Monthly Archives: March 2009

(Community Matters) In a conversation this morning, a small business owner in Austin was talking about how important it is to her businesses that we keep Austin vital and energized by recruiting large employers to our community.

It isn’t an either or proposition – small, middle and large businesses are part of the eco system of healthy communities. Regrettably, the 30k plus semiconductor manufacturing trained employees felt this all too well as their employers scaled down and they looked for jobs to feed their families, make their mortgages and contribute to our communities. We MUST continue to recruit major employers.

I regret that Lee Leffingwell doesn’t understand this, or so his reported comment at the Better Austin Today Forum about not recruiting big companies to Austin instead focusing on local companies, would seem to suggest. It’s not either or. I’m surprised and disappointed if Lee doesn’t get this.

(Community Matters) Wow, the year rolls around fast.

A few years ago my favorite Cap 10k, mimosas and chocolate croissants on race path watching and cheering on runners. Come on Tana & Kevin, time to resurrect!

(Community Matters) I want to add my thanks to Cliff Redd, Joe & Teresa Long, Paul Beutel, Jennifer Bengali, Robert Brown and all involved in making the Long Center a reality and seeing it through its first year. What a glorious addition to Austin’s cultural landscape – and extra thanks to Cliff & Paul for deliberately mixing up its offerings to include all Austinites. Catalyst 8 (Sean Fric & Tony Capasso) – a special shout out for the very important funds & fun you raise. Steven and I look forward to celebrating with everyone tomorrow night at the Gala. photo Ralph Barerra at AAS

(Community Matters) Good gosh – we loosen the screws of religious governance on one level and are now having to deal with it at home. Dem’s unite – keep this out of here. article on Texas Senate proposal to limit embryonic research

(Community Matters) Sad to read of Stephen MacMillan Moser’s arrest for arson of the vehicle in the City of Austin parking garage. Let’s hope it was an accident – Stephen is a chain smoker. Suppose it’s easier to remember people are innocent until proven guilty when you know them. If there’s a silver lining, perhaps it’s to remind us of this for those we don’t know.

(Community Matters) I’m not at all happy that the agreed upon solution to the locked credit markets and financial system reform appears to be a program that will make so many investors so much damn money.  With 85% nonrecourse notes – all upside, no downside – you can bet your panties that some folks are going to get rich, rich, rich from the workout of these assets, others richer, richer and richer.  The equal equity split for taxpayers sounds terrific, though no doubt provision for management and other fees which will trim margins before calculation of profits to be shared.

(Community Matters) After an early day of work yesterday, I disconnected – literally. Turned off blackberry, telephone and computer at 4:59 and didn’t turn either back on until this morning. Was tempted but instead enjoyed dinner out with Steven, a bit of reading, then conversation with ST out in the pool house. Won’t do this always but do recommend it. Slight draw back is catching up on email, phone calls and texts.

(Community Matters) originally posted May 2008, but it seems to want to be discussed again:

Richard Florida in his new book, Who’s Your City:

America’s psychogeography lines up reasonably well with its economic geography. Greater Chicago is a center for extroverts and also a leading center for sales professionals. The Midwest, long a center for the manufacturing industry, has a prevalence of conscientious types who work well in a structured, rule-driven environment. The South, and particularly the I-75 corridor, where so much Japanese and German car manufacturing is located, is dominated by agreeable and conscientious types who are both dutiful and work well in teams.

The Northeast corridor, including Greater Boston, as well as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Austin, are home to concentrations of open-to-experience types who are drawn to creative endeavor, innovation, and entrepreneurial start-up companies. While it is hard to identify which came first – was it an initial concentration of personality types that drew industry, or the industry which attracted the personalities? – the overlay is clear.

Understanding regional personality types can add to our understanding of what makes regional development tick. Economists argue that technology (in the form of great universities and high-tech company clusters) and human capital (talented people) drive economic growth. But psychologists would add that in addition to skills, talent, motivation, and resources, there are personality traits and psychological capital that predispose people toward certain talents and proclivities.

Article here

Richard’s the author of two bestsellers, The Rise of the Creative Class and The Flight of the Creative Class. Steven and I got to know Richard during the 360 Summits. In fact, one of Steven’s monologues is included in The Rise of the Creative Class. Richard and his wife, Rana, now live in Washington, D.C.

Hat Tip: Andrew

(Community Matters) Read ABJ headline and wondered, hmm, do I believe these numbers. At first look – up in February from January ’09, thought, well duh! Then read, also up from February ’08 on the West Coast – this possibly something to crow about. Would have to dice and slice to understand better.

Nevertheless, the article made me think of a friend in another state who has been sitting on substantial dollars waiting to buy his first home. Never could pull the trigger during last five years because the market made no sense. Rates at our generation’s lowest ever and prices have dropped – in some places a lot. Not sure how much demand is in this backlog but a welcome uptick nonetheless.

(Community Matters)

At a time when daily newspapers seem to be going away at the rate of one a week and weeklies are madly cutting to stay afloat, The Chronicle, which has revenue of approximately $8.5 million a year, has not laid off anyone, has no plans to do so, and its business is off just 7 percent in the last three years.

(Community Matters)“Even America’s most robust big state is suffering” Article notes that Texas fairing better than most of country, and that the recession is catching up here. Notes that a trade publication recently ranked America’s healthiest housing markets with the top five all being Texas urban communities.

(Community Matters) I don’t yet know enough details of the plan to be unveiled later today to have an opinion on its success. And, it isn’t hard to opine on areas of public sentiment.

If some of the players sitting on the sidelines are hesitant to enter because of possibility of future, retroactive regulation including executive compensation limits and disclosure as well as seriously threatening levels of public furor, I’d say they are smart to not play if their teams include bankers (including mortgage executives) tied to the excesses for which Americans are now paying dearly.

Administration officials taking to “the airwaves Sunday to reassure investors that the public would distinguish between companies like AIG . . . and private investment groups that, under this latest plan, would be helping the government . . .” are naive if they don’t recognize the decibel of wrath that’ll be heard if the same bankers are later shown to be reaping millions, conceivably billions. Many Americans wonder whether Geithner and Summers are too close to Wall Street to protect and promote taxpayers’ interests first; they’re starting to worry that President Obama may not be sufficiently otherwise advised.

This is problematic. Who has the knowledge, expertise and access to capital to build the private/public partnerships necessary for the Administration’s plans to succeed? Perhaps not enough, but there are others out there. I’d advise it should be the others, at least in the earliest – likely the most profitable – round of auctions.