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atlrvr

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kermit Megalopolis

kermit

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Question: would anyone care to explain the apparent disparity between Forbes and the Numbers' monthly economic index rankings ?

 

Forbes: Charlotte #9 on Top Cities for Jobs (sounds good).

 

Numbers: Charlotte tumbles nine places, to #62 out of 102 cities (sounds ghastly).

 

Economic development is an organic process that humans have not learned how to measure effectively (let alone predict). Because of this the hundreds (thousands?) of organization which write about economic development all use a different set of metrics. We could see this very clearly at the last state election where the republicans focused on the state's lack of competitiveness with its neighbors while site selection magazine (and Forbes and several others) simultainously trumpeted NC's top ranked business environment.

 

You would think that job growth would be the end-all, be-all measure of economic development. However that measure ignores any job losses that may be occuring and the measure alos ignores the wage levels of the jobs created. Net job change measures are better, but job losses are _very_ difficult to measure in real time (and again, wages of the net new jobs are ignored). Unemployment is another measure frequently used however that is a blunt tool that blurs distinctions between worker skill-levels (e.g. the current unemployment rate for college grads is less than half the rate for others)

 

Given the fundamental flaws of traditional measures of 'economic vitality' I have come to believe that the most effective indicator of future growth is actually the 'buzz' which surrounds a place. A strong 'boom-town narrative' can (and does) outweigh a crappy local economy -- we saw this situation very clearly in Charlotte during the great recession where populaiton increased while unemployment also increased (neoclassical economists would say that would be impossible).

 

Long story short, don't believe anything you read about economic development (including this).

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Miesian Corners City

Miesian Corners

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1600 jobs is nice... But after seeing Miesian Corners post about a new uptown development and jobs announcement, it's a bit of a letdown. MC - I think someone was pulling your leg :)

Yeah, I placed an irritated phone call to a specific person in particular.  She swears it's coming, though.  Just not today.  Hmmmm. 

Charlotte "The Call Center Capital"

Charlotte: The Mumbai of North America.

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kermit Megalopolis

kermit

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not really good news but.....

 

Ronnie Bryant and Bob Morgan said today that the feud between the city and state is already threatening economic development in town. Nobody likes uncertainty.

 

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/02/21/3868909/economic-developers-citystate.html

 

CBJ story: http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/outside_the_loop/2013/02/red-blue-divide-may-soon-hurt.html?ana=e_du_pub&s=article_du&ed=2013-02-21&u=jDmEk+CKbYnAvaVfOFOlFGXcGSC

 

Bryant said a delegation from Vermont — in town to talk about an
economic-development project — quizzed him about the red-blue split.


“What’s going on with your mayor and governor?” one of the visitors asked
Bryant.

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HopHead City

HopHead

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Charlotte has listed as a "hot spot" for IT jobs in 2013. As an IT professional, I will admit that Charlotte doesn't normally come to mind when I think of IT job markets. Most of the usual suspects like the Bay Area, Boston, Raleigh, etc do though. Surprisingly, Austin and Seattle are not on here: http://www.bizjournals.com/prnewswire/press_releases/2013/01/22/CG44635

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HopHead City

HopHead

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^ Is it for Rack Room?  Does anyone have any incite on this one?

 

Cue Ricky Davis... He always seems to be one step ahead of everyone on here lately. Highly doubt Rack Room announcement would be it though. Especially since it was published late last week.

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Guest

Guest

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Lol, no clue here, been working too much lately to talk to any of my guys down in the QC. I got plenty of insider knowlege for Brooklyn right now though ;-)

Edit: I'm doubtful it's rack room or met life. Something bigger seems to be cooking up, IMHO.

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Urbanity Burg

Urbanity

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I'd be surprised if it was a huge announcement only because the coverage seems so muted.  E.g. "some type of economic development announcement".

 

Seems city leaders and the Chamber of Commerce never held back the fluff words:  major; important; stupendous; momentousness; innovative; etc, on past announcements - many of which were far from worthy of those adjectives (I think of the CPCC training agreement with German businesses one in particular)

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ah59396 Town

ah59396

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^ Maybe that's a good sign.  Usually a "huge economic announcement" from the Chamber is an Applebee's opening in Uptown.

 

McCrory may be keeping things real hush hush since he's made some enemies in Charlotte of recent and wants to ride in on a white horse this morning with a big announcement. 

 

At least, that's my hope.

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atlrvr Metropolitan Area

atlrvr

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Bigger than MetlLife?  Metlife at 900 jobs would be the biggest non-call center jobs announcement in over 15 years.

 

My guess is that's exactly what it is, though I'm intruiged my MC's contact claiming there is an Uptown announcement on the horizon.

 

Also, the fact that it is at the Chamber's office building usually is a good sign that whatever company it is doesn't yet have a major Charlotte presence (Bissell may even push MetLife to announce down in B-Tyne, so who knows)

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Guest

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Sorry I don't necessarily mean bigger than MetLife. I Just think MetLife is old news at this point, and there wouldn't be an announcement, and if there was it'd be at Ballantyne. I just feel like something big is in the works that will come to light sometime soon hopefully. 

Bigger than MetlLife?  Metlife at 900 jobs would be the biggest non-call center jobs announcement in over 15 years.

 

My guess is that's exactly what it is, though I'm intruiged my MC's contact claiming there is an Uptown announcement on the horizon.

 

Also, the fact that it is at the Chamber's office building usually is a good sign that whatever company it is doesn't yet have a major Charlotte presence (Bissell may even push MetLife to announce down in B-Tyne, so who knows)



I can see it now: 

McCrory Annouces, "Big Economic Development announcement, We are stealing your airport, haha"

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atlrvr Metropolitan Area

atlrvr

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Great for Charlotte (sad for Lynchburg, VA)....now both B&W and Areva have relocated HQ to Charlotte from there.

 

We are really developing a critical mass though.  The engineering concentration was nice, but now having HQ type positions as well cultivates the type of talent that other Energy firms will be attracted too for HQ ops (specifically regulatory, financial, etc).

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kermit Megalopolis

kermit

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Rob Hinton with CBRE is representing AREVA in its real estate transaction, which is yet to be completed.

 

Anyone care to speculate on where they might be looking? BW choose Ballantyne, I believe that they already have offices in U City. I suspect that airport proximity might be a factor (and perhaps proximity to Duke Energy)

 

130 new jobs is certainly not not enough new jobs to serve as the anchor for the Crescent project.

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