Are we on the ‘third coast’? First, the country’s economy boomed on the East Coast. Then, the West Coast. Now, it is the Rocky Mountains’ turn.

Last week the Helena Area Chamber of Commerce put together a Celebrate the Arts Luncheon to highlight the importance of the arts to our economy.

Opinion By The Helena IR

In Helena alone, said Mark Huber of U.S. Bank, the arts generate nearly $4 million, with most of it staying right here.

The event was another piece of evidence supporting the much larger economic picture that Larry Swanson, associate director of the Center for the Rocky Mountain West at the University of Montana, has been painting during several visits to Helena this fall.

Swanson’s message involves looking beyond the relatively dismal state of Montana’s overall economy and concentrating instead on the state’s urban areas n like Helena and the surrounding region n where things are much brighter.

He believes that despite Montana’s history of an agriculture- and natural resource-based economy, the future of the state’s economic growth lies largely in service industries in and around cities. Despite Montana’s image as a rural state, he said, 80 to 90 percent of the economic growth over the past decade has been urban in character. That’s where the action is, now and in years to come.

Indeed, Swanson says, the figures for cities like Helena compare well with those of prosperous urban regions up and down the Rocky Mountain corridor, which he calls the "third coast." First, he said, the country’s economy boomed on the East Coast. Then, the West Coast. Now, it is the Rocky Mountains’ turn.

Why? Simply because cities in the Rockies can offer much of the urban amenities found elsewhere, while also providing a quality of life that is second to none.

Think about it. The Helena area, for instance, has enjoyed years of steady economic and population growth just because of all the city has to offer. There are the basics n such as excellent medical facilities and public resources such as schools, an economy sufficient to support a fine regional retail operation, and good transportation including a newly expanding airport n the kind of things that newcomers simply expect.

Then there are the cultural amenities, from Carroll College to the scores of arts organizations celebrated last week by the chamber.

Not least, Helena has the open space, an unparalleled Rocky Mountain landscape offering recreational opportunities and peace only dreamed of in much of the rest of the country.

When Swanson spoke to the Gateway Economic Development Corp. last month, he said that in light of Montana’s change from a natural-resource to a human-resource based economy, "we need to assist cities, not deny that we have any."

That’s not to ignore rural Montana, which remains very much a part of our world. But it is the cities themselves that need to grasp the opportunities before them.

http://helenair.com/articles/2003/10/26/opinions_top/a04102603_01.txt