NEW WEST FEATURE

Colorado Governor Hits the Road With ‘Bottom-Up’ Business Plan

By David Frey, 3-31-11

	Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper

When Fiberforge Corp. moved into Glenwood Springs, Colo., earlier this year, it was the sort of economic development small towns across Colorado and the West dream about. The company, which makes lightweight thermoplastic parts for everything from backpacks to military helicopters, offers high-wage jobs, from assemblers to engineers, and isn’t a big polluter.

For Glenwood Mayor Bruce Christensen, the question for Gov. John Hickenlooper was, why can’t those things happen more often?

“We need some way that the state can bring capital into small towns to offer new jobs,” Christensen told the governor on Thursday as Hickenlooper stopped in the Western Slope town, part of his Bottom-Up Economic Development Plan tour scheduled to take him to all 64 Colorado counties to listen to locals about what the state can do to help their economies.

He’s not making big promises. As the state looks to cut $1 billion over the next couple years, Hickenlooper isn’t promising big fat grants or big programs. “We are making cuts that most people never dreamed we would see in our lifetime,” he said.

But the restaurateur-turned-politician says he wants to make the state more pro-business without sacrificing the environmental qualities many Coloradans see as central to their quality of life.

“We have to have more jobs, more people paying income tax in the state,” HIckenlooper told the crowd of business owners in a hotel conference room. “We can do that in such a way as to not jeopardize our quality of life going forward.”

HIckenlooper unveiled his Bottom-Up Economic Development Plan in one of his first moves after his January inauguration. He asked each county to come forward with its own economic development plan. Those will become part of 14 regional plans, which will fold into a state plan he hopes to release May 15.

In addition to his appearances, Hickenlooper is asking Coloradans to fill out an economic development survey describing the challenges and opportunities they see across a diverse state, where ski resorts, farming towns and metropolitan areas may have very different needs.

The plan comes as Colorado faces unemployment rates higher than the nation as a whole. In February, the state unemployment rate was at 9.3 percent, compared to the national rate of 8.9 percent. Here in Garfield County, the rate was even higher, at 10.8 percent. In rural Dolores County in southwest Colorado, the rate was at 19 percent, the state’s highest.

In Glenwood Springs, residents’ complaints ranged from gas drilling to school vouchers, but the heart of the tour is about economic development. Across the state, his office has heard issues ranging from highway repair to broadband access.

In some appearances, Dwayne Romero, director of the state Office of Economic Development and International Trade, brandished his 7-year-old daughter’s magic wand, a symbol of the challenges of a cash-strapped state trying to help counties jumpstart their economies.

But tough times can spur creativity, Hickenlooper urged, and if the state can’t hand out loans, it may at least be able to cut red tape. At his own restaurant, Hickenlooper said, he spent six months battling Denver inspectors over the height and placement of a deck railing instead of hiring for a new position.

Colorado “should be known as a state for innovation and young entrepreneurs,” he said. “I’m guessing a lot of them aren’t going to want to be in Denver or Colorado Springs. They’ll want to be in smaller communities.”

Nonetheless, Glenwood Springs has seen high-tech jobs slip away. Other towns have struggled to lure them in the first place.

“We have this town that has a wonderful quality of life that should be attractive to businesses that fit, and to the people that want to work in them,” Christensen said. “How do we get them here?”

Fiberforge is a perfect example, Christensen said. Not many towns of 9,600 have an aerospace component. Historically, the town has relied on retail and tourism. Having a defense contractor open up in a former Coor’s beer warehouse is new, but it’s the kind of business many small towns crave.

“Small-town, rural Colorado should get our attention,” Hickenlooper said.

Follow David Frey at www.davidmfrey.com and on Twitter.

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