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Editorial: Boosting business: First, do no harm

IslandPacket newsroom@islandpacket.com
High student loan debt, low-paying jobs and a wealth gap wider than those of previous generations have created a workforce full of young people starting their work lives in a very uncertain climate.
High student loan debt, low-paying jobs and a wealth gap wider than those of previous generations have created a workforce full of young people starting their work lives in a very uncertain climate. Kansas City Star

Beaufort County can and must come up with a better economic development strategy.

In fact, it's a shame to say, it needs a strategy, period.

It's a shame when the S.C. secretary of commerce comes to town and, in so many words, has to say we're a mess.

Bobby Hitt's main message in a day-long summit hosted by the Beaufort County and Hilton Head Island associations of Realtors was that Beaufort County cannot lure new business to the area until it creates an overarching plan to unify the many scattered public and private groups working to develop business leads in the area.

It's a shame when Beaufort Mayor Billy Keyserling says the state economic development office thinks we're a joke. " ... They haven't seen us do bologna in the last 20 years," he said.

Bluffton Mayor Lisa Sulka said there must be a countywide plan and county funding before the county could think of hiring someone to step into this "mess."

Beaufort County needs a point of contact for economic development, and it needs to work with the larger region. The line between Jasper and Beaufort counties becomes more blurred by the day. What is good for one should be good for the other. This region, from a proposed new port on the Jasper County side of the Savannah River to the ACE Basin to our north, needs to be considered as a single entity.

Some basics to help form a strategy include:

  • Government should ask itself, "If it's such a good idea, why isn't the private sector doing it?" Government can play a heavy role in spurring business, but it should not become a real estate agency or developer.
  • Since the world is beating a path to our doorway, first, do no harm to what we've got. And the main thing we've got are our natural resources. The beaches, rivers, salt marshes, trees, birds, creeks, sunshine, recreation and quality of life must be protected at all costs. They form the backbone of the local economy, and Beaufort County has proven that it will be mighty hard to diversify the hand we've been dealt: tourism, real estate, retail, small business and service providers.
  • Improve the schools, especially in Jasper County.
  • Reduce density by continuing to buy land and land-use rights, and encourage private conservation easements. We will never pave our way out of congestion, and we can never out-Atlanta Atlanta by trying to be something we're not.

    • In Beaufort County and statewide, potential economic development opportunities have been studied to death. The goals are all similar: diversification, higher salaries, brain-powered jobs, a better work force and capitalizing on existing assets.

    A good step at this low point would be to pull the different economic-development entities throughout the region together and first make sure we're not competing against one another within this small area.

    This story was originally published December 13, 2015 at 6:04 AM with the headline "Editorial: Boosting business: First, do no harm."

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