Business community must drive economic development

By Staff
July 14, 2004
The suggestion has been made that a new economic development organization should be created to serve East Mississippi. We suggest that a better option is for all of us to begin to work more constructively with the economic development organization that already exists the East Mississippi Business Development Corp.
Under the capable leadership of current chairman Wallace Strickland, EMBDC is tapping into the valuable insights and contacts of its president, Wade Jones; former chairman, Tommy Dulaney; and an array of distinguished local business leaders. EMBDC has strong support among area businesses that serve as its core membership.
Creating another layer in economic development would tend to do what too many so-called leaders in Meridian always seems to do dilute, divide and confuse.
This sort of thinking has led Meridian to where it is today left out and overlooked by new business prospects even as the city's population shrinks and higher paying new jobs go elsewhere. EMBDC is the single best entity that can change things for the better and it deserves a chance to make it so.
Meridian is blessed sometimes, some might say, cursed with two municipalities and a county government, overlapping charitable organizations, two Jimmie Rodgers organizations, a bevy of cultural organizations that compete for dollars and attention and even veterans organizations that some in city government try to pit against each other. It's foolish to compete with each other, the polar opposite of the unity that is sorely needed if Meridian is to grow and prosper.
The strategy of dilute and divide may serve the personal political ambitions and turf-building adventures of some, but it is not productive to community development over the long haul. In economic development, there must be a consistent, single point of contact under a unified approach built on a strong foundation that does not shift with the prevailing political winds. In short, while government and think-tanks have valuable roles to play, the business community must drive economic development.
Meridian and East Mississippi can best benefit by finding unity in the cause of economic development, not by creating a new organization that divides the effort and dilutes the message.