All together now
There are no comments for this page [ Add Comment ]Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Writer Elbert Hubbard defined progress this way: "The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can't be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it."
That observation continues to ring true today -- in fact, it only grows more intense and affects most aspects of our lives. Our rapidly advancing society -- loosely defined -- has an enormous impact on public policy. It's difficult for governments and their bureaucracies to react swiftly to the ever-shifting bursts of economic growth and storms of contraction.
Given this wariness about the future and the long-standing Western American ethic of individualism, governments in Utah have tended to be reactive rather than proactive -- allowing the private sector to dictate growth patterns, business development and establishment of residential neighborhoods even though they may be at cross-purposes with what's going on in the city next door. In some situations, communities have been lucky. In others, the luck has yet to arrive.
Given this experience, and with leaders looking decades ahead at the on-rushing prospect of build-out, Davis County leaders have finally decided a little regional planning might not be such a bad thing, after all. They've created the Davis Economic Advisory Council, to include representatives of cities, the county and members of the business community. They'll study, among other things, how to retain and grow the number of businesses in the county, how to attract and create new businesses, and to manage the growth of the aforementioned businesses -- all designed to offer a strong economy that will support families with good-paying jobs and improve the quality of life.
The DEAC will report to the Davis Council of Governments, which includes representatives of each city in the county. As reported by the Standard's Loretta Park in late March, Davis got a wake-up call in 2005, when the University of Utah's Bureau of Economic and Business Research determined the county's wages were about 1 percent below the state average. It was a jolt because as recently as 1999, the county's average wage was 4 percent above the rest of the state.
It reminded county leaders that Davis jobs are leaning heavily in the direction of service-related employment. The one sector of jobs the county lacks is manufacturing. To correct that, there are three large projects now under way: The so-called East Gate development to the east of Hill Air Force Base in Layton, the Falcon Hill National Aerospace Research Park to take shape on Hill's west side, and the Davis Technology and Economic Cooperative on 1,100 acres of land within the city limits of Clearfield, West Point and Syracuse.
The Davis Economic Advisory Council, and its various subcommittees, will meet each month to discuss cooperative efforts between communities in the county that could benefit the whole. It's a noble idea, and one we hope will have great success.
The first thing on the plate should be to urge state lawmakers to amend sales-tax policy. The way sales-tax sharing between cities, counties and the state is set up now, it encourages communities to compete with each other for retail and commercial development.
If the goal of more livable, walkable and inviting communities is to be achieved, job No. 1 will be to encourage cooperation between cities regarding the location of commercial and retail development -- something inhibited by current tax policy.
Whether that will ever happen is anyone's guess. At least our community leaders have decided to talk it over. That's progress.
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