Lots of questions— especially about transparency—- regarding Gov. Pat McCrory’s plan to establish the Partnership for Prosperity economic development nonprofit.
But the biggest question is what will become of regional economic development partnerships?
“What we do hope to do is integrate the existing organizations in the umbrella of this,” McCrory said. “Whether they’re consolidated, integrated, combined, we don’t have those answers at this point in time. But there does need to be an examination of all the different organizations (to see) how exactly they can… be more efficiently integrated into one strategic goal.”
That could mean a change in the way the partnerships are shaped geographically, Decker said.
“What we do know is that economic development happens most likely at a community level. It happens at a city and county and local level more often than not,” Decker said. “Whatever our organizational structure will be, there will be people placed on a local level. We cannot do this without that happening, and there’s no intent to remove that form the picture.
Greensboro Economic Development Alliance president Dan Lynch tells the N&R “regional groups are often a drag on the state’s efforts” and “(f)For years, they’ve been talking about how the regions duplicate what the state does.”
No doubt McCrory and Commerce Secretary Sharon Decker will reassure regional partnerships that they’re all this together. But let’s get real, there’s only enough money to go around and the way things are going right now, there’s little doubt that all available resources will be concentrated in Raleigh.
By the same token, the state –hell, Greensboro — has too many economic development agencies to keep up with, and there have been questions regarding exactly what they do and how effective they are.
