County Should be Inviting to Business

My friend Debbie Fleming has a great article in the South Bend Tribune.  Read the article here.  Excerpt:

I was taught growing up that any job was better than no job. With local unemployment over 10 percent, we need to make it known to all potential employers/job creators that St. Joseph County is open for business. We are a proud, hardworking community that can decide for itself which jobs are worth having and which are not. We should not allow government to make this decision for us.

The tax abatement ordinance creates a barrier for entry to do business in St. Joseph County. The Tribune said as much in its editorial in March of last year, that "...(it) is bound to be a self-inflicted wound to the economic development prospects of St. Joseph County."

Our county leadership should play its part to lead us into this next decade by dropping the barriers it has placed in the way of development, such as the tax abatement ordinance which discourages business development by placing arbitrary requirements that stifle 21st century business development.