By Madelyn Pennino, staff writer
"The Ride to Prosperity" was supposed to be different.
It's one of many plans released in recent years, often with public funding, about how to attract business to the Reading area and retain what's already here.
Critics say that such efforts have been vague about responsibility for making the plans work.
This time, in the "Ride to Prosperity" document, the people in charge of carrying out the plan's ideas — and checking off a list of short-term goals — were clearly identified.
"Our effort differs from past strategies in its commitment to transparency and accountability," the report says. "Each working group is committed to publicly sharing its work plan, its progress to date, and areas where progress is faltering. Over the coming year, each working group will report their progress on a quarterly basis."
There is a Ride to Prosperity website, but if it includes quarterly reports, they are not easy to find.
The report states:
"As we begin this effort, each work group has developed top priority short-term action items that can be achieved in the coming year."
It listed the top action items:
• Establish a market in downtown Reading that can serve as a local hub for Latino entrepreneurs.
• Establish the WorkKeys certification system at three area high schools.
• Establish a new Berks Energy Industry Network to improve countywide business collaboration.
• Develop and market one to two smaller "shovel ready" sites.
• Develop and implement a new tourism marketing campaign to promote Greater Reading's arts and culture-related amenities.
But over the past few weeks, plan organizers would not say how "top priority short-term action items" are going.
Ellen Horan, president of the Greater Reading Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Jon Scott, president and CEO of the Berks Economic Partnership; and Ed McCann, chief executive officer of the Berks County Workforce Investment Board, all declined to talk about short-term priority action items listed in the report.
Crystal Seitz, executive director of the Greater Reading Convention and Visitors Bureau, was not available for comment. Glenn Knoblauch, executive director of the Berks County Planning Commission, did not provide information about the short-term action items.
Wait for our event June 9 to mark the one-year adoption of the plan, they said.
County Commissioner Kevin Barnhardt said that the problem with plans like this, including the earlier Initiative for a Competitive Greater Reading (ICGR) and the Downtown 20/20 efforts, is that leaders lose interest in them.
"They are met with a lot of hullabaloo, but when the dust settles no one really seems to care," Barnhardt said. "These agencies have charged themselves and will make sure it gets done. ... As long as they don't go off on a tangent, I have good expectations."
On the other hand, Barnhardt believes it will take more than five years for all of the goals outlined in the plan to be met.
"I think we will see measurable results," Barnhardt said. "But we're not performing miracles. You don't see (trends) in graduation rates change in a couple of years. Those kinds of things take a decade or two."
Berks County Commissioner Mark Scott is less optimistic that this economic plan is going to be any different than previous efforts.
"I've become a little jaded over time with all of these studies," Scott said. "It's ambitious but unrealistic. The challenges this community faces are too great to solve in a short time. But there is nothing wrong with trying."
When the Ride to Prosperity report was released at a well-attended news conference June 17, Erik Pages, the high-power consultant who helped prepare the report, said that specific economic-development agencies are in charge of definite tasks and will report their progress regularly and publicly.
Pages has a doctorate from Georgetown University, was a Wilson High School graduate and was legislative director for former U.S. Rep. Gus Yatron and policy director for the National Commission on Entrepreneurship. His company, EntreWorks Consulting, is based in Alexandria, Va.
"I credit Erik," County Commissioner Christian Leinbach said at the presentation nearly a year ago. "It took a little bit of guts to say we're going to measure this."
Scott believes one of the tenets of the plan is flawed because entrepreneurship is not something that can be achieved by mere opportunity.
"Entrepreneurs are a special breed. They are risk takers. It is a cultural thing they have grown up with," Scott said. "You just don't pluck someone off of the street and say you should be an entrepreneur. You have to have the ingredients. Although education can already enhance what's already there."
He also said the city's 50 percent graduation rate is a huge problem and agrees with Barnhardt that it will take many, many years to fix.
"No economic-development organization can address the huge demographics of our local educational institutions," Scott said. "We know it's a problem. It's one thing to diagnosis it. It's another thing to have the ability to correct it."
What could start to make a positive difference in Berks County would be to start looking at major problems facing the state such as corporate taxation and the fact that Pennsylvania is a not a right-to-work state, Scott said.
"There's an incorrect perception that government creates jobs. Businesses and people create jobs," Scott said. "These factors determine whether businesses locate or expand their businesses here."
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