Pace Study Calls For Big Changes Consultants Say City’s Economic Future Depends On Taking Bold Steps Now

Approaching a crossroads in its economic future, Spokane needs to elect leaders with vision, develop a world-class technology park and revitalize downtown, a consulting group said Tuesday.

Those and other changes would help lure high-paying jobs and stimulate the economy without sacrificing Spokane’s small-town lifestyle, the Tupelo, Miss.-based Pace Group said in its long-awaited study of Spokane’s economy.

The consultants, who were paid $59,500 for four months work and a two-inch thick list of recommendations, warned that Spokane has too much poverty and too few visionaries in public office who are concerned about business.

The Pace report, which was funded by Momentum ‘95, a private economic development group, and the state Department of Employment Security, is one of the most critical examinations of Spokane’s economy in years.

It finds that 16,000 to 32,000 Spokane workers are underemployed; wages are below par, but poverty is high; downtown is deteriorating; Washington taxes are too high; there’s a shortage of business parks; government permitting processes are onerous to businesses; and The Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute is faltering.

But it also finds that Spokane has the ability to successfully shift from a resource-based economy to one dependent on growth industries of the future.

Such industries include genetic mapping, super materials manufacturing, biomedical miniaturization, hybrid-fuel vehicle development, and education and entertainment software, the report said.

Pace delivered a list of 500 targeted companies to the Spokane Area Economic Development Council that the business recruitment agency should call on. Officials declined to release the list.

Steve Jenkins, senior vice president of the Pace Group, said Spokane is entering a stage similar to when business and civic leaders launched Expo ‘74 and, more recently, Momentum to push the economy to a higher level.

If the community fails to make changes and embrace a common goal for Spokane’s economy, it will miss the chance to recruit emerging capital-intensive companies that will pay top wages without overrunning streets and open land with people, Pace officials said.

“If you let up, if you back off, you’ll wake up someday and wonder, ‘What happened!”’ Jenkins said.

After being briefed on the report, EDC President Bob Cooper immediately called a meeting of his executive committee to develop a plan of action.

“This is a call to action,” Cooper said. “The competition for jobs and the national economy are changing so fast that if you wait for the wave of the future to hit the beach, it’s going to be too late.”

The Pace Group recommends doubling the EDC’s $150,000 budget for marketing equipment and materials, and focusing on selected growth industries of the future.

Among other things, the business community must promote business-oriented leaders for public office, push tax reform, assist telecommunications companies to keep Spokane properly connected, restore downtown, quickly develop a technology park and coordinate education and training among local universities and colleges.

While business leaders agree that the goals are admirable, there is uncertainty whether the public is ready for such change.

Voters last month killed plans for a science center at Riverfront Park. Others have been opposed to a proposed $80 million downtown redevelopment plan because it would be partially funded by taxpayers.

“We have tremendous opportunities; we also have severe problems,” said Larry Brown, owner of the Onion restaurants, who attended Jenkins’ briefing.

“So many people have this idea that they’re getting ripped off” by big business, said Brown, who employs 200 people. “Our future depends on a healthy economy. We can solve these problems if we work together.”

, DataTimes