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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
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Scott Elliott is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He writes about education, city and suburban issues, politics, business, workforce and consumer issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2010 > August > 27 > Entry
Kevin Riley: Coalition right to expand focus beyond WPAFB
The Dayton Development Coalition turned heads recently when it acknowledged it was launching its own initiative to keep companies in the Dayton region.
This “retention and expansion” effort, for which the coalition is aggressively raising money, comes in the aftermath of NCR’s departure, but it’s been talked about for years. Some might say “It’s about time” — and they are right.
But there’s something bigger going on here, too.
The coalition is finally asserting itself as the region’s primary economic development group. For some time now, it has had the lead on matters involving Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. It, for example, rallied the community and helped win big victories for the region during the Base Realignment and Closure process.
But even as the organization’s reputation has grown because of that effort, and even though the region’s top business leaders have thrown their support behind it, the coalition has been satisfied to mostly focus on Wright-Patterson. Its leaders have been adamantly reluctant to take on other economic development roles.
That has to change. Supporting Wright-Patterson, while absolutely crucial to the Dayton region, is not alone an economic development plan. And while not without its problems and baggage from some blunders, the coalition is the best group to lead economic development initiatives.
To serve in this role, the coalition has to change some things. Specifically, there has been tension for years between the coalition and the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce. The chamber is best positioned as an organization to help its small- and medium-sized business members, providing services to them that they struggle to buy (such as health insurance) or consulting with them. It’s also an important advocate and “voice” for small firms, but it really can’t lead economic development and, at the same time, provide members what they want.
The coalition needs the chamber’s buy-in.
Some other issues the coalition must address:
• Its operating style. Privately, other agencies, government officials and business people complain about the coalition’s approach. Routine communication is lacking. The focus on Wright-Patt and the fact that the coalition has hired former military people give it a command-and-control style. Also, the board needs a public official or two.
• Lack of trust. Downtown advocates aren’t convinced that the coalition looks out for the region’s central city. Suburban officials and county officials feel they get shortchanged. Somehow, the coalition has to convince folks that it will be sensitive to their needs while leading the bigger regional effort. (And critics need to understand that the coalition has to work for a greater good.)
The coalition can’t fix everything. For instance, it can’t be expected to solve the region’s historical problems with multiple cities and counties fighting about where companies will locate.
When it announced its recent retention and expansion initiative, not everyone was overjoyed. That’s because the City of Dayton has an “R&E” program, as does the Downtown Dayton Partnership and Montgomery County. So they wanted to know if the coalition is trying to take them over or duplicate their efforts.
But even these potential critics know that they’re focused on their niches, not the region at large. Someone has to be watching the broad landscape. When, for instance, the law firm of WilmerHale looked at bringing jobs to the region, it was shown options, including downtown. It ultimately picked Research Park in Kettering. That was a win for the wider community, even if Kettering got 185 jobs and downtown didn’t.
If the Dayton region is to have a bright economic future, there has to be high-quality leadership to get us there. The Dayton Development Coalition can provide that leadership.
Permalink | Comments (13) | Post your comment | Categories: Columns, Economy, Kevin Riley, Local Business
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By Retiree
August 27, 2010 7:17 PM | Link to this
The Dayton Development Coalition influenced BRAC? That’s news to me. What did they do?
By David Esrati
August 28, 2010 8:25 AM | Link to this
Here’s a brilliant idea- instead of entrusting this critical task to a quasi-governmental unit with no oversight- that plays with tax dollars so it can give no bid projects to a Congressman’s wife (remember “Get midwest”?) Why not consolidate our many governments and take the best of the best- and pay them incredibly well and hold them accountable? Nope- we’d rather have a system of no accountability that keeps costing us more. http://esrati.com/lets-raise-the-cost-of-doing-business-to-keep-business-here-idiot-logic/5530/ The DDC leader makes 2x the salary that the Dayton City Manager and the County Administrator make. Both of whom have huge responsibilities for big budgets and large workforces. They are accountable to a board of oversight- the elected representatives, and should and could be held accountable for their actions. Unfortunately, since we’ve been engaged in fuzzy quasi-government for so long (CityWide Development being one such organization) we never seem to be able to hold anyone accountable for anything. It’s time to get out of the “Development” game and try to get Government right first. We haven’t mastered the basics yet.
By about time
August 28, 2010 8:33 AM | Link to this
About time the Chamber stops pretending that they are an economic development organization - they do not have the political heft or staff expertise to lead on ED. Their lead staffers on ED have 0 (zero) experience in running a business. The Chamber believes that going to meetings is a synonym for actual work.
By about time
August 28, 2010 8:33 AM | Link to this
About time the Chamber stops pretending that they are an economic development organization - they do not have the political heft or staff expertise to lead on ED. Their lead staffers on ED have 0 (zero) experience in running a business. The Chamber believes that going to meetings is a synonym for actual work.
By about time
August 28, 2010 8:34 AM | Link to this
About time the Chamber stops pretending that they are an economic development organization - they do not have the political heft or staff expertise to lead on ED. Their lead staffers on ED have 0 (zero) experience in running a business. The Chamber believes that going to meetings is a synonym for actual work.
By d
August 28, 2010 10:29 AM | Link to this
This Kevin Riley honestly has no idea what he is talking about and has formed an opinion from talking to noone. There are R&E programs currently out there and the DDC is just stepping on more communities toes. They need to stick to what they do kind of best.
By d
August 28, 2010 10:32 AM | Link to this
This Kevin Riley honestly has no idea what he is talking about and has formed an opinion from talking to noone. There are R&E programs currently out there and the DDC is just stepping on more communities toes. They need to stick to what they do kind of best.
By Right on point
August 29, 2010 11:34 AM | Link to this
The only downside to Coalition taking on a more direct economic development role for the region is how many hours the Chamaber and other organizations will spend fighting this as they worry about their turf/perception/egos/relevance. Hopefully the business community leaders will not get dragged down in this fight and do what is right for the region -it is clear that what we have been doing in R&E has not been coordinated or effective.
By Max
August 30, 2010 8:00 AM | Link to this
David Esrati has a point; two many ‘groups’ with no accountability with duplicity and dubious results being their function. This all smirks of political lobbyists representing a few in the name of the whole.
By Mr. Duped
August 30, 2010 10:03 AM | Link to this
Why not try something new? consolidate the two organizations, fire both CEO’s and you will likely have the $600K needed. Let the Board of both manage the tasks through a loaned exec from Industry.
By Keep pushing Dayton
August 30, 2010 10:10 AM | Link to this
Retention and expansion is a tricky endeavor. It is not a greeting call to businesses. There must be business ntelligence on each company. There also needs to be collaboration with governments and Chamber’s. The only organization that can do this is the DDC. They have the man power and contacts to do this. Local chambers and governments can not dedicate their time just for R/E. Let the governments work on government. They have big budgets to control then let them. They are having trouble now what makes people think they can do true r/e also.
By Max
August 30, 2010 10:58 AM | Link to this
@Keep pushing Dayton…..R/E is probably the wrong mission which, I agree, fragments local govts and chambers FROM DDC. R/E is a strategic problem which DDC has essentially treated as a tactical issue thus failing at all levels. It is, I would agree, a good idea to think independently of the Wright-Pat cash cow - I have argued this for years - but, again, that’s not a change in strategy, but, rather, tactics. Esrati does revive a 30year old concept around here about combining municipalities to conserve resources and formulate a comprehensive R/E strategy. I don’t see that ever happening.
By Max
August 30, 2010 12:51 PM | Link to this
I’ve read and re-read Riley’s piece and while the specifics of DDC’s focus may be as interesting as long overdue, the larger picture is any R/E interest must address the entire county, not just the city of Dayton. DDC and other groups speak of ‘business’ in very ambiguous, generic ways which means different things to different people. The GM plant view ‘business’ as heavy industry. The NCR people view business as soft, service industry. Until the R/E groups, individually, or collectively, agree on a basic strategy (defining ‘what’ businesses they want to retain and expand)then, yes, solutions will be negotiated seperately like the Kettering Research Park example. However, it’s all meaningless when banks aren’t going to assume their fair share of risks other than forclosing on commercial property. Banks are the key; it was Bank of America which pulled SF out of the ruins of the great earthquake and everyone profitted. Or, I guess we could re-name Fifth-Third Field…….