Grim picture of Tucson painted without leaders' 'awakening' (Phoenix: real estate, employment)

[phoenixmike11]

Grim picture of Tucson painted without leaders' 'awakening'

An economic development expert's opinion of where the Tucson economy might be heading.

[Saguarogirl507]

Well, that's depressing.

[visitor21]

Not surprising, unfortunately.

[Packard fan]

Tucson's labor force ain't that "thin"; many people there, at least skilled tradesmen, CAN'T get good paying work there so they leave for places like Phoenix where wages are higher and housing is the same $$

[corydon]

There is not a shortage of skilled labour, but a shortage of employers who pay a decent wage.
And now they complain there is no one to find, and BTW>, can we import some cheap labour...

[Jukesgrrl]

I find it fascinating that this expert was brought to Tucson by the Tucson Metro Chamber of Commerce. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is a lobbying organization representing business and industry. One of their most vital interests is keeping salaries low so companies can maximize profits for business owners and shareholders. Other than the two major political parties, they spend more on election-related communications than any other entity in the country. The 2012 presidential election saw them expanding into direct sponsorship of political advertising for or against particular candidates. The Chamber always presents itself as being pro-community and pro-growth, but they certainly aren't pro-worker.

[Saguarogirl507]

Good point Jukesgrrl.

[tom4416]

There are some good points in that article as well as some questionable ones. Blue collar labor feeds off of white collar labor and commercial development. White color labor feeds off of commercial development. Commercial developments feeds off of:

1. Cooperative regulation
2. Tax and other incentives
3. Transportation
4. Reasonable cost of labor and capital
5. Strong educational systems that can quickly adapt to the needs of the economy
6. Stable political environments
7. Pleasant environments (the CEO's want perks)
8. Natural resources
9. Strong community involvement

Businesses have one goal in mind - profit. They will locate facilities based upon the ability of the company to maximize it's rate of return which isn't always the lowest upfront costs. They want happy employees because turnover is a huge cost and employee happiness is determined not only by working conditions but living conditions.

Businesses are like the rest of us - they want to be courted and made to feel needed and welcome. In today's world, no corporation just suddenly pops in and says here we are. It's a competitive marketplace for jobs and those that do the best job of wooing the company will likely win those jobs.

We have a strong educational system - community colleges are great at making rapid changes to their curriculum to accommodate training needs and then they can serve as a feeder system to the U of A for more advanced degrees in science, technology, engineer, agriculture, etc.. BMW located in SC because the community college system designed an extensive program to give their employees much of their base training and it has been a textbook study relationship.

Reasonable cost of capital and labor - absolutely. I suspect a U of A science grad would be tempted to stay in Tucson at 50K a year versus Seattle at 75K a year. That is a tremendous labor saving cost to the employer and the employee is going to be able to live decently in Tucson at that kind of starting salary - about as decent as Seattle at 75K.

Transportation - yes, interstate highway systems, heavy rail and an international airport.

Pleasant environment - I certainly think so and suspect many others would as well. Is it the cultural mecca of Silicone Valley or NYC - obviously not but neither is it a wasteland. Gambling at the NA casinos. Health oriented city - lots of walking and biking. Some decent golf especially out at Dove mountain. Some snow skiing at Mt. Lemmon. Hot air ballooning - you get the idea.

Natural resources - yes and no. Natural gas is plentiful, some minerals, clean air, oil (?) but sorely lacking on the water side. The water issue cannot be fixed so that eliminates certain types of heavy industry.

Strong community involvement - that's really up to all of us. If we welcome business and industry with open arms, they are more likely to come. If we take a NIMBY attitude then they won't. Personally, I think that given the chance to be involved in the planning process, that the community would be very open to the right types of businesses.

So that leaves the governmental responsibilities: Regulation, incentives and a stable political environment. Regulations written to not hinder development while still protecting the interest of the citizens and the environment - yes, it can actually be done by involving ALL the parties in the process from the beginning. Read the history of Honda Motors and Marysville, Oh and you'll get an idea of how it can work.

Tax incentives - This is the easiest one of all. It's been proven time and again that the tax revenues from employees is far greater than from the company. Companies reduce their tax liability through a variety of accounting treatment. Make it easy on them, there are no taxes - real estate or income for X number of years. You lose nothing because they weren't here to begin with but now you collect income, sales, real estate, car tax, etc. from every employee that now works for them. Included in incentives should also be free land - if it's vacant and raises no revenues, why not let a company come in, do millions of dollars of improvements to it at their expense, don't tax it for ten years and now you've got a multimillion dollar tax base that didn't exist ten years previous.

Finally, political stability. Companies abhor one administration who says yes and the next one that says no. They really don't care if the political environment is liberal, conservative, libertarian or even a bunch of dancing leprechauns as long as they represent both the present and the future. If they can detect stability (and all things are relative when it comes to politics), they will be more inclined to enter that environment that if they think the entire city council is about to be impeached (they aren't are they ). I have no sense of the political environment in Tucson and surrounding counties but it's ultimately up to us, the citizens, to shape those politics in the manner we deem important. If that involves attracting and employment base, then we better make sure the political powers understand that is what the people want. If we don't participate in the politics and our leaders chose not to attract business and Tucson drys up and blows away, it's not the fault of our leaders, it's our fault for electing the wrong leaders.

[visitor21]

Originally Posted by tom4416

....

Transportation - yes, interstate highway systems, heavy rail and an international airport.

Strong community involvement - that's really up to all of us. If we welcome business and industry with open arms, they are more likely to come. If we take a NIMBY attitude then they won't. Personally, I think that given the chance to be involved in the planning process, that the community would be very open to the right types of businesses.

Finally, political stability. Companies abhor one administration who says yes and the next one that says no. They really don't care if the political environment is liberal, conservative, libertarian or even a bunch of dancing leprechauns as long as they represent both the present and the future. If they can detect stability (and all things are relative when it comes to politics), they will be more inclined to enter that environment that if they think the entire city council is about to be impeached (they aren't are they ). I have no sense of the political environment in Tucson and surrounding counties but it's ultimately up to us, the citizens, to shape those politics in the manner we deem important. If that involves attracting and employment base, then we better make sure the political powers understand that is what the people want. If we don't participate in the politics and our leaders chose not to attract business and Tucson drys up and blows away, it's not the fault of our leaders, it's our fault for electing the wrong leaders.

...

Thanks for your post. Those highlighted above are the big problems with Tucson. Tucson lacks at least one east-west crosstown freeway. Lots of NIMBY's or CAVE's (Citizens Against Virtually Everything) in Tucson. City of Tucson administration , Democrat or Republican , don't know what to do with Tucson - Growth or not, urban or suburban ... never consistent with their decisions plus they cave in to whoever yells the loudest . At the end of the day, the blame goes to the people of Tucson.

[corydon]

Like the CAVE thing, so correct.
It is funny and sad at the same time, seems cave people are awash in money and time.....