THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 14, 1996 TAG: 9608140367
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 71 lines
In the past, any job was a good job, and the city spent its time and money pursuing big employers, no matter how much they paid their workers.
But a group of top city staff members told the Beach City Council on Tuesday that they need to change that focus if they really want to build a community where kids can stay after they grow up, where jobs are plentiful, shopping is good and housing values climb.
The key to such economic success, the group said, is having the city concentrate on bringing better-paying jobs to Virginia Beach.
Jobs with good steady wages enable people to buy and maintain better houses and spend more locally, the staff committee explained.
That helps create more jobs and more tax dollars for the city, allowing better public services and lower taxes, which helps lure more jobs.
A company that builds a $15 million plant may be a great short-term boost to the city's tax rolls, Economic Development Director Donald L. Maxwell told the council Tuesday.
But if all the jobs it creates are minimum wage, wooing that employer may not be a such a good long-term deal for the city.
The city would be better served by marshaling its efforts on attracting a company that only invests $1 million to come to town but provides jobs paying from $30,000 to $50,000, Maxwell said.
The higher the individual salaries, he said, the better the chance workers will buy expensive homes here and will have more money to spend in local stores and attractions.
Over time, Maxwell explained, those employees will add far more to the city's tax base - and quality of life - than a multitude of people stuck in lower paying jobs.
The city's Economic Development Department has begun targeting companies and industries it thinks will bring in these high-return kinds of jobs, Maxwell said.
It's not a question of telling low-paying companies to get lost, budget director E. Dean Block said. But the change may mean not using the public funds that once were used to attract them so they can be spent recruiting the other type of employers, he said.
``You're not trying to keep anybody out,'' Block said. There will always be minimum wage jobs, he said. The city just doesn't need to concentrate on bringing them to town.
``The resources of government should be devoted to creating wealth, not making up for the absence of it,'' Block said. ``You can't attract $15,000 (a year) jobs and then wonder why you don't have a Nordstrom's'' department store.
This new way of thinking about the city's economic health was the work of the heads of seven city departments ranging from Parks and Recreation to Agriculture to Tourism and Visitor Development. The group presented its work in a 90-minute briefing Tuesday at the Virginia Marine Science Museum.
The committee is one of six ``issue teams'' of staff members that have spent most of the past year thinking strategically about goals the council has said it wants to reach.
Other teams are searching for ways to promote community safety, strong families, cultural and recreational opportunities, a top-notch educational system and a quality physical environment.
The Economic Vitality Committee also said city leaders need to change their view of the region or risk the Beach's economic health.
Now, Block explained to the council, Hampton Roads cities operate like the solar system, where Norfolk acts as the sun and the suburban communities rotate around it, always aspiring to replace it at the center.
Instead, the committee suggested the city adopt an ``Olympic rings'' model for the region, where the cities' interests overlap in places, but each community maintains its independence and separate identity.
City Manager James K. Spore suggested Virginia Beach go to the other cities in the region and say: ``This is what we want, what do you want? What can we do together? What can we help each other with? What do we need to do alone?''
KEYWORDS: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT by CNB