This is a column written for publication in the Asheboro Courier-Tribune  – relevant for Piedmont Triad readers and perhaps for others living where industrial megasites are under consideration.

“If you don’t know where you want to go, you’re likely to wind up someplace else.” – Yogi Berra, baseball philosopher. The attribution of the quotation is questionable, but its wisdom is beyond doubt.

We know the trajectory and history of our local economy and we know that the work that has sustained our families and communities has been disappearing. We lost thousands of jobs to automation and to places where labor is cheap. The reasons are simple. Private capital flows to ventures that produce high profits. Profitability is improved when expensive labor is replaced by automation or when work is moved to places with cheap labor. The good news is that we get to create our own future.

Recognizing those facts, our newly appointed County Manager, Hal Johnson, said “Government is responsible for its citizens’ public health, public safety and public welfare. In the 21^st century, the ability for citizens to grow up here and have a good job is [the] public welfare.” One building block of our nation is that government can create conditions and opportunities for citizens and businesses to succeed. Examples include systems for transportation and public education that deliver opportunities to all Americans, and the TVA, which brought electricity to our poorest rural areas. Those actions by government have indeed contributed to public wellbeing.

Our Commissioners deserve credit and support for accepting the responsibility to create economic opportunities. They are charting a future course amidst risk and uncertainty while absorbing criticism for not knowing the answer to every important question. The risks are real, but doing nothing will result in our falling farther behind. With the decision to pursue a megasite made, we can plan effectively for the future.

Successful megasites require support from both state and local governments. Honda’s first North American automobile plant at Marysville, OH began in the 1970s with a motorcycle plant. Local and state governments and both political parties were accused of giving away taxpayer money for incentives. Today, Honda exports more cars to Japan than it imports to the US. Spinoff jobs have spread across the Midwest. Honda’s American executive who opened that plant later accepted a position with BMW, leading the planning and opening of their now legendary Spartanburg, SC plant. More recently, Alabama is having similar success with Mercedes. Our megasite may host an auto company or some other kind of firm but the principles of a large manufacturer collaborating with local and state governments will be similar.

The Commissioners’ decision to acquire land is the beginning of the work, not the end. Now is the time for State Government to also step forward with long term commitments like those made by other states; creating partnerships that have evolved and thrived through new product development, new technologies, and needs for new skills. There is too much at stake to let technological challenges or partisan divisions stand in the way.

Without knowing exactly how our site and its management will evolve, some requirements for success are already clear. Here are a few things that local government can do to lead the way:

1. The Commissioners should engage the public through proactive economic development planning. The plan should include the megasite but not be limited to that one strategy. It should list and schedule actions needed at the local and state level, including who will be responsible for implementation. There should be regular reviews to assure that we are on schedule and to make needed adjustments – just like any business plan. The need for major actions like land acquisition would be known well in advance and there would be fewer surprises.
2. If the megasite is our most important strategy then it deserves at least one full time person of exceptional capability to lead the effort. If we can’t afford one full time leader for our number one goal, then there is something wrong with our priorities. Randolph County should take the lead firmly and certainly not delegate this to someone in Greensboro.
3. Excellence is the goal – and in the long run excellence also produces low cost. Cheap is not the primary goal because “cheap” does not produce excellence. Getting that backwards is generally a fatal error.

The way to predict the future is to create it. We can do that if we will.