The current mayor of Nashville and the former mayor have different visions for their city. One sees a city as buildings, the other as people.
I am hard pressed to accept that a city is nothing more than inanimate bricks, stone and steel. There is ample evidence that without a vibrant, educated and dynamic people there is no city, that buildings are nothing more than brittle shells of old cocoons — even historic ones.
For more than two years I have implored elected officials and would-be leaders of the community to proactively recruit the skilled and educated people we need in Savannah.
We all know it is a chicken-or-egg thing regarding jobs, but we will have to prove to prospective employers that the region can produce the necessary work force.
Yet we also know that politicians, more interested in re-election today than prosperous constituents tomorrow, would be seen as traitors to act so boldly.
I have also pointed out the growing disparity between an aggressive, increasingly successful Charleston, S.C., and a complacent Savannah, something I hoped would stir a competitive spirit. It did not happen.
It is disappointing to read cherry-picked assessments of the city’s economy, such as the manufacturing sector, promoted as part of a balanced economy.
It looks that way on the surface, yet of the 12,000-plus employed in that sector, almost 75 percent work for two companies. That is not balance.
Unemployment is another rosy figure, declining from 8.1 percent to 7.4 percent of the region since January, but that figure is illusory. A better gauge of the unemployment estimate measures not only displaced workers but marginally attached and part-time workers looking for full-time work.
That figure is closer to 13.5 percent. There are then the ones who just don’t care to work at all; they are not even considered in these calculations. Look at the 25 percent poverty rate for a better picture of the region’s economic and fiscal health.
This city needs an influx of new skilled people so that we have a better shot at major employers, can create more jobs for those without them and have an honest chance of cutting the poverty rate significantly.
Instead we have local politicians forever demanding jobs for the poor. It isn’t happening, and it isn’t going to happen. Instead they should be minding the recommendations of SEDA’s Stanford Research Institute report, and they should be beating the drums for growth.
Take a moment to consider for yourself the cultural, institutional, educational, philanthropic and business organizations that are so valuable to the region and which have created so many jobs.
We can never overestimate the contributions non-native Savannahians have made to them all. It is a testament to the fact that they care a great deal about this city.
This is my final piece for this column. It has been a privilege to have had the opportunity to share my opinions with the public these past three years.
I had hoped to be able to engender a discussion in Savannah about where this city is headed, why it lags its peers and what courageous political decisions will have to be made in order to get it moving. There has been no movement. But it was, and still is, worth the effort.
There continues to be minimal population growth and negligible improvement in the skills of the workforce. The poverty rate is atrocious. The schools are, ah, hopeful, but not if you talk to teachers and universalize their nightmare stories.
To those of you who have emailed or complimented this column, I am grateful. In fact your support has kept it going for longer than I had intended. I tried to convey the substance of macroeconomics in clear English, expressed through real life experiences and not textbook theory.
I hope I presented the city in objective, even if harsh light; I do not have much use for journalistic puffery. However, I was the big learner. I learned that writing for the public requires a lot of work, responsibility for truth, accuracy, civility and decorum both out of respect for the reader as well as the publisher.
I will be back; I’ll just see you on another page.
Russ Wigh is a professor of business. Email him at rdwigh@bellsouth.net.