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There is an economic development hierarchy at work that’s often created winners and losers before municipalities have had a chance to weigh in.

There are many municipal officials who believe that their community’s early success was because of efforts they led. It’s more accurate to say that their community took advantage of headwinds that blew in their direction, rather than against it. I call this the “standing-on-third-base-and-think-they-hit-a-triple” syndrome.