County businesses need
to lead others to success
Published Dec.
11, 2003 www.gazette.net
Everyone agrees that Prince
George's County is at a crossroads where economic development, service
needs and limited new revenue will soon converge to create a synergy of
uncertainty in the absence of vision and unity among divergent communities.
There is also ample disagreement
over how we should move to eliminate this uncertainty and create a clear
path for market forces to work in a positive way.
Let's begin with the premise
that government, anywhere, can no longer solve all of the problems of a
large and diverse county like ours. What is really needed is an image of
where we collectively want this area to be in 2010, 2015 and beyond. We
should not support any paradigm that does not embrace that image and how
to get there. Just because we did something in the past is not sufficient
reason to continue doing it in the future. Particularly, if it hasn't worked
in the past.
Steven Covey, author of the
Seven Habits of Highly Successful People and world-renowned management
guru, says we must "begin with the end in mind." You cannot set out to
create something without first knowing what you want to create. Cobbling
together various segments and weaving piecemeal, something as dramatic
as a 20 year vision cannot be left to the fits and starts of a fragile
political system.
What kind of county do we
want to be in the future? What kind of governmental structure will be appropriate?
What kind of safety and health precautions and planning do we want to take
and what will government's role be? What responsibility will the public
and private sector be asked to share? What kind of public education system
do we really want? What kind of economy do we expect to develop to serve
over a million people who will be populating our county? All of these questions
need to be answered definitively before we take off in many directions
without knowing where we want to land in 20 years.
At a recent forum sponsored
by the Greater Prince George's Business Roundtable, Alice Rivlin, senior
fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, revealed some very telling
data gleaned from the 2000 census.
From 1995 to 2000, about
154,000 people moved out of the county. About 178,000 moved in. The incomes
of these moving in were often less than those moving out and residents
with high school and college degrees moved out at a higher rate than was
being replaced with in-migrants. Unemployment among the in-migrants was
also relatively high.
These data present many challenges
for a county in desperate need of additional new revenue and more services.
If anything they represent the tip of the iceberg. That's exactly why work
on a clear and concise vision for the future needs to begin today.
In their book, Grassroots
Leaders for a New Economy the authors say the work is the "story of people
building vital, resilient economic communities in turbulent times. It is
the story of what they have to teach us, as a nation struggling to rebuild
our civil society." They talk about the collaborative efforts of the civic
entrepreneurs who understand the linkage between a vibrant economy and
the revenue it generates to meet service demands. They understand that
building relationships with business and government and many others is
a far superior way to grow the tax base of a community than to enjoy the
instant gratification of a headline or name in print by throwing a bomb
or demonizing business as greedy and detached.
Such actions have often hindered
the efforts of well meaning elected officials, planners and businesses
to market the county in a positive way. It matters far less that a business
owner lives in the county than if they are connected to the county. It
doesn't matter that businesses want to make a profit. It matters more if
they help to guide others along the path of success. It matters more if
they help to guide others along the path of success by being stakeholders
in our institutions and mentors helping to educate and develop our human
resources.
M.H. Jim Estepp is president
and CEO of the Greater Prince George's Business Roundtable. |
