Old People

Apologies to those of you who have seen this list in past years, but this is the first time I’ve seen Slate’s 80 over 80 list. First off, it’s a pretty hilarious spin on the standard 40 Under 40 that we see in places like our own Puget Sound Business Journal. Second: Barbara Walters is 80! (Clint Eastwood is 79!) Third: man, there are a lot of elected officials holding really important offices on this list, and that does not make me feel super comfortable. Fourth, and actually relevant, is that #12 on this list is Bill Gates, Sr. Which gets me to thinking: are we taking enough advantage of Bill Gates, Sr. in Washington state?

Why Don’t We Have a Kauffman Foundation?

I was reading this article on Xconomy about their new partnership with the Kauffman Foundation, and the titular question immediately struck me: Why Don’t We Have a Kauffman Foundation?

Think about it: we are a center of innovation, but one of the most difficult places in the country to start and sustain a new business (see Indicator 13). And what do they focus on? Improving the success of entrepreneurship and commercialization!

“Where are the Recovery Act Dollars” Update, Part 2

Not too shabby, folks. We just completed our first survey of the region, and were able to identify 497 projects totaling $352,693,243.00 in non-transportation investments (grant, loan and bond funded) in the central Puget Sound’s leading industry clusters.

Check out the clearinghouse online at http://prosperitypartnership.org/recovery/ARRA_Fund_Recipient_Database.pdf. Corrections, comments or additions welcome!

Innovation

Wow, it must be Back to Basics Week at the ol’ Prosperity Blog. First “Regionalism,” then “Taxes” and now “Innovation.” I’m going to have to start my posts from now on with the old cheesy book report line, “Webster’s Dictionary defines innovation as…”

Here’s the thing about innovation. Innovation is like coolness. Everyone wants it, and the harder you try to get it, the more it slips through your fingers.

Celebrating Taxes and Economic Development

OK, I’m going to continue my modest proposal/rant from yesterday about getting everyone on board if we want to truly achieve our vision for a prosperous metropolitan region. I was at the Leadership Tomorrow Economy Day today, where the 80 young leaders spend a day learning about our region’s economy, and it was fascinating to listen in on the conversation.

Waiting for Lefty

That’s a little agit-prop/unionization reference there for you 1930’s theater buffs. But speaking of unions, did you notice the news about the preliminary Ford-UAW contract the other day? And no, this is not another blog post about how you should totally register for the Prosperity Partnership Luncheon featuring Alan Mulally, since over half the seats are already sold and it’s still a month away (ok, now it is, I guess).

This caught my eye: “The deal with Ford prohibits the U.A.W. from going on strike over demands for increased wages or benefits, but it permits strikes over other issues or if Ford proposes cutting wages or benefits.”

You may remember that a lot of folks got upset when the idea was brought up that, potentially in exchange for certain employment guarantees from Boeing, the Machinists agree to add a no-strike clause in their contract. It’s a huge concession for a union, since striking is the ultimate leverage in a negotiation. Interesting to see that Ford got the UAW to potentially agree to something like that, particularly because – like Boeing – they’re in a relatively good long-term financial position.

Regionalism

I went to a really great discussion today at the University of Washington: remarks and a panel featuring Bruce Katz, the vice president and founding director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C.  Katz was in town to give a lecture on Tuesday night as part of the UW’s Danz Lecture Series, and he hung around Wednesday morning to do a more intimate session with a bunch of local bigwigs and leading regional thinkers (note: I am neither, but I got to go anyway).

Anyway, the discussion was really fascinating, centering on how the central Puget Sound can more successfully act as a region, and be an economic and policy leader for the country’s recovery and beyond. But, as Gene Duvernoy of the Cascade Land Conservancy – one of the panelists – pointed out, there was one big problem with the conversation.

And Then You Can Make a Movie About Building Planes!

If you haven’t been watching closely, you’ve missed the national trend of turning large industrial spaces into movie studios. This isn’t a new idea by any stretch, but unfortunately there’s a lot more industrial space these days, like abandoned automobile manufacturing facilities in Michigan. But it hits a little closer to home when you see that LA is making movie studios out of old Boeing Commercial Airline buildings.

“Where are the Recovery Act Dollars” Update

Many of you may have seen our recent post about tracking Recovery Act dollars to the region, specifically those that fall into the categories we identified in March: clean energy, aerospace, IT (broadband and health IT), housing, workforce and life sciences.

So far, so good. Through your submissions and other online resources, we’ve identified $290,234,389.00 in grants to governments, businesses and nonprofits in the central Puget Sound in those categories. Keep it coming by submitting your projects to http://prosperitypartnership.org/recovery/form2.htm!

But What If the Wasps Sting the Rabbits?

Again, this isn’t actually economic development news, but this blog has been covering the radioactive wasps story, so it’s only fair that we cover the radioactive rabbit poop story as well.

I’ll say this: a significant amount of Hanford cleanup – including the helicopter search for radioactive rabbit poop – is being done with Recovery Act dollars. I know that there’s some debate about “whether the stimulus is working,” but this one is definitely a positive investment in my book.

Riffing on RIF

News flash:

Making the benefits of TOD available to residents at all income levels is a significant policy challenge. There is a long-term shortage of affordable housing in many cities, and existing affordable housing near transit may be lost as federal subsidies expire.

Or maybe it’s not really news. 

The Sports Car of Innovation Speeds On

And the Puget Sound economy downshifts into high gear. Or something like that. I really need to learn car lingo.

Point being, I was just talking about the link between aerospace manufacturing, auto manufacturing and the knowledge economy of the region. And then Lamborghini makes a $1 million donation to support the school’s research into composite materials used to build both airplanes and high-performance cars.

Coincidence? Or the usual Prosperity Blog visionary economic policy analysis? You be the judge.

(BTW, because of the above linked article, I now come up in the top five when you google “Smartest Man Alive.” Awesome.)

In Defense of SAM

I feel bad for the downtown Seattle Art Museum. How were they supposed to know that the oldest bank in town was going to crumble under the weight of subprime mortgages that everyone thought would never lose value? But that’s exactly what happened. When Washington Mutual collapsed, the museum lost $5.8 million in annual rent that was supposed to go toward the $65 million debt it incurred when it build its new space.

Here’s the thing: I’m sure that a lot of real estate projects, bankers and many others have learned some lessons over the past few years, but one of them that I don’t want them to learn is that museums don’t belong in the urban core.  Which is sort of the sense you get from this article.

What Will Alan Mulally Say at the Prosperity Partnership Luncheon?

So, like I mentioned, Ford Motor Company CEO Alan Mulally is going to be the keynote speaker at the Prosperity Partnership Fall Luncheon on November 13 (register now before it gets sold out!). And what’s even cooler is that he doesn’t do speeches, so it’s going to be town hall format; whatever people want him to talk about, he’ll just be riffing, like a mix between Phil Donahue and Drew Carey on Who’s Line Is It Anyway (ok, maybe not exactly like that). So, given that it’s open season, what is he going to talk about?

Rain Is Great! Come Here Because of the Rain!

It must be economic development awards season. Everyone is making their lists of top places for IT, biotech, innovation, business climate, etc. And along comes the Wall Street Journal with their Next Youth-Magnet Cities list. Guess what? We’re tops! Except for one thing: rain.