Windsor's Economy

By Bill Patterson

A truly sustainable community economy is based upon its people and an educated workforce. A good community environment with civic vitality leads to a good local economy.

Many leaders in the past have depended heavily on the "big box", Retail Sales-tax model; not aware of or ignoring the dangers this model represents to a community. If it is solely depended upon, it exposes our local economic health to the vagaries and vicissitudes of Wall Street.

Others say increasing, with no limits or constraints, residential housing construction and the population expansion that comes with it will lead to a prosperous town economy. The fact is that new housing construction not only is not healthy for a SUSTAINABLE community economy, it is a drag on it. There is no net revenue gain to the community from this type of growth. A case study by the Urban Institute reports that one new single-family house equals an annual deficit to the community of $226! Residential housing growth is expensive.

In contrast, a truly sustainable community economy is based upon its people and an educated workforce. A good community environment with civic vitality leads to a good local economy.

We should therefore:

• Give all assistance possible to our local small merchants, especially in our new downtown, helping them to succeed with all the tools available from our Economic Development Department.
• Approach Santa Rosa Junior College and seek to have them include advanced computer training and related courses at their branch here in Windsor. Thus enhancing and building an educated work force that will be capable of meeting the challenges of the 21st century cyber-economy.
• Seek new environmental based manufacturing businesses, for example solar and other alternatives posed by an energy-efficient economy with good, well paying jobs, and entice them to locate to Windsor.
• Get on with a pilot project to tree farm with our secondary-treated wastewater with its potential of profit and a significant revenue source in the coming years.