By Brandon Beach

For over 40 years we have been blessed with unprecedented economic growth.  Except for several very short cyclical hiccups, business has expanded and flourished throughout Georgia and Metro Atlanta at a record pace. 

But today we are in uncharted waters.

We can no longer sit back and hope jobs to come to us.  We must be proactive in protecting the jobs while growing new ones. Hope may ring eternal in our hearts and souls, but it's not a business strategy.

First up is to dramatically advance our economic development investment in the state. For example, we spent $410 million to market, court and finally land the KIA plant, which directly employs over 5,000 workers.  The various ancillary businesses that serve KIA account for another 5,000 jobs created.  That means that the acquisition of this one company has spurred 10,000 brand new jobs in the area. That's 10,000 families.

TEXAS LEAVES US IN THE "PRARIE DUST"

As a comparison, Texas invested $250 million in the same time frame as outlined above to our $410 million. What was their result? 54,000 jobs and $7 billion in new infrastructure. Dollar for dollar, they left us in their prairie dust.

We need to go after what I call "sensible deals" not just "sexy deals".  In baseball terms, we need 100 singles and in lieu of one home run. The one big hit may make the headlines, but it doesn't cost out long-term.

In 2009, Georgia's economic development investment "deal-closing fund" woefully trailed Texas, North Carolina and Florida.

The numbers are as follows:

Texas - $430 million
Florida - $388 million
North Carolina - $111 million
Georgia -  $ 89 million

THREE PERCENT FOR METRO ATLANTA IS UNACCEPTABLE

Worse yet, the majority of our paltry $89 million, branded as "One Georgia," must be spent in rural outposts of the state.  Last year, only an anemic $2 million was spent in Metro Atlanta. This is unacceptable.

The Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce is embarking on an Economic Development initiative. We have started the process by hiring a company to re-brand North Fulton.  Once the re-branding piece is complete we will then produce a website, collateral material and hire the staff to implement and execute the marketing strategy.  We will continue to market and sell our great product here in North Fulton.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions please e-mail me at brandonlbeach@aol.com.

Paid For By Brandon Beach For State Senate