Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 9, 1995 TAG: 9509110072
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Virginia cities and counties with limited funds for chasing new jobs should strive to increase the basic industries - manufacturing, distribution, tourism, agriculture and federal government employment - because having the basics will attract outside money, a top state official said.
It's an obvious point, perhaps, but it bore repeating to a class of freshman economic developers Friday as they ended the first phase of a two-part seminar at the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center.
Mark Kilduff, director of administration for the state Economic Development Department, said a developer's time is best spent on attracting and expanding basic industries rather than supporting businesses that simply recycle dollars.
If new basic industry exists, "I'll guarantee the McDonald's, the Hardee's, the retail establishments, the personal-care establishments will be created to chase after those new dollars," Kilduff said.
But Kilduff's position wasn't universally shared.
Joyce French, incoming president of the Atlanta-based Southern Industrial Development Council, said in an interview that no economic-development framework as broad as Kilduff's can apply in every community. A small Alabama community, she said, sought federal economic development dollars several years ago to try to assist Hardee's in opening a restaurant there.
"It's whatever the particular local government seeks to pursue," said French, who also is executive director of the Southside Planning District Commission in South Hill.
Virginia's top basic industry is manufacturing, providing about 400,000 jobs, Kilduff said. That figure has been declining, but counting jobs alone may make manufacturing's health appear worse than it is, he said.
Employment dropped in many cases because manufacturers in the late 1970s began contracting with outside companies for the support services of lawyers, payroll clerks, printers and truck drivers that they used to hire their own workers to do, Kilduff said.
Kilduff was one of 10 speakers brought together by his agency and Virginia Tech, which are jointly sponsoring the current session of the Virginia Institute for Economic Development. The 13th annual session attracted 65 students and runs until Oct. 25.
by CNB