Oahu economic group looks at Tenn. model

Chattanooga officials are here to discuss the city's successful turnaround

By Rob Perez
Star-Bulletin

The state economic task force is focusing on the big picture to try to turn Hawaii's economy around.

A newly formed Oahu group is looking at the smaller picture - the island's neighborhoods.

The Sustainable Oahu Initiative - a collaboration of the Oahu Economic Development Board and Hawaii Community Services Council - is focusing on ways to generate sustainable economic growth while making the state's most populous island a better place to live, work and play.

Toward that end, the group is bringing two economic development experts from Chattanooga, Tenn., to speak to local groups about how that city turned its economy around.

Chattanooga, once one of the most polluted U.S. cities, is now a national model for economic and community revitalization.

The city turned things around by realizing that government can't solve all problems and that the public and private sectors must work closely together to achieve shared goals, according to Jim Frierson, an executive with a public/private organization responsible for economic development in Chattanooga.

"In an era of government limits, this seems the only way to go," said Frierson, who along with Chattanooga City Councilman David Crockett will be here for a series of forums beginning Thursday. The pair will discuss ways Oahu may benefit from Chattanooga's experiences.

Why Chattanooga?

After looking at different U.S. cities and regions that went through successful economic revitalizations, initiative principals selected Chattanooga because its size was similar to Oahu's urban core and other factors invited meaningful comparisons.

In the 1970s and early 80s, Frierson said, job growth in Chattanooga was nil even as other cities' economies were rising, young people were leaving and not coming back and the urban core suffered from crime and decay. What's more, most residents had little sense of community, largely because only an elite group ran the town.

When things got bad enough, residents decided to take control of their destiny and, putting politics aside, started a communitywide process in which they developed a strategy for solving the area's woes, Frierson said. It included a vision for the city and specific goals - some quantitative, some qualitative - with ways of measuring progress.

Some goals: reform the education system, develop more affordable housing downtown, create parks that connect to the Tennessee River, a prime natural asset that the city wasn't capitalizing on.

Today, Chattanooga enjoys a revitalized downtown, essentially full employment and one of the nation's largest incubators for small businesses, Frierson said. Millions of dollars worth of new attractions, parks and commercial complexes (including a $45 million aquarium and a 22-mile pedestrian park along the river) have been built since the late 1980s, mostly with private funding.

"There are many interesting parallels between Oahu and Chattanooga," said Bob Mougeot, chairman of the Oahu economic board. "While we know Oahu is not Chattanooga, we believe Jim and Dave can share with us valuable lessons that will provide our own community with the tools and information it needs to help create sustainable economic renewal on Oahu."

Bernice Bowers, executive director of the Oahu board, said the key to sustainable development is linking the plans from the island's different communities to private- and public-sector partnerships, which have the resources to carry out the plans.

Bowers said the Oahu initiative will compliment what the state task force is trying to do. The task force wants to improve Hawaii's overall business climate, which will better enable communities to carry out their plans, she said.

Chattanooga chat

Chattanooga officials will discuss their economy with a number of local groups in the next week. Their schedule includes a Community Forum, 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Saturday, at the Blaisdell Center. Cost: $10, includes lunch. For more info: Call 539-3588.