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Economic Gardening – Is It Right for Your Community?
Economic development strategies for local government have gone through a number of cycles and trends in the United States since Congress in the 1930s first authorized tax-exempt bonds, legislation enacted primarily to assist southern states to attract industry. In the late 1940s, federal legislation authorized urban renewal financing as the post-World War II suburban boom created rising concerns of disinvestment and decline in the inner cities.
Early projects were focused on the elimination of blighted areas and the creation of neighborhood reinvestment through such programs as Model Cities. The decades of the 1970s and 1980s brought forward even more ambitious (and expensive!) projects centered around sports stadiums, upscale retail and festival centers, and large tax-incentive packages for corporate relocations.
Inevitably, some of these projects failed, creating resentment by local taxpayers. Nevertheless, the deal-making mentality in economic development still has tremendous appeal. It’s a rare public official who does not relish the headlines and ribbon-cutting photos when a deal is consummated.
In the shadow of the deal making, however, one quiet strategy emerged in the 1990s. It is known as "economic gardening," http://www.littletongov.org/bia/economicgardening/ which many have credited Littleton, Colorado, for creating.
by Jim Woods and Christian Gibbons
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Seven Steps to Developing an Economic Gardening Implementation Strategy
Economic gardening is an entrepreneurial approach to economic development that seeks to grow the local economy from within. Here are the seven steps to developing an implementation strategy for your economic gardening program to succeed.
Full Story: http://icma.org/en/Article/100633/Seven_Steps_to_Developing_an_Economic_Gardening_Implementation_Strategy
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