Thanks Alex, I agree that some case studies would be important in validating the potential. Mike Schinckel from Ignition Alley/Startup Atlanta contacted me off-list and mentioned that he's had some conversations with some ED folks who "get it". He posed a really interesting question: "have you identified yourself as a new breed of economic development director by an identifiable name or perspective (I'm thinking of "branding" here?)" I haven't (I no longer work for the city) nor do I know anyone who has. But it's a really good idea. We've had enough informal conversations to know that a range of people (elected officials, ED professionals, commercial realtors, incubator managers, service providers,and even a few stodgy VC's) are beginning to see a teensy bit of the light.
Like Alex, I'd like to hear more from those of you who have tried (both successfully and not) to engage, broadly speaking, in the economic development conversation. I've found that people are generally receptive to the idea. But when the rubber meets the road, the programs and policy infrastructure simply do not accommodate our needs as a coworking space, nor the needs of the members that we serve. Alex's example of Comcast is a really good case in point. Okay, hope to hear more from the list on this topic. And I'm looking forward to meeting many of you at SXSW. Cheers, Jeremy http://nextspace.us/ On Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 8:32 AM, Alex Hillman <dangerouslyawes...@gmail.com>wrote: > Jeremy, > > Sounds like we've been having a lot of the same conversations! We've always > talked about IndyHall as a vehicle towards a bigger purpose, a slice of the > pie, the pie being "Making Philadelphia a better place to make a living > doing what you love". > > We've communicated with the city, as well as interacted with a number of ED > entities. Many of them had agendas similar to yours: giant business/job > attraction, minimal focus on retention, zero focus on small > business/individuals. > > We have laws in PA that actually "prohibit" the city from creating gradated > tax laws; everyone needs to be taxed the same. That is, of course, unless a > giant company like Comcast comes in bringing a few thousand jobs, and then > they get massive tax breaks from the city and the state. > > I've asked the Dept of Commerce "what kind of scale do we need to get an > exception like that?" and they don't have concrete answers. I agree > completely with Jeremy in the fact that there'd be a more stable tax base > for them if they focused on the same number in smaller, individuals that > have growth potential than a single company that could split town when their > tax abatement is over. > > It's hard to state the potential until we have some cases studied, so if > anyone else is doing work with their regions along these lines, I know I'd > love to hear more!! > > Thanks for bringing this up, and great article Jeremy! > > -Alex > > /ah > indyhall.org > coworking in philadelphia > > > On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 12:47 AM, Jeremy Neuner <jeremyneu...@gmail.com>wrote: > >> Hi All, >> >> Greetings from rainy Santa Cruz, California. There's been a lot of good >> discussion lately about coworking as an economic development tool, including >> at the "state of coworking" meeting a couple of weeks ago in San Francisco. >> This is a subject that's been at the heart of NextSpace. Before starting >> NextSpace, I was the city's economic development manager and my co-founder, >> Ryan Coonerty, was the mayor of Santa Cruz (he's still a sitting city >> council member and will begin his second term as mayor in November). So >> we've always thought of coworking as "economic development by other means." >> I'm eager to hear more stories (both successes and failures) about how >> others in the coworking community have engaged their local/regional >> governments, particularly economic development officials. I think it would >> be really interesting to hear from those of you outside the U.S. as well. >> >> Also, Ryan and I just had an article published in American City & County >> Magazine about how local/regional governments aren't doing enough to attract >> and retain small businesses. And by "small business" we mean the 1- and >> 2-person companies that many coworking spaces cater to (aside: I was shocked >> to learn that a company can have upwards of 500 employees and still be >> considered a "small business" by the U.S. Small Business Administration). >> We argue that municipalities should, for example, try to attract/retain 200 >> one-person businesses rather than one 200-person company. Of course, we >> mention coworking as a potential strategy! If you're interested, you can >> take a look at the article here: http://bit.ly/awOJO4 >> >> Meanwhile, thanks for all that you collectively do to ensure the success >> of "real" small businesses.....! >> >> Cheers, >> Jeremy >> http://nextspace.us/ >> >> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Coworking" group. >> To post to this group, send email to cowork...@googlegroups.com. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<coworking%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups.com> >> . >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > To post to this group, send email to cowork...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<coworking%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups.com> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. 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