Reports by John Fleming, director of Economic Development, Yuba County reporting
from the California Association for Local Economic Development Conference in Anaheim

Opening Day Highlights
Brian McGowan, State Deputy Secretary for Business, Housing and Transportation
Agency overseeing Economic Development and Commerce, reported his capitol
perspective and progress after 3 ½ months on the job at the California Association
for Local Economic Development's annual conference .

Mr. McGowan shared a 13-point draft plan to assist economic development issues
in California from a State perspective. Examples of these include:

• Creating a California marketing brand to assist in advertising opportunities
• Partnering and providing leadership to local economic development professionals,
• Encouraging broadband coverage to stimulate education, communication, and technological
  advancements
• Creating innovate and creative public-private partnerships for infrastructure development
• Focusing on foreign investment for both import and export purposes
• Mitigating where possible the current mortgage crisis
• Implementing a goods movement and transportation plan
• Evaluate all activities that impede or support economic development activities. 

The stated priority for the plan, which has not yet been formally approved or adopted, is
to provide support to small business, including access to capital, labor, and other issues that
will assist in expansion and success.

The California Association of Economic Development (CALED) annual conference featured two
international speakers at its opening keynote luncheon event in Anaheim on Wednesday.
Mark O’Connell, CEO of OCO Global is from Ireland and spoke about Foreign Direct Investment
(FDI), or the amount of money other countries invest in a particular area or region.
 
California has attracted an average of 80 FDI projects annually over the last five years, and O’Connell
projects 100 new projects in 2008 with an associated 20,000 jobs created. The top three sources of
investment into the Golden State during that timeframe were the UK, France, and Japan with the
leading capital destinations being Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego, and Palo Alto.
O’Connell’s message, however centered on California being reactive rather than proactive when it comes
to attracting foreign investment and believes that a strong, consistent marketing message that is heard
internationally will result in greater dividends for the state. One myth that persists internationally is that
California is too expensive for new business ventures, but is in reality less expensive from a housing and
labor perspective than London, Frankfurt, Dublin, or Paris.
 
David Singe, Director and CEO of the Wheatland Development Commission, offered some contrasts from
his native western Australia territory to California. Australia, Singe says, has had a budget surplus over
the last decade, currently at $2 billion. Unemployment in Australia is at 2%, creating a significant labor
demand. And Perth, he states unabashedly, has the weather California thinks it has.
 
Weather aside, Singe offered CALED members several Guiding Principles including “Economic development
solutions must focus on solutions, not impacts.”
 
Thursday’s CALED conference program includes a California awards luncheon celebrating the economic
development projects and achievements of California communities. Keynote speakers include Lieutenant
Governor John Garamendi, and California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency Secretary Dale
Bonner. And apparently Tracie Stafford, Ms. California, USA has agreed to be a guest awards presenter.
 
With a collective and growing consensus that California’s economic development professionals have not
collaborated with a single, strong, effective marketing brand and voice to a targeted international business
community, what is the solution? New Deputy Secretary for Economic Development and Commerce,
Brian McGowan, signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the conference with marketing group
TeamCalifornia to be the non-profit organization that the State partners with to develop this message.
Is there a State budget associated with this mandate and focused collaborative effort?
 
No.
 
But at least the legal justifications have been satisfied to begin the dialogue of supporting a concerted
effort from the Governor’s office to the local economic development level.

This has been John Fleming reporting  from the CALED Conference for The California Business Minute.