Fort Collins Now
April 2008
Let’s take a tour through a week’s worth of news stories. See if you spot a trend.
Local unemployment rates are going up. In Larimer and Weld Counties, there are now 14,000 people out of work, an increase of 2,200 in the past year alone. Wages are stagnant for those who have jobs. More and more people are only finding work at lower salaries in positions below their skill level, a tough-to-measure phenomenon known as “underemployment.”
In Fort Collins, retail sales are down from last year. Sales of general merchandise, consumer electronics, and autos are all down. New home construction: down. Use taxes, the taxes companies pay on capital improvements, are down, signaling that businesses are nervous about reinvesting in new equipment.
That’s the reality we’re looking at. What has been the reaction? What are we hearing for solutions?
Don’t look to local government for action. This week, the Fort Collins City Council further delayed re-zoning the interchange at I-25 and Prospect Road. The re-zone would allow for new primary employment opportunities and new commercial development – new jobs for Fort Collins. Unemployment is up. More people are out of work. There’s an opportunity to create new jobs… and the City Council apparently needs some more time to talk it over. That’s not exactly courageous leadership that answers to the needs of the constituents. (Councilmembers Wade Troxell and Diggs Brown, to their credit, voted against the delay.)
But don’t worry, we’re told. One columnist wrote that Fort Collins is still the “premier place for business in Northern Colorado.” Don’t worry, we were assured, the city is doing just fine investing in business. Don’t worry, the Fort Collins development process isn’t burdensome. Don’t worry, it’s not our fault that companies are leaving town. Don’t worry.
Another columnist suggested that the solution is to buy locally. This type of neo-protectionism leads to higher consumer prices. (Quick, what do you think your next television would cost if it were built by a craft manufacturer down the street and sold at a boutique shop?) It’s one thing to try to patronize local retailers. I do. It’s another to claim that “shop locally” is somehow a solution to our economic woes. The net result is less competition and fewer dollars in the hands of lower- and middle-income families – not exactly sound advice when household budgets are tight.
Meanwhile, investment in transportation – essential to a strong economy – continues to flounder. Last week, Northern Colorado received and earful from Governor Ritter and Senator Salazar. The message: The cavalry isn’t coming. Get yourself organized as a region if you want to have a shot at state and federal transportation dollars. Of course, it was this Fort Collins City Council that pulled out of the Regional Transportation Authority in the first place, so one can only assume that the Ritter and Salazar admonitions fell on deaf ears.
Then came this week’s move by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union to file five ballot measures that would essentially shut down economic development in Colorado. Their proposal would require businesses to give annual raises to their employees to keep up with the cost of living. What company will ever relocate to Colorado if state law tells them when they have to give their employees raises? What if your company isn’t making a profit? What if you’re trying to hold the line on existing wages so you can add more staff and create new jobs? None of that matters. The unions think the state should be able to force you to give your employees a raise every year. We would have companies picking up stakes and moving out of the state, based on labor cost projections alone.
There’s one way to create jobs: Free up the entrepreneurs, primary employers and property owners to invest in their companies and develop their land. Reduce government regulation and red tape. Eliminate the endless approval delays. Make sure that our transportation infrastructure is strong and our schools demand excellence.
Don’t gloss over the problem. Please don’t continue make it worse. There are elections coming up in November and next April. Voters are paying attention.
