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Weekly Update

02/29/08

PONCA CITY CONTINUES TO GROW, ECONOMIST REPORTS...sure, the national economy is on shaky legs. The economy of Oklahoma, however, is in much better shape and the economy of Ponca City is in even better shape, in fact doing just fine, thank you very much. That was the take from Oklahoma State's Mark Snead, (with a little editorial license from us) at today's Ponca City Economic Conference. Snead found that Ponca City's job count grew by 4.4%, adding more than 800 new jobs. One third were in the entertainment field, (casinos) but most growth took place in the fields of professional, scientific, health care and manufacturing. In addition, incomes were up a strong 7.9%. Snead reported that the local housing market "ignored" the national market by gaining strength. Have a nice weekend.

IEDC CHAIR SAYS REGIONALISM THE KEY TO THE FUTURE...the International Economic Development Council is the leading professional association for economic development in the world and their leader was in Ponca City speaking at the conference. Good for us economic development wonks but why should you care? Robin Roberts, who is also the Executive VP for Economic Development for the OKC Chamber, says that the key to continued growth in the changing world, (see the article below) is for regions to work together. Again, good for us ED types but what does that mean to a world that demands results and performance, not pretty words? It means that cities like Ponca City cannot go alone and that if we want to build a world class economy, we must come together and tie ourselves to universities, (think UML which she did offer an atta-boy for) and the urban areas. OKC is building industry clusters in biosciences, aviation and other high paying industries and she said that this concentration will attract industries that want the trained people and the physical and business infrastructure needed to support them. Translation: If we work in concert with OKC, Tulsa and others, opportunities for new industries will come our way.

ARE DEMOGRAPHICS DESTINY????....Mark Lautman of Forest Cities, Mesa Del Sol and the author of a book on the impact of an aging workforce presented his findings to the conference. Lautman notes that we are fast approaching a day when there will be more people leaving the workforce than entering. For some communities, such as Ponca City, that day has already arrived. The impact will be widespread, he says. While immigration will take up some of the slack, the communities that understand how to attract and mobilize workforce and help their industries deal with the challenges ahead are the ones that will succeed in this new age. He offered a few specifics on how to rise to this challenge and stressed that economic development must move from smokestack chasing to growth aligned with the new workforce.

UPCOMING...

 Thur. Mar. 6th: Corenet SW chapter luncheon, Dallas, hosted by the State of Oklahoma

 Thur. Mar. 13th: PCDA Trustees Monthly Meeting; 7:30 a.m., Chamber of Commerce

 Sun-Wed. Mar. 16-19: CFO Rising Trade Show, Orlando

 Fri. Mar. 21st: PCDA Trustees Board Retreat, 8:30-2:00 p.m., Big Fork Ranch

 

Ponca City Development Authority. 102 S. Fifth Street, Ste. 3, Ponca City, OK 74601

580.765.7070/580.765.0969-fax, email dmyers@goponca.com, www.goponca.com