From: Glenn McRae
Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 6:06 PM
Subject: Blodgett Oven
Below is the editorial from Tuesday's Free Press on Blodgett Oven.
Charlie thought it would be a good contribution to the future discussion on strategic leverage points.
Attached is that handout memo from the meeting that Charlie introduced but got deferred to future discussion. (link to memo on strategic leverage points)
EDITORIAL: Local success story should stay local
Published: Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Everybody likes a homegrown success story, but there's more than one example of a company out growing Vermont and moving to another state. Let's hope that won't be the case with Blodgett Oven Co.
The Free Press reported on Saturday that the Burlington-based maker of commercial kitchen equipment best known for pizza ovens has outgrown the 79,00-square-foot space the company occupies on Lakeside Avenue.
Blodgett is looking locally for as much as 250,000 square feet, more than double the size of the Lowe's home improvement store that opened last week in South Burlington. That project took seven years to wind its tortured way through permits, appeals and the courts mostly over issues having to do with stormwater runoff.
The time it took Lowe's to build its first store in Vermont might explain Blodgett President Gary Mick's comment to the Free Press: "A fully permitted site would be helpful."
Businesses try to avoid uncertainty, and Vermont's permit process is full of that element. We need to make sure new development does minimal damage to the environment and reflect the community's vision for growth, but we also need to let developers know from the start what it will take for them to go through with their plans.
A transparent process aids all parties: those seeking to protect the environment; those who want controlled growth; and those who want to build. This is far from a free pass for development and nobody is likely to get everything they want. But if everyone knows up front what the issues are and what it would take to resolve them, everyone can save time and money.
A company seeking to break into a new and lucrative market to help fuel its growth might be willing to put in the time and effort to work through a protracted permit fight. After all, a company like Lowe's can hardly go elsewhere to get what it is after here -- the Vermont market. The story is different for manufacturers whose customers are all over the world.
Blodgett means 170 jobs in manufacturing, an increasingly rare commodity in our economy. The oven maker credits the recent growth on "the superior work force the company has assembled over the years in Burlington."
Ideally, the company will stay where it can keep those workers. That means possibly Burlington depending on the availability of land, but it most definitely should mean Vermont.
Vermont needs economic growth, but the state struggles to attract outside employers. The entrepreneurs and start-ups can create only so many jobs. When a homegrown employer like Blodgett wants to stay and grow here, there's every reason for everyone involved to try to make it work.
From: Mary Lintermann [mailto:MLintermann@DEWCORP.COM]
Sent: Monday, January 21, 2008 11:35 AM
To: Glenn McRae
Subject: FW: VEPC January 2008 Newsletter
FYI…
Attached is the January 2008 VEPC Newsletter. Please feel free to print and pass around!
Thank you
Click here to view the newsletter
From: Crifo, Hope G [mailto:Hope.Crifo@tdbanknorth.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2008 9:54 AM
Subject: FW: TD Economics Special Report: The Five Finger Guide: Economic Data that Provide a Heads-up to a U.S. Recession
Fyi
The other commission members might find this of interest.
-----Original Message-----
From: TD.Economics@td.com [mailto:TD.Economics@td.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2008 9:35 AM
Subject: TD Economics Special Report: The Five Finger Guide: Economic
Data that Provide a Heads-up to a U.S. Recession
Attached please find a special report from TD Economics entitled, "The Five Finger Guide: Economic Data that Provide a Heads-up to a U.S.
Recession".
Highlights:
Recession cries for the U.S. economy reached a feverish pitch among investors at the start of this year, as less-than-encouraging data were released on employment, manufacturing activity and retail sales. So what might investors look at to gauge recession risks and the tipping point? There isn't a single silver-bullet leading economic indicator that can perfectly predict recessions every time, but we've put together five indicators that have historical precedence in calling it right. These include: interest rate spreads, manufacturing ISM index, initial jobless claims, residential building permits, and private sector employment. So far, these indicators are not signaling that a recession will take hold over the next couple of quarters, but they are consistent with a considerable economic slowdown.
Click here to read the report
From: Grimes, Barbara [mailto:BGrimes@burlingtonelectric.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 12:00 PM
Subject: Article by JON MARGOLIS
IS IT A HIT OR MYTH?
Published January 13, 2008
Tax myths dispelled
By JON MARGOLIS
They are, so the saying goes, as certain as death, and almost as unwelcome. They've been blamed for the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. We complain about them as much as we complain about the weather. Even when they are low, they are too high. They are taxes, and we love to hate them. Especially in Vermont, where they are higher than anywhere else in America, where they are outpacing our ability to pay them, where they are stifling our economic growth. With one possible exception, none of that is true. In Vermont (and probably elsewhere) the discussion of taxes is shrouded in myth.
Click here to read the full article
From: Hinda Miller [mailto:hinda@deforestconcepts.com]
Sent: Monday, January 14, 2008 4:50 PM
Subject: FW: Job number request to Kevin Dorn
-----Original Message-----
From: Moulton.Powden, Pat [mailto:Pat.Moulton.Powden@state.vt.us]
Sent: Monday, January 14, 2008 10:43 AM
To: Hinda Miller; Kevin.Dorn@state.vt.us
Subject: Job number request to Kevin Dorn,
Hello Senator Miller,
Kevin Dorn said you were inquiring of him where the 12,000 jobs number came from that the Governor referenced in his State of the State address. That number came from here as we are the keepers of labor market information for the state.
The number is based on the number of people employed in November 2008, versus April 2003. As the attached spreadsheet shows, in April of 2003, which was the lowest point of employment since Governor Douglas took office, there were 296,700 people employed in all industries in the State of Vermont. In November 2008, that number had grown to 309,000 for a total of 12,300 more people employed. We do not publish, nor can we according to federal law, what employers have hired how many workers as that is restricted information. However, the attached spreadsheet does how which industry sectors have seen growth and which have seen decline.
I hope this answers your question. Let me know if you need anything more.
Pat
Patricia Moulton Powden, Commissioner
Vermont Department of Labor
5 Green Mountain Drive
P.O. Box 488
Montpelier, VT 05601-0488
From: Crifo, Hope G [mailto:Hope.Crifo@tdbanknorth.com]
Sent: Friday, January 11, 2008 5:15 PM
Subject: Vermont Economy Conf.
Mary Lintermann., Jay Kenlan, Sam Matthews and I went to the economic conf today, as well as Kevin Dorn and his team.
My takeaways -
Nationwide perspective - Moody's was not as negative as I thought - just slow down, not recession, not spike in corporate bankruptcies since firms have a lot of cash and are well capitalized. downturn in consumer spending, but by how much?- most vulnerable to cut consumer spending are those households with home equity lines in addition to mortgages. . gas at 4$ per gallon in peak summer driving season. look for 75 bp cut in discount rate, which will spur return to adjustable rate mortgages and housing.
Not much concern re: inflation. (I am surprised and don’t buy it)
VT as a state will need more people (population growth of only 467 odd people 0.8% in ‘07; to keep output, we will need to increase productivity) virtually no job growth in the state – jobs may actually have dropped in 2007, retail lost, construction lost and will lose more, health care and social assistance gained 1,400 however 400-500 o fthose were in homecare which is low paying. Government added 600.
From Fed guy, banks in good shape, ample capital in NE
Totally off the wall presentation by Stephen Rose - Myth of the middle class. Critical of data, but speaker vulnerable to same criticism.
Another perspective not presented at this morning’s conf. is outlined in the attached. As they mentioned this morning, VT does have an AAA rating, and so can borrow real cheaply.
Regards, Hope
Click here to read paper
From: Glenn McRae
Sent: Friday, January 11, 2008 3:54 PM
Subject: CFED report to the legislature
Attached is the final CFED report to the legislature, and the executive summary.
It has been sent to The Speaker and President ProTempore, the Chairs of House Ways and Means and Commerce, and Senate Economic Development and Finance, and a copy to the Governor.
It will be posted on the CFED web site at the beginning of next week.
In the spirit of saving trees, pages 1-11 are the actual report, the rest is appendices.
Click here to view report
From: Hinda Miller [mailto:hinda@deforestconcepts.com]
Sent: Friday, January 11, 2008 7:23 AM
Subject: happiness is a measure of fiscal health"
please send out the article from BFP Business section:" French President[Sarcozy]happiness is a measure of fiscal health" to CFED members.
French use happiness as economic measure
By EMMA VANDORE / AP Business Writer
Published: January 10th, 2008 03:30 AM
PARIS -- What price happiness? French President Nicolas Sarkozy is seeking an answer to the eternal question - so that happiness can be included in measurements of French economic growth.
Click here to read the full article
From: Glenn McRae
Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2008 7:38 PM
Subject: CFED - assignment for February
Our next meeting will be Monday, February 4th at the Central Vermont Chamber conference room again. We will meet from 9-4.
We have finished compiling all the materials and changes to the Report to the legislature. It will go out Friday and I will send an electronic copy to each of you. We will also post it on the web site at the beginning of next week.
Attached is the format for responding to the discussion questions that Jay posed at the last meeting. As noted at the meeting question one on the current Vermont economy may be a bit much to answer for anyone, but jot your thoughts on any of the topics about how we should look at it or where we should be sure to get information.
If you answer on the form in the box it will be easiest for me to compile all your input and get it back out to you. Input is due by January 23.
Click here to view the assignment
From: Will Patten [mailto:willp@vbsr.org]
Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2008 2:23 PM
To: Glenn McRae
Subject: Can you forward?
From: "Bill Schubart" <bill@schubart.com>
Date: January 10, 2008 1:40:53 PM EST
Subject: N Y Sun Op-ed on Vermont - upcoming
Vermont is not what you think
William Schubart
In the 14 years before joining the original colonies in 1791, Vermont was a feisty, independent republic with allegiance only to itself and the motto "Freedom and Unity."
Today it is the same landmass of mountains and river valleys 80 miles wide and 160 miles long with 608,000 people, fewer than those living on the East side of Manhattan between 34th and 72nd Streets. It is viewed by some as an den and by others as a sylvan asylum for reclusive nutcases who tax and regulate themselves or second homeowners to extinction.
Vermont's fragile equipoise is reflected in its motto. Unlike New Hampshire's less subtle "Live Free or Drop Dead" motto, Vermont's "Freedom and Unity" suggests an equilibrium of opposites — personal freedom and enterprise freedom along with attention to the commonweal. This plays out daily in the ongoing tensions between Vermont's largely centrist political parties, environmental and development interests, arrivistes and natives, haves and have-nots, trust-funders and earners. But it's all held together by a durable tradition of community that the steady influx of flatlanders has not yet altered for the worse. Most newcomers become converts or, worse, zealots.
What is this ephemeral and cohesive element called community? Its genesis was more practical than spiritual. It came from mutual dependency in hard times and an understanding that the individual has a compelling interest in the wellbeing of the community at large, not just in the self and immediate family. This principle survives today and is at the heart of Vermont's self-governance, reflected both in MarchTown Meeting and in Montpelier's citizen legislature. Vermont follows older, conservative principles in a narcissistic age. Yet, looking at the federation of states of which it is a part, Vermont is not doing that badly.
Vermont law requires it to spend no more than it has. Vermont maintains a rainy day fund. Last year, Moody's gave Vermont bonds the Aaa rating — the highest one — yet again. Vermont is a small state and its communal decision-making is transparent enough to make large scale corruption impossible.
With one of the lowest percentages of medically uninsured in the nation, 14 not-for-profit community hospitals, and a world-class academic medical center, Vermonters enjoy extraordinary health care access and quality. Last year, Vermont ranked near the top as one of the healthiest places to live and among the best states in the country for preventing "premature death" in people under 75 years of age.
Vermont's community school systems are among the most expensive in the nation, serving 97,000 students, but outcomes match the investment. In 2005 and 2006, Morgan Quitno, the publisher of monthly and annual state and city rankings, named Vermont as the nation's smartest state.
Many entrepreneurs have started and grown businesses in Vermont that capitalize on the state's resources and community values. They do not share the view that Vermont is unfriendly to business. In fact, most of Vermont's 300,000 jobs come from small business and the non-profit sector — the State, higher education, health care. IBM, GE, General Dynamics and Goodrich are exceptions.
In agriculture, Vermont is migrating from commodity fluid milk production to artisan food production, creating new local markets and intrastate economic loops. One can fish or swim in any Vermont river or lake and apart from the plague of yellow "no trespassing" signs on the recently acquired lands of flatlanders, one can hike, snowshoe, or cross country ski virtually anywhere.
So why is Vermont considered by some as the nutcase state? There are those who choose to see any bellwether as a threat to their own entrenched ideology. Vermont's legendary law banning billboards, the Environmental Act 250, the bottle deposit law, captive insurance legislation, and civil unions all were pioneering initiatives that many other states have emulated or adopted outright.
Much of this prescient legislation was initiated by fiscally conservative Republicans who felt strongly about Vermont's environment and maintaining a social safety net in its communities. For detractors, it's easier to simply generalize about Vermont than it is to look closely at how Vermont communities make, amend, and live with their decisions.
Vermont faces major challenges, not the least of which is preserving its deep-rooted sense of community in the face of economic, demographic, technical, and cultural change and extrinsic economic pressures.
There is a bipartisan will within the state to constrain taxation. But the "cut spending, lower taxes" chorus, shares the stage equally with others calling for a strategic economic development plan to unleash new business development and job creation.
Politically, 40% of Vermonters call themselves independents, crisscrossing party lines and voting for individual leadership qualities and principles rather than party ideologies. In 1985, Vermonters elected Ronald Reagan as president, Democrat Madeleine Kunin as governor and Progressive Socialist Bernard Sanders as mayor of its largest city.
Vermont is a place of great beauty. It enjoys natural and man-made wealth. There are easier places to live in this world, especially in January. But ease is not a Vermonter's only criterion for quality of life. The persistence of community and the sense that one can indeed have some control over one's destiny if one participates makes life in Vermont worthwhile.
Mr. Schubart is the founder and chairman of Resolution, Inc., Vermont's fifth largest technology firm. He writes commentaries and fiction at schubart.com and lives in Hinesburg,
Vt. Bill@Schubart.com
From: Grimes, Barbara [mailto:BGrimes@burlingtonelectric.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 8:23 AM
Subject: The issue of determining standards for poverty might interest you.
NEW YORK REGION | December 30, 2007
Bloomberg Seeks New Way to Decide Who Is Poor
By LESLIE KAUFMAN
The Bloomberg administration, frustrated by the federal government’s Great Society method of determining who is poor, is developing its own measure, which city officials say will offer a more modern and accurate picture of poverty. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg wants to adopt the new measure in part so he can better assess whether the tens of millions of dollars the city plans to spend on new anti-poverty programs will improve poor people’s standard of living. But officials also hope the new measure will set off a nationwide re-examination of the current federal standard, and prompt other cities and states to adopt the city’s method.
Read the full article