Week Four

              For this blog I have decided to talk about economic development in Pearland, Texas. The strengths of Pearland from an economic development perspective are numerous. The biggest factor that I saw was the available land. Pearland has quite a lot of open land that can be developed into anything to suit a business’ needs. I thought this was a huge advantage over a city such as Tempe, where there are only a few parcels of open land, and no room to expand because Tempe is surrounded by more city in every direction. The abundance of open land in Pearland would also bring costs down, which would be enticing to businesses. Another great feature of Pearland is its proximity to Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston, as it is no more than a few hours by car to get to any of these cities. Pearland’s proximity to all of these major cities means that any business that moves there has a huge available workforce to tap into, as the many freeways allow for people to commute from further away. They are also very close to a major port, which lowers costs of goods that are imported by boat. Another plus is the proximity to an international airport, which would allow for businesses to easily send their employees on business trips if need be. The industries already seemed to be more diverse in Pearland, than in Saratoga, for example, where it seemed like technology was the main focus. With a more diverse set of businesses in Pearland, the local economy will do much better as it will never rely on a single industry alone. Out of all of the cities I learned about this week, Pearland seems to be by far the best choice from an economic development perspective.

                I’m not sure that the city council would need a proposal to entice businesses to move to Pearland. The land costs are already very low because of the abundance of available land to build on, which is already a huge incentive for businesses. When you add that to the fact that Pearland has many available housing options, is near a major port and international airport, and has one of the largest medical centers in the country, I cannot see how the city council could possibly give any more incentive for businesses to come. In Urban Policy Reconsidered, it was mentioned that many of the textile factories that were once housed in Philadelphia moved elsewhere as the companies saw how low land prices were. I think that the same can happen with the huge amount of available land in Pearland. All types of businesses will want to move to a place where the land prices are low and there is a very abundant available workforce. The only thing that may entice businesses more is if the city were able to offer them some sort of tax break, although that may not be economically sensible when the land prices are already so low, which already means less money will come in from taxes. I believe that Pearland has enough to offer that the city council does not need anything big to entice businesses to move their operations there.

                I do not think I would apply Pearland for a Hope VI grant. The program seemed to work well, and produced a sense of community, but it does involve tearing people’s houses down. I think that this would be hard for the residents of Pearland, and it would make certain areas very unsightly, which would not entice new businesses to come in. Safer housing and safer communities are always a plus, but Pearland seems to be doing great as it is now. From what I saw, Pearland seems to be thriving, and other cities would probably see a much greater benefit from a Hope VI grant than Pearland would.