We have watched with admiration this week as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch rolled out an extensive three-part series about economic development and job creation in St. Louis, “Can St. Louis Compete?” Reported and written by Tim Logan and David Nicklaus, this is the sort of timely enterprise reporting that a major metro daily should be known for, and it is encouraging to see the Post, which has often disappointed us in recent years, put its still considerable resources to valuable use for a community that desperately needs greater scrutiny of its local political and business sectors from the mainstream media.
The Post and its talented writers can bank on major national business journalism awards from this series. It is also just possible that the business, civic and political leadership of St. Louis will show the foresight to benefit from this grueling visit to the examination table, this thorough-going scrutiny and questioning of how St. Louis and the State of Missouri has been investing in its own future, and see this report as a call to action.
A comment Nicklaus made in concluding his 1A column on Sunday, when the series first started to unfold, matches precisely what we have been saying; and we appreciate the opportunity to say this again in agreement with the Post. Nicklaus writes, “St. Louis’ economy won’t turn around until we get out of the Edifice Complex mindset and focus on generating demand for real estate instead of more supply. If we educate and train top-notch workers, companies will want to hire them. If we nurture entrepreneurs and help them establish thriving companies, developers will build space to house them.”
Earlier this year, along with a number of others, we were asked by St. Louis Magazine how we would spend $10 million to positively impact the St. Louis region. The below summarizes our response, which appeared as part of the magazine’s September 2010 cover story.
With a larger budget, we would fund compulsory universal pre-K education in the St. Louis area. That is the most effective policy to ensure a better long-term future for this region – to engage all of our children during the years that are so critical for their future development.
Limited to $10 million, we would establish a structured incentive program to attract entrepreneurs – key contributors to technical innovation and new job growth – to downtown St. Louis. A minimal staff would administer a grant process that supplied seed capital to select entrepreneurs that would commit to locating their business and home downtown. These entrepreneurs would be supported with free physical space and technical assistance, and be engaged by mentors using existing networks to foster a talented, young cohort.
The considerable potential of this region’s existing, homegrown assets is largely unrealized and needs the more rapid growth and productivity gains that come from successful entrepreneurs. Downtown, the center of the region, with massive public and private investment and some success in restoring and creating real estate assets, would be an ideal place to locate early-stage companies. The city should rightly expect some cooperation from the State of Missouri, which lags behind other states in startup financing of the smaller, new companies that are the major job creators. As the Missouri Legislature has not been willing to invest in high-potential, high-tech startup companies, however, there remains a need for a public/private fund to invest in entrepreneurship in the St. Louis region.
