Eugene weekly., May 08, 2003, Page 16, Image 16

rejected a proposal for funding an assistance
program for local small business and instead
used the money to give Hynix another $2 mil-
lion in tax breaks.
Jack Roberts, the head of the Metro
Partnership, says his agency’s efforts target
both small and large businesses. If big volatile
industries are “the end all and be all of your
economic development strategy, it will fail,” he
says.
But when Hynix (then called Hyundai)
came to town in 1995, Roberts was a major
booster and dismissed the small businesses at
Saturday Market. At a pro-Hynix rally, Roberts
jeered tax break opponents, saying “How much
more do they think they’ll be making working
at the Saturday Market?”
Saturday Market supporters pointed out
that, in fact, the market has employed far more
local people for far more years than Hynix and
is a major incubator of spin-off local business-
es and a major tourist attraction, even without
millions of dollars in public subsidies.
Kelly, who serves on the Metro Partnership
board, says he’s urged more work for small
business but corporate “recruitment seems to be
getting most of the focus.”
TARGETED RECRUITING
“There is a place for very targeted recruit-
ing,” Kelly says. But he says it shouldn’t be of
low-paid, unstable jobs stamping chips at
“cookie cutter” factories. Companies that
design products or do other knowledge-based
work depend on local skilled workers, provide
higher paid jobs and are less likely to leave,
according to Kelly.
Kelly, himself a computer programmer,
says one high-wage, low-impact industry that
could work for Eugene is software develop-
ment. “We’ve got a lot of very talented software
developers locally,” he says. But the local
industry may need some help to take off. Local
companies are having trouble attracting skilled
workers who worry that there aren’t many other
local software firms to switch to if a new
employer folds. “There isn’t enough of a criti-
cal mass,” Kelly says.
Councilor Betty Taylor says the city should
“try to discourage the big box stores coming in”
and driving small, local downtown stores out of
business. The city spends millions trying to
revive downtown while helping Wal-Mart and
others build big new stores on the edge, she
says, “I think it’s so stupid.”
Kelly says the city could change its pur-
chasing rules to give preferences to local sup-
pliers. The city could also help educate con-
sumers to buy from locally owned businesses
and show the local impact, “when they go to
Wal-Mart instead of Jerry’s,” he says.
“There’s no magic economic bullet,” Kelly
says. He says the Metro Partnership should
involve citizens in a “very broad community
conversation” about what economic strategy
people want. Talking now will help avoid sur-
prises and backlash at subsidies later, according
to Kelly.
To design Oregon’s economic development
strategy, Kulongoski has been conversing most-
ly with big business leaders. Part of his strategy
does involve investing in some government
services to create jobs. He wants new taxes and
fees to support increased tourism marketing and
road and bridge repair work.
But Kulongoski and his development direc-
tor Brantley’s focus is on recruiting big industry
to come to Oregon. If schools are in a funding
crisis, “The way you grow the revenue is to
grow the tax base,” says Brantley.
Oregon must keep taxes low and expand tax
DESIGN IT & THEY WILL COME
The ring of fallen big business is still echoing here in Lane county, but Eugene could be
a Northwest hotspot for small business success based on art, design and media. Several
such businesses are surviving, even flourishing, here.
Carolyn and Rick Fierro own and run Fierro Designs, a company that caters to a niche
market — fresh produce suppliers. Fierro Designs creates graphics for produce containers —
boxes, crates, etc.
Fierro Designs began in the San Francisco Bay area. At the height of the dot-com mad-
ness, the Fierros found that they kept losing employees to “the next big thing.” “After our
last designer left,” says Carolyn Fierro, “We said, ‘Do we really want to be here?’”
The decision to move to Eugene was based on quality of life. Fierro says, “We were look-
ing for a community where we could really set down roots and we had always loved Oregon.”
The Fierros have found the lifestyle and community they were looking for. As for the
business end, Fierro says, “The way it works, we aren’t really dependent on the local econ-
omy.” Fierro Designs has clients in California, Arizona, even Kansas. Their niche market and
the ability to work via the Internet allows the Fierros to enjoy life away from the big city,
with the ability to grow a business one might find there.
Steve Christiansen is one of two owners of InterVision, a company of designers, pro-
ducers and publishers of video and interactive media. Again, lifestyle is a factor in deciding
to start a small, creative business in a small town full of creative people. Christiansen says,
“One develops a niche. We feel the environment here is supportive in that a small town
allows you to build a network and make connections with some ease.” InterVision has been
so successful in that networking process that they now house a number of related busi-
breaks to lure the big companies that will
expand the tax base, according to Brantley. “If
the cost of business goes up, that appeal to go
somewhere else becomes very strong.”
That somewhere else could be a state like
South Carolina. That state has some of the low-
est taxes and biggest corporate breaks in the
nation. South Carolina also has some of the
lowest SAT scores in the U.S. and 40 percent of
homes are unconnected to sewers.
A recent report from the Oregon Center for
Public Policy shows Kulongoski’s strategy of
funding schools through business growth won’t
work. Oregon will have to grow far faster than
most economists predict to make up enough rev-
enue in the next five years to get back to gov-
ernment funding levels before the recession.
Economist Whitelaw says giving more tax
breaks to get more tax revenue doesn’t make
sense. Logically, “it starts to unravel.”
But if you spend more on schools and other
key government services, research shows
“unequivocally, it improves economic growth,”
Whitelaw says. On the other hand, “if you
decrease it [spending], it has a negative effect,”
he says. “Low taxes with low services are going
to screw you over the long run.”
ew
by Bobbie Willis
nesses and even client businesses in their downtown building.
Joy Archer and Harry Pattison own Volcano, Inc., a group of writers who create film,
video and audio materials, largely marketing related. They work directly with clients such
as Oregon Medical Group, Silk Soy Milk, Oregon Chai, and indirectly with companies such as
3Com, Comedy Central, Nordstrom and Mutual of Omaha.
Of the difficulties in running a small, creative business venture in this town, Archer says,
“Eugene can be very difficult to work in successfully as a creative professional … It seems
that often the standard of ‘quality work’ is relaxed here, which isn’t at all helpful. The key to
our success has been to define ourselves as ‘working from Eugene,’ that is to say, living and
working in Eugene, but focusing on clients and projects that are out of market — ranging
from the entire West Coast to as far east as New York and Boston.”
In terms of whether the city supports small businesses, Archer says, “Eugene doesn’t
deliberately support small business. Few towns do. But we’d be very surprised if small busi-
nesses aren’t responsible for the vast majority of jobs in town … It’s interesting that Eugene
tends to view small business with such benign neglect, since it’s most likely the key to revi-
talizing downtown … Goofy choices like parking meters make it harder for small businesses
to survive downtown. Like most towns, misguided as they may be, Eugene tends to put its
eggs in the occasional big basket like a Hynix or a PeaceHealth, instead of into the more vig-
orous and rugged small businesses that have made us kind of a cool town in the first place.”
Archer is hopeful, however, and Volcano is thriving. She says, “The broader focus has
paid off, we believe, for the clients that we work with locally. And their recognition of the
quality of our work is very heartening for the future.”
DETAIL OF A MURAL BY CARL MORRIS.
© 2 0 0 3 W i d m e r B ro t h e r s B re w i n g, Po r t l a n d, O re g o n
L U C K I LY, I T D O E S N ’ T TA K E
P E R F E C T LY B A L A N C E D M E N T O C R E AT E
A P E R F E C T LY B A L A N C E D B E E R .
It goes without saying that men willing to dedicate 17 years
of their lives to the perfect glass of hefeweizen have different
priorities than most. Would you fly to Düsseldorf for a small
sample of hundred-year-old yeast? Or scour the Northwest for
Kurt Widm er
the best hops? No, Kurt and Rob Widmer are not “balanced.”
Rob Widm er
Which is precisely why Widmer Hefeweizen is.
w w w. w i d m e r. c o m
16 MAY 8, 2003