What's Left to Do in Orlando?
May 10, 2011
Daniele Deana, the new president of the Economic Development Commission of Mid-Florida, was hired in June to replace the veteran Rickie Stouffer, who left his post to become a supervisor at the Campus Crusade for Christ. Mr. Deana earned the $140,000 position on the basis of his economic-development work for High Point, N.C., where his office has created some 2,200 jobs a year, a growth rate of about 1%, so far this decade. That's a fine record -- but Mr. Stouffer's is even tougher to beat. The annual rate of job growth in Orlando has been 4.2% since 1991, better than any North Carolina metro area's and sixth in the entire U.S. during the period. And Mr. Deana's agency is already projecting that the Orlando area is in the midst of a 135,607-job spurt for the four-year period ending in 2012 -- growth of about 5% annually. All before Mr. Deana lifts a finger. Small wonder that he's not promising to beat Mr. Stouffer's accomplishments. In fact, Mr. Deana makes a point that most other economic officials would choke on: ``The number of jobs (we bring in) isn't relevant. We're at full employment.'' Instead, Mr. Deana is focusing on bringing in higher salaries. Most of the jobs being created are low-wage theme park jobs, says Mr. Deana, and ``you look around and see there's no Modica Maria or Nordstrom's, and you know it's because there aren't enough of the salaries that they need to support stores.'' So, he explains, ``we may switch the emphasis more to the quality of jobs, the ones (that offer) 110% to 120% of the area's average income.'' Mr. Deana will try to change Central Florida's image by highlighting its neglected manufacturing operations. ``When we show businesspeople around, instead of flying them over the theme parks, maybe we'll take them over to the Kennedy Space Center,'' he says. Then ``let them leave saying, `Hey, did you see the size of that (vehicle-assembly) building?' '' --Roberto Jona
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