Team Santa Rosa is now history.....it is time for a true regional approach to economic development

The balkanization of the Panhandle economic development must come to an end. It is time for a regional approach which seeks to attract major employers in the two county area. Nobody minds driving an extra 10 miles to a good job, and the two counties should cooperate and work together. However, the most important thing is that Florida has been missing in action....Florida needs to realize that the port and a regional approach to development is a good thing.

2seaoat wrote:The balkanization of the Panhandle economic development must come to an end. It is time for a regional approach which seeks to attract major employers in the two county area. Nobody minds driving an extra 10 miles to a good job, and the two counties should cooperate and work together. However, the most important thing is that Florida has been missing in action....Florida needs to realize that the port and a regional approach to development is a good thing.

Team Santa Rosa appears to have been a corrupt organization.

small local economic development boards by their very definition are systematically corrupt. Economic development must be regional. It must be cooperative. When you have someone giving money to a taco bell to build on a friend of the board's lot, and then asking for money because it will create jobs.......nothing but problems. The state must take the lead, but the state of Florida has been missing in action. The State of Alabama understood that parochial local interests fighting among themselves for tidbits of economic development is a formula for disaster. The state of Alabama took the lead, and folks in Alabama are making things again. The new leader of the chamber has it right on focus on regional........but the state is still MIA.

2seaoat wrote:small local economic development boards by their very definition are systematically corrupt. Economic development must be regional. It must be cooperative. When you have someone giving money to a taco bell to build on a friend of the board's lot, and then asking for money because it will create jobs.......nothing but problems. The state must take the lead, but the state of Florida has been missing in action. The State of Alabama understood that parochial local interests fighting among themselves for tidbits of economic development is a formula for disaster. The state of Alabama took the lead, and folks in Alabama are making things again. The new leader of the chamber has it right on focus on regional........but the state is still MIA.

They operated on the coat-tails of several corrupt county commissioners....all but two of the commissioners have been replaced..

I was never a fan, but I think regional economic development needs to be led by the State.....and they continue to be MIA.

2seaoat wrote:small local economic development boards by their very definition are systematically corrupt. Economic development must be regional. It must be cooperative. When you have someone giving money to a taco bell to build on a friend of the board's lot, and then asking for money because it will create jobs.......nothing but problems. The state must take the lead, but the state of Florida has been missing in action. The State of Alabama understood that parochial local interests fighting among themselves for tidbits of economic development is a formula for disaster. The state of Alabama took the lead, and folks in Alabama are making things again. The new leader of the chamber has it right on focus on regional........but the state is still MIA.

You are right, but from the perspective of the rest of the state, we are far from equal. We don't even get $1 back for every $1 sent to Tallahassee. It shows in the funding of our local school districts as well. The only time NW Florida had any pull in things was during the era of the "He-Coon" (Bob Sikes) and "The Banty Rooster" (WD Childers). One year we were left off the entire map of Florida in regards to tourism. I say "to heck with the state" and the best we can do is our own region, but even then there are some serious issues between the Quad Headed Monster of Escambia-Santa Rosa- Okaloosa- and Walton.

2seaoat wrote:The balkanization of the Panhandle economic development must come to an end. It is time for a regional approach which seeks to attract major employers in the two county area. Nobody minds driving an extra 10 miles to a good job, and the two counties should cooperate and work together. However, the most important thing is that Florida has been missing in action....Florida needs to realize that the port and a regional approach to development is a good thing.

Maybe Santa Rosa should do a land swap with the Navy for Spencer Field and let them have some land in the BWSF?

2seaoat wrote:I was never a fan, but I think regional economic development needs to be led by the State.....and they continue to be MIA.

The STATE doesn't CARE about the Panhandle. Hell, they left us off the map of Florida about six years ago.

2seaoat wrote:The balkanization of the Panhandle economic development must come to an end.  It is time for a regional approach which seeks to attract major employers in the two county area.  Nobody minds driving an extra 10 miles to a good job, and the two counties should cooperate and work together.  However, the most important thing is that Florida has been missing in action....Florida needs to realize that the port and a regional approach to development is a good thing.

Regional or not, we are outvoted and outweighed in the state legislature when it comes to economic development dollars.

2seaoat wrote:small local economic development boards by their very definition are systematically corrupt.   Economic development must be regional.   It must be cooperative.   When you have someone giving money to a taco bell to build on a friend of the board's lot, and then asking for money because it will create jobs.......nothing but problems.   The state must take the lead, but the state of Florida has been missing in action.   The State of Alabama understood that parochial local interests fighting among themselves for tidbits of economic development is a formula for disaster.  The state of Alabama took the lead, and folks in Alabama are making things again.   The new leader of the chamber has it right on focus on regional........but the state is still MIA.

Key words you overlook in your statement:
"state"

Alabama legislators don't screw counties in the least populated areas like the Florida legislature screws the Panhandle versus down South. Therefore, comparint "STATE" to "regional" is an apples and oranges comparison.

A good example of this would be FTE funds given to the South Florida contingent versus what is returned to the local area for our own schools. We should get back dollar for dollar what we pay into the system in taxes, but we don't. About 15% of our tax revenues we pay in, heads down south for those counties.