City to develop plan for economic development

Developing plans to encourage economic development will be priorities for state officials and their counterparts in Providence this year.
The Economic Development Planning Commission, authorized Dec. 4 by the Providence City Council, will take a year to create a comprehensive economic plan, looking at methods including tax structures and incentives, according to outgoing council President Michael Solomon.
The 17-member panel was a key recommendation in a report issued last year by the Providence Task Force on Economic Development, which last April found that the city was not economically competitive, and needed to take specific steps to foster growth.
Although not connected to the state planning process, which resulted late last year in the release of RhodeMap RI, officials who worked on the city plan say the goals are not at odds with each other, and they could see the city’s process in the future becoming linked to state planning through common people being involved.
“It’s important the left hand knows what the right hand is doing,” Solomon said, noting that as its capital and economic center, the city’s economic development will shape the state’s fortunes. “The way Providence goes is the way the state goes.”
RhodeMap RI, approved Dec. 11 by the R.I. State Planning Council, addresses a wide range of state issues, far beyond economic development, including housing, the environment and transportation. It was the result of a two-year process, which became heated in recent months as critics questioned how it would be enacted. Elected officials are not bound to follow any of the plan’s priorities and it remains unclear how much it will be utilized.
Gov.-elect Gina M. Raimondo, meanwhile, wasted no time initiating her own economic-development planning, overseeing a “Jobs Summit” last month and encouraging invited business leaders to identify “action steps” for economic development. “You’re invited tonight because you’re on the front lines of Rhode Island, not the policymakers,” she said, kicking off the process. Raimondo will officially take office Jan. 6.
Are the varying planning efforts contradictory? City officials and a consultant say no. The processes are running in parallel forms, said John Simmons, executive director of the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council, which studies economic development, and which prepared the report for the Providence task force.
The city and state will have different parties represented, he said, but at some point, there should be a connection through common members. Two years ago, when the state began its RhodeMap effort, there was no consistent plan among all the state agencies and functions.
Solomon said the same of the city’s efforts; that the commission would be looking at policies across city departments.
The Providence economic-development commission, which will have members appointed by the council and the new mayor, would develop an industry-based plan, allowing the city to move in a common direction. An industry-cluster analysis was recommended by the task force, which would allow the city to identify potential growth industries.
The first step, commission appointments, have not been discussed at this point but Solomon, whose tenure on the council ends this week, said he expected the new council and the mayor’s office would begin the process soon.
Mayor-elect Jorge Elorza, who also takes office Jan. 6, did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
The initial work of the planning commission would involve an inventory of existing programs relating to economic development, Solomon said. The council, he said, thought it was important to have a body of people with some expertise in economic development helping guide policy.
“That’s the only way we can grow our tax base, through economic development,” Solomon said. •

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