In the last column I tried to give a brief description of what economic development is. This is the stuff of textbooks, so trying to do this in the brief space allotted to me is nearly impossible. I do want to continue in this vein for a bit as I think it’s important to try to understand just what is actually involved.

This becomes even more important during an election year, because what you are going to hear from every politician, regardless of party or political bent is how much they support economic development, how they are going to make more and better economic development occur, and tell us why their opponents and predecessors failed to make economic development actually occur. If history repeats itself, which it often does, the next round of politicians will be saying the same thing and placing the same blame.

Why does this happen year in and year out? I think it happens because there is a fundamental flaw in the thinking of these folks. That flaw is the unwillingness to look realistically at what we have to offer and where we need to put our resources.

The first part of this equation, a realistic look at what we have to offer has to be broken down into two sub-categories: our strengths and our weaknesses. This always seemed to me to be one of those trick questions I had to face at job interviews. You sit there, mouth getting dry, hands sweaty, and finally blurt out something like, “I’m a good decision maker, but I have trouble making up my mind.” Immediately you know that’s the wrong answer, and it’s all going to be downhill from there.

Let’s develop a little balance sheet here. Anyone who has been through “executive training” will recognize this little exercise. On the “what’s good” side we have:

1. Quality of life, a ubiquitous term that defies definition, but definitely exists

2. Maine People, more specifically the integrity and willingness to work hard

On the “what’s bad” side we have:

1. High tax burden

2. An aging and technologically challenged workforce

3. An awkward geographical location

This is not a complete list of either “good” or “bad,” but rather a jumping off point for the sake of discussion. Let’s look at the good.

Quality of life: What is quality of life? It’s why I live here and why I suspect many other people do as well, even though they might make more money elsewhere. This is a place where you know your neighbors, where you can walk around the largest city in the state at night and feel safe, and where your kids can ride their bikes to school. Quality of life is a state of mind. If you are a hunter, fisherman, sailor, skier, snowmobiler, hiker, biker, runner, or golfer, this can be heaven. (True, you can’t golf in the winter or snowmobile in the summer, but that’s what vacations are for.)

Maine people: I’m from away. After about 30 years, I sometimes forget that. But there’s no escaping it. My employment experiences have put me in contact with Maine people of all ages and incomes, and I can honestly say I have never seen a more hardworking and honest group of people. I am proud to tell people I live in Maine, and sometimes when talking to other “people from away” I can fool them into thinking I really am a Mainer.

Now for the other stuff.

The high tax burden. Yes, it is true, Maine has one of the highest tax burdens in the country, and this does hurt us when we are competing with other states, but I wonder if the companies that we lose to other states are really the ones we want or need. I’m looking for companies where “quality of life” and the Maine worker are the deciding factors (not merely profit), and I know from experience that such companies are out there. We have to find them and remind them about Maine. Can we do something about lowering our tax burden? Certainly, by solid planning, regionalization of services, and election of officials who will demand efficiency.

Our aging population and technologically challenged workforce: I’m one of the former, and believe me, hard as I try, I can’t get any younger, but we can change the latter. We have to look very carefully at our secondary schools, community colleges and our university system to make sure that we are providing the necessary technological tools for tomorrow. Maine has one of the highest rates of graduation from high school and one of the lowest rates of college graduates in the country. That just doesn’t cut it any more.

Our awkward geographic location: Remember back to fifth-grade geography. Remember the big map at the front of the room. And that big state up at the top in the right corner. That’s us! Probably not the best place to service the rest of the country. And, because we can’t move the state, we’ve got to start looking for other markets. We’re closer to Europe than anywhere else in the country, and we are also in a pretty good position with Canada.

I guess what I’m getting at is looking at the “big picture.” Making economic development work means building on the “good” and changing the “bad.” It means promoting our quality of life and our people and stopping the bemoaning of high taxes, etc… and taking real steps to improve the things that we can.

A correction: In the last column, I took credit for coining the phrase “tri-town” to describe South Portland, Cape Elizabeth, and Scarborough. It has come to my attention that there was a Tri-Town Newcomers Club a number of years ago in these three communities. My apologies.

Harvey Rosenfeld is the President of the Scarborough Economic

Development Corporation (SEDCO), a private non-profit located in

Scarborough. The opinions contained within this article are solely

his and are not a reflection of the Scarborough Economic Development Corporation, or of the town of Scarborough.