Last week, we discussed where Muncie's economy went sour. This week, let's think about how we might fix it.
But before we do that, we need to find a firm starting point, a reference from which we can deduce ideas to distill into a plan that will give direction to our efforts in the future.
What's our goal?
Because a city our size cannot meaningfully influence the economic climate, we are takers of economic conditions. We are therefore competing with other areas to draw businesses - and their tax revenues - here. So we must identify our region's strengths and weaknesses; once we've done that, we can play on our strengths and shore up our weaknesses.
Our strengths fall into two categories: those which we cannot control and those which we can.
To briefly illustrate the difference, consider the city of Chicago. Its natural strengths include being situated on the shore of Lake Michigan, and its artificial strengths could include low tax rates for businesses. Take a moment and consider Muncie's strengths.
Let's begin by listing those we cannot control.
First is our central location - we are within 100 miles of Cincinnati and Indianapolis; 200 miles of Detroit, Toledo and Chicago; 300 miles of Cleveland, Saint Louis, Milwaukee and Pittsburgh; and 500 miles of Buffalo, Toronto, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.
Second is the two railroads, CSX and Norfolk-Southern, running through the city and our proximity to Interstate 69.
Third, the White River, a ready source of water for the community.
Fourth, our region's farms.
There are also nongeographic conditions that are largely beyond our control, including, chiefly, our high underemployment rate.
Muncie's median household income is a mere $28,000, according to city-data.com. The unemployment rate is between 5 percent and 6 percent. This means that there are many people in Muncie who are working several jobs and still hovering near the poverty line. I'm sure they would be happy to work a single full-time job that pays even $30,000.
Another of Muncie's nongeographic strengths is Ball State University. The university represents a huge flow of intellectual capital through the city. We can use this to our advantage by working with Ball State to attract businesses here by internships and the possibility of keeping students in the city after graduation.
I won't touch on those factors we do control, largely because the region is so desperate for jobs it has created an extremely favorable climate for businesses.
So we have Ball State, poverty, our central location, the railroads and the river. How can we use these to attract business? And what sort of businesses should we focus on, anyway?
Write to Neal at necoleman@bsu.edu
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