Friday, November 20, 2009
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Growth and Development

Growth and Development
Manufacturing Plants are Closing in Rural...Hungary
03/30/2009

The story on the front page tells about rural job loss during this recession being concentrated in counties that have a large number of workers employed in factories. North Carolina's manufacturing employment is down, and the state's rural counties are in trouble. North and South Carolina have lost tens of thousands of jobs in the apparel and textile industries, as factories recruited by a generation of southern governors have closed their doors.

It's a story that is being repeated in rural Hungary, according to the Los Angeles Times' Jeffrey Fleishman. Levi Strauss opened a jeans plant in the small town of Kiskunhalas in 1988 (map above). The company was in the process of moving its production out of rural American counties and moving it overseas. It was a miracle when Levi Strauss arrived in Kiskunhalas and the town grew. Recently, however, global sales have collapsed and and now the plant is closing.

"Levi's sponsored games and sports. They were active in the community," said the town's mayor, a worker at the plant. "About 100 of their employees are two-income earners from the same families: husband-wife, mother-daughter. . . . But now Levi's is leaving and they didn't want to talk about how we could get them to stay. They're acting like they never were part of us. It's a great blow to this town." This is a story that will be familiar to many people in rural America.

Growth and Development
When it Comes to the Economy, 'We Are All Appalachians'
03/30/2009

Ron Eller has written a history of Appalachia since 1945, but it is really a story about the ways the country has tried — and failed — to make a poor place prosperous.

Growth and Development | Main Street Economics
Rural Counties Losing Jobs Faster Than Cities
03/30/2009

This recession is worse than the previous two — and it is hitting manufacturing counties much harder than communities with high farm employment.

Growth and Development
Veterans are Moving to Rural Communities
03/30/2009

At the beginning of the new century, less than a quarter of America's vets lived in rural America, reports Mike Swift of the San Jose Mercury News. "Now, even though there are 32. million fewer veterans than in 2000, there are 1.3 million more of them living in rural America, a 20-percent surge." So California, New York and New Jersey have seen a decline in the number of vets who live there, Utah, Idaho and states in the southeast have a surge in vets. (Bench above at VFW Hall in Greenup, Illinois.)

A third of veterans live in rural communities, compared to a fifth of all Americans. In urbanized counties, those with at least 1,000 people per square mile, the veteran population has dropped an average of 17 percent this decade, according to the newspaper's analysis. Only one California county — Placer, northeast of Sacramento — gained veteran population between 2000 and 2008. Vets tell Swift they are moving to places that are quiet.

"The list of places with the biggest jump in veteran population is also peppered with the names of rural areas like Washington County in southwestern Utah, with about 37 people per square mile; Madison County in eastern Idaho, with 58 people per square mile; and Matanuska-Susitna Borough in Alaska, which includes Anchorage but has only two people per square mile," Swift writes. "The rural growth is particularly striking among Vietnam-era veterans where their numbers are up in rural states like Montana, Idaho and even South Dakota. While Santa Clara County lost 19 percent of its Vietnam-era veterans this decade, according to U.S. Census data, the influx of Vietnam vets has been so substantial in southwestern Utah that the newcomers have founded a chapter of Vietnam Veterans of America."

Growth and Development | Media | Politics and Government
Tribes Build Portal to Tap Stimulus Funds
03/27/2009

Photo Flounder artA new online resource explains how the stimulus funds will be dispersed to Indian County: which projects are eligible and how tribal governments can apply.

Growth and Development | Main Street Economics | Special Projects
Rural Job Losses Jump in January
03/25/2009

Unemployment in Rural and Exurban counties in January 2009 The United States lost jobs in January — and the losses in rural and exurban America were more severe than in the cities.

Growth and Development | Main Street Economics
Job Losses in Exurban Counties, January 2009
03/25/2009

Unemployment and job loss figures in exurban counties in January 2009.

Growth and Development | Main Street Economics
Exurban Counties With the Most Job Losses Since January 2008
03/24/2009

Exurban counties lost a higher percentage of jobs in January 2009 than did the cities.

Growth and Development | Main Street Economics
Prison Closings Affect Rural Communities
03/22/2009

 

As the federal government increases spending, state and local governments cut back. In New York, that means Camp Pharsalia, a minimum security prison near Norwich may close. The prison and other prison camps, according to the Washington Post's Keith Richburg, "have become something of an economic lifeline, for decades providing not just manpower, but also jobs, in a region where work is hard to come by. But with most governors and legislatures grappling with crushing budget deficits, what's good for rural economies is often proving bad for states." 

New York is facing a $13 billion deficit and the state has fewer inmates. So Gov. David Patterson has proposed shutting four prisons, including two near Norwich. That would save $26 million. The Post reports this phenomenon is playing out across the country, as prisons built in rural areas in the '80s and '90s, during the farm crisis, are now being closed. For Norwich, that would mean the loss of 59 jobs; moreover, 40 local businesses have contracts with the prison.

Norwich Evening Sun reporter Melissa Stagnaro writes that state cuts paint "a somewhat dismal picture of what the future could bring for our upstate communities. A slow degradation of our education system, a decline in health care, sky high unemployment and overburdened public assistance...We can't just sit back and let this happen." 

 

Growth and Development
Don't Build It And They May Still Come
03/21/2009

Videos featuring virtual spec buildings in rural Iowa soon will be debuting on the Worldwide Web. Western Iowa Advantage (WIA), a regional economic development association, is promoting these new buildings in an  eight-county region of Iowa on videos posted here. 

Instead of building a spec building, and letting it sit vacant in the hopes of attracting a buyer, the WIA program will allow developers to create virtual tours of potential buildings (what they would like if really built) and the land surrounded them. One video, set in the Ashwood Business Park in Carroll, Iowa, shows both the exterior and interior of a 25,000-square-foot office and industrial building that could be located on 3.5 acres near a relatively new seed company building (photo above). 

The goal is to hook a prospect on the Net and perhaps land site-selection visits, said Jim Gossett, a WIA representative.“We are getting them interested so they call us,” Gossett said.Local development organizations involved in the WIA consortium provide about $10,000 in funding to Western Iowa Advantage annually. Using some of that money and a $50,000 grant from the Iowa Department of Economic Development, WIA is working in concert with the Omaha, Neb., firm of Ayars & Ayars on the virtual building program. Using satellite-imaging data the video tour leaves the viewer with an uncanny sense of place, a virtual experience that is striking to watch.

The financial contribution from the businesses or developers who want to be involved is still be ironed out, Gossett said. Western Iowa Advantage is a collaborative effort of economic development officials in Adair, Audubon, Carroll, Crawford, Greene, Guthrie, Ida and Sac Counties.

Douglas Burns

Daily Yonder | Keep It Rural
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