[Vision2020] Dispel the anti-growth myth

[Steffen Werner]

I think that Brandy's list, even if incomplete, is a great start for 
a real debate about growth.  Growth, in the end, depends on 
individuals who are willing to take a plunge and invest a lot of 
their own time and money to try to make something special happen.  I 
agree that a few of the new businesses replaced other businesses, but 
that can be taken as a sign for a healthy entrepreneurial climate. 
Even as replacements, they usually create financial benefits to the 
community just by upgrading their infrastructure and the buildings 
they occupy.  However, it also shows that a marketplace like Moscow 
cannot support an endless supply of new retail, service, or 
entertainment oriented businesses.  In this light, the call for more, 
bigger, and better retail development sounds a bit hollow - after 
all, by the same logic, a new super wal*mart would just be another 
replacement business (at best replacing itself).  I totally agree 
with Jeff that what would be optimal are businesses that add value 
here in Moscow by using our intellectual, artistic, or other 
expertise based resources to create products or services that are 
being desired all over the US and beyond (NRS and  Cowgirl chocolates 
are great examples of this).  I don't think that ravaging our natural 
resources (e.g., Naylor farms) would produce the same results (at 
least not in the long run).  The value-added businesses are really 
the ideal businesses because they generate revenue from the outside 
while keeping the quality of our environment and its attraction to 
newcomers high.  However, the problem lies not in recognizing this 
fact, but in creating an atmosphere that attracts these kinds of 
businesses here, and probably more importantly, encourages local 
residents to pursue their economic visions here in Moscow instead of 
being lured to other places.  What I find sorely lacking in this 
debate are the non-economic factors that drive a lot of the 
attraction/retention cycle.  Many members of this community have 
invested heavily in terms of time and money to build the Latah trail 
- together with paradise path and the Chipman trail a wonderful asset 
for our community that is a hot selling point.  Others have worked 
hard on the Hamilton Lowe aquatic center, the new ball fields, a plan 
for a new ice rink, the Prichard, Third street, and Above the Rim art 
galleries, etc.  The new development of land between the university 
and the city, maybe through an Urban Renewal Agency, might be another 
opportunity to create something unique and attractive. Any addition 
of something special that will make Moscow a more attractive place to 
live will make it more likely that a new business will locate here or 
that an expanding businesses will remain in Moscow.  Having located 
here myself from overseas I know that financial and human capital can 
flow freely to wherever it desires to go - and that Moscow's unique 
beauty, visual and musical culture, vibrant downtown, intellectually 
stimulating climate, and recreational offerings are its main selling 
point for the people in high-paying jobs that we want to attract.

Steffen Werner
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