The effort of the Council for Economic Outreach to bring 4000 additional $12.50 per hour jobs to Alachua County will serve no public purpose and, consequently, should receive no public funding. The objective of the CEO is population-increase that the jobs will attract.

The phenomenal population growth in Florida over the last 20 years is a direct consequence of efforts such as the CEO's to lure businesses from elsewhere to relocate to Florida. This obvious connection between jobs and growth was pointed out by Stan Smith, director of the UF Bureau of Economic and Business Research, "New job opportunities is really the main reason for the ongoing population explosion."

People follow the jobs; it is that simple: jobs, people, real-estate sales, construction, shopping malls, a business boom. Those who profit from growth, including the local newspaper, do very well indeed. The CEO knows this connection between jobs and growth quite well and hopes to exploit it for their benefit. They are running a well-oiled urban growth machine (see, for example, Better not Bigger, by Eben Fodor).

Alachua County has among the lowest unemployment rates in the entire country and there is no shortage of jobs at the $12.50 level. One problem in common with the whole country is the two-tier economy in which lowest-paid workers receive only $5-6 per hour. New jobs and growth do nothing to improve this since the number of service jobs outpaces other jobs. A living wage ordinance is one of the few proven ways to correct this problem.

In addition to the 4,000 new residents per year that we have already, an increase of about 20,000 could be expected from 4000 $12.50 per hour jobs, because of the multiplier effect of the low-paying service jobs that would be generated. The results are predictable: more South Florida type sprawl with traffic congestion, crowded schools, environmental destruction, and higher taxes to pay for the growth.

While those who profit from growth would reap the benefits of the boom, taxpayers would have to foot the bill for infrastructure since we still have no mechanism for growth to pay even a small part of its own way. At an estimated cost of $40,000 per dwelling unit, infrastructure costs for 10,000 new units would be $400,000,000. Even a five cents increase in gas tax and long-term continuation of the seven cents sales tax would not be enough.

The CEO has taken heat for some of the projects it has pushed such as Florida Rock and Dollar General. A year ago, there was considerable objection to local government funding of the CEO. Instead of smoke stack industry and low-paying jobs, the CEO has decided that $12.50 per hour jobs may be more salable to the public and local government agencies that they want to hit-up for funding.

This time they have signed on a commissioner from both the City of Gainesville and Alachua County to their fund raising panel. Recently a request to the City to provide $500,000 to the CEO over five years almost made it through without debate on the "consent agenda." The "quality of life" survey in the Gainesville Sun and the upcoming "Healthy Community Initiative" are likely to have an objective of gaining "consensus" for "economic development" and "jobs creation."

These are buzzwords for growth promotion that will accelerate the rush to more South Florida type sprawl. If you do not care for this, you must let commissioners know that they should not fund the CEO by calling them (city-334-5015; county-374-5210), writing or email. Write a letter to the Sun.

Written by Dwight Adams, PhD