By Guest Commentator Amy Kedron
Posted on June 27, 2008

To be sure, many urban neighborhoods are in dire need of development resources. But there is a difference between "economic development" and "community economic development." The former is often driven by private interests, primarily for private gain; the latter is community-driven and aims to empower communities. — read more 

Posted on May 28, 2008

I was tempted to fire off a letter to the editors at Fast Company, suggesting a better fact checker before they publish commentaries like Elizabeth Spiers' "Not So Fast: Neighborhoodlums" (June 2008, p. 128), the latest mass-media sneer at local-first campaigns. But it finally dawned on me that the piece actually contains no facts whatsoever. — read more 

Posted on May 7, 2008

Will organized labor finally make its peace with local business? Having just addressed the annual convention of the British Columbia-branch of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) – the largest union in the country – I'm pleased to report that the answer is increasingly "yes," if we’re willing to learn from our wise neighbors to the north. — read more 

Posted on April 24, 2008

Rich Pirog, associate director of the Leopold Center at Iowa State University and one of the pioneers of the concept of "food miles," is the first to concede that it's smarter to assess the environmental impact of a food item over its entire lifetime. That means looking not only at transportation impacts but also those of production and distribution. — read more 

Posted on April 11, 2008

Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest big box store, has recently been knocked down by a one-two punch of deepening recession and declining sales growth. According to Al Norman, the founder of Sprawl-Busters, Wal-Mart has abandoned 45 superstore projects over the last 10 months, and citizen groups have killed another 19. This loss – 64 stores in all – is unprecedented, and suggests that the retailing giant may have hit a wall in the United States. — read more 

Posted on April 3, 2008

A periodic feature of this blog will be to scrutinize economists whose arguments are selling communities short. The subtitle for the series might be: "Hey, they don’t call it the dismal science for nothing." — read more 

Posted on April 1, 2008

In honor of April 1st... — read more 

Posted on March 1, 2008

An Open Letter to Jack Roberts & Bob Warren
Dear Jack and Bob,
Thanks for your Guest Viewpoint piece in the Register-Guard on 9 October 2007, in which you argued that, contrary to popular belief, "the bulk of [our] time, effort and, yes, money devoted to economic development is spent helping local business grow and expand here...." If true, this is wonderful news indeed—but only, alas, if it’s really true. To remove any doubt, let me offer a recommendation I hope you’ll support: Let’s ask the state to audit your programs and confirm your numbers. — read more 

Posted on February 19, 2008

Long before Oregon’s economic developers started to go global—a strategy that has wound up increasing the rate of poverty in the state—they prototyped a homegrown approach that is well worth reviving. — read more 

Posted on February 11, 2008

What’s the best way to boost profits? For most of us, instinct says “grow bigger.” If you’re a retailer, reproduce your store through hundreds of chain outlets. If you’re a manufacturer, build big factories in China. If you’re a biking company, get acquired by a prominent global travel agency. — read more