For those of you who missed it, here is the My Word column that ran in today's Orlando Sentinel containing my response to Beth Kassab's flawed framework for growth espoused in her 5/17 column. In case you are wondering, I did not forget about the modeling and simulation industry that is so prevalent in the University Corridor - the industry was a victim of light editing by the Sentinel due to space constraints. It will be interesting to see if Beth continues the conversation in a future column...
"Jobs first, then a demand for new neighborhoods." Such is Beth Kassab's framework for managed growth in her column in Monday's Sentinel ("Innovation Way East disguised as jobs creator.") In most parts of Central Florida, Kassab's analysis would be correct, as we have long gorged on what turned out to be a growth Ponzi scheme that failed to produce sustainable jobs. But, perhaps unknown to Kassab, this particular part of Central Florida is different, rendering her framework as misguided and misinformed.
Anchored by the University of Central Florida and Orlando International Airport, the university corridor stretches from Oviedo and Winter Springs to the medical city at Lake Nona. It's Central Florida's primary participant in the emerging innovation economy. Already home to 450,000 talented people, many of whom are employed in knowledge-based industries such as optics and photonics, digital media, life sciences and space, the corridor is competing for talent globally against such innovative communities as Austin, San Diego, Boston and San Jose. It's in an all-out race to attract smart, entrepreneurial people to its environs — the types of people who can create new jobs and enhance those jobs we have retained.
How do we win this talent race? In today's technologically advanced world, entrepreneurial people can choose to live wherever they want; research finds they decide on a location and then look for a job. Thus, they are lured to areas that provide a high quality of life — great places where they can enjoyably live, learn, work and play. In fact, a recent research study by the Harvard Kennedy School suggests that "the best economic development strategy may be to attract smart people and get out of their way."
For Central Florida, that means creating a network of great places in the university corridor, allowing for collaboration and innovation in and around important activity hubs like UCF, the Central Florida Research Park, the medical city and OIA. I believe that Innovation, the community envisioned by real-estate affiliates of the Mormon Church, can be another great place in a networked university corridor, particularly with its emphasis on transit systems, sustainable community design and environmental protection. Furthermore, its attraction to smart, entrepreneurial people will be heightened by the embedded second phase of the Central Florida Research Park, and Innovation's proximity to OIA (and its high-speed-rail hub) and the medical city.
Therefore, let me suggest to Kassab a new framework for growth in the university corridor: "Great places yield great jobs." In that case, Innovation fills the bill.
Jim Spaeth is president of Remora Partners, LLC, a real-estate development and consulting firm that is active in east Orange County.
Copyright © 2010, Orlando Sentinel
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