ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: The Options

Option One

Attract large high-tech and/or manufacturing corporations to the town. The selling points of this strategy is your location, the potential livability of San Cristobal, and the existence of an excellent college, which would allow you to create specific classes that would prepare individuals for jobs at the corporations. The goal would be to integrate San Cristobal into the international market and capture some of the benefits flowing from this activity. Your proximity to Mexico would help in this effort. Some of the advantages of this strategy are that employment could increase significantly, the tax base would increase, and you would likely import a large number of intelligent and hard-working individuals to the community. Some of the disadvantages are that you would likely have to provide large tax incentives for corporations (thus decreasing any tax base you might gain). Due to international competition there would be no guarantee that the firm would remain in San Cristobal for an extended period of time, and there is the potential that the activities of these firms might have a negative environmental impact in the area.

Option Two

Establish San Cristobal as a recognized tourist/artist community. The selling points of this strategy are the proximity of the town to national parks and other recreation areas, and the cultural heritage that is already so much part of San Cristobal. The direction of this strategy would depend entirely upon your planning group: golf courses? scenic tours? season-specific festivals? art galleries? a combination of all the above? Some of the advantages of this strategy are that you might immediately attract individuals prepared to spend money and, even more likely, settle in the community and establish small businesses that would generate tax revenue over time. The disadvantages of this strategy depend upon the components of the plan, but it is inevitable that any plan that emphasized tourism and/or artisans might change the fundamental nature of San Cristobal. Over-development, traffic congestion, and a decline in the quality of life are the most frequently heard complaints in locations like Santa Fe and Scottsdale, AZ.

Option Three

Use research and development activities (R&D) at the national laboratories (e.g., Sandia) as a means to initiate a high-technology center in San Cristobal. The primary goal of this strategy would be to attract small start-up businesses that would use the expertise at the labs to build "clusters" of R&D – in essence a mini-Silicon Valley (CA) or Research Triangle (NC). The emphasis of these "clusters" would be defined by the planning group after market analysis, but given the increasing environmental concerns on the U.S.-Mexico border, one possibility would be energy-efficient, environmentally-sound technologies that can be used either to produce manufactured goods with minimal environmental impact or clean up the region. It is also possible these technologies could be sold throughout the world, establishing San Cristobal as the nexus of such activities. Some of the advantages of this strategy are that you would likely attract some of the country's "best and brightest" scientists, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs to the town, create a broad range of supplemental jobs (from lab technicians to janitorial services to construction), and establish a tax base that would provide revenue to the town. Some of the disadvantages of this strategy are mentioned in previous plans, namely over-development and a change in the fundamental nature of San Cristobal. There is also the danger that significant investments in these research parks will fail to attract quality firms, draining much-needed resources from the community without providing sufficient alternatives. Environmental problems are also a possibility.

Option Four

You find the plans mentioned above inappropriate for San Cristobal. You want to keep your town as it is, but with increased investment so that the community remains viable. Create an alternative economic development strategy that draws from efforts in another town.

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