The Art And Secret Of Economic Development – William Fulton offers the inside story on economic development secrets and the policy process.

Pushback Time

Economic development officials may be going too far and being too secretive in their deal making.

Economic development is the art of using public policy, often in the form of financial incentives, to stimulate economic growth, usually in the form of more jobs and higher tax revenue. It necessarily involves strong and even aggressive use of government power. Economic developers negotiate behind close doors, subsidize private businesses and rearrange private land ownership patterns — all, supposedly, in the public interest.
William Fulton

But how far is too far? This is a question that always lurks around the edges of the economic development business. Recently, however, it has emerged as a front-and-center question.

The U.S. Supreme Court is pondering the “how far is too far” question in a property rights case from Connecticut. Property owners are trying to get the high court to strike down a pretty typical redevelopment deal — one in which the redevelopment agency takes land by eminent domain from reluctant property owners and then turns it over to other private property owners who will accomplish economic development objectives. Is it in the public interest to condemn property because it isn’t producing enough tax revenue or not promoting the economic development strategy adopted by the city?

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COLUMN
WILLIAM FULTON

Full Story: http://www.governing.com/articles/4econ.htm