Pardon my Charles Dickens impersonation, but in Delaware, this could be the best of times or this could be the worst of times. I say that because we have exciting opportunities to open up our economy to the world, thus enriching every potential worker in our community, irrespective of skill level. And by unleashing this kind of opportunity, we not only empower economic health, but we can improve the status of personal health, our environmental assets, and create opportunity for those who were stuck in poverty. Conversely, if we don’t seize this day we could look backwards with regret.
For me, I know that Delaware is the ultimate location for business. This is evidenced by the Delaware Prosperity Projects work HERE. But as every spokesperson and ambassador for our great state knows, if we can’t “deliver the goods” and deliver them quickly, our future will move to Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ireland, or Singapore. Therefore, speed is essential. That is why it can be frustrating, with a population the size of ours, why we can’t be more nimble and more ready.
I won’t bore you with all the solutions, but it begins with site readiness. The conduit to site readiness is a level of communication and flexibility we don’t currently experience, but can have. And I don’t think business can cavalierly speak poorly about the public sector as we seek these solutions. This excuse is too convenient. We ALL must take a piece of our history and we must ALL put our weight into the future. And as far as “trade-offs,” we have to recognize that we can’t leave a tarnished environment or an overburdened set of public systems in our wake for the sake of progress. We want to look fondly on our investment in communication and flexibility that results in the world investing in Delaware. We want this to have been The Best of Times.
Thank you to the Delaware State Chamber for allowing me to participate in a roundtable discussion about how to get Delaware ready. You can view this discussion above.
