It's also worth pointing out that the city of Philadelphia just announced some new pilot tax programs:
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20100216_Nutter_unveils_tax_incentives_for_some_businesses.html <http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20100216_Nutter_unveils_tax_incentives_for_some_businesses.html>The part that Geoff noticed before I did was this: Bumb said there appears to be a cluster of recent college graduates in and > around Old City involved in gaming and other software programming with an > international clientele - "A whole cottage industry . . . that looks like it > is positioned for explosive growth." The pilot program would encourage that expansion. I wasn't willing to assume that the cluster was specifically referring to us, but it certainly sounded familiar. Further investigation suggested that we are very much on their radar (though unconfirmed, someone said that the Mayor specifically cited IndyHall and that the city desired to retain our efforts), as well as those of VGI Philly, a group (led by one of our members) that has been working VERY hard with the city and state to create tax incentive programs specifically to encourage the growth of the video game/entertainment industry in the city. The exciting part is this: instead of using the critical mass to lobby for change, and ask for what we wanted, we acted despite the difficulties in doing business in this city. When they realized how dedicated we were to the cause, and how valuable that effort was, they acted on their own with the strong guidance of members of the community who were actually out there doing stuff, instead of talking about what they would/could do if the city would support them. This kind of action/reaction is extremely rewarding, and something we've believed in strongly since the beginning. It's nice to see that 3 years later we have more than just the success of what 3 years of lobbying would have done; we also have community cohesion, a visible tech presence within the city and to cities around the world, job and opportunities that have been created along the way, business partnerships, academic relationships, and more. Rather than these results be a bi-product of the lobby, the inverse happened. They became the primary products, and the "lobby" efforts became the bi-product. Interesting stuff. -Alex /ah indyhall.org coworking in philadelphia On Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 12:26 PM, Jeremy Neuner <[email protected]>wrote: > Thanks Alex, I agree that some case studies would be important in > validating the potential. Mike Schinckel from Ignition Alley/Startup > Atlanta contacted me off-list and mentioned that he's had some conversations > with some ED folks who "get it". He posed a really interesting question: > "have you identified yourself as a new breed of economic development > director by an identifiable name or perspective (I'm thinking of "branding" > here?)" I haven't (I no longer work for the city) nor do I know anyone who > has. But it's a really good idea. We've had enough informal conversations > to know that a range of people (elected officials, ED professionals, > commercial realtors, incubator managers, service providers,and even a few > stodgy VC's) are beginning to see a teensy bit of the light. > > Like Alex, I'd like to hear more from those of you who have tried (both > successfully and not) to engage, broadly speaking, in the economic > development conversation. I've found that people are generally receptive to > the idea. But when the rubber meets the road, the programs and policy > infrastructure simply do not accommodate our needs as a coworking space, nor > the needs of the members that we serve. Alex's example of Comcast is a > really good case in point. > > Okay, hope to hear more from the list on this topic. And I'm looking > forward to meeting many of you at SXSW. > > > Cheers, > Jeremy > http://nextspace.us/ > > On Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 8:32 AM, Alex Hillman < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> Jeremy, >> >> Sounds like we've been having a lot of the same conversations! We've >> always talked about IndyHall as a vehicle towards a bigger purpose, a slice >> of the pie, the pie being "Making Philadelphia a better place to make a >> living doing what you love". >> >> We've communicated with the city, as well as interacted with a number of >> ED entities. Many of them had agendas similar to yours: giant business/job >> attraction, minimal focus on retention, zero focus on small >> business/individuals. >> >> We have laws in PA that actually "prohibit" the city from creating >> gradated tax laws; everyone needs to be taxed the same. That is, of course, >> unless a giant company like Comcast comes in bringing a few thousand jobs, >> and then they get massive tax breaks from the city and the state. >> >> I've asked the Dept of Commerce "what kind of scale do we need to get an >> exception like that?" and they don't have concrete answers. I agree >> completely with Jeremy in the fact that there'd be a more stable tax base >> for them if they focused on the same number in smaller, individuals that >> have growth potential than a single company that could split town when their >> tax abatement is over. >> >> It's hard to state the potential until we have some cases studied, so if >> anyone else is doing work with their regions along these lines, I know I'd >> love to hear more!! >> >> Thanks for bringing this up, and great article Jeremy! >> >> -Alex >> >> /ah >> indyhall.org >> coworking in philadelphia >> >> >> On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 12:47 AM, Jeremy Neuner >> <[email protected]>wrote: >> >>> Hi All, >>> >>> Greetings from rainy Santa Cruz, California. There's been a lot of good >>> discussion lately about coworking as an economic development tool, including >>> at the "state of coworking" meeting a couple of weeks ago in San Francisco. >>> This is a subject that's been at the heart of NextSpace. Before starting >>> NextSpace, I was the city's economic development manager and my co-founder, >>> Ryan Coonerty, was the mayor of Santa Cruz (he's still a sitting city >>> council member and will begin his second term as mayor in November). So >>> we've always thought of coworking as "economic development by other means." >>> I'm eager to hear more stories (both successes and failures) about how >>> others in the coworking community have engaged their local/regional >>> governments, particularly economic development officials. I think it would >>> be really interesting to hear from those of you outside the U.S. as well. >>> >>> Also, Ryan and I just had an article published in American City & County >>> Magazine about how local/regional governments aren't doing enough to attract >>> and retain small businesses. And by "small business" we mean the 1- and >>> 2-person companies that many coworking spaces cater to (aside: I was shocked >>> to learn that a company can have upwards of 500 employees and still be >>> considered a "small business" by the U.S. Small Business Administration). >>> We argue that municipalities should, for example, try to attract/retain 200 >>> one-person businesses rather than one 200-person company. Of course, we >>> mention coworking as a potential strategy! If you're interested, you can >>> take a look at the article here: http://bit.ly/awOJO4 >>> >>> Meanwhile, thanks for all that you collectively do to ensure the success >>> of "real" small businesses.....! >>> >>> Cheers, >>> Jeremy >>> http://nextspace.us/ >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "Coworking" group. >>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>> [email protected]<coworking%[email protected]> >>> . >>> For more options, visit this group at >>> http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. >>> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Coworking" group. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> [email protected]<coworking%[email protected]> >> . >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]<coworking%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. 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