Athens has issues deeper than a petty squabble
State economic development leaders are again promoting the idea of secrecy in dealing with economic development issues.
Two weeks ago, Georgia Chamber of Commerce CEO Chris Clark told Athens leaders they should go behind closed doors to sort out a current squabble over who controls economic development in the community. He was quoted as saying public disagreements between business and political leaders sends a “negative” message to prospective industries.
But one man’s “negative message” is another man’s accountability. Just about every major economic development project today involves the use of public money for roads, water, and sometimes tax abatements or other taxpayer provided incentives.
Someone should be accountable for those tax dollars. Secret wheeling-and-dealing is never a good idea in economic development. The only people who benefit from that are the real estate titans and public officials.
In any event, more secrecy isn’t the solution to attracting private sector investment to Athens-Clarke. Despite Chris Clark’s comments, a local tiff between public officials isn’t on the radar of most prospective industries. They could care less about such internal bickering.
Athens has some much larger issues to worry about. There are at least five broad areas of problems that are holding Athens back in its bid to lure private sector investment:
1. Terrible public schools. Standing in the shadow of the state’s flagship university is the dysfunctional Clarke County Public School System. Although the Athens media won’t report it, Clarke County schools spend a lot of local tax money on a per pupil basis and yet it’s among the worst performing school systems in the state. Recently, the state released system CRCT results and Clarke County students were by far the worst in Northeast Georgia. In grades five and eight, Clarke students were below the state average in every area except one. Just compare Clarke results to the Jackson County School System: 5th Grade Social Science, Clarke had a 42.6 percent failure rate compared to Jackson’s 11.9 percent; in 5th Grade Reading Clarke had a 12.1 percent failure rate to Jackson’s 2.4 percent; 8th Grade Math Clark had a 30.3 percent failure rate to Jackson’s 19.3; and 8th Grade Science Clarke had a 37.8 percent failure rate to Jackson’s 17.6 percent. Compared to the area’s other school systems, Athens-Clarke is in the basement in just about every educational measurement available. What business wants to locate in a town with a bad public school system?
2. High salaries. Because Athens is a “government” town with much of its employment working either for the state through UGA or for local governments, local wages and benefits are high. No private industry wants to locate in a town where government largess drives up salaries and hires away skilled labor. The main reason the unemployment rate in Athens is low is that it’s mostly government employees, and government has not made the kinds of cuts in this recession that the private sector has made. Private investment won’t flow uphill.
3. Transportation issues. Athens is located in a nook and is isolated from the state’s main transportation corridors. Hwy. 316 helps, but it essentially makes Athens a cul-de-sac. Not much the community can do about that; it is what it is.
4. Unfriendly business environment. Athens is a very liberal town where more government is celebrated. It has a reputation of being unfriendly to business interests due to multiple layers of regulations and government overstepping. And the local political culture of extreme political correctness is a big negative to businesses looking to locate there. What industry wants to locate in a town where every nutty liberal tells it how it should operate? If a business wanted that, they’d locate in California.
5. Crime and poverty. It doesn’t get much play in the Athens media, but crime is a problem in Clarke County not just on campus, but in the larger community. Much of that is tied to poverty, which appears to be getting worse if anecdotal evidence is to be believed.
Of course, Athens does have strengths that should make it attractive to development, especially with its UGA resources and its college town charm. And it has developed a strong medical community on which it is trying to build into a larger industry.
But until Athens leaders fix the Clark County School System, and until it changes its pervasive “big government” mentality, the community will never be able to attract strong private sector industrial investment. Those investments will continue to go to other counties like Jackson and Oconee where the school systems are better, wages are more reasonable and government regulation is less onerous.
And those problems will never be fixed until Athens leaders — especially private sector leaders — start asking questions of those in government who have allowed all of this to happen.
In the short term it may be difficult, even messy, for the private sector to confront the public sector. But in the long-term, such an open debate will force changes that need to be made.
Having that kind of conversation in secret as Chris Clark suggested won’t accomplish anything. It’s just more of the same, insiders bickering with other insiders.
Public debate has far more power to solve problems than whispering behind closed doors.
Mike Buffington is co-publisher of Mainstreet Newspapers, Inc. He can be reached at mike@mainsteetnews.com.
But one man’s “negative message” is another man’s accountability. Just about every major economic development project today involves the use of public money for roads, water, and sometimes tax abatements or other taxpayer provided incentives.
Someone should be accountable for those tax dollars. Secret wheeling-and-dealing is never a good idea in economic development. The only people who benefit from that are the real estate titans and public officials.
In any event, more secrecy isn’t the solution to attracting private sector investment to Athens-Clarke. Despite Chris Clark’s comments, a local tiff between public officials isn’t on the radar of most prospective industries. They could care less about such internal bickering.
Athens has some much larger issues to worry about. There are at least five broad areas of problems that are holding Athens back in its bid to lure private sector investment:
1. Terrible public schools. Standing in the shadow of the state’s flagship university is the dysfunctional Clarke County Public School System. Although the Athens media won’t report it, Clarke County schools spend a lot of local tax money on a per pupil basis and yet it’s among the worst performing school systems in the state. Recently, the state released system CRCT results and Clarke County students were by far the worst in Northeast Georgia. In grades five and eight, Clarke students were below the state average in every area except one. Just compare Clarke results to the Jackson County School System: 5th Grade Social Science, Clarke had a 42.6 percent failure rate compared to Jackson’s 11.9 percent; in 5th Grade Reading Clarke had a 12.1 percent failure rate to Jackson’s 2.4 percent; 8th Grade Math Clark had a 30.3 percent failure rate to Jackson’s 19.3; and 8th Grade Science Clarke had a 37.8 percent failure rate to Jackson’s 17.6 percent. Compared to the area’s other school systems, Athens-Clarke is in the basement in just about every educational measurement available. What business wants to locate in a town with a bad public school system?
2. High salaries. Because Athens is a “government” town with much of its employment working either for the state through UGA or for local governments, local wages and benefits are high. No private industry wants to locate in a town where government largess drives up salaries and hires away skilled labor. The main reason the unemployment rate in Athens is low is that it’s mostly government employees, and government has not made the kinds of cuts in this recession that the private sector has made. Private investment won’t flow uphill.
3. Transportation issues. Athens is located in a nook and is isolated from the state’s main transportation corridors. Hwy. 316 helps, but it essentially makes Athens a cul-de-sac. Not much the community can do about that; it is what it is.
4. Unfriendly business environment. Athens is a very liberal town where more government is celebrated. It has a reputation of being unfriendly to business interests due to multiple layers of regulations and government overstepping. And the local political culture of extreme political correctness is a big negative to businesses looking to locate there. What industry wants to locate in a town where every nutty liberal tells it how it should operate? If a business wanted that, they’d locate in California.
5. Crime and poverty. It doesn’t get much play in the Athens media, but crime is a problem in Clarke County not just on campus, but in the larger community. Much of that is tied to poverty, which appears to be getting worse if anecdotal evidence is to be believed.
Of course, Athens does have strengths that should make it attractive to development, especially with its UGA resources and its college town charm. And it has developed a strong medical community on which it is trying to build into a larger industry.
But until Athens leaders fix the Clark County School System, and until it changes its pervasive “big government” mentality, the community will never be able to attract strong private sector industrial investment. Those investments will continue to go to other counties like Jackson and Oconee where the school systems are better, wages are more reasonable and government regulation is less onerous.
And those problems will never be fixed until Athens leaders — especially private sector leaders — start asking questions of those in government who have allowed all of this to happen.
In the short term it may be difficult, even messy, for the private sector to confront the public sector. But in the long-term, such an open debate will force changes that need to be made.
Having that kind of conversation in secret as Chris Clark suggested won’t accomplish anything. It’s just more of the same, insiders bickering with other insiders.
Public debate has far more power to solve problems than whispering behind closed doors.
Mike Buffington is co-publisher of Mainstreet Newspapers, Inc. He can be reached at mike@mainsteetnews.com.
We moved our business to Jackson county about a year ago but we are getting ready to make some changes and move locations and have been deciding between staying in Jackson or heading back to Athens. It's a tough choice. Jackson is more in line with our ideals and ambition but Clarke has more potential labor and customers. Since we do a large amount of business online we have more freedom in choosing a location. Proximity to 85 is a strong plus for Jackson. It will probably be determined by where we can find the best facilities for the best value.
That's my two cents from a small business owner.
With a burden like that and a hundred years or more of Jim Crow it's not surprising that the extreme difference in income produces a dysfunctional community.
In spite of that Athens is consistently rated as one of the best places to retire. Good health care and a vibrant cultural life.
Two things of which Jackson County is bereft. Seems shooting guns and thumping Bibles, Jackson Counties main attributes, aren't considered part of a desirable lifestyle.