The Rostrum

By PETER B. FOX, former Director, Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs

Peter Fox left DCCA July 1 after three years with Illinois' economic development agency. He is currently with Bear Stearns, & Company, a Chicago investment firm. This article is both a reaction to a recent Illinois Issues article and an overall assessment of DCCA 's work, particularly when Fox ran the department.

I ENJOYED Roger Vaughan's recent article on state economic development efforts and whether certain short-term actions are really in the nation's best long-range interest. I am certain all of us who worked each day on ways to improve the Illinois economy found many of his observations stimulating. I am afraid, however, that a casual reader would get the mistaken impression that Illinois has pinned all its hopes for a robust recovery on high tech; this simply is not true. Your readers should know that emphasis on high tech is just one of the many tools Gov. James R. Thompson employs to better the Illinois economy.

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From the day he took office, the governor recognized that prudent management is among the most effective steps he could take to provide all Illinois residents an optimum environment in which to live, work and do business. He accomplished this by maintaining tight control of the budget, which in turn has enabled Illinois to retain a Triple-A bond rating (important to keeping state borrowing costs down) and avoid, until this year, the need for higher taxes. In addition, Illinois has gradually reduced or eliminated certain taxes (gradual phasing out of sales tax on manufacturing machinery, allowing local property tax abatement to encourage development, eliminating the inheritance tax), and the Thompson administration has brought business and labor together to work out mutually satisfactory reforms in the Worker's Compensation and Unemployment Insurance programs.

Further, Illinois has developed the Industrial Training Program through which the state reimburses firms to offset the cost of training workers on new or complex machinery. This program was used when International Harvester elected last summer to install state-of-the-art equipment at its Farmall facility in Rock Island as part of its nationwide restructuring. This particular example illustrates as well the attitude of Illinois officials toward our mature industries. Although we do not expect many of our heaviest industries to again reach production and employment levels enjoyed at their peak, we do see merit in selective assistance. This is why Illinois helped Chrysler (whose Belvidere plant is so sophisticated that some automaker would have used the facility no matter how Chrysler fared) and Hyster, whose consolidation of West Coast operations in Illinois means the creation of 2,000 new jobs in Kewanee and Danville by 1987.

Meanwhile, Illinois is actively pursuing plans to help its 200,000 small businesses — the backbone of our economy and the source of most new jobs in this state. For example, Illinois last fall set up the Illinois Small Business Growth Corporation to give every business in the state access to long-term, low-interest, fixed-asset loans. The program is already paying dividends, and Gov. Thompson is developing the "Illinois Plan" in conjunction with the U.S. Small Business Administration to give small- and medium-sized firms the money they need to get started, advice on securing government contracts and up-to-the-minute information through a small business data network serving the entire state. Already, 21 Illinois community colleges, working with the department of Commerce and Community Affairs (DCCA), have established business assistance centers to provide training and other assistance for small businesses in their jurisdiction.

In addition, DCCA is implementing the new federal Job Training Partnership Act so effectively that dislocated workers at 18 Illinois locations with severe economic difficulties will get job training or counseling by this fall, typically through area community colleges. Workers can learn new skills, adapt those they have or, when possible, be placed in new jobs using their old skills.

The list of constructive steps taken by DCCA and the state of Illinois goes on and on. In all, DCCA runs some 40 programs designed to create and retain jobs for the people of Illinois at the lowest possible cost to taxpayers and with a minimum of red tape for our businesses. We work to market Illinois coal and other state products overseas and actively encourage foreign companies to locate here. DCCA administers three major block grant programs to foster economic development, help further the work of community action agencies and assist those unable to meet heating or cooling bills.

How does Illinois publicize these and all its other worthy economic development programs? Through the "Illinois, Inc." campaign kicked off by Gov. Thompson two years ago. Part of this campaign includes videotapes and the theme, "Discover the Magnificent Miles of Illinois," and, in my view, the advertising Illinois does to proclaim proudly its many virtues is long overdue. The good reasons for doing business and living in Illinois include excellent schools at every level, a highly skilled labor force, transportation second to none, a central location, natural blessings like plentiful water and the world's best farmland and — yes — an atmosphere conducive to developing the burgeoning high tech industries. But don't take my word alone on this last point; listen as well to the 1982 conclusion in an impartial study by the Joint Economic Committee of Congress which found, "The Midwest may offer the best bundle of locational attributes to high-technology companies" in the years ahead. In Illinois, high tech should do especially well in the corridor between Fermilab and Argonne National Laboratory west of Chicago.

I believe it is clear Illinois is moving quickly yet prudently on many economic development fronts, not merely in the realm of high tech. Illinois has made considerable progress in recent years, and the future appears even brighter.

August 1983 | Illinois Issues | 37