I often think about ways in which local government matters in the daily lives of citizens. This month, a major study was released showing how local conditions, and community and economic development, infrastructure, and planning in particular, may have a direct impact on the most basic quality of li … Read more

The Town of Renewville has ambitious redevelopment plans for several key—but tired and/or underdeveloped—properties along its Main Street. As we know from a prior post examining the limited situations in which a local government may discuss property acquisition in closed session, the Renewville town … Read more

I’d like to recommend a recent article in the Palm Beach Post that tells the story of the Tryon International Equestrian Center, located in Polk County, North Carolina. It is framed as a “missed opportunity” for the City of Wellington, Florida. Wellington is already a major player in the equestrian … Read more

Dueling bills have been introduced in Congress aimed at reducing the federal excise tax on brewers in an effort to support the industry. Some have called it a beer movement, others a brewing renaissance, but regardless of how it’s described craft brewing is alive, well, and continuing to grow in the … Read more

Oftentimes, small businesses and entrepreneurs seeking to start businesses require capital to do so but do not have the track record necessary to be eligible for loans from traditional sources. Additionally, they may not have the size or scale to justify their lending needs. However, the ability of … Read more

Retail development continues to be reliant on the anchor tenant, defined in the ICSC Glossary of Terms as the primary tenant and consumer draw in a mall or large shopping center that makes the overall development economically viable. Visit your nearest shopping center in Anytown, USA and these busin … Read more

Foreign business attraction is in the news this week, with North Carolina Department of Commerce Secretary Sharon Decker returning from a recruitment trip to Japan aimed at bringing an automaker or other manufacturer to build a new plant in North Carolina. As part of this effort, the state has alrea … Read more

In the 2013 State Budget Act, the State of North Carolina voted to defund North Carolina’s regional economic development partnership and to dissolve the four “rural” public partnerships, including the NC Eastern Region, Advantage West, the Southeast Regional Economic Development Partnership, and the … Read more

North Carolina recently received attention in Tom Ashbrook’s On Point segment discussing “innovation districts”. In this episode Bruce Katz, vice president at Brookings, references the Research Triangle Park’s Master Plan when describing this newly-coined approach to endogenous economic development. … Read more

In April, Rick Morse wrote on this blog about local councils, common purpose, and collaboration, and particularly the role an organized council can play in bringing common purpose to a collaboration. Quoting Mary Parker Follett, an early scholar of organizational behavior, Morse writes that “when pe … Read more