|
|
| |
| Sun, Nov. 23, 2008 |  |
 |
|
||
| |
Conway's 'watershed' event Thursday, Jun 19, 2008 By John Brummett When news leaked Monday that computer giant Hewlett-Packard would open a facility in Conway, three people instantly came to mind. One was Jerry Adams, a passionate visionary, recently retired from Acxiom and now on the board of the Conway Development Corp., a private group devoted to promoting economic growth. He also is one of the driving forces behind Accelerate Arkansas, a group devoted to emphasizing science, technology and engineering to seed modern knowledge-based industry so that Arkansas can better pursue an ambitious goal of reaching the national income average by 2020. Adams carries around this report from the Milken Institute citing the threat of a "death spiral" for states like Arkansas. What that means is that knowledge-based jobs breed other knowledge-based jobs. A place without any in the first place stands to get behinder and behinder. Adams' fervent spiel has been that you can't be passive in the face of such a dismal prognosis. So it comes to be today, in his own hometown, that Hewlett-Packard will announce that it is bringing maybe 1,200 high-paying, new-economy jobs. "It's a watershed event," Adams said Tuesday. "It's truly a major turning point. It will give us self-confidence. It will give us traction." He said the entire state ought to benefit from the message that Arkansas offers the "eco-system, one that can nurture education and leaders" to lure one of the most prominent high-tech employers in the world. That's all he would say, not wanting to pre-empt Gov. Mike Beebe and his economic development director, Maria Haley. "The governor's efforts have been positively Herculean," Adams said. As it happened, Beebe was the second person coming to mind. A former state legislator was telling me recently that Beebe is the most powerful governor of his lifetime, owing to his experience and skills as set against the anemia of a term-limited legislature. Even the hard-to-please liberals at the Arkansas Times put Beebe on the cover with adoring coverage last week. Apparently the governor will tap that $50 million "quick action closing fund" that the Legislature gave him last year. It's money at his disposal, subject to administrative and legislative review, of course, to provide whatever final touches the state can reasonably provide to cement a deal like this one. Some people dismiss such inducements as sell-outs or bribes. Alas, they're essential anymore. Yes, Hewlett-Packard is looking for a community with sound education and livable amenities. Yes, Conway is such a place, benefiting at once both from Little Rock's attachment and detachment. It asserts the good of the bigger city while boasting of being a half-hour away from the bad. Still, Hewlett-Packard is no missionary operation. There are other alluring communities around the country. It comes to Arkansas only if Arkansas offers an approximation of as good an opportunity to tend to its bottom line as it could get elsewhere. Finally, thinking of Beebe made me think of state Sen. Gilbert Baker of Conway, the Republican whom Beebe, in a move most unusual for him for its raw partisanship, has targeted for defeat in November. "Hey, like I've always told you, Faulkner County is the center of the universe," the perpetually energetic and optimistic Baker said. I figure Beebe is going to have one failure. It's that Baker is going to get re-elected with 60 percent of the vote. "You're nice to say that," Baker replied. "But I'm running like my hair's on fire." ------- John Brummett is a columnist for the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock. His e-mail address is jbrummett@arkansasnews.com; his telephone number is (501) 374-0699. |
