Next week at the Emporia City Commission meeting, commissioners may approve the 2012 budget. During the budget negotiations there were some spirited debates. One of those was Emporia Main Street and the Regional Development Association, each making their case as to why they want increased funding.
RDA recruits large industries to town and Emporia Main Street wants a funding increase so they can do more retail recruitment for downtown.
That sparked conversations around town about who has been more successful in recruitment efforts: The RDA or Emporia Main Street.
Trying to compare the two entities is not a fair comparison. It is like comparing an apple to an orange.
Emporia Main Street has a mission of filling downtown stores with businesses as well as hosting activities to bring people downtown to visit those businesses. Main Street recruiting a business to downtown entails matching a business with a storefront, signing a lease, turning on the utilities and then setting up shop.
Emporia Main Street has been successful. They have been successful with a small budget, a legion of volunteers and a can-do attitude. They currently have 92 percent of storefronts downtown are filled.
The RDA is tasked with recruiting large industries to town. The mission is to bring new jobs and outside money to our community.
The recruitment process is extremely complicated. Incentives can run into the millions of dollars and can provide hundreds of jobs. If an industrial or building site is not available, RDA works with a prospect to find land, install utilities and help construct buildings that cost tens of million dollars.
Just as Emporia Main Street has been successful in our community, so has the RDA.
As one state legislator said, “I would say no economic program in the state has been more successful over the last 20 years than Emporia. We need to remember our successes. For instance, Hills Pet Food was the biggest prize in the state for the last 10 years and Emporia got it. We beat out Topeka, Lawrence, Kansas City, Ottawa and more.”
It’s important to remember that these large developments don’t happen every day and are extremely complex. They require a large amount of capital and available land to compete.
Instead of debating who is more successful – Emporia Main Street or RDA – we need to see it from the perspective that the RDA industrial recruitment efforts provide a way of life for citizens and Main Street retail recruitment adds to our quality of life. When both programs are successful, our community is successful.
Chris Walker
Editor & Publisher