Today I’ll depart for Texas with a delegation of San Diego business leaders. Our mission: figure out why Texas keeps taking San Diego jobs – and come back with ideas on how to stop it. -Carl
Joins Business Leaders To Study Job Creation
San Diego mayoral candidate Carl DeMaio will join a delegation of business leaders tomorrow for a three-day trip to Texas to study efforts to attract and create jobs.
“When it comes to promoting job growth, city leaders could learn a lot from Texas,” said DeMaio. “City leaders must commit to study and act on all ideas that will help get San Diegans back to work.”
DeMaio has already outlined a number of job creation initiatives in his “Pathway to Prosperity” Plan – and says he’s looking forward to including lessons learned from this trip in additional policy proposals.
Economic data demonstrates that Texas has fared much better than San Diego in this rough economy. Recent unemployment numbers place Austin at 6.5% unemployed, compared to 10.2% in San Diego County. One reason for this is the amount of jobs leaving California for business-friendly states like Texas. In fact, a recent article in the Austin Statesman began with the sobering statement, “When the experts go looking for new jobs to bring to Austin, California is a prime hunting ground.”
“We cannot afford to keep losing good paying jobs to other cities that are willing create a more attractive environment for them,” added DeMaio. “The policies we pursue in San Diego will determine whether we are providing jobs for San Diegans, or sending our jobs to other states like Texas.”
On the first day of the trip, DeMaio will meet with business owners, conduct site visits of major economic zones, examine Austin’s successful “cohesive permitting process,” and visit sites dedicated to developing Clean-Tech and High-Tech jobs in the region.
On the second day, DeMaio will meet with representatives from every level of government, business organizations, and stakeholders in economic development to learn their perspective on what public policy initiatives have contributed to Texas’ success with job creation and retention.
The business delegation trip to Texas is being organized by the San Diego North Chamber of Commerce. DeMaio is paying for all of his travel expenses out of his personal funds.
Comments 9
Who is paying for the trip?
Did you read the post, Alger?
” DeMaio is paying for all of his travel expenses
out of his personal funds. ”
[I read the post, Thor’s Assistant]
“Read the entire post, before asking any stupid questions.” Another lesson learned courtesy of Rostra – that is why I keep reading. Thanks for keeping me in check!
One thing that Carl would find if he looks in the suburbs of Austin is a FAR different approach toward housing and entitlements.
I know, I know, yesteday’s battle is the great unwinding, but one of the underlying reasons for so much speculation in this market was the VERY difficult process of entitling land for development. In contrast, in Texas development is largely by right – providing a near unlimited supply into Austin and keeping its housing costs low even while job growth during the past 2 decades has been robust. Should we ever get the economy back on line, getting a robust supply of new housing on line is one of the most important policy issues the region faces. Not holding breath, even the most ardent free market folks become environmentalists upon hearing the words “your loan closed, here are the keys”.
Alger:
Thanks. We hadn’t yet read the entire post when we read your question, but couldn’t imagine that DeMaio would tout such a trip without addressing up front the very first question he would likely be asked!
Erik:
“…yesteday’s battle in the great unwinding but one…” — That isn’t translating into anything we can figure out. Please clarify.
Erik, for those of us still trying to survive as real estate developers in So Cal, it is interesting to note that some governmental agencies here are now accepting more flexible entitlement and development strategies that can allow us to lower home costs. It will be interesting to see what happens in the longer term as they become more starved for cash, and the developers they loved to hate are no longer able to deliver big sums willy-nilly.
T.A., “the great unwinding,” I’m guessing he’s referring to the collapse of the housing market / mortgage meltdown – and it’s unraveling.
D7: Thx, caught it and corrected it.
Thor – to expand. The great unwinding is the current catch phrase of the day in Macroeconomics to refer to the process we are in where all the debt built up during the past 10-15 years is being “unwound” – particularly by households.
Part of the reason why nearly NOTHING (left or right) is going to work in the short term to get the economy moving again – you just have such bad household balance sheets that unless people believe the economy is expanding rapidly they are using any incremental increase in income to pay down debt.