It was good timing for me that former RI Future owner Brian Hull had to focus on finishing his studies at Harvard University earlier this year, giving me an opportunity to take over this site from him. Now it’s good timing for Rhode Island.
Hull just graduated from Harvard’s prestigious Kennedy School of Government with a Masters Degree in Public Policy focusing on economic development and social and urban policy and he would make an excellent and logical appointment to the state Economic Development Board.
In the wake of the 38 Studios fallout, there are currently as many as five vacancies on the EDC board. Instead of filling all those slots with the same type of local business leaders that typically inhabit the seats at the EDC table, Gov. Chafee should consider naming at least one person – and probably more – who understands economic development from a systematic perspective.
“The structure of the RIEDC lacks a presence of a theoretical understanding of economic development planning and that’s something I could bring to the table,” Hull told me, when I told him about my idea for this post the other day. “Rather than looking for the next best ‘deal’ which is how things are currently done, RIEDC really needs to focus on the larger picture of the state’s economy in relation to the region, play on its assets and strengths, and think about a long-term growth strategy that targets resources in focused way.”
Hull, who lives in Providence with his wife and plans to stay in the home they own, tried to get a job in economic development in Rhode Island. Instead, he landed a job as a senior policy analyst with the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, a Boston-based “nonprofit research and strategy organization and the leading authority on U.S. inner city economies and the businesses that thrive there.”
While he’ll be working with cities all across the country, he’s also looking for a way to stay involved with economic development here in Rhode Island, too.
I asked Hull what kind of experience he has successfully implementing economic development plans, and he sent me this list:
Rethinking Workforce Development for Providence’s Labor Force: A skills gap analysis for Providence’s labor force, review of the workforce development system servicing Providence residents, and a comprehensive actionable list of recommendations and implementation procedures to modify the current training system in order to improve service delivery, achieve better employment outcomes for Providence residents, and better engage low-income and low-literacy populations in job training programs to facilitate their employment.
City of Worcester Economic Development Plan: Formulate an economic development plan for the City of Worcester by undertaking four-part strategic assessment of the local economy to understand its strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for leveraging additional economic development through a baseline analysis, development agenda, strategic focus on key areas, and detailed research and analysis. The report (1) identifies key economic development opportunities and challenges in Worcester, (2) offers a strategy of proactive change to overcome those challenges and capitalize on opportunities, and (3) provides first steps to prioritize, target, and implement the strategy. The strategy synthesizes a variety of economic development approaches, and is rooted in Worcester’s context – inherent assets, established partnerships, existing business support capacity, and common goals for the City’s future.
City of Miami Transportation and Logistics Business Cluster Analysis: This report analyzes on the competitiveness of Miami’s transportation and logistics cluster, with a focus on marine transportation, by identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the Port of Miami in relation to other ports in the state, in the country, and in the world. It also recommends specific changes to ensure that the Port of Miami retains and grows its current market share in the transportation of high-value added goods and the global cruise industry.
New Orleans Broad Street Four Corners: This report proposes a strategic partnership in New Orleans, LA between Broad Community Connections, a nonprofit that focuses on revitalizing a section of the Broad Street corridor, and the Crescent City Community Land Trust, a new land trust in New Orleans that will focus on commercial and residential redevelopment. As part of the analysis, we examined current models of community land trusts in the United States that have experience with commercial properties.
Typically, people are appointed to the Economic Development Corporation’s board because they have been successful in business. Hull has been successful in economic development. The two are not the same thing. We ought to have people who have succeeded in business on that board, but we ought to also have people who have succeeded in economic development.
Hull has done both, having also run a successful photography shop, more akin to the kind of businesses that are the back bone of the Ocean State, for 15 years before going to Harvard.
If you agree that Hull should be appointed to the EDC board, tweet this article to @LincolnChafee or send the governor’s office an email: governor@governor.ri.gov.
Thanks a lot Bob. I also think this would be a great idea!
Brian Hull would be a strong candidate for the EDC because he wrote a number of insightful commentaries opposing the 38 Studios loan and explaining how it was the wrong course for the state to take before the loan blew up. Oh wait, actually he did the complete opposite and authored an article here offering qualified support for the 38 Studios loan, failed to address any of the major issues with the loan, and described how wonderful it could turn out for the state. OOPS.
There are vacancies on the board because members were fired for having bad judgment and supporting the atrocious 38 Studios loan, to which most taxpayers were vehemently opposed. So your suggestion is replacing them with somebody else who publicly supported the 38 Studios loan. Brilliant.
You assert that the EDC is full of people who succeeded in business. No mention of the union presence on the EDC?
“Rather than looking for the next best ‘deal’ which is how things are currently done, RIEDC really needs to focus on the larger picture of the state’s economy in relation to the region, play on its assets and strengths, and think about a long-term growth strategy that targets resources in focused way.”
This is meaningless political-speak and blather. I’d like to hear what his concrete suggestions are and an explanation of how they differ from looking for the best “deals.”
Really? Is that how you interpret this: www.rifuture.org//38-studios-kingdoms-of-amalur-and-economic-development.html
As for me being critical of the deal initially, that has been settled. I was. You just choose to ignore that.
You qualified your statements, but the only real reservations you expressed were about provisions related to the number of jobs 38 Studios was required to create (which ended up being totally irrelevant in the end). Your article and subsequent comment were absolutely supportive of the loan and optimistic about the future of the company, and you failed to recognize any of the very serious fundamental problems with this deal before the whole thing blew up. It doesn’t make you a bad or unintelligent person, in fact I believe the contrary about you, but it’s a troubling track record for this specific type of position (which I don’t think should exist at all, for the record).
I predicted the result of 38 Studios from day one and warned of the consequences - maybe the governor should appoint me to the EDC. Except that I have the integrity to admit that I don’t have any magic top-down solutions to steer the state economy, unlike the rest of the wanna-be “players” on the board, so I’m disqualified on that basis. Such is the problem of selection bias on these political central planning boards.
I agree Brian would be an asset to the EDC. I tweeted the Gov!
I don’t own the remote that controls the gov, but if I did, I’d program him to say, “Wait a minute. There’s far too little outrage here. This 75 million that soon became 122 million and counting, happening when it did and in the name of “jobs” (100 or more in Maryland??) is indicative of a much deeper rot.”
The Projo already wants us to pay up and move on. So weak and pathetic, yet they still imagine that they control the narrative.
The fact that Carcieri is a known blockhead who is as thick as a plank should not, by itself, excuse him from accountability.
Yes, it is like talking to a very thick wall, but talk we should. Or, maybe, yell in anger and outrage.
To talk about reconstituting the EDC at this early stage just indicates to me that everyone is way too willing to move on.
How about disbanding the EDC and going back to the drawing board?
I know, I know–all of that wonderful letterhead stationery. Impossible beyond belief to achieve this disbandment, I know.
But, of course, it could be done and very easily.
Too much like an angry response, I guess.
Don’t want to rile the porkers; just get a crony appointed to the board. And move on.
Ah, yes, without investigation; again, without justice, the healing has begun.
Brian, why don’t you tell the governor that you wouldn’t touch this committee, in its present form and under this name, with a barge pole??
“Brian, why don’t you tell the governor that you wouldn’t touch this committee, in its present form and under this name, with a barge pole??”
Because, as Curt Schilling proved perfectly, everyone has a price.
“everyone has a price” Coming from a libertarian (or “libertarian”), what does this even mean?