A quick look around will tell anyone this is the season to plant.
We've had our cold weather and yes, the rain has slowed most farmers down, but the Sun shines a little longer and stronger each day and the green has come on strong. Even city folk can look around and see it is spring and that means it is the time to plant.
The same holds true for economic development.
We've had our share of a cold economic news this winter. The warmth of our agricultural base, tilled and planted every spring, is shining a little stronger and the “green” of those payrolls is beginning to show.
We are pleased to hear hints of more economic development news in the region and continue to hear rumblings of possible development at empty store fronts. We need to be pushing Clarksdale as the Delta’s Rising Star. Yes, the tourists have gone away for a season, but this is the birthplace of the Blues and that will never change – they will be back.
Farmers will tell you planting is hard work. There is soil to be tilled, seed to be set and weeds to be fought.
Again, economic development is no different.
Coahoma County needs to always be busy preparing property in our industrial park for our next project. We need a grocery store. We need to develop partnerships with our neighboring counties and demand funds from Jackson and Washington to help us ready our town for new businesses and industry.
Movers and shakers in this community need to regularly sit down with existing industry executives and cultivate those relationships so those industries gladly call on city and county government when it comes time to grow. Statistics show 80-percent of the new jobs in any community come from an existing industry that has decided to expand.
And we all need to work on those “weeds” and the selfish greed that can kill any economic development project.
Clarksdale and Coahoma County have good people who know how to form partnerships, provide community support, plan, prepare and promote.
It's time to plant!
We will all benefit when the harvest time comes.
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