First things first:  Recently DCI, in cooperation with the International Economic Development Council, conducted a national survey of e.d. professionals about the state of the national and local economies.  Respondents were entered into a drawing for their choice of a long weekend in New York City or a full week in the U.S. Virgin Islands. 

Jeff Finkle, IEDC Executive Director and Andy Levine, DCI President, conducted the drawing on Feb. 5 at IEDC's Leadership Conference in Orlando.  And now the drawing is on YouTube.  Click on the following to see who won:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mEAHLz_mBg.

Okay, now for the results of the survey itself:

1) Of the approximately 5,000 economic developers who received the survey, a remarkable 788 (about 15%) responded. This gave us a very large sampling of e.d. professionals from throughout the United States.

2) More than two-thirds of the respondents (67%) believe the United States is headed for a recession. But just over half (53%) believe it will significantly impact their own community.

3) Asked to name one federal initiative that would most benefit their own local economy, respondents answered with measures that ranged from abolishing the IRS to opening the borders for more foreign engineers to ending the war in Iraq. In other words, there was hardly a consensus. By category, they included:

• Tax Reform: 17%
• Infrastructure: 15%
• Education: 9%
• Energy: 8%
• Healthcare: 7%
• Balanced Budget: 6%
• ED Initiatives: 6%
• Immigration: 4%
• War: 3%
• Stabilize Housing Market: 2%
• Other/Multiple Response: 23%

Below is a sampling of responses:

TAX REFORMS

Make the Bush tax cuts permanent and further lower corporate and personal tax rates eliminate the AMT.

Increased tax breaks for companies investing in new equipment in order to cut their costs and make them more competitive in their business.
Monica Brower, CEcD, Economic Development Corporation of Erie County, PA

Tax reform and other policies or incentives that encourage advanced energy, innovation, technology and entrepreneurship.
Amanda Marko, Greater Cleveland Partnership

I am starting to believe there should be some mandates on incentive and tax credits offered by states to level the playing fields among all states.
Anonymous, Mt. Sterling-Montgomery County
 
Taxation on internet sales
Anonymous, City of Westminster

Abolish the IRS and convert to a National Sales Tax format.
Anonymous, Perry County IDA

REDUCE TAXES.  IT STIMULATES THE ECONOMY.
Bob Rohrlack, Enterprise Florida

In the 2007 competitive round for New Market Tax Credit allocations, 258 CDEs applied for allocations, requesting a total of $27.9 billion in allocations. Only 61 CDEs (or 24% of the total applicant pool) were awarded allocations totaling $3.909 billion; 197 CDEs were turned down. A federal initiative that could benefit my community would be to increase access to "New Market-like" federal investment credits without capping the total program amount available and without filtering them through a CDE-controlled competitive process,
Norm MacNeill, Ouachita Partnership for Economic Development

BALANCED BUDGET

Eliminating or reducing significantly our national debt.
Jim Fram, CEcD, Bartlesville Development Corporation

Any economic stimulus package is simply cosmetic to get us through the election and will postpone and perhaps worsen a true economic downturn.  The single most important topic is reducing the national debt.
Tim Chase, BCI, Wichita Falls, TX

Cut government spending!  Give the President of the United States the authority, either Republican or Democrat, by passing a Constitutional Amendment for line-item veto.  Allow the President of the United States to go through a spending bill with 9,000 congressional earmarks, and use his line item veto power.
F. Wayne Boling, Carlsbad Department of Development

Balance the federal budget -- sooner or later foreign creditors are going to demand repayment on our IOUs.  My daughter's generation will experience a significant drop in living standards if we don't address this NOW!
Bernie McShea, Pittsburgh Regional Alliance

The 3 most important federal initiatives: Balance the budget. Balance the budget. Balance the budget.
Deborah Hayden, Swiftcurrent Ventures

INFRASTRUCTURE

Federal Brownfields/Infrastructure Program
Tom Kucharski, Buffalo Niagara Enterprise

Increased transportation funding initiatives, especially for taxiway and other infrastructure improvements at our airport resulting in 300 new jobs at a local aviation finishing facility.
Michael J. Farmer, City of Springfield, Illinois

Expand infrastructure spending, not the proposed "free" money scheme that will only benefit China and our other "trading partners" and increase our national debt without providing an economic stimulus to help retire our debt.
John Petersen, Community Development Director

Infrastructure dollars - especially for transportation.  California does not receive its proportionate share!
Bruce Ackerman, Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley

Develop a national Interstate High Speed Rail System; provide incentives to upgrade freight rail system capacity and develop new intermodal terminals to provide better freight service to more interior locations.
James Holderread, Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana

Infrastructure investment.  Missouri has some of the worst roads, bridges, and highways in the nation.  Our state dollars are drying up and there seems to be little federal help on the horizon.  We need federal leadership and a serious plan to begin major reinvestment in America!
Scott J. Drachnik, EDC of St. Charles County

HEALTHCARE

Health care initiatives.  Many Montana residents do not have adequate health insurance.
Linda L. Beck, Big Sky Economic Development Authority

Health insurance reform.  Without a doubt, improving health care programs so more workers, both full- and part-time, can provide for their families.  Our medical services are stretched beyond the limit!!
Linda Boston, City of Modesto, California

Reforming Health Care would have the single most important benefit not only to our community but to the country.
Drew Shryock, Louisville Metro Economic Development Department

Healthcare.  Our local community hospital if losing $1 Million a month because of cuts in Medicare/Medicaid.
Regina Morgan,Okefenokee Area Development Authority

Implement tax-funded universal health care for every American.
Ken Horseman, State of Vermont

EDUCATION/WORKFORCE TRAINING

Credits (incentives) for workforce development and training for the, trade, manufacturing and chemical industries and/or hiring and retraining of older workers into new fields.
Gretchen Black-Larson, City of La Porte, Texas

Increased emphasis on worker training and retraining for manufacturing and other industries with increased needs for tech-savvy workers.
Bill LaFayette, Ph.D., Columbus Chamber of Commerce

Create a comprehensive plan, and funding, specifically addressing the workforce development deficiencies in the US, and growing the size of the available and prospective workforce
Bob Spaulding, County of Erie, Pennsylvania

Improve relations with foreign governments and Increase funding for training in math and science. We must improve our education in these areas
Alan Wood, Economic Development Commission of Caldwell County

Stronger Federal assistance in new workforce training initiatives.  Also, a Federal PR program that gives a clearer, more accurate picture on manufacturing in USA, as we continue to be the world leader, but if you see the media, you would think all mfg is over seas, not true!  This could help get young people more interested in mfg careers.
C. Michael Smith, Greater Statesville Development

Raising national standards in our public education system.  Workforce development is critical for USA to remain a world leader.
Doug Lawyer, Knoxville Chamber

Increased Federal funding into science R & D
Ted Abernathy, Research Triangle Regional Partnership

I think the cost of a college education is prohibitive for the typical middle income household.  I would like to see increased Federal funding for college for households with income less than $150,000.
Anonymous, Tierney Communications

WAR IN IRAQ

Anything that allows the US to wage a stronger war in the economic area, not the armed forces area.  That is where the battlefield is.
Vic Grassman, Denver Office of Economic Development

While tax rebates are most likely to have a short-term stimulus on local economies, the long-term issue is the continued financial drain of the war in Iraq.
Holly Childs, Economic Development Director, City of Cincinnati

End the war in Iraq
Steve Gerritson, Enterprise Seattle

The war in Iraq is killing the US Economy. Those dollars should be redirected back into the US in the form of infrastructure upgrades /expansion. I would also make metro rail a priority budget item for metro areas with more than 500,000 in population. Once the economy begins to level out, greater set asides need to be made to pay down the national debt. The country needs to learn how to "invest" rather than just "spend."
Jeffrey B. Jones, NXT Development LLC

Provide Leadership, ending the useless war, focus on alternative energy to stimulate the economy through national policies such as those in German for the use of solar energy, invest in education and healthcare not borrowing money from the Chinese to give us a "tax rebate".
Dean Whittaker, Whittaker Associates, Inc.

ENERGY

Federal Energy Policy that includes a real 10 year game plan to end our dependence on fossil fuels!!!
Donald E. Jakeway, Brooks Development Authority

Leave the oil and gas companies alone and let the free enterprise system function with the existing tax incentives.
Charles Thomas, Carthage Economic Development Corporation

Incentivizing the research, development and production of renewable energy technologies.
Adam Klein, Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce

Alter the Nuclear Decommissioning Fund to allow a portion of the revenues to be re-invested in the local economy of cities with closed plants...including federal funds to compensate for local storage of spent fuel pending resolution of Yucca Mt.
Delaine Rogers, City of Zion

The restoration of the SBIC match for small venture funds, extended DOE securitization for large scale solar projects. A stronger FDI program focus on solar technology
Barry Broome, Greater Phoenix Economic Council

IMMIGRATION

We need to even out the playing field as it relates to immigration laws, and the federal government could make this right.  Currently AZ is at a disadvantage with state legislation we recently passed which will make major employers skittish about relocating here for fear of losing their business license if charged with any immigration violations.  This hurts our ability to be competitive at a time when we are ripe for development and anticipating a doubling of population in the Phoenix metro area.  If the federal government could level the playing field, we stand a chance!
Barbra Coffee, City of Goodyear Economic Development

Adopt immigration policy that encourages illegal immigrants in the U.S. to become U.S. citizens.
David Madison, Pemiscot County (MO) Port Authority

Greatly expand immigration limits for college educated foreign nationals
Thomas A. Waltermire, Team Northeast Ohio

Reform of the patriot act/immigration reform
Frank Nero, Miami-Dade Beacon Council

STABILIZE HOUSING MARKET

Tighter controls on mortgage approvals.  No more than 36% debt to income.
Don Dunshee, Broomfield Economic Development Corp.

A major key is getting us out of the housing trainwreck.  Any initiative(s) that addresses foreclosures and credit availability will go a long way to bringing the economy back to where it has been in recent years.
Gary Skoog, Hoffman Estates

It's too late to bailout fraud based mortgages. Regulators let it happen and now the marketplace is dealing with it in person and business bankruptcy. Frankly the stimulus package is going to increase inflation which is already a major economic problem that no political or regulatory organization wants to address….Not a great forecast when the war is finished and the consumer is finished. Cash will be king again, debt will be more expensive or impossible to get without good credit and goods will be more expensive. Good luck to the new Democratic president. Let's hope women truly rule. She will need to.
Mike Ammann

 
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES

Funding the Community Development Block Grant program. It has a variety of eligible uses from infrastructure to housing to economic development.  It requires leveraging of other public funds or private funding.
Stephen A. Bolduc, City of Bangor, Economic Development

Increase federal funds to support local economic development initiatives, including CDBG, Brownfield’s, empowerment zone, EDA, EDI, etc. and develop new uncomplicated incentives focused on urban redevelopment assistance.
Russell Claus, City of Oklahoma City

Increase ARC and EDA funding to pre-Reagan levels and target to small, value-added, businesses. The Feds and States need to partner on identification of tax-free zones where new start-ups are given chance to compete against foreign cos. that are subsidized by their governments.
William R. Steiner, Coosa Valley RDC

OTHER/MULTIPLE

Federal funding to support the establishment and expansion of academic research parks.
Matthew Tarleton, Aelera Corporation

Do not build the wall along the Texas-Mexico border
Robert Diaz de Leon, Alamo Economic development Corporation

Reforming FEMA to allow for better emergency planning and response.
Andrew Duffell, Business Development Board of Palm Beach County, Inc.

Moving Federal Offices to nearby suburbs (Decentralization).
James R. Shepherd, Calvert County Economic Development

Aggressive funding of defense technology and NASA programs, and continuation of the H2B visa program, which will allow foreign national workers temporary employment opportunities.
Brian Hilson, Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County

Based on Bruce Katz's (Brookings Institution) recent and powerful "metro research", I would recommend that the next President implement the core of Katz's "Blueprint for Prosperity" recommendations.
David Ginn, Charleston Regional Development Alliance

A complete and accurate U.S. Census in 2010
Frank E. Field, City of Darien, Georgia

A practical emigration plan, Health care, A practical renewable energy policy.
Mike Humpal, CEcD, City of Fairmont, MN

Don't do anything to negatively impact the economy.  As a site consultant we've had a number of clients cancel expansion projects because of the economic "slowdown" as well as other factors.  CEOs & CFOs are taking a harder look at expansion plans & asking, do we really need this at this time?
Tim Monger, Colliers location Advisory & Incentives Practice

Limit taxation on business; Improve policies for freer markets; Encourage personal debt reduction; Address national healthcare concerns
Kirk D. Clennan, City of Leander, TX

Pro business policies that provide certainty. Making the tax rate changes permanent, a true immigration policy.
Ron Kitchens, Southwest Michigan First

The tax rebate plan is economic spark.  Tax cuts and mortgage reform provide kindling. Now add a capital projects/jobs bill.  Here’s an economic fire you can cook on.
Todd Bunderson, Capital City Development Corporation/CFO

Increase tax cuts to businesses support green technology. Mandatory reductions on carbon emissions by Automakers.
LZ Nunn, City of Lowell, MA

Pro growth and ED stimulus (sp?) efforts. We all need to STOP talking (or letting the media) talk us into a recession! My business is booming, we have more business booked for 2008 than all of 2007 and it's only January 2008! The Economy is fine; spread the word ED world!
Terry Cusack, CEO STELLAR Fundraising Executives, Inc.

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