Redesigning Greeley Colorado--A Political Cow Town

Greeley Colorado is an interesting town to figure out. Especially when you are coming at it from a different point of view than most folks raised here. Currently I have been tracking articles about the District 6 mill levy, the Greeley City Council election, District 6 Teacher Union negotiations, and, one of my favorite snail-snot companies--JBS Swift. Just thinking about writing on these topics is beginning to make me cringe. A lot of good people involved and a lot of bad planning and outdated ideas used.

Combine this with the fact I've never quite got the hang of the East/West versus North/South orientation of the town and end up driving endlessly across the prairie even when I am just popping out for coffee--I get to spend a lot of time just looking at the beautiful mythic trees, architectural styles, and a lot of frothing-at-the-treasure-chest developments running amok to the south and west (I think) of Greeley. Then there are the empty store fronts. Ramshackle buildings leaning too far over the sidewalk. The unkempt and ungreen sections of town. All speckled in between beautiful manicured older developments, the nice college campuses, places where people rarely venture into their front yards to associate with their neighbors but spend hours politely maintaining their end of the bargain.

And never the twain shall meet. Is this libertarianism? Is it protectionism? Is it racism? Or is it just plain lack of a City Council having much idea how to pull it all together--before the treasure chest is emptied trying to encourage big business and special interests to spread Greeley around like melted butter on a counter top.

After a week of being under-enlightened and disillusioned over the lack of zoning and planning and with special interest editorials pouring out of the fingers of the staff at the Tribune I finally turned to my local "tour guides" and other acquaintances for answers. There are so many things to like about Greeley (especially the people) it doesn't make a lot of sense to me why they don't take more interest in their own town. Is it really easier to just move out and let the sprawl mafia take over?

We've spent more than a few hours over coffee educating Jane.

"Greeley is just a cow town that never really wanted to be a city but finds itself now a city..." I was told.

The light snapped on. Now I have been told a lot of other things as well but this item, above, just made all the pieces of the puzzle come flying together.

It makes sense why there has been little prudent economic development planning. My opinion of course. It makes sense why Greeley's overall strategic economic and development position is being more directed by regional economic planners and UNC's concept of business planning than it is by the City "Elders" shall we say. Greeley doesn't want to grow up to be something it doesn't want to be--a big city. Although it still isn't clear why the prairie palace developers are allowed to walk away with spreading out their wings and pooping all over Northern Colorado. I thought that is what zoning was all about and what the ranchers and farmers were all about--making sure that stuff didn't happen. But I digress.

The people in the castle on the hill (Greeley City Council and its Mayor) do not have enough incentive to be fully invested in the long term interests of the town. If you've ever been a public persona, well, let's just say it is a pretty thankless job unless you are paid a lot of money to focus your interest or at least given enough political clout to get a good seat in the top restaurant without waiting.

I once implied to a group of Greelians that someone ought to paid for putting 100% interest into the Greeley Good Ship Lollipop. This was upon finding out that the Mayor only receives a stipend as well as counsel members. Half the room, Republican fiscal conservatives, choked on their coffee while the other half politely explained to me that the Mayor really didn't do anything. Ed Clark might object but then again I heard he got elected on the basis of his pleasing personality and big night stick. Back to Jane's advisers, the main ladies in the room pointed out that mostly the council is white, retired, and special interest laden. (I already figured that part out but didn't think it would make me a very pleasurable coffee companion to bring it up). It was noted several are law enforcement types and public works service types without any serious background in economics and economic development. Makes sense if you take a look at the results of what they have been applying to Greeley over the years. Piecemeal cow town with a corral around any and every culture to keep them from "mixing" in with the herd. On a subconscious level no doubt.

After all I'm sure everyone would be thrilled to have a highly educated Somali with citizenship run for City Council. Right? Right? The point is to get the job done, right? Same with the local School Board. Right? It's who can do the best job not who can maintain the existing social status quo. We ended coffee chat at this point. Two many "rights" from someone labeled "left".

So I went home and took a look at the Greeley City Charter. Obviously not something to read over candlelight and a football game. Oh, that makes sense--the mayor gets the title of being executive officer but all the official powers and prerogatives of being executive officer have been gutted and handed over to the City Manager, Chief Administrative Official of the City. You have to read, sorry, a bit further to see the gutting of the fish. The actual authoritative decision making is given in detail over to the City Manager later on down the charter pages. An unelected official by the way. One that the electorate can't vote out of power if they should be unhappy. Not good on the direct representation or concept of democracy scale Greeley.

The proposed Charter provides that the Mayor shall be the Chief Executive Officer of the City, the City Council shall be the policy-making authority, and a City Manager to be appointed by the City Council for an indefinite term, the Chief Administrative Official of the City.

Who designed this burg, again? Oh yeah, it is a cow town. It doesn't want planning, design, regulation, zoning, and government. Just financial conservatism and corrals around all the "types" of people that are "different".

Well I hate to be the one that pops the balloon because I kind like the folksy cow town idea. I grew up around one of those. However it is hard not to point to the fact that while tending the cows the horse has now left the barn and ain't comin' back. Greeley is a small city. And it is a small city without any real obvious direction on how to create an effective government that will spend enough money to plan for the best future of the town at the least cost to the individual taxpayer. In other words fiscal constraint doesn't work without prudent investment and good long term social integration policies. It isn't just about today. It is about the infrastructure your children inherit tomorrow.

Yes, I'm sorry Virginia, there isn't any Santa Claus. Somebody is going to have to connect the cement sidewalks, water pipes, and city services to all those roaming red-nose developers in the middle of nowhere. That is you and me, babe. The guys back at the local Greeley government ranch are just gonna let the developers ride into town as tax free as possible and plop down where ever they point to the ground with the cry of "Jobs!" Tsssk. Tsssk. Then there is the whole issue of educating the public. All the public not just the kids in the charter schools on the right side of town. You want a real gang problem Greeley? Just refuse to invest and redevelop the "other" side of town. Disrespect breeds disrespect in any culture. Let education continue to fail the masses in District 6 and the lack of all day Kindergarten and textbooks for the kiddies won't be all that comes tumbling down.

Time to think of Greeley's value investment. Time to think of Greeley as an investment. Time to think of Greeley as a cow town that can kick ass if someone cares enough about it.

Diversity of business (Mom and Pops), economic development, revitalization of the downtown strip, redevelopment, education and gang management, and federal grant management hopefully is going to pop up on some one's view finder. Put the cow town politics to bed and start demanding someone manage the entire ranch and build good fences.

But then as the Greeley Tribune Cheerleader says today in its editorial, they are just happy so many citizens are interested in government. *Without really being paid to do the job (my addition). Yes, they are interested, I'll toast to that... but the real question is will the person they elect have to be the right color, the right sex, the right age group, local only, and do they have to represent a special interest or authority figure to get elected.

We, living in Greeley, already know the answer to this question... don't we?

Time for a change. Right turn Clyde.



Supreme Court Upholds Mill Levy Freeze

Greeley Council Thumbs Nose at Existing Mom and Pop's

Ma and Pa businesses in Greeley Colorado need to get hollerin' at the Greeley City Council. Greeley Council passed a resolution to lower development fees last Tuesday night. I really try to stay out of these battles as the public rarely gets a real transparent look at the goodies being traded across the table in these type of negotiations. But I can't help but notice Greeley's undies keep being exposed when it comes to long term strategic direction for this city. Time to get serious when electing these officials folks. Greeley isn't just a podunk town any longer.

The new fee break being handed around comes with a stench. Why are businesses coming in now getting sweet kissy-face deals at older businesses' expense. Why give one business a competitive advantage over existing businesses. The City's job is to court specific industry targets and development--not to wade into competitive positioning. It's like the honeymoon for all the Ma and Pa's struggling to stay afloat is over and now the best bedroom suite is being whipped out for new and expanding businesses.

The big problem is the sheets on that honeymoon bed aren't clean.

This strategy may appear fine and dandy on the surface for those businesses like Sooper's being romanced. After all it is an unfortunate common practice deployed by corporate interests and developers to sweet-talk councils into lowering their operational expenses. But, I'll argue, Greeley isn't every city and it has carved out special problems for itself that need a special strategy. Time to look those sweet-talkers in the face and get some real political backbone (and better advisors). Not to mention that the ugly smaller ducklings hanging back against the wall need to be asked to dance too.

What about infrastructure for the aging, decaying, poorer parts of town? What about redevelopment funds to draw people back into the sectors that have those empty store fronts? Who is going to get stuck with the bill to support all this infrastructure ten years from now? What about finding new ways to perk up those saggy bags under Greeley's eye and put facades in all those closed store fronts down 8th avenue? What about fluffing up the education sectors? The culture art activities are where again? Getting serious about getting monies and marketing together for a "real" Farmer's market? A generic, "sounds-good-to-me", tax base strategy will not get the job done except for those trying to keep Greeley a low-wage industry dumping ground for snail-snot companies with bad business practices.

JBS Swift Sinks Good-Ship-Lollipop

I get what the Council thinks it will achieve. By lowering these rates they will get more business in and might draw a few opportunities away from other, family-friendly, neighboring towns. That's not what the bigger forces in power have planned for Greeley.

Greeley's Barrio
Have You Seen Ma an Pa Lately

First of all, in the case of Sooper's, it is going to go where the studies show there is enough market to survive. It is trying to stay competitive with the well capitalized Safeway expansions and that's all good, in the long run, for the consumer. But helping them out? Back door subsidies for special interests are not any prettier viewed locally than they are nationally. Are we going to do this every time a food store wants a little more elbow room? Whisper a few sweet corporate words in a Councilperson's ear about ...."just can't quite make it happen with those fees and taxes..." and off flies the dress and the romance begins.

We need savvy deal makers instead of social engineers at the city helm. Someone who can see past the first dance and date. One of the bolder early strategies of Walmart in rural areas was to open up stores close to their smaller competitors, wait until the competition's ship sunk, then close the store and allow the regional store to service everybody. Is Greeley going to subsidize this type of activity too. Do the existing Mom and Pop's really not in market position to expand or move going to have to float the bigger corporate machines with minimum wage jobs as they, supposedly, roll into town to bring all these new job opportunities?

Who has the Greeley Town Council's ear?

Oh that's right, the Northern Colorado Economic dudes and dudettes have it. Well Greeley City Council just danced really pretty for their "economically 1970 minded" counterparts. As I have said in earlier postings--it is pretty clear Greeley has lined itself up to be the economic armpit of Northern Colorado by making poor decisions on what type of companies (JBS Swift is one that comes to mind) to groom for life in Greeley. Now, by showing its undies and willingness to cut rates for low returns, Greeley has just thrown open the doors to continue this type of snail-snotter corporate development. And Ma and Pa will be helping taxpayers float these boats.

Thank you Greeley City Council.

Greeley needs a better plan, better advisers, and full-time dedicated politicians to pull it out of the position it has allowed itself to be pushed into. Redevelop the side of town where people only make $20k a year. Get that plan working for pumping the Farmer's Market and snag those funds you flipped your nose at. Make a strategic plan to lower the rates for the types of businesses that bring in stable families and living wage jobs. Attract new types of industry--not just ANY type of industry. Make a target and aim for it. City Council may not have advanced economic degress but haven't you guys ever played Sim City? Promote education and weave it throughout all age groups in the city. Make a thriving viable city-square out of the old barrio areas and bring in small businesses, artist studios, and revive some of those cool old buildings like the Kress. Get people walking around town and talking to each other instead of doing the Stepford family thing on the West end of town. Bring the Munsters and the Stepfords together and mix them all up--a healthy economy is a diverse economy with a strong Ma and Pa sector.

Otherwise we are all going to end up being the hairy old arm pit of Northern Colorado and a low-wage service community to Fort Collins. The professionals will live in Fort Collins, spend money in Fort Collins, develop Fort Collins quality of life, and drive into Greeley everyday for work and drive home at night to live and kick up their heels. Meanwhile Greeley will have low rent, low wage, decaying infrastructure left to service the retirees who have stuck it out, the toxic factory jobs, and a bunch of abandoned buildings. The only green in town will be the castle on the hill called UNC.

Voters in Greeley should look carefully at who they elect this fall. Out with the old and in with the new. Time to look outside the box for answers and quit shooting down ideas simply because they come from "outsiders". And ask your handy-dandy economic development industry pushers--just what that candy-coated advice they are giving you is going to lead to in the long run. Besides the shiny-badge editorials from their buddies in the local newspaper of course.

Time to build your own spine Greeley and quit laying down in the middle of the road so the rest of Northern Colorado can dump on you.

Just my opinion... of course.

Greeley School District 6 Report Card is Out of Date

A few statistics to crunch over lunch. Greeley District 6 Teachers return to school today. Kids to be added at later date.

The following data comes from SchoolDataDirect however it is frustrating to note that I cannot find public access to operational expense figures after 2006. It is really frustrating to see n/a reported underneath your district when it is highly likely those figures had to be turned in. It may be something technical in the statistical accounting but it certainly doesn't service the public in the interest of transparency.

I am not going to try to do a statistical analysis on the figures other than to note that it is interesting that instructional expenditures are generally higher in District 6 but the end result remains disappointing. In my view, again, the accountability finger goes to the administration and/or human resourcing design flaws.

Minimally I think the comparisons give rise to some decent questions which need to be asked of the Board and administrators. For starters, where are the figures on spending for the last two years? The more I look into the data the more I'd like answers before I blindly endorse new tax spending without specific direction on where it is to be spent or a good plan on how to make it the most productive for all the students. If I am missing figures all ready published please send me an email.

Tip* Click on title to change from narrow column to wider display. Also note the school districts being compared change between the first table and the second. If you go to the site you can build your table fairly easy. You can also make comparisons based on your own child's school compared to others without comparing the entire district.

	Greeley 6	St. Vrain Valley RE 1J	Thompson R-2J	Weld County RE-1	Weld County School District RE-8
Students At or Above Partial Proficiency on State Tests - 2008
Reading - At or Above Partially Proficient (%)	83.2	91.1	90.3	84.8	79.4
Math - At or Above Partially Proficient (%)	71.0	84.8	84.3	76.8	72.3
Reading and Math At or Above Partial Proficiency (RaMP) (%)	77.1	87.9	87.3	80.8	75.8

Another table with another cross comparison from the same site. My apologies for the duplicate Greeley 6 column.

Denver County 1, Colorado
2006	Greeley 6	Denver County 1	Greeley 6	Poudre R-1	Thompson R-2J	Weld County RE-1	Weld County School District RE-8
Spending Distributions (%)
Instruction	59.8	50.7	59.8	52.3	57.2	60.4	51.2
Instructional Staff Support	6.3	7.3	6.3	5.3	6.1	6.0	12.1
Pupil Support	6.1	4.3	6.1	4.9	6.5	5.6	3.5
General Administration	0.8	0.7	0.8	1.3	1.0	2.2	1.9
School Administration	5.7	6.9	5.7	6.2	6.2	4.6	6.8
Operations and Maintenance	9.8	15.6	9.8	10.9	10.2	10.6	11.2
Student Transportation	3.0	2.8	3.0	3.0	2.9	4.0	3.1
Food Services	4.0	3.1	4.0	2.4	3.2	4.1	4.2
Enterprise Operations	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Other Expenditures	4.5	8.6	4.5	13.9	6.8	2.5	6.0
Key Compensation Indicators
Compensation as % of Core Spending	82.7	73.3	82.7	71.1	81.7	75.7	77.7
Salaries as % of Core Spending	68.1	53.8	68.1	57.9	67.5	61.3	62.2
Benefits as % of Core Spending	14.6	19.9	14.6	13.3	14.3	14.4	15.5
Revenue ($ Per Student)
Local	2,826	6,491	2,826	5,274	4,073	4,677	2,843
State	4,376	3,248	4,376	3,257	3,874	3,582	4,592
Federal	845	1,126	845	562	470	234	1,305
Community Profile
Population	117,667	555,510	117,667	171,843	93,482	11,330	14,716
Population Density	1,578	3,591	1,578	92	260	63	142
Unemployment Rate (%)	n.a	n.a	n.a	n.a	n.a	n.a	n.a
Adults with at Least a Bachelor's Degree (%)	24.0	36.0	24.0	44.5	29.9	12.7	13.1
Single-Parent Households with Children (%)	12.5	11.9	12.5	8.4	9.9	10.3	13.2
Analytics
Reading and Math At or Above Partial Proficiency (RaMP) (%)	75.1	67.7	75.1	89.8	88.5	79.8	68.8
RaMP Up Target (% pts.)	3.1	4.0	3.1	1.3	1.4	2.5	3.9
Students with Special Needs Index	41.2	56.6	41.2	19.3	20.6	37.7	51.4
Core Spending	6,397	9,150	6,397	8,105	6,667	7,308	6,953
Core Spending -- Adjusted for Costs of Student Needs	4,792	6,394	4,792	6,783	5,442	5,496	5,055
Core Spending -- Adjusted for Geographic Costs	5,670	7,161	5,670	6,780	5,577	6,478	6,163
Core Spending -- Adjusted for Students Needs and Geographic Costs	4,247	5,004	4,247	5,674	4,552	4,872	4,481
Return on Spending Index (RoSI)	12.0	8.1	12.0	11.3	13.6	11.7	10.4
RoSI - Adjusted for Student Needs	16.1	11.5	16.1	13.5	16.7	15.8	14.4
RoSI - Adjusted for Geographic Costs	13.5	10.3	13.5	13.5	16.3	13.2	11.7
RoSI - Adjusted for Student Needs and Geographic Costs	18.1	14.7	18.1	16.2	20.0	17.8	16.2
Performance Cost Index (PCI)®	84	124	84	89	74	86	96
PCI - Adjusted for Student Needs	62	87	62	74	60	63	69
PCI - Adjusted for Geographic Costs	74	97	74	74	61	76	85
PCI - Adjusted for Student Needs and Geographic Costs	55	68	55	62	50	56	62
Instructional Spending Allocation Index	n.a.	35.5	n.a.	63.2	31.2	n.a.	n.a.

Greeley Colorado Tribune "Sells" Citizens Short with Editorial

In my personal view this editorial on JBS Swift removes any doubt the lack of visionary leadership and responsibility of some of Greeley's government and business community. Having a positive opinion of JBS Swift is fine. But for a paper to put out a commentary without acknowledging the obvious historical problems and long term downsides to this company is irresponsible. Greeley may as well hire the Dallas Cheerleaders to serve as journalists in this community.

Truly I am sorry to come to this conclusion. I kept hearing the negatives but was trying to be understanding of the political pressures faced and the overwork local papers and their staffers face in modern times. But I simply shake my head after reading this piece and wonder how these people look in the mirror every morning and face their neighbors.

Time for a new vision in city government, (although the city manager is just doing his job to pump positive), a new strategic vision for the economic development groups, and a new news venue.

I have said I would not post a comment on the Greeley Tribune again and I will stand by that statement. This is just garbage politics. Plain and simple garbage politics.

Some of my other articles on the topic. Additional articles can be found in the archives on this page:
Is Walter Cronkite's Ghost Living in Greeley Colorado?
Greeley Tribune's Letter to Jane Paudaux
JBS Swift Sinks Greeley's Goodship Lollipop

The creepy editorial...
JBS gives Greeley economy a boost | Greeley Tribune

Several years ago, Greeley's leaders fought hard to keep the headquarters of the former Swift & Co. meatpacking company in town. The company was rumored to be considering a move to another community for its corporate headquarters, now at Promontory.

The efforts of Greeley's elected officials to keep the company headquarters in town paid off then, and they appear to have paid off again last week.

The new owners of the company, JBS USA, announced on consecutive days last week two moves that could benefit Greeley:

»The Brazilian owners of JBS are planning a $2 billion public offering, which they hope will allow the company to expand into the “case-ready” beef market.

» JBS announced that up to 30 corporate jobs are moving from Green Bay, Wis., to Greeley. The employees are executives in the former Smithfield Beef Group, which was purchased by JBS last year.

If there was any doubt about JBS USA's commitment to grow and expand, or any doubt about the company's commitment to its corporate headquarters in Greeley, those doubts seemingly were eliminated with the announcements last week.

“This is very good news,” Greeley city manager Roy Otto said, adding that it “demonstrates the emphasis JBS has for Greeley.”

Added Larry Burkhardt, president of Upstate Colorado Economic Development: “I'm encouraged to see that kind of consolidation that puts a focus on their headquarters here.”

Although the number of jobs coming from Green Bay is not huge, high-paying corporate jobs are always welcome in Greeley.

The public offering, meanwhile, is likely to make a big splash in the industry.

JBS hopes to use the money to change the way it distributes some of its beef in the next five years. It would create in-house cutting rooms to create in the industry what is known as case-ready beef. The meat would leave the plant in cuts that are ready to be placed directly on store shelves. Now, the meat leaves packing plants in bigger cuts that must be prepared for the shelf by grocery store meatcutters.

JBS has been an aggressive company and employer since it bought the former Swift & Co. plant two years ago. It added a second shift to the Greeley plant, hiring 1,100 more workers, and it has acquired other beef companies (Smithfield, for example, and another in Australia) along with feedlots to expand its dominance in the U.S. and world beef markets

Where Have All the Mom and Pop's Gone?

One of the best northern Colorado assets I have noticed, to date, is the friendly personable people of this city. They are wonderful in one on one encounters. Open, sharing, full of great ideas, and just pleasing to interact with. Each city I've lived in always has its own flavor and I enjoy the challenge of exploring Greeley. Of course, as my mind tends to do, I like to deconstruct the systems and processes that make the Greeley Rolex tick, so to speak, and that way I can better understand the city which is my new home.

Cities are fascinating organisms to me. They live, they are dynamic, they change with the times and the generations in mostly predictable ways. What really sparks my curiosity though is how organized, or not-so-organized planning, impacts the future of the organic dynamic. If you go too slow the blood supply is cut off and the organism cannot flourish and change. Hence, eventually, it begins to decay and die. Move too quickly and growing pains spring up and conflicts sprout when the population can't emotionally keep pace or comprehend the changes going on. There is a balance in everything--the challenge is finding the point of balance (as my Grandmother used to say).

So just where is Greeley's balancing point? I thought I'd start from the "Geeks" point of view and look at the economic development zones. What I found was an interesting puzzle of pieces. The first piece belongs to northern Colorado at large--the Northern Colorado Economic Development Corporation. Since I've been interested in sourcing out locally owned businesses and community assets, and worked a long time ago for an economic development agency in another state, I specifically began my quest by looking for this resource and to understand the role their leadership or leverage of wealth plays around town.

Browsing through town again yesterday I noticed a rather large piece of real estate behind Kohl's and across from Safeway just off of 35th street. (I'd love to say I got the street right but I am still working on sorting out the difference between streets, avenues, and courts in this town). A perky but quivering sign gave the last name of Kohl as the Realtor. A coinky-dink? Now, as an aside, readers should know, one of my own personally worst assets is that my brain turns endlessly analyzing systems and strategies. One of my best assets (and sometimes my worst social asset) is that my brain turns endlessly analyzing possibilities. I am truly boring at parties. Enough said. I can hear the snoring already. But back to the point, I thought what a great place this little piece of commercial heaven would be for a development based on locally owned small businesses and start-ups. A real boost for those unemployed by the downturn in the economy. Of course it is a pricey piece of commercial land too. That wouldn't be the only hurdle to overcome. I am not that naive.

In particular I have seen economic development resources devoted to incubating small businesses do a great service, over time, to nurture a thriving local community-based business sector. What a great marketing ploy for Kohl's as well. Diving in and helping to develop small Mom and Pops would certainly make me choose to shop at Kohl's every time over Home Depot (which is the closer store). Food and beverage businesses, small niche fashion shops, a woodworker or two, a tailor, and so on. Maybe a small business marketing center and education development classes for entrepreneurs nestled in between the Mom and Pops.

Now the trick, of course, is to create a mix of businesses that create the traffic within the area needed. Although being located next to the big chains there is already abundant and diverse traffic to be found. Another issue that can arise is the diminishing of other retail areas within the city. Although it already looks like Greeley has chosen to abandon some areas to the advantage of the big box stores as my posting on the Greeley Barrio suggests. So this problem may be moot politically is a majority of concerned citizens have not raised it before.

A third problem is job creation.

There are two sides to the coin that needed to be included in this discussion though. One is that a town needs both high paying jobs with health benefits and it also needs lower wage jobs for the local youth to step into and hold while attending high school and college. This keeps your next generation around long enough and interested enough to sprout roots and then stay in the community, once educated, so that the community can take advantage of new blood entering their economy as the tired blood puts their feet up for rest and recreation. This creates a flow of labor and potential for developing businesses and future tax base (lessening the need, during hard times, to bring in factory corporations which other communities frequently reject on quality of life issues). It also helps diminish the possibility of small shoddy service towns cropping up outside the city limits of Greeley with a regular flow of minimum wage labor living in town with roots and investment in the town's care. When internal property values rise too high for service labor (clerks, gardeners, daycare workers) to afford the working class move out taking, in general, precollege youth with them. The investment is to keep the youth around and interested in the future of the community. Ever drive by Aspen or Vail lately? A perfect example of the previous situation. A two class standard. Spouses also often hold these services jobs secondary to the main household bread winner to add a little income during tight times but still be conscious enough when they come home to be able to take care of other household needs.

A fourth, and divisive, issue to look at is the cry of "foul" by established businesses. Often middle-sized businesses lead this verbal charge but it is usually championed behind the scenes by the large corporate entities. In my view there are two ways to deal with competition. You can spend your energy and money always improving your business so you are the better option. Or you can play social and economic politics and squash it flat before it sprouts. In the long run playing dirty never pays off in my view. So I always recommend concentrating on the first option. It is a better use of capital resources over the long haul. My other comment is that a small business development incubator is a big positive, in the short run and the long run, to the consumers (you and I). We just don't have enough political clout to get our needs met unless it is an election year and our voices are collective.

However, after going through some of the information on the NCEDC site, I see that they have endorsed another strategy--if I am reading the five year plan correctly

"Priority #1:
Retaining Talented Workers and Jobs

Knowledge workers are our most critical competitive asset, and they are mobile.
If we don’t put them to work, we risk losing them to other regions. At the same time, our existing businesses are our best hope for new job creation, and our best ambassadors to the global marketplace. Their continued success must be a top priority.

Target: Business retention that really works.

We will strengthen our business environment so that companies can create more and better jobs for the people who live here. This means:

• Building better partnerships between government, education and business
  
  
• More sophisticated business tracking software and data gathering
  
  
• Regular visits to the headquarters of Larimer county employers
  
  
• Consistent, responsive development review and permitting processes
  
  
• Prudent incentive policies that help to create high-wage job opportunity

Target: Entrepreneurial Success

CSU and our high-tech employers spin off entrepreneurs with surprising regularity. We will work with our virtual incubator, SBDCs and other entrepreneurial support organizations to enhance entrepreneurial success rates, by:

• Creating a "growth company alliance" to identify young, growing companies and match them to appropriate resources
  
  
• Assist local efforts to bring Economic Gardening to Northern Colorado

Target: Higher Education Funding Success

CSU and our other higher education assets are a key part of Northern Colorado’s competitive infrastructure. We will advocate aggressively for a solution to the Tabor/Gallagher/Amendment 23 "perfect storm" that is placing higher education funding at risk in Colorado."

They, the Northern Colorado Economic Development Corporation, are about due for a new plan. It must already be developing. But it appears they have been targeting existing job expansion. There are some facts and pretty numbers posted that represent success so far. Without a context for comparison in the previous years or with a solid understanding of the portion of the population served (if you create 10 jobs in a population base of 100 that is pretty decent. If you create 10 jobs in a population base of 10 million--well that isn't such a plus). So I hold my opinion on the result of this strategy because I am still not familiar enough with the area.

However, if one looks at the Board of Directors who are guiding these policies, going by the information presented, it looks like they all have a strategic interest (except maybe the brewery gent) in seeing the targeting policies focused on existing businesses rather than new business development. Growth without actively attracting the competition. Where are the Mom and Pop representatives on this board?

I am told that Fort Collins has a greater wealth of economic diversity than Greeley. That is good news. I am going to have to hop on over and explore Fort Collins next. I noted also that is where a number of the directors from the economic development corporation have chosen to live.

So what happened to Greeley? It would be nice to have support in moving the middle classes into self-sustaining ownership positions. This is what developing and incubating small business sectors can help to make happen.

I'll look for that answer next.