Place Making Strategy on You Tube

The Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp. in conjunction with the Downtown Development Authority have proposed an aggressive planning process for the future of the region. The “Economic Development through Place Making” initiative will help make Owensboro competitive in the race for talent and investment in the coming years. Click the following link to see the video about the initiative on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xVReGyrda4

Work of this level of expertise and scope has never done before in our community. When complete, this initiative will present a step-by-step guide for revitalizing downtown and promoting other growth corridors through:

• New pro-growth policies and incentives
  
• Comprehensive regulatory and code reform
  
• New design and venues with fiscal guidance as to how to leverage public funds for certain projects that can make them a catalyst for future growth
  

The key to future economic vitality for the next 20 years, for over 20 million people from families and young professionals to retiring baby boomers is livability. Place Making is a strategy that communities are using to promote livability. Attracting people with attractive places! A central feature of this is downtown development, but the approach deals with other growth corridors around the region.

This initiative will bring a high level of professional expertise through a customized team to work with our community, with a perfect blend of local, regional, national, and international talent. The strategy will integrate these areas to our downtown and growth corridors

• Linking Riverfront development project to downtown
  
• Live/work and mixed-use development


• Entertainment, residential, and retail venues blending into downtown as an “urban destination.”
  

This was the number one recommendation from We the People. It is also a central theme of the City of Owensboro Strategic Vision—all around it is a recognized community priority.

Owensboro improves ranking on Forbes survey

Owensboro ranked 52nd among 179 smaller metros as good places to start businesses or careers, according to the Forbes Magazine 10th annual Best Places for Business and Careers survey. The ranking include the 112,000 metro area, which includes Daviess, Hancock and McLean counties

Owensboro ranks fourth among the nation's smaller metropolitan areas in the number of colleges per capita.

"Most of the top 50 are towns with large colleges and universities or state capitals," said Nick Brake, president of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp. "Any time you rank that high on a survey in a publication like Forbes, it's good."

Sioux Falls, S.D., topped the list. Saginaw, Mich., came in last.

Owensboro ranked high compared to the 10 peer communities across the country used for measurement comparisions. The only two that came in higher than Owensboro were Dubuque, Iowa (18th) and Jonesboro, Ark. (46th).

In Kentucky, Bowling Green was 12th among smaller metros. Elizabethtown ranked 120th in the survey.

Among large metros -- 240,000 people or more -- Lexington ranked fifth; Louisville, 91st; Hopkinsville-Clarksville, Tenn., 117th; and Evansville-Henderson, 136th.

Owensboro's ranking by category shows:

Colleges: 4; Cost Of Living: 17; Crime Rate: 46; Cost of Doing Business: 47; Income Growth: 80; Net Migration: 110; Job Growth: 118; Educational Attainment: 131; Culture & Leisure: 142
Forbes said in the article, "Common themes for the business-welcoming metros include solid job growth, an educated labor supply and low business costs. Interestingly, six of the 10 metro areas are anchored by capital cities; maybe lobbyist spending boosts an economy."

To see the Forbes list go to the following link: http://www.forbes.com/2008/03/19/best-business-cities-biz-bestplaces08-cx_kb_0319places_land.html

EDC and others working on Film Incentive Legislation

EDC officials have been working with film producers from Hollywood on using Owensboro as a location for motion pictures. Feature films such as these spend approximately $200,000 per day of shooting. Production spending has an economic impact multiplier of 1.695, which is higher than three-quarters of all other industries.

The entertainment industry, including motion pictures, is currently the largest export industry of the United States. Owensboro specifically and Kentucky in general have a unique window of opportunity to attract several motion pictures throughout the coming year, provided an appropriate incentive package is approved.

House Bill 756, sponsored by Representative Tommy Thompson of Owensboro, creates new sections of KRS Chapter 148 to provide individual income tax, corporation income tax, limited liability entity tax, and sales tax incentives for locating a film production facility in Kentucky or filming or producing a motion picture in Kentucky.

HB 756 will encourage…

• Filming and production of motion pictures in Kentucky
• Development of a film industry in Kentucky
• Increased employment opportunities for Kentuckians within the film industry
• Development of state-of-the-art production and post-production infrastructure in Kentucky

Current Kentucky law allows for only a 6% sales tax refund for motion picture production expenditures. HB 756 would create the new incentives for qualified productions in Kentucky. The key ingredient of an incentive package is a transferable tax credit.

The filming and production of movies, TV pilots, series, commercials and corporate videos can bring a healthy flow of revenue to a state. Many other states are already realizing the economic rewards, and it’s time for Kentucky to do the same.

Find your Representative at www.lrc.ky.gov/Legislators.htm

Call 502/564-8100 or e-mail and ask your Representative and Senator to support HB 756.

EDC to Facilitate Community “Place Making Strategy”

EDC will facilitate the development of a bold urbanization and comprehensive implementation strategy to foster “Economic Development through Place Making” for the region.

The process will create a customized team of professional experts in town planning, urban design, public-private financing, and community facilitation. The strategy will be tailored to local needs promoting economic growth and development, focusing on downtown and new destinations, such as around the proposed hospital location. In addition to the EDC, the process will work in conjunction with the newly created Downtown Development Authority and the Downtown Development Corp.

During the past 12 months the community has been engaged in a vibrant discussion of how to make the region more attractive to people. Much focus has been on the development of downtown Owensboro. Others have focused on amenities such as retail, recreational, and entertainment venues both in downtown and in new destinations such as near the new hospital and highway 54. A top priority from the “We the People” process was to transform downtown and insist on a well planned suburban expansion. An urbanization strategy is a key component of the newly adopted City of Owensboro Strategic Vision and a priority for the Daviess County Fiscal Court.

“There is a phenomenal global competition for capital to fuel economic growth in our world today,” said EDC President/CEO Nick Brake. “More now than ever, capital is defined as people or more specifically talent. And the key to attracting talent is livability. This is true for young professionals, growing families, as well as the retiring baby boomers—the key to making any community attractive over the next 20 years for over 20 million people is livability.”

“We want to facilitate a process for the community focusing our efforts on a concept called ‘place making’—attracting people with an attractive place,” said EDC Board Chair Darrell Higginbotham. “We are clearly at a critical crossroads in making Owensboro the place that attracts people.”

“The timing is right for an initiative like this,” said Fred Reeves, Executive Director of Downtown Development. “This effort will put our ideas into practice using professional expertise with a roadmap of how to make it happen.”

The implementation strategy will:

• combine the disciplines of town planning, urban design, public-private financing, and community facilitation, focusing first and foremost on implementation


• include form-based codes and transportation strategies that harness the market’s ability to sustain growth


• tie together a physical implementation strategy for downtown development; new destinations that build on the history of regional entertainment; and the integration of in-town neighborhoods and employment.


• focus on downtown Owensboro as a key player in driving growth and reinvestment in the region. Downtown is critical to the development of a long-term, sustainable growth policy for the region.
  

The EDC looked at several planning groups and development organizations around the country in order to find a customized team for Owensboro. Two experts will visit Owensboro and meet with several groups this week.

Scott Polikov of Gateway Planning in Texas and Michael Huston of Wallace Roberts & Todd, an urban designer who grew up in Owensboro and graduated from Owensboro Catholic High School will form a core of the team. Other members of the team will include an economist/ market analyst, an expert in retail, entertainment venues and convention centers, a professional planner with understanding of zoning and code development, a transportation engineer, and an expert in downtown residential housing.

“The team approach is very flexible,” said Brake. “Any consultant or existing feasibility study can easily be plugged into the work of the team.”

“It will cost money,” said Higginbotham. “And it is our hope that private individuals and corporate citizens of the community can pull together to fund this effort with the EDC and other groups working as facilitators and implementers.”

The initiative will initially focus on the following tasks:

1. Initial infrastructure capacity analysis, streetscape and architectural assets and market assessment, including an identification of key civic, employment, residential, preservation assets.


2. Initial key stakeholder outreach


3. Assessment of regulatory (codes), policy, taxing structure and Certified Institute of Planners (CIP) context


4. Market analysis and trends development scenario identified for baseline


5. Transportation, connectivity, parking and pedestrian assessment


6. Assessment of downtown housing opportunities


7. Community design workshop


8. Development of downtown master plan


9. Fiscal impact and capacity analysis for incentives


10. Identification/support for catalytic projects


11. Development/support of RFQ for developer of arena/hotel/entertainment destination


12. Development of Form-Based Code


13. Community meetings/support for adoption of master plan, code and incentives program


14. Refinement downtown management structure and support for RFQ process for developer of catalytic project.
    

The public reception and discussion about the “Economic Development through Place Making” Strategy will be held on Wednesday, March 19 at Emerging Ventures Center for Innovation on the Third Floor of the Commerce Center.

To make an investment or financial contribution to the Place Making Strategy Fund, please contact Melissa Shelton at 926.4339 or go to http://www.downtownowensboro.org/ and press "Donate."

For more information about "Place Making" please visit the following links: http://www.pps.org/info/bulletin/what_is_placemaking; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placemaking; http://www.gatewayplanning.com/Gateway_base_frame.html; www.cooltownstudios.com/mt/archives/cat_placemaking.html

Emerging Ventures Center for Innovation Grand Opening

The partnership that will promote the growth of the entrepreneurial economy in Owensboro, the Emerging Ventures Center for Innovation, kicked open the door for a grand opening this evening as part of the Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours event.

Emerging Ventures is a unique cooperative effort between GO-EDC, Western Kentucky University's Innovation and Commercialization Center, the Murray State University Small Business Development Center, and the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE). It will be a one-stop center that will help entrepreneurs perfect their business ideas and provide technical support and access to capital.

The Center is located on the third floor of the Commerce Center at 200 East Third St. in downtown Owensboro. For more information about Emerging Ventures, go to http://edc.owensboro.com/entrepreneurship/Emerging_Ventures/
or contact Madison Silvert at 270.926.4339.

Upcoming Events at EDC

Please mark your calendars about the following events comming up at the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corporation:

February 21- Investor Luncheon and Appreciation at 11:30 am at the Springs Conference Center. Contact Melissa Shelton (mshelton@owensboro.com) or 926.4339 to rsvp.

Februcary 25- EDC and Western Kentucky University will make an announcement about a unique new degree program for existing industry in the region at 10 am in the EDC offices.

February 28- Emerging Ventures Center for Innovation Grand Opening will be held at 5 pm in the new Emerging Ventures Center, Commerce Center, Third Floor. This event is held in conjunction with the Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours.

“Creative” Industries Growing Part of National and Regional Economy

Entertainment is now the one of the nation’s leading export industries. Nationally, there are more than a half million businesses that employ 2.7 million in “creative” industries. The Americans for the Arts, a leading art advocacy nonprofit organization, defines the “creative” industries as arts-centric businesses that range from nonprofit museums, symphonies, and theaters, to for-profit films, architecture, and advertising agencies.

These creative industries are a growing part of the economy in Greater Owensboro. The number of creative industry jobs in the region jumped from 375 in 2004 to 446 in 2006, an increase of 18.9 percent. Those growth figures outpaced creative job growth in the state (4.1 percent) between 2004 and 2006. The number of creative industries also increased from 108 in 2004 to 117 in 2006, an 8.3 percent increase. Industry growth in Kentucky grew 9.9 percent during the same period.

The largest increase in Owensboro came in the performing arts and music. The growth opportunities in the arts and film industry are one reason the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp. is working cooperatively with other regional economic development agencies to create a film commission in western Kentucky in hopes of attracting films to this growing creative center.

Unusual among cities of its size, Owensboro boasts a thriving arts life. The River Park Center, whose two auditoriums hosted more than 150 performances and 900 civic events last year, presents a wide variety of entertainment, including productions designed especially for students. The River Park Center is also known as "Broadway West" in the national theater community. Each year the River Park hosts theater companies while they build touring shows like 42nd Street. Some local talent is used in set building, costumes and technical areas before the production launches a world tour beginning with an Owensboro premiere in Cannon Hall.

In 2007 RiverPark Center inaugurated a Mystery Writers Festival which premiered 12 new mystery plays and drew writers, directors and performers, as well as audience members and workshop participants, from all parts of the United States.

To see the Creative Industries Report for arts-related employment in Greater Owensboro go to the following link: http://aftadc.brinkster.net/Kentucky/senate/KY-SEN-008.pdf