Getting Around “Lending of Credit”

Every economic development blog in the state of Washington has, at some point, railed against the “lending of credit” provision in the state’s constitution. Which is actually a pretty good pun, considering the lending of credit provision was put in as a backlash against “greedy” railroad barons. Zinger! Anyway, you know what I’m talking about: the prohibition against direct investment of public funds into private enterprises. Which is a big deal around the country in economic development, where cities and states will throw money at a company to get it to move there. Sometimes that works out, sometimes it’s money that they don’t quite have.

A lot of folks in the state talk about making a run at a constitutional amendment, but I’ve never seen anyone actually make a go of it. Not that there’s a lot of money in the state government to lend to private companies anyway. But there are actually some interesting approaches that get around that prohibition going on these days.

Hey, What’s Up With the Stimulus These Days?

Glad you asked. It’s been a while since we posted our last “Where are the Recovery Act Dollars” update, and I’m pleased to say that ARRA investments in our four-county region’s leading industry clusters (i.e. – direct funding of projects in clean tech and life sciences, excluding things like transportation and public safety) has topped $1.1 billion. Check out the entire list here.

The big question, as I’ve been saying for a long time, is not how much money did we get, but where did it go?

Insightful Commentary: “This Is a Good Article”

I know many of you have come to see the Prosperity Blog as a unique source of insight and analysis on our region’s economic development activities. So, it will disappoint you to no end that I don’t have a lot to say about this article except that it’s a really good summary of one of the main issues for the energy efficiency market: that the demand for energy efficiency upgrades is hampered by the bad economy and the large upfront costs. The one additional piece of thought (“piece of thought?”) I’ll offer is this: I’m really glad that they discussed the supply side opportunity, because I don’t think a lot of folks do.

The Recovery Act as Baby Boom

Good public policy is all about planning ahead. It’s like that old Wayne Gretsky quote about being where the puck is going to be (and no, I’m not talking hockey because I’m on the post-Olympics NHL bandwagon…although, go Flyers!). One of the biggest public policy challenges that our country is facing is what do we do about all these baby boomers, who are going to increasingly put a strain on things like Social Security & Medicare, on our healthcare system and on our workforce needs. (Nothing personal, boomers.)

On the economic development side of things, I think that there is going to be a similar challenge/opportunity with Recovery Act investments in R&D.

“Where Are the Recovery Act Dollars” Update, Part 6

It’s that time again! As is our monthly ritual, a quick update on major awards and opportunities with regard to the Recovery Act:

E-RIC Is Everything We’ve Ever Dreamed Of

Sure, this blog has in the past been used for some shameless self-promotion. But don’t let the title of this blog post fool you; it’s not me that I’m excited about, it’s the new support of an “Energy Regional Innovation Cluster” that the Obama Administration just announced as part of its $130 million Energy Efficient Building Systems Regional Innovation Cluster Initiative:

Anchored around a DOE-funded Energy Innovation Hub that will focus on developing systems-based approaches to designing, building, and operating commercial and residential buildings, the E-RIC will integrate this Hub into a broader regional economic development initiative by linking the Hub with complementary federal and non-federal investments in business development and support, public infrastructure, workforce development, and education.

Sound familiar?

“Where are the Recovery Act Dollars” Update, Part 5

As is our monthly ritual, a quick update on major awards and opportunities with regard to the Recovery Act:

The Great Lightbulb Change-out of 2009, Part 2

As promised, I’ve been doing some research on how local jurisdictions are using their Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant dollars. We’ve collected info from 30 of the 41 jurisdictions so far, and the results are very interesting. A wide variety of projects, with about two-thirds of the money going to 1) lighting, HVAC and window upgrades to municipal buildings, public facilities and streetlights; 2) loan, grants & loan loss reserves for residential & commercial retrofits; 3) energy audits to help identify the work for #2; and 4) weatherization of low-income housing.

Check out the list of projects here and the breakdown by category here.

“Where are the Recovery Act Dollars” Update, Part 4

As is our monthly ritual, a quick update on major awards and opportunities with regard to the Recovery Act:

1) Not too many changes, award-wise. We’re up to $897,869,521.56 from more than 560 projects directly related to our region’s industry clusters, although $350 million of that is an 8-year award to a company based here but doing work in Texas.

2) The Recovery Act bus tour a few weeks ago was a huge success. You can find a number of the presentations and the agenda here under “December 11, 2009 – Recovery Act Industry Cluster Tour.”

3) Finally, I’ve laid out an up-to-date list of relevant current Recovery Act funding opportunities (with links to each!). Check them out, and see if you’d like to apply!

Mystery Solved

Yesterday, I wondered aloud about why a Texas energy project funded by the Department of Energy through the Recovery Act was listed as being based in Bainbridge Island, WA. As loyal commenter “Frank” pointed out, it’s because they are indeed based in Bainbridge Island, WA, right there on good ol’ Winslow Way. Of course, the Seattle Times had already picked that up, but what am I supposed to do…read the news?

Anyway, it’s $350 million over 8 years, which is a lot of Bainbridge Island ferry passes, if you know what I mean. But again, what it does is add another notch to the central Puget Sound’s belt of carbon capture leadership. We should get all the related local folks together and see what sparks.

Weirdest Typo Ever?

So, as your humble Recovery Act analyst, I scour the departmental websites for updates on funding announcements and new grant opportunities. And I’m always overjoyed to see one of our region’s jurisdictions mentioned as an awardee…until now.

Don’t Throw Away That Project List!

As conversations continue to advance about a “jobs bill” (not to be confused with a “second stimulus” in any way), there are a lot of ideas floating around out there about what should be funded and how. But probably the biggest criteria is when, as in “as soon as possible;” the long timeline of Recovery Act fund distribution is not going to be tolerated for this go around. But, let’s not throw away the baby with the bathwater!

Big Ideas of 2009

It’s getting to be that time of year when people start doing annual recaps; this year, folks get to have even more fun with decade recaps as well. My very favorite of these – the New York Times Magazines’ Year in Ideas issues – is going to come out soon, and I can hardly contain my glee. We here at the Prosperity Blog have also had a good year of ideas, generating all sorts of practical proposals for improving our region’s business climate and competitiveness. But, of course, we have also had lots of impractical, sky’s-the-limit ideas that we hope someone is going to take and run with and make all our dreams come true. So, for all you good-idea-awaiting folks out there, here’s a summary of some of our “Big Ideas of 2009″, presented in Top Ten format:

We Got a Bunch of Stimulus Money…So What?

I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about what to do with the information that we’re collecting on Recovery Act awards to industry cluster related activities. It’s certainly nice to know in general, but I’ve always said that we have to make sure that these dollars aren’t just a one-time windfall, but actually contribute to the long-term success of our regional economic development strategy. So I’ve started to think about the Recovery Act funds in three groups:

Silos: So Good For Grain, So Bad For Government

I was reading my recent issue of Governing Magazine (standard issue for all good economic policy analysts) and seeing who made the 2009 Public Officials of the Year List (it was Gregoire in 2007). This year, one of the big names was Martin O’Malley, Governor of Maryland and former Mayor of Baltimore…or as devotees of HBO’s The Wire know him, “Tommy Carcetti.” The biggest praise for O’Malley was his breaking down of bureaucratic silos: