Agenda - Council - 10/25/1983 - Laserfiche WebLink

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,m I I :1 "I I '1 '1 I I I I I I i I I ISSUES AND POLICIES The proposed policies are arranged in four groups, each of which focuses on a general issue. o The Council's decisions and actions do affect business decisions. Therefore, it is important that economic factors be considered in the Council's decision-making process. The AREA-WIDE POLICIES state that economic needs should be considered in Council reviews and capital expenditure decisions related to the metropolitan agency systems (highway, transit, air, sewers and parks). o Businesses do not always consider broad regional issues when making development decisions. The Council is in a position to provide information on this broader view to the business community. The POLICIES FOR COORDINATING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT make more explicit a number of roles the Council is already performing. Under these policies, the Council will collect and distribute economic and demographic data to the business community, examine economic issues related to the entrepreneurial climate and retraining of the Region's labor force and monitor economic development efforts in the Region. o High interest rates in recent years have emphasized a. need for capital in the business community. Smaller businesses have had that need even before rates were high. The nation, including Minnesota and the Region, is entering an era where the public and private sectors are working together more closely--particularly in the area of financing. Government sector financing has its critics (see Position Paper on Tax Exempt Financing as an Economic Development TOOl', Aug. 2, 19B3)'.' However, if used appropri'atel~jI ~t is one area where job growth can be stimulated. The BUSINESS FINANCING POLICY is very general and is geared to making more capital available to businesses. Two programs are being proposed under this policy--a regional Small Business Administration 503 program and a regional program for issuing industrial revenue bonds. These are discussed in detail in the implementation section of the policy document. o In the nationwide effort to help businesses help themselves, the needs of the poor and the unemployed sometimes have been forgotten. There are programs dealing with various aspects of their problems, but there is no comprehensive or regional approach to the problems, nor is there any attempt to coordinate the programs. The ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY POLICY will be used to study the various problems and programs for the poor and unemployed, and attempt to find ways to integrate the efforts and solutions.