Follows neighborhood plans
  
• Pursues transit, bicycle and pedestrian friendly designs
  
• Improves the quality of life of all city residents.
  

From:
Rick Richards
Member of Dane Buy Local
Chair of the Economic Issues Task Force, Progressive Dane
(608) 255-5023
syzygy1@charter.net