“PROSPERITY!”
An analysis of
the Humboldt County
Economic
Development Plan
Liz Miller
Liam McAuliffe
Stephen Weller
Strengths:
The strategy for increasing the economic vitality of Humboldt County; as outlined in the “Prosperity Plan”, has great potential as a successful guide to sustainable growth and development.
According to Jacqueline Debets the greatest strengths of “Prosperity” are the values that have directed the development. The values of the “Prosperity” are community vitality, increased standard of living and industrial ecology as a foundation for sustainable economic growth.
A commitment to enriching the community can be seen in the plans for setting education as a high priority for each industry cluster. Education can improve the workers skills as well as empower and enrich the entire community.
The values of “Prosperity” can also be seen in what the economic plan doesn’t do. Developing industries that rely on large and often non-local corporations can result in unstable economic growth and high leakage of wealth (like Shasta county has done through their economic development; which recruits industries into the area such as industrial machine manufacturing).
The “Prosperity Plan” has focused heavily on supporting the pre-existing industries to maintain or increase productivity in the face of challenges such as increased environmental regulations, and increased competition. “Prosperity” has created incentives and has helped industries negotiate and adjust to increased environmental regulations; which has promoted the production of environmentally conscious products. Such progress would not have been as feasible if Humboldt County had opened its doors to large corporate investments. The plan has also provided means for industries
The stimulation of small business’s and the diversification of base industries under the economic development plan will strengthen the economy foster long term development rather than boom-bust cycles of industry growth; which can lead to economic and social instability.
Opportunities:
The strengths of the economic development plan for Humboldt County will give rise to many opportunities for the region. Most of these opportunities lie in enriching the quality of life for the people of Humboldt.
The educational industry of Humboldt has been heavily intertwined with the other base industries of the area. Through incorporating education into the industry clusters the skill level of workers will be profoundly effected. The level of sophistication in workers is key to an industry being able to hold a competitive advantage. Advanced worker skills lead to advancement in production processes, increased utilization of technology, management, and productivity.
Many opportunities for decreasing dependency on imports; which sends money out of the area, can arise from diversification and the creation of small businesses. Support from the prosperity network will allow for an increase in local products, as well as an increase in the quality of products produced. Through retaining the money generated by local business and industry in Humboldt the quality of living and the culture of Humboldt County will increase. Several more opportunities exist in the traditional industries of dairy and lumber. For the lumber industry the prosperity plan has provided opportunities to become a sustainable industry. The dairy industry, which has been coming against several challenges, is now able to explore several prospects for prosperity. Increasing productivity and minimizing waste through manure digestion plants would allow the industry to maintain their previously threatened competitive vitality.
One of the major weaknesses of the area affecting economic prosperity is the very limited transportation avenues available to industries, coupled with the sprawling nature of the area. The two major highways and limited air service do not leave enough options for import/export transport to make the economy feasible. This weakness may also be seen as a threat if you consider how simple it is for the area to have its transportation further weakened by the closure of one of the transportation avenues such as fog closing the local airport or intense weather causing snow and landslide closures. Such closures would be detrimental to local industry clusters, though not necessarily for a long enough period of time to collapse the industry.
Another weakness in the Prosperity Plan is that it cannot account for the immense volume of capital that is generated in the area due to the illegal cultivation of marijuana. Many businesses have used this capital as starting capital to create a money laundering business, one that promotes economic activity and job creation. The fact that it is not accounted for, given its size, vastly undermines the accuracy of the plan and makes the area’s economy potentially fragile. This weakness becomes a major threat to the prosperity of the area in the event that marijuana is legalized, as this would increase the supply, thereby driving down the equilibrium cost and yielding a lower price to buy. This would take a very large portion of income out of the community, possibly causing the collapse of one or more industry cluster groups.
Threats:
A major threat to prosperity can also be perceived to be the one of the plan’s strongest points. This threat arises from the fundamental manner in which the reality of economic growth and development, and interpretation and regulation of the values guiding this growth, relies heavily on the private sector of a diverse community. Humboldt is dynamic in that it is a rural community that is home to two relatively polarized cultural groups. One culture being that of the traditional residents and their subsequent generations of offspring that came to the area in the 1950’s to produce lumber for the post war housing boom. The other group being that of the progressive culture of people who gravitated to the area in the 1960’s and who presently come to the area for college.
For a population to develop sustainably it is necessary to share a relatively common past, and a common view of what the future should look like. The inability of the traditional lumber based community, who’s economic base is fading, to reconcile with the progressives, who’s means and ends to achieve their ideals can be perceived as naïve of fascist, can threaten private sector cooperation and regulation, tenets upon which Prosperity is based.
Perhaps one of the greatest threats facing prosperity, judging by the force and frustration by which it was addressed at a recent prosperity meeting, is the inconsistency and arbitrary nature of government inspections and regulations. Because of the revolving door of government personnel, regulations are constantly being changed, apparently without adequate effort to cohesively link new interpretations and policies with that of the preceding administrations. Consequently business plans are held in limbo. Because time equals money in many cases, businesses have no other choice but to cheat.