"Part of the agenda is to stimulate discussion and to educate the general public about the overall performance of Greensboro."
No where else in his 22 page report does Dr Debbage tell you what the rest of his agenda or the agenda of the Greensboro Partnership-- the City funded non profit that paid Dr Debbage for the report-- might really be. The doctor continues:
"GREENSBORO CONTINUES TO EXPERIENCE A MANUFACTURING RENAISSANCE THAT INCLUDES HIGH-PAYING JOBS
· Greensboro experienced a substantive increase in the percentage of its workforce employed in manufacturing growing from 11.8% in 2011 to 13.1% in 2012. Furthermore, manufacturing wage rates ($56,663) were higher than for any other industry except financial services. A recent report prepared by Michael Walden at North Carolina State University identified advanced manufacturing as a significant employment opportunity statewide for the next several years.
THE FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY APPEARS TO BE RECOVERING
· After some lean years, the financial services industry appears to be re-emerging from the prolonged slump triggered by the Great Recession. Other than manufacturing, the financial services experienced the largest relative increase in percent jobs growing from 6.7% of all jobs in 2011 to 8.0% in 2012. It also generated the highest average wage rate of any major industry in the local economy (i.e., $58,949) and the largest relative wage gains (i.e., 6.0%).
EDUCATION AND HEALTH SERVICES CONTINUE TO EXPAND AND ACCOUNT FOR MORE THAN ONE-QUARTER OF ALL JOBS IN GREENSBORO BUT AVERAGE WAGES CONTINUE TO STAGNATE
· Education and health services continue to be major industries in the local economy accounting for over one-quarter of all jobs in Greensboro. The overall market share of education and health services has experienced a five year growth trajectory increasing from 21.2% of all jobs in 2008 to 26.1% in 2012. The downside of this growth is that average wage rates have been stagnant since 2008 with the lowest net gains of any industry from 2011 to 2012 (i.e., 0.7%). "
You'll notice none of the quoted material above offers any "solutions" to the problems mentioned. And this:
"TAX BASE GROWTH IS FLAT
· Partly as a result of the 2012 revaluation and subsequent appeals of value, the Guilford County tax base declined -0.2% from $37.1 billion in 2011/12 to $37.0 billion in 2012/13.
POVERTY RATES CREEP BACK UP
· The percentage of the city population in poverty increased from 19.6% in 2011 to 20.0% in 2012 meaning one in five Greensboro residents were in poverty. (Note: for a family of four with two children under the age of 18, the household is considered poor if total household income is below $23,283 in 2012)."
Still no "solutions" mentioned. But yet Doctor Debbage ignores his own findings that show that Manufacturing, Financial services and Education and Health services are keys to promoting a growing economy in Greensboro and instead promotes a downtown performing arts center and incentivized hotels which are, by his own admission, part of a declining industry as a "solution" to the problem of Greensboro's downtown woes:
"THE ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT, ACCOMMODATION, AND FOOD & DRINK SECTOR NEEDS A SHOT-IN-THE-ARM
· Greensboro has experienced a four year decline in the share of all jobs attributable to this sector, declining from a five year high of 12.8% in 2009 to 10.7% of all jobs in 2012. The ongoing efforts to build the Tanger Performing Arts Center and related hotel development may well remedy this problem. That said, this sector generated the lowest average wage rates of any major industry group included in this Report (i.e., $15,395)."
Can you say, bought and paid for by the Greensboro Partnership and the rest of Greensboro's Fascist elites?
The solution to Greensboro's woes is to stop doing what Greensboro has historically done. You see, the industries that Dr Debbage points to as being in recovery are recovering at no fault and without any "help" from Greensboro's "leaders" and economic development "gurus." Not that there aren't things the City couldn't do to help but what the City of Greensboro has done for the last 50 plus years has been all wrong.
Now you know their agenda is business as usual.
