Governments Role in Economic Development

[producer2]

What is your take?

[MTSUBlueraider86]

As a Democratic Socialist I am for it absolutely. One cannot wait for the private sector to always do the right thing. All we have to point to are the New Orleans Levies, The BP Oil Spill, The West Va. Mine Disaster, The Bank Failures, etc... to see that the private sector does not always do the right thing and unregulated Capitalism does more harm than good. Without government safty and health standards American industry would be out of control endangering many live so yes, government has a major role in economic development.

BR86

[producer2]

Ca we make it more about the local scene, i.e., the fairgrounds, Maytown, thermal site, Buchanan Point, MCC, etc. ? Do you think government has a place in the development of projects like this or should we wait for private entities to do this work?

[Shuzilla]

All we have to point to are the New Orleans Levies, The BP Oil Spill, The West Va. Mine Disaster, The Bank Failures, etc... to see that the private sector does not always do the right thing and unregulated Capitalism does more harm than good. BR86

Problem is that in each of the crises you listed there were federal, state and even local government roles in regulating commerce that were abdicated. Bureaucrats don't loose everything if they fail to regulate their charges. Lately, capitalists don't lose everything when they fail if deemed too big to fail, which is a fault of government, not of capitalism. So if a company is blatantly bailed out of it's own failures how then is a citizen to trust the government to inflict harm on that company by enforcing punitive regulations, already on the books, outside of the public's glare? You can't. The new trinity is government+banks+corporations, three acting as one.

[Shuzilla]

Can we make it more about the local scene, i.e., the fairgrounds, Maytown, thermal site, Buchanan Point, MCC, etc. ? Do you think government has a place in the development of projects like this or should we wait for private entities to do this work?

If what you mean by involved is the investment of public money in private developments, then its primary role should be investing in infrastructure expansion that front-runs future development in order to 1) accommodate that expansion and 2) guide growth into areas where growth is desired. Unfortunately, modern city governments seem to rely on new development to generate revenue that is needed to fix crumbling infrastructure in areas already developed.

I remeber the first time I visited Lexington, Kentucky, about 20 years ago. I got off I-64 NE of downtown and onto Man-O-War Boulevard, which at the time was several miles of divided highway lined with street lights and absolutely nothing else but farm land on each side. As of the time I left five years ago there were thousands of houses on the east side of Man-O-War and a huge retail development (Hamburg) on the other side. That's real planning.

If it was Nashville they'd still be fighting over building on farmland and demanding instead that Hamburg Place be stuffed into the confines of the defunct Turfland Mall site, which is being redeveloped regardless. And, were Lexington Nashville, the folks who would have had homes built on that Lexington farmland would be residing on Woodford or Jessamine County ex-farmland instead, with the accompanying retail, hotel and office development having followed them.

[MTSUBlueraider86]

Good points Shuzilla. This Trinity you speak of with Government, Banks and Corporations should have worked in the Sounds/Struever Brothers fiasco that never happened. That was a perfect example of what not to do. All the entities got in each others way which spells disaster. All three did not have their roles defined and that is a problem.

A fourth entity is community activism.

BR86

[producer2]

posted by Shuzilla

"Unfortunately, modern city governments seem to rely on new development to generate revenue that is needed to fix crumbling infrastructure in areas already developed."

And therin lies the rub. The never ending vortex of poor management of funds by the government coupled with a populace that is ever demanding tax decreases but more spending on capital projects creates the very scenario you are describing. So what is the solution to this problem?

[mallguy]

All we have to point to are the New Orleans Levies, The BP Oil Spill, The West Va. Mine Disaster, The Bank Failures, etc...

All of the above show government's failure to fix problems- government didn't adequately protect people from natural disasters, oil spills, bank failures, and industrial accidents, so don't count on politicians to save you, either.

[theplanetsaved]

Ca we make it more about the local scene, i.e., the fairgrounds, Maytown, thermal site, Buchanan Point, MCC, etc. ? Do you think government has a place in the development of projects like this or should we wait for private entities to do this work?

Our local government should provide direction, leadership, and assistance with private developers. THat is not happening in nashville. example the plan for nashville growth the 2010 plan was a plan till 2010. there has not been a new plan for nashville's future growth even started that looks at the big picture of nashville's future. Our leadership knows that our development plan has not been handled well in the past(surrounding counties have been getting most of the development) and our future development is not so good. No political leader wants to talk about it because the answer requires changes from past development patterns. This is not a good political issue and will not help our mayor get re-elected. So our leadership ignores the difficult questions that need to be addressed.

We do sub area plans of the different sections of nashville and all the neighbors get together and basically do not want any change. when the subarea plans are done no one is saying we need to allow for growth of say add thousands of additional residence in their area. The plans get completed that have basically residential areas and commercial areas.(old development patterns). No solutions about mix use development, higher density development, ideas about mass transit, or smart growth. Everyone says oh infill is the solution. which is ignoring the issue because infill is downtown and midtown and nashville future 100,000's of future residence are not all moving downtown.The word infill is not a design solution for the whole county. our government leaders are ignoring the difficult questions and issues.

Our leaders fix is get the government to become the developer. none of this makes any sense to me. Politicians make poor developers with taxpayers money. I find what nashville has been doing in planning our future growth in the past 10 years very disturbing and nashville needs to make changes.