<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=192888919167017&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

Linkedin Pinterest

In Our View: Find Delicate Balance

Clark County must seek middle ground of honoring roots, attracting good jobs

The Columbian
Published:

One of the tricks for becoming successful is to listen to and learn from successful people. You know, people such as Ken Fisher.

Fisher is listed by Forbes.com as the 236th wealthiest person in the United States, with a net worth of $2.7 billion. His Fisher Investments, based in Woodside, Calif., has a campus in Camas that employs 900 people and also has offices in London and in Frankfurt, Germany. So, when Fisher talks, we would be wise to listen. Therefore, we have been pondering the keynote address he delivered last week at The Columbian’s 2015 Economic Forecast Breakfast. Dry, quirky, and prescient, Fisher provided a thoughtful critique of the virtues of Clark County.

Among the insight: “America has a big divide between urbanness and non-urbanness, and non-urbanness is winning.” And: “I’ve got a lot of class, and all of it’s low. I’ve got a lot of taste, and all of it’s bad. I see all these people who suffer from inferiority complexes who want to go and be a foodie in Portland. I will do that when I’m dragged across the (Columbia) river. Let Portland be Portland; you guys be you.” That, for an audience made up mostly of Clark County business leaders, served as an obvious applause line. More important, it served as food for thought.

Vancouver inevitably is defined by its proximity to Portland, torn between its status as a bedroom community and a desire to forge its own economic path. That dichotomy came to the forefront during the debate over the now-defunct Columbia River Crossing project in the form of strident feelings about the prospect of light rail being extended into Clark County. Few things speak of “urbanness” as clearly as mass transit, and the arguments that ensued largely were driven by that fact.

But, there is reason to question the assertion that non-urbanness is winning. Studies have indicated that young adults are drawn more to cities than recent previous generations have been, as they largely eschew automobiles and are attracted to cosmopolitan areas. As The Washington Post reported in July, “It’s easy to recognize this phenomenon in San Francisco, or even Washington, D.C. College graduates have flooded in, drawn by both jobs and amenities. Yet more amenities have followed to cater to them (luring yet more college graduates).”

Vancouver never will be an urban center, yet it can be more than a suburb. While this area should embrace the values that make Clark County what Clark County is and avoid trying to become Portland North, it also must pay attention to growth industries that can attract young, educated workers.

Thus far, Southwest Washington is succeeding in that regard. High-tech development has played a key role in helping Clark County recover from the Great Recession, and regional labor economist Scott Bailey of the state Employment Security Department noted at the forecast breakfast that, “We’ve had a fabulous year. We were in a huge hole during the recession; we’re getting out of that hole.”

Further extricating ourselves will require further diversification and, according to Fisher, improved branding. “The biggest problem in getting people to come here — we say, ‘Camas,’ they say, ‘huh?’ We say, ‘Vancouver,’ they say, ‘Oh, you mean Canada.’ We say, ‘Near Portland,’ and they say, ‘Oh, you mean purple hair,’ ” Fisher explained. We don’t need purple hair to become a signature on this side of the river; we’ll leave the weirdness to Portland. But as Clark County strives to remain Clark County, there is plenty of middle ground to be cultivated between non-urbanness and a thriving, creative economy.

Loading...