COMMERCE AUTHORITY: CAN IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

posted by Michael Chihak

Friday's Arizona Week will take a look at the state's attempts to reinvent the economy by growing businesses that provide high-quality jobs, to balance the housebuilding and development industries that for years have fed economic growth.

Arizona can't depend on population growth and the ensuing flurry of land development, construction and their boom-bust cycles any more.

The Arizona Commerce Authority, a public-private agency set up by legislation passed in February, is getting its work under way.

We will look at what Commerce Authority officials and others think is needed to make a difference in the state and to grow jobs and the overall economy.

Some key questions:

• Does the Commerce Authority have the funding and the right people in place?

• How much do the severe cuts to education -- both K-12 and higher education -- hamper the economic development effort?

• Can the Commerce Authority succeed by targeting certain industrial categories, or does it need to be more egalitarian?

• What role will local economic development organizations play in the grander scheme of things?

• What special ideas are there for rural economic growth?