Re: pizzaville

[Ken Medlin <dev-plan@moscow.com>]

>needed to create high paying manufacturing jobs for a captive and 
>highly educated labor force.
Thanks for the figures -- would like to know what econ model you applied, 
and also any info on the flow of investment capital in-and-out of the 
area. As banking services become increasingly linked to distant financial 
centers, the availability of development $ in rural-to-semi-rural areas 
like ID becomes more difficult and costly. As for the quality of our 
regional human resources, their skills are mostly not in those sectors 
that attract hi-tech firms, tho' they are trainable. I recently saw what 
larger firms, like INTEL (while not a good model for us), do to an area: 
Rapid expansion of low-paying ($6 - 10 per hour) jobs, which require the 
second homemaker and teen kids to go to work at food and other retailers 
at even less pay. Overall the effects are negative for quality of life, 
school budgets, and upward mobility, creating the need for cheaper, 
sprawl-like housing and recreational outlets. Such companies say, "we'll 
train the workforce" but the programs do not lead to alternatives other 
than those the managers want, at the lowest possible cost. To attract 
high-quality firms, with good wages, into this area a  fundamental 
reorientation of secondary and post-secondary education is essential -- 
maybe past us by this point -- , as educational changes need 5-10 years 
to take effect before results in socio-economic capacities are visible. 
Meantime, employers have to import personnel at probably higher cost than 
locally trained persons would be. One has to ask at this point, What is 
the quality of the leadership that makes the decisions about these policy 
directions? "Who's in charge?"

------------------------
William K. Medlin
Dev-plan associates
930 Kenneth Street
Moscow ID 83843
208/892-0148
dev-plan@moscow.com