WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.000 Good afternoon. My name is Marty Rivers, chair of the Economic Development Partnership Board. 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:09.000 And I'd like to welcome everybody to the meeting. 00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:16.000 Today is January 15th and we'll go ahead and get this meeting started at 12.08. 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:18.000 We have one agenda item today. 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:24.000 EDP 20-001, receive a report, hold a discussion, 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:29.000 and give staff direction regarding the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategic Plan 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:32.000 being completed by TIPS Strategies. 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:37.000 And with that I'll want to turn it over to, actually I want to turn it over to Erica first. 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:40.000 Would you mind introducing Charlie? 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:45.000 I would love to. Good afternoon. I'd like to introduce Charlie Drombo. 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:48.000 He is our interim economic development director. 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:51.000 I'll let him tell you a little bit about himself. 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:58.000 I would preface that by saying he's been doing economic development in Texas longer than probably anyone else in Texas. 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:02.000 I started when I was three. 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:04.000 It's good to be with you. 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:09.000 I've had a 44-year career in the Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development. 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:13.000 I started in Jasper and came through a number of places. 00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:20.000 I've owned Sherman nine years, Abilene 14, Round Rock 9, or 8. 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:25.000 So I've spent a fair amount of time all around the state 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:30.000 and just finished the interim job as the interim director 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:34.000 of the development corporation at Abilene for seven months while they did their search. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:39.000 So it's good to be with you and I look forward to working with you 00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:44.000 and anything I can do to be a resource for you during my time here. 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:48.000 I look forward to it. Thank you very much for having me. Welcome. 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:51.000 Thank you, Charlie. I'm glad you're here. 00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:54.000 Alright, let's kick off our planning session. 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:58.000 Alright, well then I'm going to turn it over to Tom Stelman and Jacqueline Lee 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:01.000 who will lead us in our discussion. 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:13.000 Thank you guys. It's amazing to be back in Denton. 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:17.000 For those of you who may not know, we actually did some work in Denton. 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:26.000 We did the action plan from 2003, I believe. Worked with the partnership at that time 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:31.000 helping make some decisions about where the emphasis in this community 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:35.000 ought to be from an economic development standpoint. 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:39.000 And this is my first trip back as a consultant. 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:44.000 I have been back to Denton before, but I was able to come in yesterday a little bit early. 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:47.000 The first thing we did was drive into the downtown 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:51.000 and to see the amazing transformation that's occurred there. 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:55.000 It was sleepy at the time when we were there. 00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:57.000 When we were here, we actually also participated, 00:02:57.000 --> 00:03:00.000 because one of the big recommendations was the downtown strategy. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:04.000 And we participated with Reagan City, California to fund that team 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:07.000 to lay out one of the first downtown strategies for the community. 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:10.000 So, super excited to be back. 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:12.000 So thank you very much for the invitation. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:17.000 And Charlie and I ran into each other this morning at breakfast at the Embassy Suites. 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:20.000 And I'm excited to see that Charlie's working on this, 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:24.000 because we have actually worked on a number of projects in the past. 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:27.000 So, awesome. 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:33.000 And I'm going to introduce Jacqueline Lee, our lead consultant on this project. 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:36.000 And I'll say a little bit more about her here in a moment. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:39.000 But before we go too far down this path, 00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:42.000 I would like you guys to introduce yourselves. 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:44.000 Quickly, we'll go around the room again. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:46.000 Charlie, you had a chance. 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:50.000 And just, if you don't mind, so we know what hat you wear. 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:53.000 I know you guys all wear multiple hats. 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:55.000 So if you don't mind, tell me your main hat. 00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:59.000 And if there's another hat you want to say, "Hey, I'm also on the school floor," 00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:02.000 or "I'm also here," it would be good for us to know. 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:07.000 Nice to meet you, Tom. I'm Erica Pankburn, president of the Denton Chamber of Commerce. 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:10.000 We started here April 1st of last year. 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:16.000 I'm Steve Edgar. I'm the CEO of Medical City Denton Hospital. 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:21.000 I'm Keely Briggs, city council here in Denton. 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:23.000 I'm John Baines, CPA and consultant. 00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:29.000 I've been in business since '86, and I represent the Denton Black Chamber of Commerce, 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:32.000 for which I've been in Memphis since 1995. 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:37.000 Right, so you know our new president pretty well, then. 00:04:37.000 --> 00:04:41.000 I'm Marty Rivers. I'm the market president for American National Bank. 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:50.000 And I was involved as a committee member in the initial discussion that you guys did in 2002-2003. 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:55.000 We formed this partnership, and I'm on my second stint on the board. 00:04:55.000 --> 00:05:00.000 So this is my 12th year to be on the economic development board. 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:04.000 I think I've chaired it for eight of those years. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:08.000 And I'm in the last nine months. 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:10.000 Until we make some changes. 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:14.000 All that means is I'm old. 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:18.000 You also started when you were three. 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:25.000 You guys know me. Tom knows me. He has spent a lot of money. 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:32.000 My name is Jill Jester, and I'm a shareholder at Miner and Jester, which is a law firm here in town, our oldest law firm. 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:36.000 And I'm currently serving as the chair of the board of directors at the Chamber of Commerce. 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:38.000 I'm a chamber representative here. 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:44.000 And just as a side note, I'm also chair of the board of regents at Texas Women's University currently. 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:46.000 So I kind of have a couple of perspectives. 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:48.000 This is a side note. 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:51.000 Sidebar, yeah. 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:56.000 Hi, my name is Tony Clark. I'm regional CEO for Independent Bank, headquartered on McKinney out here. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:06:01.000 And I was also on the board, chamber board, back in 2003 when you guys were doing all that. 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:03.000 So remember that as well. 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:09.000 Yeah, I know you guys didn't recognize me because I had hair back then. 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:13.000 Chris Davis. I work at Peterbilt Motors here in Denton. 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:20.000 And a side note, I sit on the MBA advisory board at Texas Christian University as well. 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:25.000 I'm Pamela Padilla. I'm the associate vice president of research at University of North Texas. 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:28.000 And I've been a professor there for 17 years. 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:35.000 I'm Bob Ames. I've been a lawyer here since how long? 00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:38.000 A long time. 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:45.000 I practice law against Jill's daddy, so that gives you some idea how long I've been here. 00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:49.000 And still kicking. 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:53.000 That's our aviation representation on the board. 00:06:53.000 --> 00:07:00.000 Right, I was the chair of the airport board for several years in addition to practicing law. 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:06.000 The airport board is more fun. 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:09.000 Hello, I'm Michael Stan. I'm the vice president of Discover Denton. 00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:14.000 That's our local destination marketing organization for the Denton Commission of Business and the Bureau. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:17.000 And we're a division of the Chamber of Commerce. 00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:19.000 Jimmy. 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:23.000 Hi, I'm Jimmy McGee. I'm with the ownership group Elastega Me Market here in Denton. 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:29.000 And it's a family business, so I guess I've been, you know, for the last 15 years, 20 years now, 00:07:29.000 --> 00:07:33.000 working with the family and watching it grow and expand. 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:35.000 And we're happy to be here in Denton. 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:37.000 You said fleet market? 00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:40.000 Elastega Me Market. It has two locations here in Denton. 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:48.000 We started with a little location, about 35, and then continuing to grow and expand and serve in the community. 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:52.000 Awesome. Awesome. I'll come see you later. 00:07:52.000 --> 00:08:00.000 So in terms of our agenda, I'm going to talk a little bit about the project that we've been tasked with helping you with. 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:07.000 And then I want to talk about just a couple of national trends that we follow that impact economic development. 00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:12.000 We've done a little research, really just getting started with the input process. 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:16.000 And so we've tried to prepare ourselves for that, and I'll share a little bit with you. 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:22.000 And we have some data, but this isn't about a data presentation after that lasagna I just ate. 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:26.000 You know, we don't really want to spend a lot of time with data right now. 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:30.000 And mostly we want to get some feedback from you guys. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:35.000 So did you guys receive the invitation letter that had some of the questions? 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:38.000 So hopefully you've come prepared to talk about some of those questions. 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:42.000 But I'll bring them back up here in a minute, so you'll have a chance to see that. 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:46.000 And then we'll talk about what's next up for us. 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:56.000 But I will step back, just for those of you who didn't work with us in the past, TIP stands for theory into practice. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:09:00.000 We really see ourselves, the majority of our firm are practitioners. 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:05.000 We've worked in the shoes of economic developers, and been on boards, and run organizations. 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:08.000 And so we feel like this isn't just another study. 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:15.000 And I remember, Marty, when we did the first workshop, this group couldn't say the word strategic plan, 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:21.000 because they had an experience where strategic plans had been done in the past and sat on shelves. 00:09:21.000 --> 00:09:24.000 And they really wanted an action plan, and so that's what we called it. 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:30.000 And we identified the major opportunities here, and we built out action plans for that. 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:33.000 That's the way we developed that project. 00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:36.000 So that was very much on the implementation side. 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:42.000 We have expanded our business since we were working here in 2003. 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:44.000 I now have a partner that's based out of Seattle. 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:47.000 Our research director is based out of Boston. 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:49.000 Jacqueline is here in Dallas. 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:53.000 I have one of our consultants based out of Portland, Oregon. 00:09:53.000 --> 00:10:01.000 So we really had to embrace the idea that not everybody has to be in my office in Austin. 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:04.000 And a number of organizations right now, that's what they're working with. 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:07.000 What does it mean to have a remote workforce? 00:10:07.000 --> 00:10:11.000 What does it mean to have representation, people that aren't necessarily coming into your office, 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:18.000 and how do you maintain that culture and that quality of product that you deliver? 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:25.000 We have done quite a bit of work in the DFW area since we worked in Denton last. 00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:28.000 I was listing it off a year and a half ago. 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:32.000 We did the city of Fort Worth economic development strategy for the city. 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:35.000 We've done Irving, Arlington. 00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:42.000 We just finished a project to help profile the opportunity zones for the city of Dallas. 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:44.000 And I'd be happy to share that with you guys. 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:48.000 Actually, Tracy just led that project. 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:53.000 And we are now under contract with the city of Dallas to get additional input. 00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:55.000 They had another group do a strategic plan, 00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:59.000 and it felt like they didn't really embrace a lot of the community there. 00:10:59.000 --> 00:11:01.000 And so we're going back into the city of Dallas. 00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:06.000 And over the next 60 days, Jacqueline is responsible for setting up meetings 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:13.000 with all the city council members there to get their input on the city of Dallas's economic development strategic plan. 00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:18.000 So we are heavily embedded in the region. 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:25.000 But I'm going to be the first to say I don't pretend to know the latest and greatest of what every community has done. 00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:28.000 You guys are probably going to know what they're up to more than I am right now. 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:31.000 And so we're going to rely on you guys to help educate us. 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:34.000 Even though we're here, we know every community is different. 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:43.000 So this is our current team, and John had asked me earlier if Tracy was here. 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:46.000 Tracy is our new president for the company. 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:52.000 I am the CEO and founder of the firm, but we felt it was important to bring a national level person in. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:58.000 Tracy has led the black chamber for the city of Austin in a previous life. 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:05.000 She was the director of tourism for the State Department of Commerce at that time for several years. 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:08.000 She then ran our state's economic development division. 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:13.000 Then went down to Houston and was the CEO for the Great Houston Partnership. 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:19.000 And then kind of lost herself and went up to the state of New Jersey at Chris Christie's behest 00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:24.000 and ran the state of New Jersey's Choose New Jersey. 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:28.000 This was before scandal, which I read in the paper this morning. 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:32.000 He's still dealing with Bridgegate. 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:36.000 And then she came back and ran Texas, and then she joined our firm this last year. 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:40.000 So we're really excited to have her on board. 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:46.000 No need to go through a commercial for TIP, but just some of the places that we're working right now, 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:53.000 we are leading a plan for Harris County, finishing up with the city of Waxahachie. 00:12:53.000 --> 00:12:58.000 I just finished a project for the city of Midland and have now been asked to do more for Odessa. 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:03.000 And as I mentioned, Dallas, Fort Worth, a number of other places across the country. 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:09.000 So our process is a three-phase process. 00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:13.000 We get on the ground, try to understand what's going on. 00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:15.000 We get input from you guys. 00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:17.000 We go back, we digest that. 00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:20.000 We come back to you and say, hey, this is what we heard from you. 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:23.000 This is what we're seeing other groups do. 00:13:23.000 --> 00:13:27.000 And get that to you guys, and we go through a process of getting your input, saying, okay, 00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:30.000 where Denton is right now and where you see Denton going, 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:35.000 what are the things that we need to pay attention to from an economic development perspective? 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:37.000 So I'm not telling you guys anything new here. 00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:43.000 I just want you guys to know that we have a process that we're going to take you through over the next four months. 00:13:43.000 --> 00:13:47.000 Our framework, I think, is important. 00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:52.000 You need to know as we're thinking about economic development, and we're seeing this across the country, 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:57.000 there have been some very high-profile projects out there that everybody's talked about for the last two years, 00:13:57.000 --> 00:14:06.000 Amazon HQ2 being one of them, and very incentive-driven, but behind the scenes, 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:10.000 a big part of their decision had nothing to do with incentives. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:14.000 It had everything to do with can we find access to the market that we want to penetrate, 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:19.000 and can we track the talent that we need, because we are a technology business. 00:14:19.000 --> 00:14:26.000 If you look at Amazon's business and you try to understand where they're profitable, 00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:31.000 it's in the data services component. 00:14:31.000 --> 00:14:37.000 They still barely make money off of selling you the stuff that you buy off of Amazon. 00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:42.000 The margins on that have been so thin for so long, and they remain competitive. 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:48.000 The biggest growth part of their company is international, and it's on the data side. 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:51.000 Their business is a technology business, and that's what's driven it. 00:14:51.000 --> 00:15:00.000 But what that means is it's less about they love the incentives from wherever they go, 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.000 but a big part of it is are we going to be able to keep that talent pipeline? 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:08.000 That's really what's driving economic development right now. 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:12.000 With greater use and partnership, those guys did not make the top 20, 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:17.000 and they went back to Amazon and they said, "Hey, what's up?" 00:15:17.000 --> 00:15:20.000 They said, "You stats don't have the tech talent to support us. 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:24.000 You've got medical, you've got Rice University, you've got a lot going on here, 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:28.000 but when we look at the skill sets that we need, and the degrees that we need, 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:32.000 and the pipeline that we need, you don't have it. It's just not there." 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:39.000 Dallas has it, but it's not DC, it's not New York, it's not Boston. 00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:44.000 How does Denton think of itself in the context of this new data-driven, 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:49.000 IT-driven, talent-driven model? 00:15:49.000 --> 00:15:54.000 I want to get off my soapbox for a moment because really our model, 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:58.000 we're looking at talent as being the way you think about economic development. 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:02.000 What does it mean for you? What does it mean for the companies that are here? 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:05.000 If you're running a hospital, what are your biggest challenges? 00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:09.000 Probably in doctors, nurses, skill sets. 00:16:09.000 --> 00:16:13.000 Your relationship with the city is very important, the infrastructure is very important. 00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:17.000 Depending on whether you're a non-profit or a for-profit, your tax rates are very important, 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:21.000 but a big part of your success is being able to deliver that service 00:16:21.000 --> 00:16:25.000 and compete with Dallas and the medical center there, and compete with Fort Worth, 00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:30.000 and keeping people here, and on the north side of the DFW area, 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:34.000 wanting to get their services here and not go somewhere else. 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:38.000 And so the talent is driving, and so I want you guys, as you think about going forward here, 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:43.000 and your vision for Denton, what does it mean for us to be able to keep and attract 00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:47.000 and grow a talent base here? 00:16:47.000 --> 00:16:51.000 And we've got assets that are amazing, UNT, Community College, 00:16:51.000 --> 00:16:55.000 Texas Women's University, and you've got assets here that are enviable 00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:59.000 throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area. So you've got a lot of assets going on. 00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:03.000 Like I said when we came in yesterday, went to the downtown, 00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:09.000 I was like, okay, you guys have something that you've turned into a huge asset 00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:15.000 that's authentic, that every developer out there wants to replicate. 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:19.000 I mean, if you look at the, I did work for Southlake, you look at their town center, 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:23.000 what were they trying to replicate? They're trying to replicate what you guys have 00:17:23.000 --> 00:17:29.000 in your downtown, you know, that center, you feel like you're in town. 00:17:29.000 --> 00:17:32.000 So I'm getting ahead of myself, talent, innovation, place, 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:35.000 really the way we think about economic development. 00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:42.000 Let's go to this project. Six different components that we've been asked to look at. 00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:48.000 Number one, just a SWOT analysis, giving you guys an idea of what are your strengths and weaknesses. 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:53.000 Number two, develop a vision and the goals for economic development. 00:17:53.000 --> 00:18:02.000 Identifying the targets and the subsectors and doing targeting right now has changed completely. 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:07.000 The old model for economic development was you looked at what cluster do we have. 00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:13.000 We have Peterbilt, we have suppliers, you know, that could potentially come in for Peterbilt. 00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:19.000 Do we stop doing that? No. Every economic developer is still trying to support key employers. 00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:24.000 But as you start thinking about the new types of businesses that are growing in the DFW area, 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:30.000 a lot of them just don't fit neatly into an old economic development model. 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:32.000 You've got to think more creatively. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:37.000 Reviewing incentives and economic development tools, and you had mentioned, Jessica, 00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:45.000 that you guys have gone ahead and made the decision about enacting what's the word I'm looking for? 00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:53.000 Our policy expires in two months. We have to re-adopt it before Tom has the ability to make any recommendations. 00:18:53.000 --> 00:19:01.000 So we're required by statute to adopt it every two years. We'll be doing that discussion next meeting. 00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:08.000 We'll also be looking at your incentives policy and does that match with the direction that you're going? 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:15.000 Are you incentivizing the right types of projects and measuring the right types of outputs? 00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:19.000 And then we'll also look at, you know, are there opportunities for development or redevelopment? 00:19:19.000 --> 00:19:25.000 And you guys still have a lot of product. We spent an hour and a half touring the community, went around the loop. 00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:34.000 You have a lot of real estate that's still available versus some of the closer in, some of the building out, 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:39.000 which I think you're next in line. You're not next in line. 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:43.000 You're already part of that process in terms of the development that's occurring here. 00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:50.000 But you still have something to offer, which for larger projects you could be highly competitive for. 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:55.000 And then, so these first five, you know, your input is going to be critical. 00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:58.000 We'll put all that in. We'll look at what other communities are doing. 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:05.000 We'll make recommendations about the staffing for the city and how this should be structured as part of that. 00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:11.000 So these are the major project goals. What are we going to ask you to do? 00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:17.000 We're going to ask you to come to these meetings. We're going to ask you to provide input during this process, 00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:24.000 giving us guidance, facilitate information sharing, especially the Chamber, the city. 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:27.000 You know, we need a lot of information right now. 00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:34.000 And then I think you will help us engage other stakeholders and help build buy-in as we go along. 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:38.000 You'll be a voice because people will ask, "What are you guys up to?" 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:45.000 And you are the champions for what comes out of this. You'll be the ones who help communicate that. 00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:50.000 I think I've already really talked about our process. 00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:57.000 I don't think I need to go into too much detail there other than to say we are at sort of project launch. 00:20:57.000 --> 00:21:07.000 And what we are doing today and tomorrow, we met this morning and did a windshield tour, 00:21:07.000 --> 00:21:17.000 went out to the industrial park, went up 380 over to 288, did the loop back around, went to the downtown. 00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:22.000 So that's as far as we've gotten. 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:30.000 We have a roundtable after this with the invitees from the Chamber of Commerce. 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.000 We've got a tech roundtable, an industry roundtable. 00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:37.000 Are you coming back? 00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:39.000 All right, we're going to get some of you guys busy. 00:21:39.000 --> 00:21:42.000 I know some of you guys are probably sticking around for the next chamber. 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:45.000 So we appreciate you taking the time up front. 00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:50.000 And then tomorrow morning, education and workforce will bring the universities and school district in. 00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:56.000 Development and infrastructure roundtable, and that will be primarily city department heads 00:21:56.000 --> 00:22:08.000 and then economic development staff, and then the city executive leadership is city manager. 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:11.000 So you guys know what we're up to. 00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:16.000 And if you need a copy of who is going to those meetings, we're happy to share that with you. 00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:18.000 But what are we, 50 or 60? 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:29.000 We'll be participating over the next 24 hours in the meetings that we'll have, so we'll be drinking from the fire. 00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:34.000 And then the project timeline, our goal is to have the final plan in May. 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:45.000 We've been asked to have some of our recommendations done a little bit earlier, and so we'll be working on that. 00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.000 Let's see. 00:22:49.000 --> 00:22:54.000 I think I have, is it the end of the presentation, Jacqueline, where I have the calendar of the next meetings? 00:22:54.000 --> 00:22:55.000 Okay, okay. 00:22:55.000 --> 00:23:02.000 So before you leave today, you'll get to see when the next meetings are going to be held. 00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:07.000 And then we'll also send out a calendar so that you guys can go ahead and mark your calendars for the next meetings, 00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:12.000 because I know your schedules are busy. 00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:16.000 Any questions so far? 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:19.000 We're going to have questions here in a minute, but I just want to make sure we're all trying. 00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:20.000 What is your preference, Tom? 00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:25.000 Do you want to finish your presentation and then ask questions, or do you want to take them as we go along? 00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:30.000 Well, if there are questions about the process, I'm okay taking one now. 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:36.000 If you want to give input on sort of the community itself or the challenges, I'm going to ask those questions in a few minutes. 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:42.000 Can I ask who's involved in those groups who just showed up, like the land development? 00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:44.000 Yeah. 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:47.000 Was that staff or was that people in the community? 00:23:47.000 --> 00:23:49.000 Development and infrastructure? 00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:51.000 That's staff. 00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:58.000 Yeah, typically what we'll do, Marty, is we'll meet with staff first, kind of talk about their programs. 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:04.000 And then when we come back, we like to bring in the development community or builders or others 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:11.000 to kind of help understand what is their relationship and how they perceive those services and the delivery of those services, 00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:16.000 if that's where you're headed with that question. 00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:17.000 Question, Tom? 00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:18.000 Yes, ma'am. 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:23.000 Yeah, and so I guess my question would be, so does that include all the stakeholders? 00:24:23.000 --> 00:24:28.000 And is the community in itself part of that stakeholder group? 00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:36.000 Or are we just kind of focusing on city staff at this point, and then the developers, 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:43.000 and then just trying to see who all you're looking to speak with, who are the stakeholders? 00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:51.000 Yeah, so we will, in this meeting, we ask that certain groups be brought together. 00:24:51.000 --> 00:24:55.000 Normally we would do that in our next meeting, but we're trying to get ahead of it. 00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:58.000 And so the next time we come out, we'll be meeting with council members, 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:02.000 and then we're also going to hold additional ground tables. 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:07.000 And we're contemplating a broader survey right now. 00:25:07.000 --> 00:25:15.000 We wanted to see kind of what feedback we got right here about whether there needed to be a broader questionnaire that goes out. 00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:21.000 But the idea is to get as many people as we can to really understand what the community's interested in. 00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:26.000 But we're going to rely on the council to really also tell us about your districts. 00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:30.000 Sorry, you guys, single member districts. 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:31.000 Both. 00:25:31.000 --> 00:25:32.000 Both. 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:44.000 It's to understand your constituents and make sure that we get to hear what those issues are in the particular areas of the community. 00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:47.000 So national trends, do I just escape here? 00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:59.000 Take this. 00:25:59.000 --> 00:26:08.000 So, don't push play yet, but does this, can you shrink it just a little bit? 00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:09.000 Yeah, right there. 00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:10.000 That's probably good. 00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:12.000 That way all of that gets on there. 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:16.000 Okay, I'll take it from there. 00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:18.000 Well, I'm only going to talk about three trends. 00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:20.000 One is just the overall common. 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.000 One is technology, and then the other is demographics. 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:27.000 And so I have three or four slides here. 00:26:27.000 --> 00:26:38.000 But I think it's important as we go into this to remind ourselves that we're not just Denton, we're not just Denton County, but we're operating in a national context and a global context. 00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:50.000 And what I'm going to do here is I've got a little graphic that we created that shows job loss and job gain by metro area across the country. 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:56.000 If it is a blue bubble, it is a metro area that has gained jobs over the last 12 months. 00:26:56.000 --> 00:27:00.000 If it's a red bubble, it has lost jobs over the last 12 months. 00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:08.000 And when I first hit play, you're going to see it starts in January of 1999. 00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:20.000 And you guys later today, if you want to go back to your office or at home, you can go to the website and you can actually see this yourself. 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:28.000 But I'm going to hit pause here for a moment and just say that this was essentially representing the dot com bust. 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:32.000 It didn't hit the country evenly because some areas weren't really driven by technology. 00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:36.000 Austin was, so we got hit pretty hard in Austin. 00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:48.000 And when you go to the web, you can actually take your cursor and put it over each of the different metros that are there. 00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:51.000 And so I'm going to push play again. 00:27:51.000 --> 00:27:58.000 We're in July of 2001. Things get a little bit worse after that. 00:27:58.000 --> 00:28:08.000 September 11th, George Bush says go out and spend money for those of us that were working at that time. 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:17.000 You're going to notice something happens in Louisiana here in the middle of 2005. 00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:24.000 Katrina. Yeah, it's really fascinating because you had New Orleans get hit and then Baton Rouge. 00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:27.000 Everybody moved up to Baton Rouge and Houston and these other cities. 00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:32.000 And they actually showed this job gain over that same period of time. 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:36.000 I'm going to hit play again. 00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:47.000 And so really in 2006, recession hasn't started, but what's the signal here? Automotive industry. 00:28:47.000 --> 00:28:57.000 Detroit starts getting hit and it's really not until the end of 2007 that the recession officially starts. 00:28:57.000 --> 00:29:06.000 Housing bubble starts to pop December 2007 and then it's really the market doesn't fall until the fall. 00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:18.000 And if you're squeamish, you can close your eyes now. 00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:29.000 I'm actually going to fast forward here and I would encourage you guys, if this is something of interest to you, 00:29:29.000 --> 00:29:32.000 just kind of seeing where we are. We keep this up on a quarterly basis. 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:36.000 We do it monthly, but it's a quarter lag time. 00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:44.000 But we're always paying attention to what's happening in Minneapolis right now, what's going on there. 00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:48.000 And you expect it in some areas. 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:59.000 Jacqueline is a consultant for a project right now for a group of leading automotive companies in Detroit, 00:29:59.000 --> 00:30:05.000 helping them understand because they're trying to look at where can we fill our vacancies right now 00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:10.000 with people that are local as opposed to having to attract help from the outside. 00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:19.000 It's a fascinating project. And once again, the overall national economy, we have to pay attention to it 00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:23.000 because there's been a lot of talk over the last 12 months of when is that next recession going to come? 00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:27.000 And what's that going to mean for development patterns? What's that going to mean for the DFW? 00:30:27.000 --> 00:30:32.000 What's that going to mean for dental? So you have to constantly be thinking about the economy. 00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:41.000 So the, do I just hit escape or just go here? Here. Here. 00:30:41.000 --> 00:30:48.000 So really, the other interesting factor overall for those of us in economic development, 00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:55.000 those of us who have defined economic development as attracting manufacturing jobs over the years 00:30:55.000 --> 00:31:02.000 to see what percentage manufacturing jobs have actually taken up as part of the overall economy. 00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:09.000 And what's very encouraging since 2010 is that line has kind of flattened, 00:31:09.000 --> 00:31:15.000 which means that we're holding our own as a country from the manufacturing standpoint. 00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:21.000 Peter built a testament to that, having strong manufacturers in this country. 00:31:21.000 --> 00:31:24.000 It doesn't mean that manufacturing isn't a good target for you. 00:31:24.000 --> 00:31:27.000 It doesn't mean that manufacturing is not going to grow in the DFW area. 00:31:27.000 --> 00:31:33.000 It just means that most of the job creation has occurred in other sectors, professional business services, 00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:40.000 education, healthcare, IT, there are a number of financial services in other areas that have grown faster. 00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:43.000 So if you're in the economic development business and you're all about chasing jobs, 00:31:43.000 --> 00:31:48.000 where are those jobs going to be? It's a big question. Big question. 00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:59.000 The other issue that remains with us is we baby boomers are finally starting to reach retirement age. 00:31:59.000 --> 00:32:09.000 And as a consequence, as we start leaving the workforce, many of us unwillingly leaving the workforce, 00:32:09.000 --> 00:32:20.000 there is still a demographic issue where we're creating jobs and we have people who are retiring at a rate that we're not able to fill a lot of those jobs, 00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:22.000 especially the jobs that are technical skill jobs. 00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:29.000 So I don't know if in your businesses you're experiencing that, but across the country right now, that's been the biggest issue. 00:32:29.000 --> 00:32:37.000 The last issue for us is just what is technology doing across all the different sectors? 00:32:37.000 --> 00:32:45.000 Everything has gone to being based on technology, based on information technology, especially in the area of things. 00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:51.000 A lot of our diagnosis, a lot of the things that we wear on our wrists now that are monitoring our health, 00:32:51.000 --> 00:32:54.000 there's so many different things going on it's hard to keep up with, 00:32:54.000 --> 00:32:59.000 but it is impacting businesses and business location decisions that are being made. 00:32:59.000 --> 00:33:11.000 So the local context for us, you're in the DFW area and I don't have to tell you guys about what's going on in Dallas Fort Worth. 00:33:11.000 --> 00:33:16.000 Fastest growing metro region in the country, fourth best economy, 32% workers have cars. 00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:24.000 In other words, Dallas Fort Worth is still on the radar screen for every single major business location in the country. 00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:28.000 Dallas Fort Worth is at the top of the list for consideration. 00:33:28.000 --> 00:33:34.000 So you guys get to benefit from all the assets at our DFW in your location. 00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:41.000 This is more of a teaser because we haven't done our homework yet, 00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:48.000 but one of the things that we're going to come back and do is look at what are the current development projects that are underway 00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:54.000 and where are the next planned developments and what does that mean for the community. 00:33:54.000 --> 00:34:04.000 Right now, one that kind of hit us between the -- this was vacant when we were here last. 00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:10.000 And now we are staying at the embassy suite, so we're right in the middle of all that. That's awesome. 00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:17.000 Your industrial park with the expansions from Peterbilt and all the other logistics companies and cold storage 00:34:17.000 --> 00:34:20.000 and everything else that's happened out there, phenomenal. 00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.000 I think the pressure is going to continue on that area to grow. 00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:28.000 And I know there are multiple development projects in the area, 00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:35.000 but one that stood out to us that Jessica shared with us was the Coal and Hunter piece that essentially controls -- 00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:37.000 how many miles of that? 35, what is it? 00:34:37.000 --> 00:34:40.000 Six miles of that. 00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:42.000 35 fromage. 00:34:42.000 --> 00:34:46.000 And I don't have to tell you guys this, but I'll just -- it bears repeating. 00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:51.000 It's like the number of residents that are going to go into that area and what that's going to mean for this community, 00:34:51.000 --> 00:34:57.000 from healthcare, ISD, retail, what that's going to do. 00:34:57.000 --> 00:35:01.000 But also the competitiveness nature. 00:35:01.000 --> 00:35:04.000 They're probably going to build their own retail along that strip. 00:35:04.000 --> 00:35:07.000 So what does that mean for Razor Ranch? What does that mean for the downtown? 00:35:07.000 --> 00:35:10.000 What does it mean for the other things that you have to offer? 00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:12.000 So we are going to be looking at this. 00:35:12.000 --> 00:35:16.000 I didn't come prepared today to talk about all of the development developments. 00:35:16.000 --> 00:35:19.000 I just wanted you guys to know that this is what we're looking at right now. 00:35:19.000 --> 00:35:21.000 We are going to look at data. 00:35:21.000 --> 00:35:26.000 Like I said, I didn't want to make this a data presentation in the middle of the afternoon. 00:35:26.000 --> 00:35:32.000 But this is your population growth trend, educational attainment. 00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:37.000 You know, with the universities here, you guys are kind of off the charts there in terms of education. 00:35:37.000 --> 00:35:39.000 Tom, could you go back to the one on population growth? 00:35:39.000 --> 00:35:44.000 Thank you. 00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:45.000 Is that good? 00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:46.000 Yes. 00:35:46.000 --> 00:35:47.000 Thank you. 00:35:47.000 --> 00:35:48.000 All right. 00:35:48.000 --> 00:35:56.000 And we will work very closely with the city to make sure that any numbers that we share with you officially 00:35:56.000 --> 00:36:04.000 know that we're kind of in the same ballpark because there are a number of different population estimates 00:36:04.000 --> 00:36:06.000 and sources that are used out there. 00:36:06.000 --> 00:36:10.000 Some are counting the city, some are counting the county or draw a ring around the city. 00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.000 We just want to make sure that we're not presenting information that we share with you. 00:36:14.000 --> 00:36:15.000 You feel like, okay. 00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:22.000 But any time that we do share something and you say, man, it just doesn't smell right, you know, don't stop us. 00:36:22.000 --> 00:36:25.000 I mean, do stop us, sorry. 00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.000 We know better than we're just going to say what it all looks like. 00:36:29.000 --> 00:36:36.000 So, but yeah, but we will, you know, we'll look at the city of Denton. 00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:37.000 We will look at Denton County. 00:36:37.000 --> 00:36:40.000 We'll compare you guys to others within the region. 00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:46.000 You know, if you want to compare yourselves to Frisco or Plano or Power Mound, you know, whatever you guys want to do. 00:36:46.000 --> 00:36:55.000 We'll get some feedback from you, kind of take some, you know, snapshot benchmark of what others are up to. 00:36:55.000 --> 00:37:03.000 This is part of our analysis and employment by sector, education, health care and manufacturing. 00:37:03.000 --> 00:37:07.000 So you guys are somewhat unique on the manufacturing space, especially in the DFW area 00:37:07.000 --> 00:37:14.000 because you have such large, great manufacturing employers that are here. 00:37:14.000 --> 00:37:16.000 Where have you gained? 00:37:16.000 --> 00:37:19.000 Transportation warehousing and manufacturing, right at the top. 00:37:19.000 --> 00:37:26.000 So there you go, Tom, that's counter to your national trend right there. 00:37:26.000 --> 00:37:32.000 Commuting, we will probably dig into this quite a bit 00:37:32.000 --> 00:37:36.000 because for us, understanding what your relationship is to the surrounding communities, 00:37:36.000 --> 00:37:40.000 who's coming into this community, who's leaving this community. 00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:48.000 But as anticipated, you know, the number of people that are commuting into the city of Denton has remained relatively flat. 00:37:48.000 --> 00:37:51.000 But this is not picking up 2018 or 2019. 00:37:51.000 --> 00:37:57.000 And I'm guessing that your numbers with some of your job growth have probably increased. 00:37:57.000 --> 00:38:03.000 But the number of people that are, you know, because you're experiencing population growth, 00:38:03.000 --> 00:38:08.000 people are moving in to this area but then commuting back to Dallas or commuting back to DFW Airport 00:38:08.000 --> 00:38:10.000 or commuting back to wherever they live. 00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:16.000 And we'll actually look at the numbers of where are those concentrations. 00:38:16.000 --> 00:38:23.000 And I don't expect you to understand this right now, but we'll look at, you know, where do workers in Denton live? 00:38:23.000 --> 00:38:30.000 The majority still live in Denton, but you break people in from Fort Worth, Dallas, Florida, Louisville. 00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.000 And then we'll do the opposite, where do people in Denton work? 00:38:34.000 --> 00:38:39.000 And we can, we have a tool that we'll be able to drill in here, 00:38:39.000 --> 00:38:44.000 so you'll be able to see the exact numbers that are coming from particular districts. 00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:50.000 And we can actually know what occupations, we can know income levels. 00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:57.000 So we'll have a lot of information that we'll bring to bear here to help make decisions. 00:38:57.000 --> 00:39:02.000 I'm going to turn the tables here and come back to you guys. 00:39:02.000 --> 00:39:07.000 These were the questions that we sent out to you. 00:39:07.000 --> 00:39:10.000 You know, where do you see challenges for the community? 00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:12.000 Where do you see opportunities? 00:39:12.000 --> 00:39:16.000 What are the largest successes that you've seen? 00:39:16.000 --> 00:39:19.000 What have been some of the losses or setbacks? 00:39:19.000 --> 00:39:24.000 Is there something you feel could be a transformative project for the community? 00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:30.000 Who do you compete with right now as you think about, you know, either in your business, 00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:32.000 if you're the hospital, who do you compete with? 00:39:32.000 --> 00:39:39.000 If you're an employer here, who are you competing with for employees? 00:39:39.000 --> 00:39:43.000 If you're the city and somebody's locating, you know, who comes to the list? 00:39:43.000 --> 00:39:46.000 Where are they deciding about where they're going to go? 00:39:46.000 --> 00:39:49.000 What other communities could we learn from? 00:39:49.000 --> 00:39:52.000 In other words, is there somebody else out there in the DFW area or somewhere else 00:39:52.000 --> 00:39:55.000 that you feel like we ought to become more like these guys, 00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:58.000 or we ought to learn from that particular project? 00:39:58.000 --> 00:39:59.000 And then who else? 00:39:59.000 --> 00:40:03.000 And this goes back to your question, Council Member, like who else needs to be involved? 00:40:03.000 --> 00:40:08.000 Who else do we need to talk to to make sure that we get this right? 00:40:08.000 --> 00:40:14.000 So are you guys -- do you have your mobile phones with you by chance? 00:40:14.000 --> 00:40:20.000 Can we use you as a game page real quick, if you don't mind? 00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:30.000 And this is more of a test to see how much of this we can include going forward. 00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:36.000 But if you can open up your browser and go to minty.com -- 00:40:36.000 --> 00:40:39.000 how many of you have done this one before? 00:40:39.000 --> 00:40:41.000 Anybody? 00:40:41.000 --> 00:40:44.000 Okay. 00:40:44.000 --> 00:40:52.000 And then you don't put any spaces in for that code number, you just type 64130. 00:40:52.000 --> 00:40:57.000 And let me know if you're having any trouble getting this open. 00:40:57.000 --> 00:41:02.000 We'll be happy to help. 00:41:02.000 --> 00:41:05.000 Cool. 00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:17.000 Wow, no cap. 00:41:17.000 --> 00:41:29.000 I can't tell my cat what I'm putting. 00:41:29.000 --> 00:41:40.000 Anybody of you guys have been able to input it yet? 00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:47.000 That's right, we're going to know what you got put in. 00:41:47.000 --> 00:41:53.000 Yeah, so I think most of you guys are liars. 00:41:53.000 --> 00:41:57.000 So there we go. 00:41:57.000 --> 00:42:01.000 No, I looked up the national statistics recently, 00:42:01.000 --> 00:42:05.000 and there actually are more cats as pets than there are dogs. 00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.000 But I think that's because my wife is a cat lady and has thrown all the numbers out, 00:42:09.000 --> 00:42:14.000 so we have a lot of cats. 00:42:14.000 --> 00:42:16.000 All right, yeah, let's go to the next one. 00:42:16.000 --> 00:42:19.000 And we actually have a couple of serious questions coming up here. 00:42:19.000 --> 00:42:41.000 You have to choose one. 00:42:41.000 --> 00:42:49.000 Just letting you guys know that you're matching our trends in the vacations. 00:42:49.000 --> 00:42:52.000 Usually evenly split on the vacation, 00:42:52.000 --> 00:42:57.000 unless we're in the desert, people tend to like going to the beach. 00:42:57.000 --> 00:43:02.000 The beach. 00:43:02.000 --> 00:43:03.000 Awesome. 00:43:03.000 --> 00:43:07.000 Well, let's go ahead and go to the next one. 00:43:07.000 --> 00:43:20.000 So rate each one of these just based on what you think. 00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:36.000 This is not scientific, this is just more of your gut reaction. 00:43:36.000 --> 00:43:38.000 Does it happen to kids? 00:44:06.000 --> 00:44:27.000 Does this surprise anybody? 00:44:27.000 --> 00:44:28.000 No. 00:44:28.000 --> 00:44:29.000 What is the 3.1 percent? 00:44:29.000 --> 00:44:31.000 Is that three votes? 00:44:31.000 --> 00:44:37.000 That's the average. 00:44:37.000 --> 00:44:41.000 That does surprise me. 00:44:41.000 --> 00:44:42.000 Positive or negative? 00:44:42.000 --> 00:44:49.000 I thought it would be higher. 00:44:49.000 --> 00:44:52.000 An attractive place for young professionals to live and work, 00:44:52.000 --> 00:44:57.000 and then has the capacity and resources necessary for economic development. 00:44:57.000 --> 00:45:00.000 So these are all above average. 00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:07.000 How did you factor in the retirement population? 00:45:07.000 --> 00:45:12.000 We probably need to add another question. 00:45:12.000 --> 00:45:20.000 The number of questions you can ask is a good place for retirees. 00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:23.000 That's exactly right. 00:45:23.000 --> 00:45:26.000 We did a lot of research on demographics 00:45:26.000 --> 00:45:29.000 and who was choosing the types of cities that they were going to. 00:45:29.000 --> 00:45:33.000 And there was this really interesting sort of mix over the last few years 00:45:33.000 --> 00:45:39.000 where you have this young college-educated choosing a college town 00:45:39.000 --> 00:45:44.000 that has the amenities that they're interested in and a certain vibe about it. 00:45:44.000 --> 00:45:48.000 And then you have this baby boomer, what we call a zoomer, 00:45:48.000 --> 00:45:52.000 an educated baby boomer who's looking for a place to retire. 00:45:52.000 --> 00:45:53.000 They want the same things. 00:45:53.000 --> 00:45:55.000 They want to be in that university town 00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:58.000 because they want to have access to the restaurant they want to have. 00:45:58.000 --> 00:46:01.000 They want to go back to the university, maybe take a couple of classes, 00:46:01.000 --> 00:46:04.000 maybe teach at the university, you know, part-time. 00:46:04.000 --> 00:46:07.000 So it's really interesting that. 00:46:07.000 --> 00:46:13.000 And you guys have that vibe with that type of community. 00:46:13.000 --> 00:46:18.000 So that's a great point there, Joe. 00:46:18.000 --> 00:46:24.000 So what communities do you feel like Denton competes with for investment and for talent? 00:46:24.000 --> 00:46:31.000 I think on this one you have to actually type in the name of the community. 00:46:31.000 --> 00:46:34.000 Type in more than one. 00:46:34.000 --> 00:46:37.000 Is it up to three or zero point three? 00:46:37.000 --> 00:46:39.000 It looks like there's three. 00:46:39.000 --> 00:46:41.000 Yeah, you can choose up to three. 00:46:41.000 --> 00:46:44.000 I don't think you have to choose three. 00:46:54.000 --> 00:47:00.000 [ Background noise ] 00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:02.000 Oh, yeah. 00:47:02.000 --> 00:47:04.000 [ Background noise ] 00:47:04.000 --> 00:47:27.000 [ Background noise ] 00:47:27.000 --> 00:47:31.000 So I assume at Lyatt you feel like you're competing for investment. 00:47:31.000 --> 00:47:35.000 Dallas is probably, you know, both. 00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:38.000 It's funny that Frisco just passed Dallas. 00:47:38.000 --> 00:47:46.000 [ Background noise ] 00:47:46.000 --> 00:47:51.000 Although it looks like someone typed in Frisco, Plano, and Fort Worth in one line. 00:47:51.000 --> 00:48:04.000 And so you can distribute that on those others. 00:48:04.000 --> 00:48:09.000 I've not seen any surprises about you guys. 00:48:09.000 --> 00:48:14.000 We need to ask better questions so there can be surprises. 00:48:14.000 --> 00:48:15.000 All right. 00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.000 Let's go to the last one here. 00:48:19.000 --> 00:48:26.000 So what do you feel like would be a sign of success for this process? 00:48:26.000 --> 00:48:34.000 [ Background noise ] 00:48:34.000 --> 00:48:36.000 All right. 00:48:36.000 --> 00:48:39.000 So yeah, this is a tweet. 00:48:39.000 --> 00:48:41.000 Hashtag. 00:48:41.000 --> 00:48:55.000 [ Background noise ] 00:48:55.000 --> 00:49:24.000 [ Background noise ] 00:49:24.000 --> 00:49:52.000 [ Background noise ] 00:49:52.000 --> 00:49:59.000 [ Background noise ] 00:49:59.000 --> 00:50:01.000 Someone's reading my answers. 00:50:01.000 --> 00:50:30.000 [ Background noise ] 00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:54.000 [ Background noise ] 00:50:54.000 --> 00:51:00.000 Well, it looks to me like a lot of consensus in terms of what you're going to get here. 00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:06.000 Clear vision, action-oriented plan, getting everybody on the same page, 00:51:06.000 --> 00:51:13.000 having enough detail to where it's not just, you know, do something without the details of how you get it done 00:51:13.000 --> 00:51:18.000 and how you structure yourself, you know, the best way to have that happen. 00:51:18.000 --> 00:51:32.000 Greater understanding of planning for Newton, unified direction, measurable, aligned, stability. 00:51:32.000 --> 00:51:41.000 Anything stick out to you guys? 00:51:41.000 --> 00:51:44.000 All right. 00:51:44.000 --> 00:51:57.000 Let's move on. 00:51:57.000 --> 00:52:03.000 We have a feel for some of the big assets in the community. 00:52:03.000 --> 00:52:06.000 But if you guys don't mind, I know you've done this before. 00:52:06.000 --> 00:52:14.000 If we can just get kind of a quick rundown of what you think your biggest assets are from an economic development standpoint. 00:52:14.000 --> 00:52:20.000 And we're just going to capture them here in a free form. 00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:25.000 What was the code again I lost on my page? 00:52:25.000 --> 00:52:27.000 Oh, for this one? 00:52:27.000 --> 00:52:30.000 6413-0. Okay. 00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:38.000 And what we will do for you guys, just FYI, is after we're done, we're going to give you a copy of the presentation. 00:52:38.000 --> 00:52:46.000 And in that presentation, there will actually be a PDF slides of your answers to each one of these. 00:52:46.000 --> 00:52:51.000 So you don't have to remember all the things that you put in there. 00:52:51.000 --> 00:52:58.000 That's the cool thing about the particular program, it lets us keep everything and we can share it back with you. 00:52:58.000 --> 00:53:03.000 So if you want to share it beyond this, you can. 00:53:03.000 --> 00:53:15.000 So Jacqueline is just going to capture, I'll start it off, universities. 00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:20.000 And there's probably specific programs within the universities that are assets. 00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:25.000 So feel free to throw something out if you think it's worth drawing attention to. 00:53:25.000 --> 00:53:29.000 What else? 00:53:29.000 --> 00:53:35.000 So, and forgive me if I'm splitting hairs, but Denton's greatest economic assets as far as something like, what is a location? 00:53:35.000 --> 00:53:38.000 Would location be one, or are we talking an actual, okay. 00:53:38.000 --> 00:53:41.000 What is currently making an economic development? 00:53:41.000 --> 00:53:46.000 If you think of it being an asset or a strength, you can fit both of those in that category. 00:53:46.000 --> 00:53:47.000 Thank you. 00:53:47.000 --> 00:53:53.000 So location. 00:53:53.000 --> 00:53:56.000 Transportation. 00:53:56.000 --> 00:53:58.000 Viable workforce. 00:53:58.000 --> 00:54:01.000 Viable workforce. 00:54:01.000 --> 00:54:05.000 Downtown. 00:54:05.000 --> 00:54:15.000 Our music and arts culture. 00:54:15.000 --> 00:54:20.000 Somebody asked you what's going on in Denton, what are you selling? 00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:21.000 What are you talking about? 00:54:21.000 --> 00:54:22.000 It's growing. 00:54:22.000 --> 00:54:24.000 It's growing. 00:54:24.000 --> 00:54:27.000 Airport. 00:54:27.000 --> 00:54:28.000 Available land. 00:54:28.000 --> 00:54:44.000 Available. 00:54:44.000 --> 00:54:46.000 I would say investment capital. 00:54:46.000 --> 00:54:51.000 The money's out there, our project is there. 00:54:51.000 --> 00:54:53.000 You know, safety's good. 00:54:53.000 --> 00:54:55.000 There's problems everywhere, but. 00:54:55.000 --> 00:55:02.000 So you feel like it's mostly a safe, safe community? 00:55:02.000 --> 00:55:06.000 I like the diversity of things. 00:55:06.000 --> 00:55:08.000 And when you say diversity, do you mean? 00:55:08.000 --> 00:55:09.000 Yes, I mean that. 00:55:09.000 --> 00:55:10.000 Racial diversity? 00:55:10.000 --> 00:55:13.000 Okay. 00:55:13.000 --> 00:55:15.000 But our universities add to diversity. 00:55:15.000 --> 00:55:17.000 We bring people in from all over the world. 00:55:17.000 --> 00:55:25.000 They really do. 00:55:25.000 --> 00:55:26.000 What else? 00:55:26.000 --> 00:55:42.000 One of our health care systems. 00:55:42.000 --> 00:55:49.000 So I'm going to bring on UNT, I mean, we've reached and have been Carnegie One status for several years now. 00:55:49.000 --> 00:55:59.000 We have big PhD programs that are going out and nationally recognized. 00:55:59.000 --> 00:56:05.000 We are the largest institution in the nation for, primarily for women, but not. 00:56:05.000 --> 00:56:06.000 Not, no, that's awesome. 00:56:06.000 --> 00:56:09.000 My mother-in-law was a graduate. 00:56:09.000 --> 00:56:12.000 Back when it was called, teachers. 00:56:12.000 --> 00:56:17.000 Yeah, it was like CIA, and then it was, yeah, it's had a couple of different names. 00:56:17.000 --> 00:56:23.000 And the new Jane Nelson Institute, I think it's going to get some kind of publicity here as well for women. 00:56:23.000 --> 00:56:28.000 Yeah, well, things like that would be good for us to hear about it because. 00:56:28.000 --> 00:56:31.000 It may not be the greatest economic asset. 00:56:31.000 --> 00:56:35.000 We have community colleges that feed into many places also. 00:56:35.000 --> 00:56:38.000 I think those are really important programs. 00:56:38.000 --> 00:56:45.000 I think we also, one big thing that I've noticed in this community is how much businesses are involved in community. 00:56:45.000 --> 00:56:46.000 Sort of business engagement. 00:56:46.000 --> 00:56:50.000 Yeah, the corporate citizenship, the corporate involvement. 00:56:50.000 --> 00:56:57.000 They're in the United Ways, they're in the benefit leaves and rotaries, and they're very represented in the community. 00:56:57.000 --> 00:56:59.000 Awesome Chamber? 00:56:59.000 --> 00:57:00.000 Oh. 00:57:00.000 --> 00:57:01.000 Awesome City. 00:57:01.000 --> 00:57:03.000 That's right. 00:57:03.000 --> 00:57:09.000 What else? 00:57:09.000 --> 00:57:10.000 Unique culture. 00:57:10.000 --> 00:57:14.000 I would say that we are different than what people predominantly. 00:57:14.000 --> 00:57:21.000 I think you can kind of imagine Dallas culture, Fort Worth culture, and Denton is, we're teased for that, 00:57:21.000 --> 00:57:23.000 but I actually like that we're a little different. 00:57:23.000 --> 00:57:27.000 It's a little different vibe here, I think. 00:57:27.000 --> 00:57:29.000 Well, there's a little different. 00:57:29.000 --> 00:57:30.000 Where are many Austin? 00:57:30.000 --> 00:57:34.000 That's what I was going to say, there's a city in central Texas that has figured out how to leverage that. 00:57:34.000 --> 00:57:37.000 They need to go out and look for gains anywhere and get away with it. 00:57:37.000 --> 00:57:38.000 There's no way you can't. 00:57:38.000 --> 00:57:39.000 Right? 00:57:39.000 --> 00:57:41.000 Whatever you want to call it. 00:57:41.000 --> 00:57:42.000 Right. 00:57:42.000 --> 00:57:44.000 We are somewhat green. 00:57:44.000 --> 00:57:47.000 I don't know how green we are, but we're greenish. 00:57:47.000 --> 00:57:49.000 We are pretty sustainable. 00:57:49.000 --> 00:57:56.000 We're working on, we're a pretty big sustainable community compared to a lot of others. 00:57:56.000 --> 00:58:23.000 I think, you know, you are what you think you are or what you say you are. 00:58:23.000 --> 00:58:25.000 You have to be careful about your words. 00:58:25.000 --> 00:58:28.000 If I say I'm a loser, then eventually I become a loser. 00:58:28.000 --> 00:58:32.000 If I say I'm a winner, you know, then at least it gives me the possibility for going up. 00:58:32.000 --> 00:58:39.000 So with this community, I would say that, you know, we have a lot of potential when it comes to high tech. 00:58:39.000 --> 00:58:44.000 I wouldn't say we're there, but I see some tech potential. 00:58:44.000 --> 00:58:50.000 I think that's the word I was looking for. 00:58:50.000 --> 00:58:55.000 I think we have really good close proximity access to a lot of good state parks. 00:58:55.000 --> 00:59:00.000 We have Lake Texonley and Ray Roberts within 25 miles of us. 00:59:00.000 --> 00:59:11.000 We have hiking and biking trails. 00:59:11.000 --> 00:59:22.000 So this isn't something that is, I don't know, it's not very well-known, but the horse country has $156 million in a year's economic impact. 00:59:22.000 --> 00:59:23.000 Horse country? 00:59:23.000 --> 00:59:24.000 Yeah. 00:59:24.000 --> 00:59:25.000 It's not something that we. 00:59:25.000 --> 00:59:26.000 The county. 00:59:26.000 --> 00:59:27.000 Right. 00:59:27.000 --> 00:59:28.000 This is part of the county. 00:59:28.000 --> 00:59:29.000 I think that they're here. 00:59:29.000 --> 00:59:31.000 What else on the visitor side? 00:59:31.000 --> 00:59:38.000 You know, I think the athletics facilities, it's kind of a good bullet, but with the university 00:59:38.000 --> 00:59:43.000 and the athletes there, it's a new practice facility in the fall stadium. 00:59:43.000 --> 00:59:45.000 There's potential to use that. 00:59:45.000 --> 00:59:46.000 Awesome. 00:59:46.000 --> 00:59:48.000 And then that's power generation. 00:59:48.000 --> 00:59:49.000 Yeah. 00:59:49.000 --> 00:59:53.000 And also I have plenty of water for industrial use. 00:59:53.000 --> 00:59:58.000 Yeah, so I was in Desi Land on Monday. 00:59:58.000 --> 00:59:59.000 That's so much water. 00:59:59.000 --> 01:00:01.000 At the top of their challenge list. 01:00:01.000 --> 01:00:02.000 Right. 01:00:02.000 --> 01:00:03.000 As opposed to the top of their assets list. 01:00:03.000 --> 01:00:04.000 Water. 01:00:04.000 --> 01:00:05.000 Water. 01:00:05.000 --> 01:00:08.000 Yeah. 01:00:08.000 --> 01:00:17.000 I don't have kids in high school, primary school, but we have a strong and growing public 01:00:17.000 --> 01:00:19.000 school system as well, right? 01:00:19.000 --> 01:00:20.000 I would say so. 01:00:20.000 --> 01:00:26.000 I think our superintendent speaks on the cutting edge of technology in schools, and so I think 01:00:26.000 --> 01:00:31.000 we have good confidence in our schools and the planning that's going on in anticipation 01:00:31.000 --> 01:00:32.000 of the time. 01:00:32.000 --> 01:00:37.000 I would say that Denton ISD feeds into that viable workforce comment over there, too, 01:00:37.000 --> 01:00:42.000 because of the technology, advanced technology center. 01:00:42.000 --> 01:00:48.000 They're actually training students to be in the workforce. 01:00:48.000 --> 01:00:51.000 I'm going to say the ISD is one of our assets. 01:00:51.000 --> 01:00:57.000 I'm not sure that that's thought of that way outside of it. 01:00:57.000 --> 01:01:03.000 But as far as from an asset standpoint, if you're having a conversation with folks to 01:01:03.000 --> 01:01:10.000 move a business or to move themselves, and they're in those years, that's one of the 01:01:10.000 --> 01:01:11.000 top three. 01:01:11.000 --> 01:01:12.000 Thank you. 01:01:12.000 --> 01:01:13.000 Thank you. 01:01:13.000 --> 01:01:14.000 After Howell Village. 01:01:14.000 --> 01:01:15.000 After Howell Village. 01:01:15.000 --> 01:01:16.000 Yeah. 01:01:16.000 --> 01:01:17.000 The commencement ceremony. 01:01:17.000 --> 01:01:18.000 Howell Village. 01:01:18.000 --> 01:01:19.000 Yeah. 01:01:19.000 --> 01:01:24.000 Before your doctors lived and your kids go to school. 01:01:24.000 --> 01:01:27.000 Yeah. 01:01:27.000 --> 01:01:36.000 And Chris, later this afternoon, we're going to probably drill down a little bit on the 01:01:36.000 --> 01:01:37.000 workforce question. 01:01:37.000 --> 01:01:38.000 I have some questions before that. 01:01:38.000 --> 01:01:39.000 All right. 01:01:39.000 --> 01:01:52.000 Well, this is just a warm-up, because we're going to be doing a lot of roundtables and 01:01:52.000 --> 01:01:57.000 asking questions about what do you perceive from a particular sector? 01:01:57.000 --> 01:02:00.000 What do you perceive as the challenges for this area? 01:02:00.000 --> 01:02:04.000 And where do you see opportunities, and what do you think are the strengths? 01:02:04.000 --> 01:02:07.000 So we'll be going through this throughout the process. 01:02:07.000 --> 01:02:12.000 But this is a good warm-up for us, because sometimes things will come out here that we 01:02:12.000 --> 01:02:16.000 had no idea, or maybe it's something that Jessica isn't going to mention to us, because 01:02:16.000 --> 01:02:18.000 it's just off the radar screen. 01:02:18.000 --> 01:02:22.000 But we'll go off and do the research around it, and then come back to you and say, yeah, 01:02:22.000 --> 01:02:23.000 you said that was an asset. 01:02:23.000 --> 01:02:27.000 I just want to let you know, you know, you may perceive it as an asset, but relative 01:02:27.000 --> 01:02:30.000 to the other things that are going on, it's probably not as big of a deal to be talking 01:02:30.000 --> 01:02:31.000 about. 01:02:31.000 --> 01:02:33.000 Or, this is a really big deal. 01:02:33.000 --> 01:02:37.000 I've had that happen, like, in the entrepreneurship community. 01:02:37.000 --> 01:02:38.000 It's an asset. 01:02:38.000 --> 01:02:42.000 But that's just those, you know, guys over there in that little co-working space, and 01:02:42.000 --> 01:02:43.000 we don't really know what they're doing. 01:02:43.000 --> 01:02:44.000 It's probably not a big deal. 01:02:44.000 --> 01:02:49.000 And then we'll go in and do interviews, and we'll find out, wow, this company is a supplier 01:02:49.000 --> 01:02:53.000 to Microsoft, and they're about to go big. 01:02:53.000 --> 01:02:56.000 You had no idea in your community, because they hadn't talked to you yet. 01:02:56.000 --> 01:03:00.000 So that's the kind of thing that will come out of these little discussions. 01:03:00.000 --> 01:03:01.000 And we appreciate it. 01:03:01.000 --> 01:03:06.000 It may be stuff that you do all the time, but we appreciate you willing to be patient 01:03:06.000 --> 01:03:09.000 with us and us knowing about the community. 01:03:09.000 --> 01:03:12.000 So the next question. 01:03:12.000 --> 01:03:25.000 So as you think about going forward, what can we do that will take us to the next level? 01:03:25.000 --> 01:03:33.000 In other words, where should we allocate our resources to move this community to the next 01:03:33.000 --> 01:03:34.000 level? 01:03:34.000 --> 01:03:35.000 Tech sector. 01:03:35.000 --> 01:03:36.000 Tech sector? 01:03:36.000 --> 01:03:42.000 When you think of tech sector, what do you? 01:03:42.000 --> 01:03:49.000 Development, programmers, all of the support services for Amazon and Microsoft and Google. 01:03:49.000 --> 01:03:50.000 Gotcha. 01:03:50.000 --> 01:03:51.000 Gotcha. 01:03:51.000 --> 01:03:52.000 Thank you. 01:03:52.000 --> 01:03:53.000 Make us a cultural center. 01:03:53.000 --> 01:03:54.000 Cultural center. 01:03:54.000 --> 01:03:55.000 Let me elaborate. 01:03:55.000 --> 01:04:07.000 As an inner-city kid growing up in Houston, we were exposed to languages, Japanese, Spanish, 01:04:07.000 --> 01:04:15.000 Latin, German, of which I regret that I didn't take advantage of all of them. 01:04:15.000 --> 01:04:17.000 I'm fluent in Spanish. 01:04:17.000 --> 01:04:19.000 I read, write, speak Spanish. 01:04:19.000 --> 01:04:21.000 Many of my clients are Spanish-speaking. 01:04:21.000 --> 01:04:31.000 And then we got exposed to the symphony, the ballet, the high science areas. 01:04:31.000 --> 01:04:36.000 So for a poor kid to be in that environment, I was enriched. 01:04:36.000 --> 01:04:43.000 So I would like to see a lot of the children here exposed to the languages and culture, 01:04:43.000 --> 01:04:46.000 you know, where they can raise their level. 01:04:46.000 --> 01:04:49.000 We don't have to go to Plano or to Dallas to become -- 01:04:49.000 --> 01:04:58.000 John, is there a specific, like, amenity or thing that would represent that for you? 01:04:58.000 --> 01:05:06.000 That if two years from now or five years from now or ten years from now, you're able to pull it off? 01:05:06.000 --> 01:05:13.000 I think if we could get something to enrich the masses, that's what I'm looking for. 01:05:13.000 --> 01:05:22.000 We've got the resources and the vision to enrich our community so that they become different. 01:05:22.000 --> 01:05:27.000 So I will challenge you, John, to be thinking as we go forward. 01:05:27.000 --> 01:05:29.000 Is that in the form of a new museum? 01:05:29.000 --> 01:05:35.000 Is that in the form of a -- you know, what does that look like? 01:05:35.000 --> 01:05:40.000 Is it a new program within the school district that's going to reach out to particular communities? 01:05:40.000 --> 01:05:41.000 So be thinking about that. 01:05:41.000 --> 01:05:42.000 Okay. 01:05:42.000 --> 01:05:43.000 All right. 01:05:43.000 --> 01:05:44.000 I got you. 01:05:44.000 --> 01:05:48.000 So you can model something like what we have at a common university, which is called Elm Fork. 01:05:48.000 --> 01:05:54.000 And so we have about 15,000 kids, K through 8th grade, go through our one building per year. 01:05:54.000 --> 01:05:56.000 Fifteen to 20,000 kids. 01:05:56.000 --> 01:06:01.000 I don't know if any of your kids or grandkids have went through this science program. 01:06:01.000 --> 01:06:06.000 And so all of the students in surrounding areas have field trips there. 01:06:06.000 --> 01:06:08.000 It's a way to engage them in science. 01:06:08.000 --> 01:06:12.000 You can do the same sort of thing, but in other culture sort of topics. 01:06:12.000 --> 01:06:13.000 What was it called? 01:06:13.000 --> 01:06:14.000 It was called Elm Fork. 01:06:14.000 --> 01:06:18.000 Elm Fork, yeah. 01:06:18.000 --> 01:06:24.000 It's just a way to do a mass amount of learning. 01:06:24.000 --> 01:06:26.000 I'm going to throw out the airport again. 01:06:26.000 --> 01:06:29.000 Just out of our second runway, I think there's a lot of opportunity. 01:06:29.000 --> 01:06:34.000 Loop 288 has been planned for 30 years to go around there. 01:06:34.000 --> 01:06:38.000 And that may be seen alive at the end of the tunnel. 01:06:38.000 --> 01:06:43.000 There's a lot of opportunity for investment. 01:06:43.000 --> 01:06:50.000 In light of what you were saying, what's driving a lot of the locations now is workforce. 01:06:50.000 --> 01:06:56.000 Capturing the workforce that's coming out of the local universities is huge. 01:06:56.000 --> 01:07:00.000 Just capturing your graduates, containing your graduates. 01:07:00.000 --> 01:07:08.000 I think there's a lot of people who would like to graduate and stay here, but finding the jobs. 01:07:08.000 --> 01:07:11.000 I don't know if we have the jobs for those folks. 01:07:11.000 --> 01:07:15.000 It's a cool enough place to stay and affordable, 01:07:15.000 --> 01:07:21.000 going to be speaking to the other parts of the metro class. 01:07:21.000 --> 01:07:24.000 I'm going to throw out partnerships. 01:07:24.000 --> 01:07:28.000 I think that we have a lot of really great stakeholders, 01:07:28.000 --> 01:07:31.000 but if we work together, we can accomplish a little bit more. 01:07:31.000 --> 01:07:36.000 I've heard talks of UNT doing a ton of stuff in Frisco 01:07:36.000 --> 01:07:41.000 when we talk about tech sectors and hiring students and things out there, 01:07:41.000 --> 01:07:45.000 but there's not a lot that we do here within Perseo and certain things. 01:07:45.000 --> 01:07:46.000 I think there's more. 01:07:46.000 --> 01:07:55.000 There's opportunities to do with other partners within our community, DMSD, UNT, TWA. 01:07:55.000 --> 01:08:00.000 An economic development fund that's at the ready if incentives are necessary 01:08:00.000 --> 01:08:09.000 to get the targeted employer here and a willingness to welcome them. 01:08:09.000 --> 01:08:17.000 Discovery Park is the UNT engineering and research park. 01:08:17.000 --> 01:08:20.000 I think there will be a lot of opportunities there. 01:08:20.000 --> 01:08:25.000 They're doing well right now. 01:08:25.000 --> 01:08:31.000 They started an engineering program from scratch out there. 01:08:31.000 --> 01:08:36.000 It's big now, so we have lots of engineering faculty and students. 01:08:36.000 --> 01:08:38.000 It's one of the fastest growing programs. 01:08:38.000 --> 01:08:43.000 We started new programs in Biomedical Engineering College of Information out there also. 01:08:43.000 --> 01:08:46.000 We just got a $10 million grant for additive manufacturing, 01:08:46.000 --> 01:08:49.000 and that has a workforce component in it. 01:08:49.000 --> 01:08:54.000 So that's a heavy investment in terms of the university really going forward. 01:08:54.000 --> 01:09:05.000 We talked earlier in the year about with a firm that wanted to bring a medical campus to Denton, 01:09:05.000 --> 01:09:07.000 and they were looking for a place to get them. 01:09:07.000 --> 01:09:15.000 This is what you might think of as Las Galinas type stuff. 01:09:15.000 --> 01:09:22.000 Being located around Discovery Park is an ideal place just from thinking out loud, 01:09:22.000 --> 01:09:26.000 but a lot of that is zoned for single family. 01:09:26.000 --> 01:09:28.000 When you see what's going on out there, 01:09:28.000 --> 01:09:37.000 it's going to take some thought if we want to bring that kind of growth here. 01:09:37.000 --> 01:09:39.000 They can't go out by the distribution centers. 01:09:39.000 --> 01:09:41.000 Where would that go? 01:09:41.000 --> 01:09:47.000 That would be a natural place, but we need to make sure that we can put them out there. 01:09:47.000 --> 01:09:55.000 Right now, you've got the area that is Peter Belt and the other industry that's out there 01:09:55.000 --> 01:09:58.000 that's appropriate for a certain type of user, 01:09:58.000 --> 01:10:04.000 but that more tech, science-driven user, is there a place for them to go right now? 01:10:04.000 --> 01:10:12.000 Discovery Park campus would be the perfect place to put a tech growth for large buildings or downtown, 01:10:12.000 --> 01:10:15.000 and there's land around there that's right on the loop. 01:10:15.000 --> 01:10:19.000 Some of that land is currently zoned residential, 01:10:19.000 --> 01:10:21.000 so do you want to build a bunch of houses around that, 01:10:21.000 --> 01:10:29.000 or do you want to save that space for tech space to let that thing grow up and around there? 01:10:29.000 --> 01:10:34.000 It requires planning. 01:10:34.000 --> 01:10:36.000 What else do you feel like? 01:10:36.000 --> 01:10:37.000 Because now's the time. 01:10:37.000 --> 01:10:41.000 You've got that crazy idea of something that could happen in this community. 01:10:41.000 --> 01:10:43.000 You already laid it out. 01:10:43.000 --> 01:10:51.000 Hunter and Cone Ranch is going to transform the southwestern side of Denton significantly. 01:10:51.000 --> 01:10:57.000 I have another thought, Tom. 01:10:57.000 --> 01:11:00.000 When it comes to how we communicate to others about ourselves, 01:11:00.000 --> 01:11:02.000 I think we could possibly do a better job. 01:11:02.000 --> 01:11:04.000 Not that I'm criticizing what we've done, 01:11:04.000 --> 01:11:08.000 but I feel like we have to be a little more proactive in pushing Denton. 01:11:08.000 --> 01:11:14.000 For example, if I tell you this bread is good for you, that's one presentation. 01:11:14.000 --> 01:11:22.000 Another presentation says it has niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, all these different minerals and additives, 01:11:22.000 --> 01:11:28.000 and it will make you, if you're 68 like me, it will make you feel like you're 40. 01:11:28.000 --> 01:11:31.000 You can do this kind of advertising. 01:11:31.000 --> 01:11:34.000 To me, it's a little different than to say you're a Denton. 01:11:34.000 --> 01:11:43.000 So I think in the presentation, have you thought about Denton because of blah, blah, blah, blah, blah? 01:11:43.000 --> 01:11:51.000 Yeah, I think that's a great opportunity to tell the Denton story better. 01:11:51.000 --> 01:11:53.000 I'll use this as an opportunity. 01:11:53.000 --> 01:12:00.000 How do you feel like Denton is perceived right now by the greater Dallas-Fort Worth region? 01:12:00.000 --> 01:12:02.000 Obviously, it depends on who you talk to. 01:12:02.000 --> 01:12:07.000 Generally, is the business community thinking of Denton as they are, 01:12:07.000 --> 01:12:09.000 or what do they think about it right now? 01:12:09.000 --> 01:12:10.000 It's our way. 01:12:10.000 --> 01:12:13.000 Are those impressions based on the current reality, 01:12:13.000 --> 01:12:17.000 or is it based on something they experienced 10 or 15 years ago? 01:12:17.000 --> 01:12:19.000 What's your general impression? 01:12:19.000 --> 01:12:24.000 But a lot of what you hear is, and we've all heard this a million times, 01:12:24.000 --> 01:12:29.000 and I hear it from people outside that believe it's difficult doing business here. 01:12:29.000 --> 01:12:32.000 Difficult doing business, that's what you hear. 01:12:32.000 --> 01:12:37.000 Don't make them bother, it's difficult to get through the processes. 01:12:37.000 --> 01:12:40.000 Okay, I mean that's a permanent process. 01:12:40.000 --> 01:12:43.000 And again, that's not, I'm saying this is a holdover. 01:12:43.000 --> 01:12:46.000 We have a lot of new, 01:12:46.000 --> 01:12:49.000 but I think that that's something that we have fought, at least in the past, 01:12:49.000 --> 01:12:53.000 is that perception that we are a difficult place to do business. 01:12:53.000 --> 01:12:56.000 I mean, yeah, this is not news to anyone here. 01:12:56.000 --> 01:12:58.000 But it's out there. 01:12:58.000 --> 01:13:01.000 Yeah, well, I will say that I have worked in communities, 01:13:01.000 --> 01:13:07.000 but the Frisco's of the world have basically had how many acres that started from scratch, 01:13:07.000 --> 01:13:09.000 and they were in a growth mode. 01:13:09.000 --> 01:13:12.000 So anybody who approached them, yeah, we got the land, here's the incentives, 01:13:12.000 --> 01:13:15.000 here's the package, here's the process, here we go. 01:13:15.000 --> 01:13:21.000 Cities that have been around for a while, it's always more difficult. 01:13:21.000 --> 01:13:24.000 You know, it's always more difficult because you're dealing with a legacy, 01:13:24.000 --> 01:13:27.000 and you're dealing with a state that's having a redevelopment. 01:13:27.000 --> 01:13:30.000 So it's not atypical for there to be a recession. 01:13:30.000 --> 01:13:34.000 I would say something that we could do a better job of selling that aspect, 01:13:34.000 --> 01:13:40.000 versus just come here to visit, eat at the restaurants, or see a concert. 01:13:40.000 --> 01:13:43.000 I don't know that we do as good of a job of selling. 01:13:43.000 --> 01:13:45.000 We're open for business, we're open for business. 01:13:45.000 --> 01:13:47.000 Yeah. 01:13:47.000 --> 01:13:50.000 We'd like to know more business and reputation. 01:13:50.000 --> 01:13:52.000 Gotcha. 01:13:52.000 --> 01:13:54.000 I want to throw out a weird one. 01:13:54.000 --> 01:13:55.000 Oh, gosh. 01:13:55.000 --> 01:13:58.000 More weird than Jill's. 01:13:58.000 --> 01:13:59.000 I know. 01:13:59.000 --> 01:14:01.000 You set the bar pretty high there. 01:14:01.000 --> 01:14:05.000 [Laughter] 01:14:05.000 --> 01:14:08.000 I'm going to say the Golden Triangle Mall. 01:14:08.000 --> 01:14:10.000 Oh, that's a good one. 01:14:10.000 --> 01:14:14.000 As retail and all those kind of things change, 01:14:14.000 --> 01:14:21.000 that is a very valuable, very high-profile tract of land in the city, 01:14:21.000 --> 01:14:25.000 and that could be a tech sector or something. 01:14:25.000 --> 01:14:28.000 That could be transitioned into something easy for me to say, 01:14:28.000 --> 01:14:33.000 oh, how to do something with somebody else's land or buildings or whatever, 01:14:33.000 --> 01:14:39.000 but that may be ripe for redevelopment at some point in time. 01:14:39.000 --> 01:14:48.000 Well, I do think you guys are at a point now where you have a lot of really good things happening. 01:14:48.000 --> 01:14:51.000 And as a consequence, it's not that you can rest. 01:14:51.000 --> 01:14:57.000 The pressure on infrastructure and everything else, you're overtaxed in a lot of different areas. 01:14:57.000 --> 01:15:00.000 But this isn't just about the next two years or the next three years. 01:15:00.000 --> 01:15:03.000 We really need to be thinking five, 10 years. 01:15:03.000 --> 01:15:08.000 And so that mall is an opportunity over the next 10 years. 01:15:08.000 --> 01:15:10.000 What could it be transformed into? 01:15:10.000 --> 01:15:12.000 And if we're thinking now about it, 01:15:12.000 --> 01:15:17.000 we could take actions that permit it from becoming something we don't want it to become. 01:15:17.000 --> 01:15:24.000 But it's kind of like a point already about the discovery of the University of North Texas. 01:15:24.000 --> 01:15:27.000 It's like, how is it summed around it? 01:15:27.000 --> 01:15:31.000 Is it all going to become single-family or multi-family? 01:15:31.000 --> 01:15:37.000 And before you know it, we don't have a spot to put the next kept project that might come here. 01:15:37.000 --> 01:15:44.000 So now is the time to have those discussions so that you can make those decisions. 01:15:44.000 --> 01:15:47.000 It's not weird. 01:15:47.000 --> 01:15:50.000 Yeah, just on that note, though, following through for thinking down, 01:15:50.000 --> 01:15:56.000 because right now that's the only place for retail, I mean for shopping. 01:15:56.000 --> 01:16:00.000 And so if we're talking about getting rid of that, then we need to talk about another, 01:16:00.000 --> 01:16:07.000 making sure another place to shop, you know, Macy's, Dillard's, to have a place to go shop for clothes. 01:16:07.000 --> 01:16:09.000 So it's just kind of an all-in. 01:16:09.000 --> 01:16:14.000 That area over there in the mall and the Dent Crossing is on my list to talk about. 01:16:14.000 --> 01:16:18.000 The south side is my concern. 01:16:18.000 --> 01:16:23.000 Now, I really like that Razor Ranch is there, but it's doing a lot of cannibalization, 01:16:23.000 --> 01:16:29.000 and not just that there's also some retail issues out right now. 01:16:29.000 --> 01:16:35.000 We've lost Motherhood Maternity Dress Barn, Famous Footwear, Golden Corral, and Fudd Ruckers, 01:16:35.000 --> 01:16:40.000 all in Dent Crossing, and that's the one that the incentive just expired on. 01:16:40.000 --> 01:16:50.000 So that's a concern on the south side that we're losing a lot of restaurants and shopping. 01:16:50.000 --> 01:16:55.000 So we're talking about redevelopment, and we need to think about all of it. 01:16:55.000 --> 01:17:00.000 We got excited at one time when the Razor Ranch development was going in 01:17:00.000 --> 01:17:09.000 because it was supposed to be a mix, and that word really, you know, having lived in other places, 01:17:09.000 --> 01:17:16.000 you know, when you have a place where you can get a nice meal, you can watch a show, you can shop, 01:17:16.000 --> 01:17:21.000 and you can live in that community, that mix sounds very, very attractive. 01:17:21.000 --> 01:17:26.000 So when I heard it, it really appealed to me, but it's taken us a long time to get there. 01:17:26.000 --> 01:17:32.000 I don't know how many bankruptcies have we had out there at Razor Ranch, you know? 01:17:32.000 --> 01:17:34.000 I mean, and the developers trying to develop that project. 01:17:34.000 --> 01:17:39.000 I think there's been at least two or three, you know, and so we've not gotten there. 01:17:39.000 --> 01:17:46.000 So I'd like to see a similar type of excitement over the transformation from a town 01:17:46.000 --> 01:17:54.000 that used to be known as the sidewalks roll up at 6 o'clock, and we moved here in '83. 01:17:54.000 --> 01:17:55.000 That's what we were told. 01:17:55.000 --> 01:18:00.000 There was no McDonald's, and basically the city shuts down at 5 or 6. 01:18:00.000 --> 01:18:05.000 So dealing with that kind of history, which a lot of people still hold on to, you know, 01:18:05.000 --> 01:18:10.000 we've got to come up with a different moniker when people think of it. 01:18:10.000 --> 01:18:18.000 I do know when I landed at DFW Airport yesterday, and I just pulled out the dent, 01:18:18.000 --> 01:18:20.000 and I thought, well, we're going to eat tonight. 01:18:20.000 --> 01:18:23.000 Of course, I went to the downtown, and I was like, what? 01:18:23.000 --> 01:18:28.000 There's like a dozen places, and they don't close at 6. 01:18:28.000 --> 01:18:30.000 And you're out there staying up until 10, 11 o'clock. 01:18:30.000 --> 01:18:33.000 There's a couple of bars, and you're staying up until 2 a.m. 01:18:33.000 --> 01:18:37.000 I was like, okay, things have changed. 01:18:37.000 --> 01:18:38.000 Let's get the word out. 01:18:38.000 --> 01:18:46.000 But I do think your point, going back to Razor Ranch and the history of that type of project 01:18:46.000 --> 01:18:49.000 and what was promised in the beginning, and then there's the recession, 01:18:49.000 --> 01:18:51.000 and there's the bankruptcies. 01:18:51.000 --> 01:18:57.000 I mean, you've got to take that into consideration as you think about the next 20 years 01:18:57.000 --> 01:19:01.000 and the kinds of projects you're going to support and the reality of what might happen 01:19:01.000 --> 01:19:04.000 and the way it might happen. 01:19:04.000 --> 01:19:05.000 What else? Anything else? 01:19:05.000 --> 01:19:06.000 Yeah. 01:19:06.000 --> 01:19:08.000 We're going to close up here over the next five minutes, 01:19:08.000 --> 01:19:12.000 and so if you're not telling me things right now... 01:19:12.000 --> 01:19:16.000 The North Texas Fair and Rodeo, the new plant facility. 01:19:16.000 --> 01:19:18.000 I had no idea. 01:19:18.000 --> 01:19:20.000 Good point. 01:19:20.000 --> 01:19:26.000 That would be, I mean, to me, a huge expo center in North Arena or Rodeo. 01:19:26.000 --> 01:19:27.000 Is it in Denton? 01:19:27.000 --> 01:19:28.000 Yeah. 01:19:28.000 --> 01:19:30.000 Okay, I thought it was in... 01:19:30.000 --> 01:19:32.000 I looked 28. 01:19:32.000 --> 01:19:36.000 It's close to signing in between Denton and signing your archipelago office. 01:19:36.000 --> 01:19:37.000 It might not be Denton. 01:19:37.000 --> 01:19:43.000 It'll bring visitors in. 01:19:43.000 --> 01:19:46.000 It'll bring events, expos, you'll meet conventioneers. 01:19:46.000 --> 01:19:50.000 The people who utilize it will stay in Denton and spend their time in Denton. 01:19:50.000 --> 01:19:54.000 And then, I think it's something cute. 01:19:54.000 --> 01:19:57.000 I know I said athletic facilities on the university, something like that, 01:19:57.000 --> 01:20:01.000 but there's an opportunity for an athletic complex for basketball, volleyball, 01:20:01.000 --> 01:20:08.000 indoor courts, again, to help attract some groups, national, regional groups. 01:20:08.000 --> 01:20:13.000 It'll help improve the quality of our athletes, the students here. 01:20:13.000 --> 01:20:17.000 We're at really, you talked about it, we're at a competitive disadvantage. 01:20:17.000 --> 01:20:18.000 Right. 01:20:18.000 --> 01:20:19.000 Kids growing up here. 01:20:19.000 --> 01:20:24.000 We don't have a lot of practice facilities for our youth. 01:20:24.000 --> 01:20:31.000 Well, anything else, Jimmy, anybody that hasn't spoken up? 01:20:31.000 --> 01:20:34.000 So, I will let you know that this is the beginning. 01:20:34.000 --> 01:20:39.000 And so, when we come back out next time, we're going to have another opportunity to hear from you. 01:20:39.000 --> 01:20:42.000 We're also going to send this presentation out with the questions. 01:20:42.000 --> 01:20:45.000 And if you've got additional things that come to you, 01:20:45.000 --> 01:20:50.000 you'll be able to send that back to us and say, "Hey, I forgot to talk about this." 01:20:50.000 --> 01:20:55.000 But we've got a series of roundtables scheduled for the rest of today and tomorrow, 01:20:55.000 --> 01:20:58.000 so I'm sure we'll hear a whole lot more. 01:20:58.000 --> 01:21:00.000 And then when we come back together with you guys next month, 01:21:00.000 --> 01:21:05.000 we'll share everything that we've heard, you know, all the different concerns, 01:21:05.000 --> 01:21:10.000 what they think the opportunities are, each of the different roundtables. 01:21:10.000 --> 01:21:13.000 And then we'll be calling back from you guys for some individual interviews. 01:21:13.000 --> 01:21:16.000 If there's somebody that wants to have a phone call with us, 01:21:16.000 --> 01:21:20.000 we're happy to schedule that. If there's something else on your mind, 01:21:20.000 --> 01:21:23.000 something you want to share, a project, anything else. 01:21:23.000 --> 01:21:27.000 We really, like I said, we're drinking from a fire hose right now, 01:21:27.000 --> 01:21:30.000 and that's the way we like it, because this is the discovery of the period. 01:21:30.000 --> 01:21:34.000 This is when we really want to hear from you. 01:21:34.000 --> 01:21:38.000 So, can I ask one, actually more so for the group, 01:21:38.000 --> 01:21:45.000 as someone that's been here three years, what I see is a number of, 01:21:45.000 --> 01:21:49.000 and if we look at this in the five-year window, not the next year, 01:21:49.000 --> 01:21:55.000 but in the five-year window, a number of our professionals, 01:21:55.000 --> 01:22:02.000 physicians, CPAs, attorneys, I look at it from the healthcare side. 01:22:02.000 --> 01:22:09.000 It is designed several years back where those practices are single practice groups. 01:22:09.000 --> 01:22:17.000 And as we look at going from an 80,000 to 140,000 population, 01:22:17.000 --> 01:22:20.000 the ability to recruit into those is difficult, 01:22:20.000 --> 01:22:23.000 and I don't know about the other professionals as well, 01:22:23.000 --> 01:22:29.000 but also the ability over the next five years to backfill at the accurate pace, 01:22:29.000 --> 01:22:36.000 I think is something that the city can look at and engage in as well. 01:22:36.000 --> 01:22:40.000 And then, secondarily to that, where do these folks live 01:22:40.000 --> 01:22:46.000 in the type of houses and communities that they want to live in as well? 01:22:46.000 --> 01:22:48.000 Anything on that? 01:22:48.000 --> 01:22:53.000 I haven't heard housing from up yet, but that's critical. 01:22:53.000 --> 01:22:55.000 Housing is an issue. 01:22:55.000 --> 01:22:58.000 We've heard that from one of the other medical facilities as well, 01:22:58.000 --> 01:23:02.000 is we can attract the top talent physicians and medical professionals, 01:23:02.000 --> 01:23:04.000 but they don't live here. 01:23:04.000 --> 01:23:10.000 We want to live in a tiny, good, good area. 01:23:10.000 --> 01:23:12.000 Yeah, and the number of communities right now 01:23:12.000 --> 01:23:15.000 that are addressing what's called workforce housing, 01:23:15.000 --> 01:23:21.000 you know, having a spot for teachers and for emergency responders and others, 01:23:21.000 --> 01:23:23.000 that gap in the middle. 01:23:23.000 --> 01:23:26.000 Low income got covered, some of the high-end income they have covered, 01:23:26.000 --> 01:23:28.000 but there's a big gap in the middle. 01:23:28.000 --> 01:23:32.000 And I haven't looked at the numbers here and whether that's an issue for you guys or not. 01:23:32.000 --> 01:23:36.000 Interesting further conversation would be the slide that you showed 01:23:36.000 --> 01:23:39.000 where it showed workforce living and working and didn't. 01:23:39.000 --> 01:23:41.000 It hadn't changed. 01:23:41.000 --> 01:23:43.000 It didn't seem like the middle column. 01:23:43.000 --> 01:23:44.000 It didn't change. 01:23:44.000 --> 01:23:45.000 It hadn't changed hardly any. 01:23:45.000 --> 01:23:48.000 I think that's what we talked about, being able to keep our talent here 01:23:48.000 --> 01:23:52.000 and providing the proper, you know, homes and residences 01:23:52.000 --> 01:23:55.000 so people can buy and live here and work here. 01:23:55.000 --> 01:24:00.000 No, that's great, and that's the stuff we'll keep digging into. 01:24:00.000 --> 01:24:04.000 And, you know, thankfully the city has shared with us all the other documents, 01:24:04.000 --> 01:24:07.000 comp plan, other studies that have been done, 01:24:07.000 --> 01:24:11.000 so we have a lot of homework to go through that and make sure that, you know, 01:24:11.000 --> 01:24:14.000 we understand everything else that's going on. 01:24:14.000 --> 01:24:16.000 But it's moving fast right now. 01:24:16.000 --> 01:24:20.000 I mean, I get to work in a lot of cities across the state, across the country, 01:24:20.000 --> 01:24:24.000 and you guys really, there's that sense when you come to this community right now 01:24:24.000 --> 01:24:27.000 and I'm being told about new high school being built, 01:24:27.000 --> 01:24:31.000 I'm told about, you know, extension of the runway, I'm told about, you know, 01:24:31.000 --> 01:24:33.000 of course I'm getting the economic development. 01:24:33.000 --> 01:24:34.000 Okay, it's part of it. 01:24:34.000 --> 01:24:40.000 You know, expansion of 288 coming around, the coal and hunter. 01:24:40.000 --> 01:24:42.000 I mean, how many units? 01:24:42.000 --> 01:24:43.000 Seven thousand? 01:24:43.000 --> 01:24:48.000 Seven thousand units, what that's going to do to that corridor. 01:24:48.000 --> 01:24:53.000 I mean, you just got six miles closer to Fort Worth, you know, 01:24:53.000 --> 01:24:57.000 with that one development. 01:24:57.000 --> 01:25:01.000 And you, development is going to happen here. 01:25:01.000 --> 01:25:05.000 We are in the state of Texas and it is going to happen 01:25:05.000 --> 01:25:08.000 because we don't necessarily have the same tools that, 01:25:08.000 --> 01:25:12.000 we don't want the same tools that California or the Pacific Northwest has. 01:25:12.000 --> 01:25:15.000 So the development is going to happen and it's really about directing it 01:25:15.000 --> 01:25:18.000 and doing it in a smart way. 01:25:18.000 --> 01:25:22.000 And that's been our experience and you guys are in that path of growth 01:25:22.000 --> 01:25:27.000 on this side of town and you've got something that nobody else really has in the DFW area. 01:25:27.000 --> 01:25:32.000 You've got that authentic sort of downtown and university, college town, 01:25:32.000 --> 01:25:36.000 quirkiness, weirdness, inclusivity, diversity. 01:25:36.000 --> 01:25:39.000 You've got some things that people across the country right now 01:25:39.000 --> 01:25:43.000 are making decisions about where they live based on those factors. 01:25:43.000 --> 01:25:45.000 And they haven't done that in the past. 01:25:45.000 --> 01:25:49.000 It was all about where can I get a job and where can I, you know, make the most money. 01:25:49.000 --> 01:25:55.000 Now it's, you know, I can live in the DFW area and work for a company out of Chicago. 01:25:55.000 --> 01:25:57.000 You know, all I need is access to that. 01:25:57.000 --> 01:26:03.000 And if I, do I want to live in, you know, a recently manufactured community? 01:26:03.000 --> 01:26:07.000 Do I want to go to a place that feels like they're paying attention to redevelopment 01:26:07.000 --> 01:26:10.000 and they're paying attention to the music scene and the other things? 01:26:10.000 --> 01:26:15.000 So you guys got it going on and I think that there's a unique point in history right now 01:26:15.000 --> 01:26:20.000 for you guys to make sure you maintain that sort of sense, place that you have 01:26:20.000 --> 01:26:25.000 while at the same time taking advantage of a lot of the growth that's going to happen. 01:26:25.000 --> 01:26:27.000 Tom, I have a question. 01:26:27.000 --> 01:26:34.000 When Austin makes its pitch to potential companies, 01:26:34.000 --> 01:26:39.000 do they employ Flugerville and Round Lock and the surrounding areas 01:26:39.000 --> 01:26:42.000 to help them with their draw? 01:26:42.000 --> 01:26:46.000 Yeah, because a lot of times for Austin, and Charlie knows this since he was in Round Lock, 01:26:46.000 --> 01:26:49.000 the best location may not be in the city of Austin. 01:26:49.000 --> 01:26:50.000 Yeah. 01:26:50.000 --> 01:26:57.000 [inaudible] 01:26:57.000 --> 01:27:02.000 Austin's really good about realizing this is not going to fit here, 01:27:02.000 --> 01:27:06.000 but make sure it stays in the market and not go to school. 01:27:06.000 --> 01:27:16.000 [inaudible] 01:27:16.000 --> 01:27:23.000 Are we tapping our neighbors to make sure we have as much leverage as possible? 01:27:23.000 --> 01:27:27.000 Yeah, he's talking about the expo center. 01:27:27.000 --> 01:27:32.000 That's a huge influx for them, but you're not having to play for it. 01:27:32.000 --> 01:27:34.000 I mean, it's going to be covered. 01:27:34.000 --> 01:27:37.000 Yeah, and I can't remember if it was a commissioner or if it was you, Erica, 01:27:37.000 --> 01:27:40.000 that talked about the opportunity for collaboration. 01:27:40.000 --> 01:27:41.000 Or is this getting? 01:27:41.000 --> 01:27:42.000 [inaudible] 01:27:42.000 --> 01:27:46.000 Yeah, just knowing what your neighbors are up to. 01:27:46.000 --> 01:27:48.000 And a lot of times you're going to continue to compete, 01:27:48.000 --> 01:27:53.000 but just knowing what they're up to and being able to share a little bit of information 01:27:53.000 --> 01:27:58.000 and saying, "Hey, you guys are further ahead than we are on developing your convention," 01:27:58.000 --> 01:28:02.000 or whatever it is, like, "Wow, we need to give that up. 01:28:02.000 --> 01:28:08.000 Let you guys take that, and we'll take this other asset." 01:28:08.000 --> 01:28:12.000 So this is a perfect start for us. 01:28:12.000 --> 01:28:15.000 I know you've got other issues that are probably burning, 01:28:15.000 --> 01:28:22.000 and we're going to have opportunities to hear everything throughout this process. 01:28:22.000 --> 01:28:25.000 But I will let you know that this is where I have some of the dates. 01:28:25.000 --> 01:28:29.000 We are going to be back the 11th through the 13th. 01:28:29.000 --> 01:28:34.000 And remind me, Jessica, is there a date in there? 01:28:34.000 --> 01:28:37.000 The 12th is the date. 01:28:37.000 --> 01:28:39.000 Is that our normal meeting? 01:28:39.000 --> 01:28:41.000 That's the second Wednesday. 01:28:41.000 --> 01:28:47.000 Yeah, so we'll send a notice back out to you guys just so that you have this calendar 01:28:47.000 --> 01:28:50.000 and you can make sure that you've got it. 01:28:50.000 --> 01:28:54.000 But over that period of time, we're going to do additional focus group meetings and interviews. 01:28:54.000 --> 01:28:58.000 We'll bring you guys back together, and then we're going to share with you 01:28:58.000 --> 01:29:00.000 some of the things that we've heard. 01:29:00.000 --> 01:29:04.000 And we'll do some additional research on some of the projects. 01:29:04.000 --> 01:29:08.000 And then we'll be back for what we call an opportunity workshop in March. 01:29:08.000 --> 01:29:09.000 That's what we're saying. 01:29:09.000 --> 01:29:16.000 Okay, here are the things that make the most sense for you to apply resources to going forward. 01:29:16.000 --> 01:29:22.000 Let's start thinking about what does that really mean for you to commit to that. 01:29:22.000 --> 01:29:32.000 And we'll have sort of a prioritization workshop in April and then a final there in May. 01:29:32.000 --> 01:29:33.000 That's where we are. 01:29:33.000 --> 01:29:35.000 Thank you guys very much. 01:29:35.000 --> 01:29:40.000 And we do have another meeting here in about 15 minutes with the Chamber. 01:29:40.000 --> 01:29:43.000 But we're going to stick around for a few minutes. 01:29:43.000 --> 01:29:47.000 So if there's something else you wanted to say, feel free to come catch us. 01:29:47.000 --> 01:29:52.000 We'll send all of this back out to you along with the questions again. 01:29:52.000 --> 01:29:55.000 Tell us what you're thinking. 01:29:55.000 --> 01:30:01.000 If you want to get on phone with us at any point, just let Jessica know and we'll arrange that. 01:30:01.000 --> 01:30:06.000 We'll be back here in about a month. 01:30:06.000 --> 01:30:10.000 And I will reiterate that when we say we want your honest feedback, 01:30:10.000 --> 01:30:14.000 we mean it in whatever capacity you want to give it in. 01:30:14.000 --> 01:30:18.000 If you feel more comfortable providing it in writing or if you want to talk to Tom on the phone, 01:30:18.000 --> 01:30:20.000 certainly reach out to me. 01:30:20.000 --> 01:30:24.000 This board is meant to help us guide this plan forward. 01:30:24.000 --> 01:30:26.000 And so you're serving as the steering committee. 01:30:26.000 --> 01:30:34.000 So if you are hearing things or you hear from your colleagues or coworkers or fellow professionals in your industries, 01:30:34.000 --> 01:30:38.000 if you're hearing things, we want to know what they have to say. 01:30:38.000 --> 01:30:40.000 This is meant to be an open process, a transparent one. 01:30:40.000 --> 01:30:45.000 This is about this community having a plan to move forward for. 01:30:45.000 --> 01:30:48.000 So if you have information, please share it. 01:30:48.000 --> 01:30:57.000 And I sincerely mean that in whatever capacity that you want to share that information. 01:30:57.000 --> 01:30:58.000 Thank you guys very much. 01:30:58.000 --> 01:30:59.000 Thank you.