In 1999 the City of Muskegon, in partnership with Grand Valley State University, conceived of an alternative energy research facility called the Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center (MAREC). The purpose, to incubate green businesses right here in Muskegon. To reinvent ourselves. To be at the forefront of green technology. To create jobs. To pull ourselves from a long economic malaise, which currently has the city at 16% unemployment.
In 2003 the new MAREC building opened.
It's a pretty impressive building, the MAREC building.
MAREC is a self-sustaining distributive energy center that features a high-temperature molten carbonate fuel cell, photovoltaic solar roof tiles, and nickel metal hydride battery energy storage system. In addition, the facility offers business incubator space, energy laboratory, conference center, and classroom facilities.
One of MAREC's first successful businesses was WindTronics who developed a wind turbine that produces energy at wind speeds as low as 2 miles per hour, and it's within striking distance of actual affordability for household use....it was ranked among the 10 most brilliant products of 2009 by Popular Mechanics.
Pretty friggin' sweet. And when time came to set up where the factory and its 200 jobs would go they picked....Windsor, Canada. Not Muskegon, not Michigan, not even the United States.
Why did they pick Windsor Canada?
They were about to pick a city in Oregon. But finally went to Windsor because...
WindTronics officials say the company has accepted a $2.7 million Ontario government grant to initially produce the turbines in a vacant auto parts plant on Windsor’s west side.
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Because the jobs go to the places that can afford to woo them.
Period.
It's not the cities that can found the businesses, or the cities who invest in technology and research, or the cities that try hardest to "reinvent themselves" as so many have suggested was lacking in places like Muskegon or other "rust belt" towns.
No.
It's the regions that have both the infrastructure and the cold hard cash to woo the business.
This should give a taste of how even more lopsided things are likely to get.
As cities compete for jobs, you'll have cities with massive unemployment but no resources for location incentives Vs. cities with lower unemployment an a lot of location incentives. Right now Canada is faring much better than the United States in this recession and while Michigan struggles with a 2 billion dollar deficit, Ontario can afford to shell out millions in incentives. (And incidentally, the Republican controlled Senate in Michigan shut down the use of additional tax credits for luring business...the very last one they allowed lured three large green companies to an old Ford plant in Wixom...but now we're shut off from any more tax incentives...jerks)
I know a self-propagating problem when I see one. There is clearly an inverse relationship between the number of unemployed and the likelihood a business will create jobs in a region.
The bottom line?
There is no cavalry. Nobody is coming to help, and nobody is staying to help.
As unemployment, poverty levels, and homelessness surge...it's my opinion that only an increase in small business ownership and self employment is going to help the hardest hit regions. I would like to see Federal and State programs aimed at helping micro-businesses get off the ground, with the training to stay aloft, and freer access to Federally backed loans...small business loans are hard to get these days, and it's crushing communities across America.
I love the notion of the Green Manufacturing Revolution...but it's these smaller businesses that are the biggest drivers of new jobs nationally. And it's these smaller businesses that tend to have a connection to and investment in their communities.
This MAREC project with WindTronics wasn't a complete waste of time, by the way. The company is still based in Muskegon and employs 16 people who provide phone support. And that's okay. This is how it's going to be...jobs, one or two at a time won at the ground level.