Site Selection, a national expansion planning publication, has ranked Louisiana Economic Development the No. 1 state economic development agency in the country.
The official publication of the Industrial Asset Management Council, the magazine this week announced its 2010 Competitiveness Awards, which for the past nine years have recognized excellence on the part of state-level economic development groups. LED was ranked No. 2 last year and did not appear in the top 10 in any prior year.
LED, with 431 points based on Site Selection’s quantitative ranking criteria, beat Virginia (402) for the top spot. Texas (391), North Carolina (373) and South Carolina (369) round out the top five.
Since January 2008, LED has secured business development projects that are creating more than 39,500 new direct and indirect jobs and more than $8.5 billion in new capital investment, as well as billions in new sales for small businesses.
“We are especially grateful that Gov. Jindal and the Legislature have provided us with the tools necessary to be recognized as the best performing state economic development agency in the nation, including our Business Expansion and Retention Group, State Economic Competitiveness Group and Louisiana FastStart™ workforce solutions program, as well as increased funding for small business development programs,” said LED Secretary Stephen Moret. “We are delighted to receive this recognition for our efforts, yet we know we have a lot of work left to do to position Louisiana’s economy to outperform the South and U.S. on a regular basis.”
The Site Selection rankings calculate the total points a state-level economic development agency received based mainly on Conway Data Inc.’s New Plant Database of new and expanded facilities and new facility announcements. The following 10 criteria were utilized in the indexing system:
Total new and expanded facilities in 2010
Total new and expanded facilities in 2010 per 1 million population
Total capital investment in new and expanded facilities in 2010
Total capital investment in new and expanded facilities per 1 million population in 2010
Total new jobs created in 2010
Total new jobs created in 2010 per 1 million population
Rank in the corporate real estate executive portion of the 2010 Site Selection Business Climate Ranking
State Gross Domestic Product per 1 million population
State unemployment rate
Business Incubation Index component of the Beacon Hill Institute’s State Competitiveness Report for 2010
In addition to LED's honor, the Baton Rouge Area Chamber and Southwest Louisiana Economic Development Alliance (Lake Charles) made Site Selection’s Top Groups ranking, with Greater New Orleans Inc. receiving Honorable Mention. Regional/local economic development agencies were ranked on four criteria: new jobs, new jobs per 10,000 residents, new investment amount and new investment per 10,000 residents. Then they were scrutinized for more subjective attributes — among them innovation, leadership and customer service.
This is the second year BRAC made the magazine’s Top Groups ranking and the first year SWLA made the Top Groups ranking.
JUNE 17 If anyone ever wonders why Saints fans hate Atlanta with a capital H, here's a good indication. Radio "professionals" at an Atlanta station created an entire segment around making fun of former Saints player Steve Gleason, who is now paralyzed by ALS. Listen, nobody's ever accused DJs of being rocket scientists. But how could someone think it is amusing to pretend to ask a man with a degenerative, fatal disease if he will be alive next week? The DJs have been fired, and are now whining about how gutless their former bosses are. Wow.
JUNE 18 Here's the latest from the Advocate on the fatal hit-and-run accident allegedly involving the president of the Livingston Parish School Board. He's accused by police of hitting a 21-year-old man on a highway early Sunday and driving away. The man died at a hospital later. On Monday, police seized the president's truck and towed it away. But he's available for board meetings: apparently a $500 bond is sufficient for this type of thing over in St. Helena Parish.
JUNE 18 Former broadcast journalist Griffin Scott has posted this plea on his blog for financial assistance from his readers. Scott, who says he was fired after he wrote something fairly innocuous (for Facebook) on his wall, is suing a media giant for his job back. He's framed himself as David going after a bloated media giant, and he's probably not far off.
JUNE 18 Here's a fairly absurd column posted on DIG Magazine about the completely absurd practice of naming killer storms. Tornadoes don't have names. Blizzards don't have names. But hurricanes do, and there's a big process to bestow them, Jacques Cormery writes. He's right about the crazy assemblage of names -- this year, there's everything from Tanya to Humberto -- and his idea that we don't waste good names on killer storms is a good one.
JUNE 17 Political columnist John Maginnis has some advice for Louisiana Republicans: grow up. After the schism that occurred in this past session - fiscal hawks teaming up with Democrats to spank the Republican "majority" and hand Gov. Jindal his, er, aspirations for continued solon control -- they need to figure out how to get along with each other, Maginnis writes.
JUNE 17 Here's the Picayune's obit story for Dorothy 'Miss Dot' Domilise, the lady who made poboys at the uptown restaurant that bears her name. Miss Dot moved to New Orleans during World War II, where she met and married her husband Sam. When she passed away Friday she was 90, and had spent more than 60 of those years working at the restaurant on Annunciation Street.
JUNE 17 This editorial in the Advocate speaks in favor of the consent decrees that have federal judges overseeing police operations and the sheriff's parish prison in New Orleans. Mayor Landrieu and Sheriff Gusman can't get along, so outside forces, like the Inspector General and the judges, are needed to make sure things run right, the editorial opines.
JUNE 18 Here's a post from Manny Schewitz on Forward Progressives that is good for a chuckle. Manny had an epiphany back in November, and is sharing it with us today: he believes that Fox "News" is killing the GOP by pandering to right wing nuts. Now, don't get it twisted: Manny's not broke up about it. He says he enjoys watching the downward spiral with a shot of whiskey and "a schadenfreude chaser."
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