Printer-friendly version Reader Comments

The state's economy can grow while we sustain the resources that give us a competitive edge.

— By RICHARD BARRINGER and CATHERINE REILLY July 15, 2007

The Brookings Institution study last fall found that Maine's quality places are scarce and increasingly valuable assets in today's economy. "Accessible wild places and tranquil country farms, human-scaled Main Streets, and working waterfronts: these are what differentiate Maine from other places and in many respects drive its economy," the report said.

This spring, as part of an aggressive response to the Brookings report, Gov. John Baldacci created the Council on Maine's Quality of Place to examine the validity of this claim, and to consider whether and how we might make quality of place an added framework for Maine's community and economic development efforts.

Testimony in three public meetings from a wide variety of private, public and nonprofit sources, as well as research by the Maine State Planning Office yield a number of striking conclusions. Most important, Maine's outstanding quality of place is, indeed, an economic asset of great value and a viable source of sustainable growth in the Maine economy.

The challenge we face is how to make Maine's distinctive quality of place a renewable resource -- how, in Brookings' words, "to achieve sustainable prosperity for Maine people without wrecking the place!"

How do we sustain Maine's acknowledged quality of place as a resource for this and future generations? And how do we ensure that this public resource will provide economic opportunity for all Maine people?

We in Maine have learned from our friends in forestry that this will take careful, thoughtful planning, investment and management -- that is, a strategic approach to sustaining a scarce resource.

Beyond these key findings are further, important conclusions:

-- Maine residents understand that the world has changed. New technologies re- duce and even eliminate constraints of physical distance. Maine today attracts businesses and workers who could not previously have located here.

Globally, falling transportation costs and trade barriers have given businesses more freedom to locate in low-cost countries.

Competition grows tougher, and many of the state's traditional industries have modernized or faced de- cline. Many Maine people have faced hard choices about changing occupations, acquiring new skills and even relocating in search of economic opportunity.

-- Historically, Maine's assets of semi-skilled labor, hydropower and abundant natural resources allowed us to produce many goods at lower cost than elsewhere. Today, many of the state's economic development initiatives remain aimed at lowering businesses' costs. These efforts have undoubtedly kept some businesses in Maine, and mitigated job losses at some facilities; but pure cost-based competition gets harder every day.

-- Today, the economic playing field favors professional services and high value-added manufacturing over traditional resource extraction and commodity manufactures.

Successful businesses are those that can exploit new technologies, respond to changing consumer demand and generate innovative ideas to serve new markets. Surviving U.S. manufacturers aren't competing through lower cost, but through higher quality and value.

Technology and professional service industries have better long-term growth prospects than goods-producing industries, many of which are projected to decline.

-- Today's growth industries are founded upon knowledge, skills and innovation. The success of these firms often depends on their ability to attract and retain well-educated workers, more than traditional factors such as transportation costs, proximity to raw materials and cheap labor.They prefer to locate in places where employees and their families will want to live.

-- Places with favorable quality of place characteristics tend to experience both greater economic and population growth.

Nationwide, mobile Americans prefer attractive natural settings with opportunities for outdoor recreation, low crime rates and cultural attractions...