Greensboro "leaders" have spent a lot of time and money in the last couple of years taking trips and talking about the successes of the cities they wish Greensboro was more like. Among those cities are Durham, North Carolina, the city ranked as the 26th best economy in the United States.
Also among them are Greenville and Columbia, South Carolina ranked 38th and 39th respectively. Raleigh, North Carolina came in at 58th and Charlotte, the city Greensboro has envied forever at 67th.
My question: why are Greensboro leaders setting their sights so low? Why not emulate Austin, Texas at #1 or Provo, Utah at #2 instead of setting their sights at #26 and lower on the list?
I mean seriously folks, New Orleans is at #13 and they were all but wiped out by a flood just a few years ago. If that's not proof that Greensboro's leaders don't care about economic development then I don't know what is. Okay, maybe Greensboro's leaders really do care and they're just too dumb to figure it out? You tell me?
One thing is for certain: What they are currently doing isn't working and all the PR BS and GPACs in the world won't fix it. Performing arts centers don't bring jobs-- jobs bring performing arts centers. Our "leaders will be quick to cite Austin to counter me but Austin was already a thriving center of capital and the capitol of the State of Texas before Austin City Limits and the rest of the Austin music scene developed. Besides, developer driven economics are threatening the very thing Austin is famous for. If the developers get their way Austin will soon be next to Greensboro on the bottom of the list.
By the way, as long as Greensboro leaders continue to emulate Raleigh and Durham they might want to note that both cities were among the top 10 for small businesses. Where did Greensboro come in? Click on the question to find out.
