Laserfiche WebLink
Economic Development <br /> Metro City Alliances <br /> This week I met with three North Metro area cities to gain their insight on different <br /> economic development programs. I had very informative meetings with Suzanne Worthly, <br /> White Bear Lake Economic Development Corporation; Dennis Welsch, City of Roseville and <br /> Lee Star, City of Coon Rapids. All of the cities are excited to see Mounds View become <br /> more proactive in economic development and offer to assist when needed. Roseville has <br /> both an EDA and HRA and they have successfully done redevelopment for the past 15 years <br /> - a great resource for Mounds View. <br /> _Small Development Loan Programs <br /> At the suggestion of Mark Malone with Western Bank, I met with Debbie Gustafson of <br /> Bridgewater Financial. Bridgewater Financial administers small business development loans <br /> for the Metro area. In addition, they have experience in revolving loan funds and tax <br /> increment financing as well as contacts for venture capital and equity capital investments. <br /> According to Mark, Bridgewater has a very high success rate in packaging proposals for <br /> companies to secure small business financing and will be a great resource for Mounds View <br /> businesses. <br /> The Collaborative <br /> I attended a monthly Collaborative reception sponsored by the St. Paul Chamber of <br /> Commerce and the Metro East Development Partnership. The Collaborative is a network <br /> organization of entrepreneurs, managers, professionals and investors who meet to exchange <br /> ideas on a specific topic. Most of the membership is made up of small high tech CEO's. <br /> This month's topic was "Is Minnesota a Good Place to Grow Your Business?" with guest <br /> speaker Governor Arnie Carlson. The main complaints from small growing companies are <br /> high taxes, workers compensation and the "weather". Generally, it was the consensus that <br /> Minnesota was a good place to grow a business due to the high quality of education, <br /> excellent work ethic and availability of risk capital. I met several interesting people and <br /> gained a sense of the difficulties and assets of the State as a whole. <br /> Business Association Meeting: <br /> I made a presentation to the Businesses Association monthly meeting this week. I gave an <br /> overview of my background with a thumb nail sketch of the economic development and <br /> marketing work plans for 1994. There was a warm reception to the creation of my position <br /> and I look forward to working closely with the association to emit the feeling of a business <br /> friendly City. <br /> Cathy <br />