It’s the Most Wonderful Time Of the Year (in Ideas): Big Ideas of 2010

I can’t wait for this Sunday. It’s literally my favorite day of the year. Why? Because the New York Times Magazine’s Year in Ideas issue is going to arrive at my doorstep! (I know, that’s a very nerdy reason for a day to be one’s favorite, but what can I say…I love ideas!) The NYT issue is apparently the 10th annual, but it also serves another important annual role: inspiring the creation of the Prosperity Blog’s 2nd annual “Big Ideas” post!

To quote from last year’s, 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…presented in Top Ten format:

Let’s Move the CDC to Seattle!

It sure is a shame that Seattle didn’t have a huge malaria problem back in the day. Not because I think we missed out on our fair share of infectious diseases, but because it turns out the reason the Center for Disease Control is outside Atlanta is that it used to be a hot spot for deadly mosquitoes:

The CDC was founded in 1942 as the Office of National Defense Malaria Control Activities….Atlanta was chosen as the location because malaria was endemic in the Southern United States…With a budget at the time of about $1 million, 59 percent of its personnel were engaged in mosquito abatement…there were only seven medical officers on duty and an early organization chart was drawn, somewhat fancifully, in the shape of a mosquito. (editor’s note: “ha!”)

Why is this quasi-humorous factoid relevant?  Because it’s time that the Center for Disease Control had a west coast office, and it’s clear to me that such an office should be here.