REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PRINCIPLES

Introduction

The South Bay region of Los Angeles County is ideally positioned for development as a global center of the New Economy. The region's core competency, legacy of innovation, easy access to mature east west and developing north-south global markets, proximity to leading colleges, universities, and research institutions, and an energetic, multi-ethnic population combine to forge an unapproachable economic advantage.

Whether or not the South Bay achieves its New Economy potential is dependent upon several critical factors, the foremost of which is development of a regional vision shared by all jurisdictions. Shared vision development is made easy when each autonomous jurisdiction takes into account the same set of concepts during their individual planning processes. When all communities consider the same planning principles it is easy to create a seamless regional continuity.

This document is the South Bay Economic Development Partnership's identification of guiding principles against which each community is encouraged to measure their economic strategy for the benefit of the South Bay as a whole.

Rationale

Since the end of the recession in 1993, the resurgent Southern California economy has favorably impacted income and tax revenues to the benefit of residents, businesses and government. In the South Bay, a culture of innovation has powered the growth of New Economy technology companies producing goods and services highly prized in the global marketplace.

The South Bay Economic Development Partnership (SBEDP) is dedicated to the maintenance of continued economic growth for the benefit of all regional stakeholders and the avoidance of a 1980s style economic downturn.

The New Economy is a source of competitive advantage, not a new set of industries. A fundamental shift has occurred from mass production based on low cost and high quantity. Today, firms small and large must compete on the basis of speed using knowledge, quality and networks to flexibly meet consumer needs.

Key to success in the New Economy is a continuous innovation process that rapidly translates new ideas to market. Regions prospering in the New Economy understand and foster innovation.

Several characteristics of the New Economy are:

• Innovations are place-based. Innovation is a social process that is most effective when the ingredients, including dynamic clusters of complementary firms and specialized infrastructure are geographically clustered in a region. .

• People are the key ingredient for success. Success in the New Economy is dependent upon talented, resourceful and innovative people. Therefore, continuing universal education is critical to regional success.

• Quality of life is a critical economic issue. Creating communities where people want to live and work is essential for development of innovative regions.

• Regional perspectives are required. Cross-jurisdictional planning is necessary for the integration of the workplace, housing and open space as required by the New Economy.

• Resources or assets alone are not enough. Success is achieved when assets are linked with entrepreneurs and companies in a nurtured culture of innovation.

New Economy characteristics require regional leadership accomplish the following:

• Make regional quality of life a priority. There is a direct correlation between social and political conditions and economic growth. A region's quality of life is traditionally measured by indices such as crime rates, the amount of open space, and school standards. Today's sophisticated knowledge workers and their employers seek traditional criteria along with characteristics such as easy transportation, advanced communications, sound governance, and challenging cultural opportunities.

• Build fundamental economic assets. The region's assets include, but are not limited to, the educational base, the land area and physical infrastructure, resident and corporate citizens. The region’s asset base must be secured and enhanced.

• Connect entrepreneurs to assets. Linkages between the assets, the service providers and the customer – the entrepreneurs and growing businesses - foster efficient growth and asset utilization.

• Promote a culture of innovation. Economically successful regions spawn 'webs of association', which are networks of assets, resources and industry clusters. Regional leaders provide incentives for innovation by defining and promoting the region as innovative, and creating a focus on innovators – both individuals and companies.

LEADERSHIP Guiding Principles

The South Bay's ability to prosper in the New Economy is determined in part by regional leadership's attention to the aforementioned ingredients for success. We recommend that attention be manifested in accord with these Guiding Principles:

1. General:

• Maintain a regional approach to overriding issues. Organizations like the SBCOG, SBEDP and SBACC, together with other inter-city business, cultural and institutional organizations, are vital in a mobile and interconnected community of 15 cities.

• Monitor the progress of the region. Indices like the Massachusetts Innovation Index and the Index of Silicon Valley monitor a number of variables, from venture capital, patent activity and advanced degrees, to crime, commute times, and job formation. These indexes measure the strength of the region, both against other areas, and over time. A similar approach is recommended for the South Bay.

2. Quality of Life:

• Preserve the region's unique and established residential neighborhoods. When creating a 'sense of place', regional leaders should build upon established residential assets and encourage the redevelopment of transitional areas to provide housing affordable to first time and less established home buyers, who provide much of the creative labor supply for the New Economy.

• Ensure the continuation of the South Bay’s safe, low-crime environment. Successful economic regions provide residents and businesses with quality attention to public safety at all levels.

• Enhance the improvement of the visual environment. Resources should be dedicated to cross-jurisdictional landscaping, power line undergrounding, commercial and directional signage, and other items that visually enhance the community.

• Focus on infrastructure improvement at a regional level. Of ongoing concern is maintenance and improvement of traditional infrastructure especially traffic flow, traffic calming and parking management. Ease of movement is of strategic importance to community development and residential well being.

3. Area Assets:

• An efficient physical infrastructure for transportation, utilities and telecommunications must be maintained and expanded. Infrastructure is a quality of life issue and an asset. In particular, governmental and private efforts must be focused on promoting and expanding local and regional fiber optic networks bridging different jurisdictions.

• Linkages between business and educational institutions must be cultivated and promoted, paying particular attention to the preparation of a skilled workforce. Only when common understanding is achieved are students properly served with opportunity that satisfies their fullest capacity to learn and demonstrate acquired skills.

• Land needs of the New Economy must be researched and met. The South Bay has a rapidly dwindling stock of redevelopable property and development standards should ensure that the remaining land is attractive to wealth-creating businesses. In the New Economy high cost is not necessarily an impediment to growth, but low standards are.

 

4. Linkages:

• Networking organizations and clusters must be encouraged and nurtured. The New Economy grows and strengthens through regional collaboration and promotion of regional assets. Industry clusters provide synergy for economic sector growth and identification of crosscutting issues. It is the responsibility of both public and private sectors to develop and sustain robust cluster programs.

• Industry leaders must promote their products to the community. A strong sense of worth and desire to collaborate is created when the community knows the world stage value of its products. It is not enough for South Bay industry to toil in obscurity, known only by industrial partners. The community has a vested interest in regional economic issues and those products created here that contribute to the community's economic well being.

 

5. Culture of Innovation:

• The development of public awareness of the South Bay as a hotbed of emerging technology and New Economy innovation with (for example) a greater high technology output than Austin, Texas. The marquee value of the South Bay and its jurisdictions is determined by how we promote the region and consistently present the impressive array of regional assets. It is our responsibility to quantify our success and the asset base supporting that success.

• South Bay stakeholders must develop future leadership with quality government, academia, and business representation. As with other regions, the South Bay's transformation to a sustainable economic engine depends largely on public and private sector leadership. Current leadership needs to accept responsibility for development of next generation leaders; those who will continue South Bay program development, implementation, and consistency of purpose.

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