After a slow start, the Hollister City Council is making
progress on an issue of utmost importance to our community. On
Monday, the council laid the groundwork to hire an economic
development director to actively recruit businesses to
Hollister.
It’s about time.
After a slow start, the Hollister City Council is making progress on an issue of utmost importance to our community. On Monday, the council laid the groundwork to hire an economic development director to actively recruit businesses to Hollister.
It’s about time.
On Sept. 6, the council will review – and we hope approve – the position that clearly will be key to boosting our city’s economic fortunes. In addition, the city wants to draft a comprehensive economic development strategy to establish “power centers” and develop downtown Hollister as an area with commercial and residential space where people can live and work.
“We need someone to go out and harpoon a big company and bring some businesses into town,” Councilman Robert Scattini told reporter Luke Roney last week.
He’s exactly right. As the debate over the proposed Indian casino, and the 1,500 jobs investors promised, showed, there is a strong desire and need for decent jobs in San Benito County.
But jobs for residents aren’t the only reason why it is important to stimulate the local economy. The city has ongoing budget problems and will continue to have to trim services, balance its budget on reserves and provide fewer of the amenities we, as a community, want if we don’t have more businesses contributing to the city’s tax base.
The council is showing welcome signs that it recognizes that and is taking the first steps necessary to bring about change.
As the discussion on a plan begins in earnest, we’d like to encourage the council to do a few more things to ensure meaningful results:
Make sure the plan addresses the local economy in the short as well as the long term
Create an economic inventory of the businesses we have and use the information to target compatible industries
Create an economic incentive program that rewards the new economic development director for attracting businesses
Look into economic incentives that will make Hollister attractive to businesses
Also, we feel strongly that for this to be a successful effort, the city needs other community organizations to participate. We’d like to see representatives from the Chamber of Commerce and the Hollister Downtown Association get involved in the city’s economic development efforts. A good way to do that would be to show up at the council’s meeting on Sept. 6 to let council members know how important this effort is.
The council has the ball rolling, now we need to build momentum to create a bold economic plan and deliver the goods. Hollister’s future as a thriving town where people want to live, work and play depends on it.
