Thursday, September 23, 2004
By Lynn Stevenslstevens@bdwbusiness.com

According to Barry Broome, there's nothing wrong with Kalamazoo that a massive cultural change wouldn't solve. And that goes for Michigan's economic development climate, too.

Broome, CEO and executive director of Southwest Michigan First, the Kalamazoo area economic development agency, suggested abolishing Michigan's worker's compensation as a start in an only partially joking remark.

"It doesn't benefit anybody," Broome said. "Workers can't get to it when they need it, it's hard on businesses and a killer for start-ups."

"It's singularly bad," agreed James Hettinger, president and CEO of Battle Creek Unlimited.

The National Association of Manufacturers, headed by former Gov. John Engler, is all but calling for national health care, Broome said, because health care costs for workers and retirees hinder American companies' ability to compete globally.
Hettinger put limiting health care costs at the top of his list of ways to make Michigan more competitive.
"We do need to get our hands on health care costs. The state that can to that is going to benefit not only on lower costs (of production), but also from a healthy work force," Hettinger said.

Hettinger, Broome and Ray De Winkle, vice president of the Right Place Inc. of Grand Rapids, Jim Edmonson, executive director of Muskegon Area First, and Randy Thelen, president of Lakeshore Advantage, the Holland/Zeeland economic development agency, expressed candid opinions and answered questions for some 90 minutes for an audience of about 200 business leaders at Business Direct Weekly's quarterly economic forum last week at the W. K. Kellogg Foundation in downtown Battle Creek.

All the economic development experts said education is another key area for change. Secondary schools have to understand the importance of solid reading and math skills for the non-college bound and they have to provide more challenging courses for all students.

"There is a shift in skill levels upwards," Edmonson said. As technology advancements are instituted in manufacturing, the skill levels constantly must rise to deal the technology.
"Nowadays, you can always count on education being in the top three (considerations) for site selection" when out-of-town businesses come calling, Hettinger said.

As people are recruited from other parts of the country -- especially from large cities such as New York and Chicago -- the region has to improve schools to the levels those people expect. Not only does it help recruitment, it also helps maintain a competitive level with other parts of the nation.

A lively arts community also helps attract and retain a talented, educated work force, Broome said in answer to a question from Kathleen Tosco, the new head of the Arts Council for Greater Kalamazoo. Communities, he said, can use the arts to redefine themselves.

"The arts community can give you the pizzazz when you're trying to shape perception of a community," Broome said.

"Too often we look at the arts as something that white people do on Saturday night -- go to the symphony," Hettinger said.

The arts should be viewed instead as outlets for people to behave creatively, if business wants creative workers, he said.
Ellie Callander, senior vice president of Signature-ONCOR Associates and based in the Portage office, said she was frustrated as a commercial Realtor at the lack of product, as she called it, in western Michigan for potential new manufacturers. She asked the panel what they would do to advance industrial park construction.

"If you don't have a manufacturing park ready to go, you're out of the running," Callander said.

Muskegon is trying to build "shovel-ready" sites, Edmonson replied. Grand Rapids is private-sector driven, De Winkle added.

Battle Creek Unlimited sees itself as a partner with the real estate community, Hettinger said.

Each of the economic development panel members urged business owners to visit them to discuss such concerns. There are specialized economic development tools that might solve very specific issues, they noted.

This BDW economic forum was supported by CTS Telecom, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Rockford Construction, Standard Federal, the Commercial Alliance of Realtors and MLive.

This article appeared in the September 23-29, 2004 issue of BDW.  For further information about BDW,

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