Minutes 05-18-2010 - Laserfiche WebLink

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� mother, an active volunteer in the school system, as a public health nutritionist working in the local WIC program, a multi-unit small business owner, a volunteer and board member for more than a dozen social service agencies, a leader in the local Chamber of Commerce, a leader of the EDC, a UNC volunteer, and as a recruiter who for 10 years worked with local businesses and nonprofits to find employees and also worked with local residents to find jobs closer to home. Currently I work for Community Home Trust, an affordable housing home ownership program that is selling more homes than probably just about anyone in the county right now, because, despite the recession, homes on the local private market are still too expensive for our clients to buy with the incomes they earn in our county. So, I feel pretty confident in making these statements: • Diversifying and expanding our economic development is the one big thing that Orange County can do to help the all the people that I've met in the roles I've had in this community. • Investing in our own economic health is the key to improving our ability to fund our social, environmental, and educational initiatives. • Investing in our own economic security is the only way to provide a funding legacy that doesn't balance the budget on the backs of our homeowners, some of whom struggle to pay a tax bill that has risen at a much higher rate than their incomes for a long time. You've heard a lot of big numbers, long timelines, and complex statistics. Those are important in making good, data driven decisions about how to invest limited resources for best effect. But the most compelling information data about the need for paying attention to and investing in economic development has already been presented tonight, and that was your county budget. That message was loud and clear---it's time to pay attention to and do something to secure our county's long term economic health. It's clear that now is the time for our county to re-invest some of its resources in itself--- to improve its own long term economic well being. We are asking you, as the stewards of our county, • To fund improvements in the infrastructure of our existing raw assets —the Economic Development Districts -- to improve their desirability in the marketplace; • To provide resources to retain existing businesses and recruit complementary ones, and • To fund research that will allow us to make strategic, targeted decisions. These are things that businesses do every day to ensure their long term economic vitality and survival, and implementing these same strategies will achieve the same goals for our county. I'd like to close by telling you a personal story that I think illustrates in a very simple way what I am talking about. I recently sold a home I owned. I first listed it "as is" for what had been the appraised value only a year earlier. Much to my surprise and amazement, nobody bought it. My realtor said, "Honey the market is telling you something. This house isn't as valuable to possible buyers as you think it is. Now do you want to sell it or not? "