Economic Development Blog

by Marty Vanags, CEO, Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Corporation

This post was originally posted by Marty Vanags on his economic development blog, http://martyvanags.com, on Thursday, January 28, 2010.

I am in Flagstaff, Arizona this morning staying in the Hotel Monte Vista. This downtown hotel is a blast from the past. There is nothing fancy about this hotel, but it has a rich history and is extremely charming. We are in the Bob Hope Suite, which the front desk claims once played host to the great entertainer. There is a picture on the door from his younger days. The room looks a lot smaller and much different than the type of rooms I imagine people like Bob Hope would have stayed in. Across the hall we noticed was the R.E.M. Michael Stipe suite.

I discovered by reading a caption under a photo in the lobby that the hotel was built in  the 20s’ and was actually an early Flagstaff economic development project. From the hotel’s website:

“When tourism was on the rise during mid 1920’s local residents agreed that Flagstaff needed first-class accommodations. Existing hotels were old and outmoded. Fundraising began in April of 1926, and within one month investments of prominent citizens and funds donated by the novelist Zane Grey, totaled approximately $200,000. Ground was broken on June 8.”

The residents of the community pooled their money to make the hotel happen. In fact the hotel was first  called the ‘Community Hotel” and later named Monte Vista during a naming contest. Today the hotel seems to house a wide variety of guests. I saw couples, snowboard-dudes, rockers, and punks. Since Flagstaff is a college town (Northern Arizona University), I imagine many of the guests are related to the University.

The residents of the 1920s’ Flagstaff community initiated a process I think is a apt model for economic development today. I meet and work with small towns and rural communities and they are often frustrated at what they can actually do to make their community prosper. They are influenced by what they read  in the media about communities attracting huge employers and changing their world. As many who read what I write I don’t believe in the hollow promise of attraction. For some communities it is a necessary and required part of their overall economic strategy, but it has to start with some “bright spot” in their local environment. A bright spot or a positive is something the community can point to that they already have. It can be the rural life, it could be their proximity to  transportation or it could be some aspect of recent or ancient history that can be the bright spot of their strategy.

Many communities, large and small can do the same thing. Ken Wise the former economic development head in Rochelle, Illinois was a master of finding the local bright spot. He took advantage of what seemingly were disadvantages or new challenges and turned them into success. Whether it was a train spotting platform to provide train buffs a safe and fun place to watch the many trains go by, or building a local power plant to reduce the cost of electricity, or getting local people to invest in property and business out at the new interstate, Ken knew how to do economic development the K.I.S.S. method: Keeping it Simple and Stupid.

I challenge the local economic developer to find the bright spot in your community. All you need is one to work with. Gather whatever resources you have and make it happen.