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24 <br /> 1 <br /> 2 Remarks delivered to Board of County Commissioners from <br /> 3 Anita Badrock, former Economic Development Commission Board Chair <br /> 4 32 year resident of Orange County, NC <br /> 5 May 18, 2010 at BOCC meeting and presentation on Economic Development <br /> 6 <br /> 7 Chairman Foushee and Members of the Board of County Commissioners, <br /> 8 <br /> 9 Thank you so much for allowing us as members of the Economic Development Commission to <br /> 10 come before you this evening and put a lot of data and information in front of you explaining <br /> 11 what we believe it's going to take to have a successful long term economic development <br /> 12 program. I know you have lots of information in your packet which you will review and carefully <br /> 13 consider. This report was researched and prepared entirely by the volunteers of the Economic <br /> 14 Development Commission, without the use of any staff resources or time. This is important for <br /> 15 you t o know for two reasons—first, a group of busy volunteer citizens thought this was <br /> 16 important enough to spend hundreds of hours working on it, and the second is that I hope you <br /> 17 will find it important enough to direct your staff to continue and expand on this work. <br /> 18 <br /> 19 I wanted to speak to you because over my 30 years of residency here I've worn a lot of hats <br /> 20 that have given me more than a cursory understanding of our community. Here are some of <br /> 21 the vantage points from which I have gleaned my education about our county: ---as a mother, <br /> 22 an active volunteer in the school system, as a public health nutritionist working in the local WIC <br /> 23 program, a multi-unit small business owner, a volunteer and board member for more than a <br /> 24 dozen social service agencies, a leader in the local Chamber of Commerce, a leader of the <br /> 25 EDC, a UNC volunteer, and as a recruiter who for 10 years worked with local businesses and <br /> 26 nonprofits to find employees and also worked with local residents to find jobs closer to home. <br /> 27 Currently I work for Community Home Trust, an affordable housing home ownership program <br /> 28 that is selling more homes than probably just about anyone in the county right now, because, <br /> 29 despite the recession, homes on the local private market are still too expensive for our clients to <br /> 30 buy with the incomes they earn in our county. <br /> 31 <br /> 32 So, I feel pretty confident in making these statements: <br /> 33 <br /> 34 • Diversifying and expanding our economic development is the one big thing that Orange <br /> 35 County can do to help the all the people that I've met in the roles I've had in this community. <br /> 36 ' <br /> 37 • Investing in our own economic health is the key to improving our ability to fund our social, '� <br /> 38 environmental, and educational initiatives. � <br /> 39 <br /> 40 • Investing in our own economic security is the only way to provide a funding legacy that <br /> 41 doesn't balance the budget on the backs of our homeowners, some of whom struggle to pay <br /> 42 a tax bill that has risen at a much higher rate than their incomes for a long time. <br /> 43 <br /> 44 You've heard a lot of big numbers, long timelines, and complex statistics. Those are important <br /> 45 in making good, data driven decisions about how to invest limited resources for best effect. But <br /> 46 the most compelling information data about the need for paying attention to and investing in <br /> 47 economic development has already been presented tonight, and that was your county budget. <br /> 48 That message was loud and clear---iYs time to pay attention to and do something to secure our <br /> 49 county's long term economic health. <br /> 50 <br />