1 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:40,000 Local government meeting. 2 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:45,000 Local government meeting. 3 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:31,240 All right, we will call the work session to order and counselor for maybe a few minutes 4 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:39,240 late but should be coming and we appreciate this economic development topic and we have 5 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:44,240 Evan Raleigh here in Lou of Marshall Adams David. 6 00:10:44,240 --> 00:10:46,760 Yes, so good afternoon, Mayor, members of Council. 7 00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:51,320 So we have with this Cal Touchstone today with the Director of Raleigh Economic Development 8 00:10:51,320 --> 00:10:57,400 at the Chamber of Commerce to give you a rundown on the activities that he and his team 9 00:10:57,400 --> 00:11:02,600 have been undertaking for us on our behalf to promote economic development throughout the 10 00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:07,640 city and give you glimpse into their future work plans. 11 00:11:07,640 --> 00:11:10,640 So with that, I'll turn it over to Cal Touchstone. 12 00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:11,640 Thank you so much. 13 00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:13,640 Good afternoon, Mayor Council. 14 00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:14,640 Good to see you all. 15 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:20,320 I know that I stand between you and hopefully a win tonight by the hurricanes. 16 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:26,280 So I will go through a presentation and give you an overview of some of the things that 17 00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:34,520 we've been working on where we are today and what's ahead for us and appreciate this opportunity 18 00:11:34,520 --> 00:11:35,520 to do. 19 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:39,920 So Raleigh Economic Development, we exist to raise awareness that Raleigh is the premier 20 00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:45,480 locale for jobs, business, talent, and innovation committed to helping businesses thrive 21 00:11:45,480 --> 00:11:50,560 within Raleigh and offer support in the areas of recruitment retention and expansion to help 22 00:11:50,560 --> 00:11:52,880 them grow and prosper. 23 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:56,440 So the red acronym new? 24 00:11:56,440 --> 00:12:03,520 It's been there since it started and honestly wondered when we were going through the whole 25 00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:10,200 branding exercise, why we didn't go, why we didn't go with the color red, but the marketing 26 00:12:10,200 --> 00:12:15,680 experts told me that. 27 00:12:15,680 --> 00:12:23,120 So as you know, we set it the Raleigh Chamber through a partnership with you here at the city 28 00:12:23,120 --> 00:12:29,360 of Raleigh, also at the Raleigh Chamber is White County Economic Development and really what 29 00:12:29,360 --> 00:12:34,160 this does is provides a comprehensive collaborative one-stop shop. 30 00:12:34,160 --> 00:12:41,520 As companies are looking for their next location or opportunities to grow, sitting there with the 31 00:12:41,520 --> 00:12:45,960 Wake County Economic Development team, has its advantages. 32 00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:55,480 We work hand-in-hand on most of not all projects and really enjoy that partnership. 33 00:12:55,480 --> 00:13:02,480 With me today, as Gabriel Elhashosh, who is Economic Development Coordinator, we are a team 34 00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:09,640 of two, we are lean and mean and excited to work on behalf of the city of Raleigh. 35 00:13:09,640 --> 00:13:14,600 So what I wanted to share here is kind of the breakdown of our budget. 36 00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:20,040 So 100% of Raleigh Economic Development's funding comes from you, the city of Raleigh. 37 00:13:20,040 --> 00:13:26,760 So congratulations on the budget that you approved yesterday and we greatly appreciate the support 38 00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:30,160 for Raleigh Economic Development in that budget. 39 00:13:30,160 --> 00:13:39,040 The Greater Raleigh Chamber does provide in-kind services such as office space, technology, 40 00:13:39,040 --> 00:13:46,080 administration, and finance personnel, but 100% of our funding does come from the city of Raleigh. 41 00:13:46,080 --> 00:13:54,200 In that breakdown, we really wanted to show that this, we do spend our dollars on actual work. 42 00:13:54,200 --> 00:14:02,240 So just under 40% is spent on marketing and public relations and then right around 24% is on project 43 00:14:02,240 --> 00:14:09,440 development and management with the other just under 40% being for employee expenses. 44 00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:11,040 So what do we do? 45 00:14:11,040 --> 00:14:17,240 A lot of people, a lot of people, I think, know what economic development is, but economic development 46 00:14:17,240 --> 00:14:25,200 is really for us focused on building the relationships that help companies find their location 47 00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:34,560 to grow, to locate, but also working to help define quality of place and all of those initiatives 48 00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:40,560 that really make this a wonderful place to live and for talent to come here and to stay here 49 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:47,960 for companies to then take advantage of that and hire them and move here to hire our great talent. 50 00:14:47,960 --> 00:14:54,360 So that's in the form of business recruitment, business retention, and expansion, but we spend a lot 51 00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:59,200 of our time marketing and when companies are making their decisions on where... 52 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:16,000 To go. They're either using someone internally, a commercial real estate broker or something that's called a site selection consultant. So we spend a lot of our time nurturing and building these relationships with site selection consultants. 53 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:23,000 The majority of the companies that have located here that we've worked with have worked with the site selection consultant. 54 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:41,000 Those site selection consultants kind of take the hard work out of it for these companies and provide comprehensive services of looking at thousands of data points to help them determine where the best location for them to be. 55 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:47,000 And the city of Ralee continues to show up as a top market for many of these companies. 56 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:58,000 And so through this we get project activity and this quarter we've had we're currently working 20 active economic development projects. 57 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:09,000 And by 20 active economic development projects, that means that projects that we have been talking to continue talking to within the last 60 days. 58 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:27,000 And those 20 projects represent a potential of $3 billion in capital investment and could potentially hire 8600 employees and create those jobs here 45% of that is in manufacturing, which is quite an uptick for us. 59 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:40,000 We've mostly been seen as an office market, but we've had some industrial inventory come on the market, but also some industrial land dead is available. 60 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:45,000 But then headquarter still represents about 25% of our projects. 61 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:54,000 5% in technology, but 25% showing up in engineering services, aviation in other type projects. 62 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:57,000 Just one quick question, the 8600. 63 00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:03,000 I know this past year we just announced we had 13,000 jobs in white county. 64 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:05,000 So is this county wide? 65 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:11,000 And then how do you feel about the 8600 versus last year's 13,000? 66 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:18,000 So these numbers that I'm showing you today are just projects that are looking at the city of Raleigh within white county. 67 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:25,000 So they're part of white county's projected numbers as well, but then we drill down to where it's just the city of Raleigh. 68 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:32,000 You know, when some of these projects there, it depends on ultimately the projects. 69 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:35,000 Some do a nationwide search. 70 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:40,000 Some by the time that they get to us, they are down to four or five locations. 71 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:54,000 And so, you know, we really are hopeful that when these companies come to us and start these conversations that we are, you know, on a shorter list. 72 00:17:54,000 --> 00:18:01,000 However, we do know that there are some on this list that have done nationwide searches and they've just done a blanket search. 73 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:09,000 But primarily these are projects that we are either hosting, planning to host, or have short listed us. 74 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:27,000 So a cumulative number, so over, over since October one, which is our, the beginning of our fiscal year, we've had 47 projects representing 13,000 potential new jobs and 16 billion dollars in capital investment. 75 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:38,000 If you notice there are some large billion dollar potential investors out there, so most times this represents some large advanced manufacturing projects that have been focused on our area. 76 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:48,000 And they are primarily in things like robotics, or in autonomous vehicles. 77 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:58,000 And I know that that has been an interest in the past by some of our council members, but some of this looks at the assembly of autonomous vehicles. 78 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:06,000 So some of these do carry a pretty large investment amount. 79 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:12,000 So looking at our economic impact since rally economic development. 80 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:18,000 Return to the Chamber in 2021, we have announced eight projects. 81 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:21,000 These projects didn't start announcing until 2023. 82 00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:25,000 Our first announcement was early in December of 2023. 83 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:31,000 Or then it was followed by Udomar PKK in January of 2024. 84 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:42,000 But out of these eight projects that we've announced, that represents 1487 new jobs in 139.8 million in capital investment. 85 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:48,000 These are primarily office projects that were lower investment. 86 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:51,000 They're going into buildings that have already been built. 87 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:59,000 They're doing up fit costs, furniture fixtures and equipments of desks, computers, and then going to work. 88 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:04,000 So the investment numbers are lower than having to go build a building. 89 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:07,000 And so what does this mean for your investment? 90 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:14,000 So the total budget for rally economic development since 2021 has been just over 1.6 million. 91 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:21,000 So compared to the investment that we brought in with companies that have located here, that represents about 1.2%. 92 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:27,000 So that's a pretty strong return on investment for the city of Raleigh. 93 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:33,000 So these represent those announcements Udomar PKK as I mentioned back in January of 2024. 94 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:35,000 Build-ups was last summer. 95 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:38,000 Cremogenics is our newest and mayor-protein. 96 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:43,000 Harrison was able to join us for that grand opening over at NC State. 97 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:52,000 In Divi or a life science company that invested 68 million here in a facility in Northwest, in Northeast Raleigh. 98 00:20:52,000 --> 00:21:01,000 Jewelers Mutual, which opened at North Hills, JTI, which also opened at North Hills, Raleigh Corporation and headquarters. 99 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:07,000 North Hills and Weatherby also at North Hills. 100 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:12,000 There's a look at some of those grand openings and announcements and ribbon cuttings. 101 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:21,000 And I really want to say thank you for participating, showing up for these events and helping make these companies feel welcome in our community. 102 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:24,000 A lot of these events were high energy. 103 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:30,000 You could see the excitement of their workers to be here, to be in these great places to work and to be here in Raleigh. 104 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:45,000 A lot of people moved to Raleigh for these jobs and so it's just a testament to the work that we do and the work that you do in making sure that policies are set to continue our city on the trajectory that it's on. 105 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:49,000 So existing industry support. 106 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:56,000 It is a lot easier to keep our existing companies here than to go and recruit companies to replace them. 107 00:21:56,000 --> 00:22:03,000 A lot of the work that we do is behind the scenes that most times is never seen. 108 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:12,000 You never hear about it, but it is working with our existing companies to help troubleshoot, to help them with challenges that they're facing. 109 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:16,000 But also just to build relationships with them. 110 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:25,000 And out of this, so 39 retention expansion meetings this year, which I think is a pretty strong number for us. 111 00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:30,000 Gabriel and I, dividing that up meeting with these companies. 112 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:41,000 But then also, this shows how we're working with some of our existing developers because it is critical for us to work with the developers that are here to make sure that we have product. 113 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:46,000 When we're doing recruitment are some of our existing companies are expanding. 114 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:49,000 Technical assistance, this is a pretty interesting one. 115 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:54,000 So it is working with our existing companies, so you can add that 21 to the 39. 116 00:22:54,000 --> 00:23:04,000 Technical assistance is a little different. This is where we are providing assistance to a company that they may not know where to go within the city of Raleigh. 117 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:09,000 But they know as a business to call the Raleigh Chamber as a resource to business. 118 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:15,000 And so that may be something along the lines of, I need help with getting a pot-hole filled. 119 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:19,000 Or I need help with going through the permitting process. 120 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:27,000 Or in one instance where we've been heavily engaged is the Red Hat amphitheater project in the Convention Center expansion. 121 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:36,000 We have the great relationships with the Raleigh companies, and we're able to work with Norfolk Southern and North Carolina Raleigh Road to help expedite. 122 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:44,000 Some of the contracts and some of the timelines to help keep that project on actually a head of schedule at this point. 123 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:50,000 So we worked really closely across the city through various departments. 124 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:55,000 Having those relationships is critical and it's part of what we're here for. 125 00:23:55,000 --> 00:24:01,000 It's to be that convener and collaborator and to know who to go to within the city of Raleigh. 126 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:07,000 A couple of those people, Daniel Stigol, over at City of Raleigh Planning and are permitting. 127 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:13,000 He's kind of my go to when I don't know, hey, help me with this problem. 128 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:17,000 And he always is able to pull in the right people for me to talk with. 129 00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:26,000 So, you know, that is it's an added bonus for our existing companies to know that there's somebody there that can help navigate. 130 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:29,000 Some areas that sometimes they don't know what to do. 131 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:31,000 So we're happy to do that. 132 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:40,000 And again, working with these existing companies is sometimes critical to keep them here because they have lots of options now. 133 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:47,000 As we're becoming more dense, we see companies start to look at neighboring communities. 134 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:50,000 There's a newer building, you know, in the next county over. 135 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:54,000 But, you know, what helps them stay here in a lot of times that's workforce. 136 00:24:54,000 --> 00:25:00,000 Making sure that we're connecting them with our workforce, training partners, but also keeping them engaged in the community. 137 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:07,000 And sometimes it's reaching out to one of you and saying, hey, I need I need you to connect with this company and can I set up this meeting. 138 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:13,000 And thank you to those of you who have participated in those meetings when I've reached out in the past. 139 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:25,000 With that, if you have any companies that needs the assistance of rally economic development, we are always happy to help any of the companies within your districts, 140 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:31,000 or across the city and happy to participate in any of those meetings with you. 141 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:37,000 So, marketing is a large part of what we do, as you saw it is the largest part of our budget. 142 00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:45,000 We do see ourselves as being the kind of the loan marketer to new business for rally. 143 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:51,000 And we do this in a number of ways and a lot of the ways that we do this is through partnerships. 144 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:54,000 As you know, our budget is not very large. 145 00:25:54,000 --> 00:26:03,000 We're competing against communities that are extremely larger, as we've always known, we've always punched above our weight class. 146 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:14,000 Our largest competitors are New York, Dallas, Chicago, San Francisco, Austin, which in population and they're large. 147 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:25,000 So, we continue to win significant projects here, but it takes some creativity in how we're telling our story. 148 00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:33,000 So, in one of those ways, you have supported a contract for a national public relations campaign. 149 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:39,000 So, we work with French Westphane, who's located here in downtown Raleigh on this campaign. 150 00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:51,000 This last year and there to the left is a list of some of the media outlets that had picked up stories on Raleigh where we've been quoted, 151 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:55,000 or we've gotten pitches picked up. 152 00:26:55,000 --> 00:27:11,000 But then on the other side of the screen, all of the various marketing initiatives, whether it's digital ads, utilizing LinkedIn ads, but also in some of the publications geared towards business recruitment and expansion. 153 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:23,000 We've been very fortunate in a lot of those to receive some really strong rankings, and we always try to do a print ad in those publications. 154 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:31,000 Unfortunately, those ads are sometimes pretty costly, so we will partner either with weight, county economic development. 155 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:37,000 Are we just do fewer of those and rely more on some of the digital marketing? 156 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:42,000 Our marketing efforts also include video. 157 00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:54,000 So, we started spending quite a bit on video because it can tell the story in a very concise way with images and voiceovers. 158 00:27:54,000 --> 00:28:03,000 So, I have one video that I want you to see that really talks about the region, because when we talk about Raleigh, we can't just talk about the city of Raleigh. 159 00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:07,000 We have to talk about the region and how all of the growth across the region. 160 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:18,000 And when I say region, I'm talking the Raleigh Carey MSA along with the Durham Chapel Hill MSA, which gets our population to about 2.3 million. 161 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:26,000 Our workforce numbers climb when we're talking regionally, and we all know that workers are driving from all over our region for jobs. 162 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:35,000 So, it's critical for us to tell that regional story, but know that Raleigh is where we are really working to recruit companies. 163 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:47,000 So, this video is the first of those kind of telling a little bit of the story, and then we'll follow it up with a video where we are bringing it. 164 00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:55,000 It's a five-question video that we're doing with recent CEOs or C-suite executives that have moved to the market. 165 00:28:55,000 --> 00:29:03,000 So, we've got one following this video that I'll show you. 166 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:11,000 Raleigh is the nation's best performing city on every front, starting with our strong economy in business forward mindset. 167 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:19,000 For major players and expanding franchises, tennis brands and immunostart ups, greater Raleigh eclipse companies with a highly skilled workforce. 168 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:24,000 NC State Duke and UNC anchor the historic research triangle region. 169 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:28,000 3 tier 1 universities put thousands of motivating graduates. 170 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:35,000 And unlike dense cities facing strange infrastructure, greater Raleigh has moved to grow and moved to breathe. 171 00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:38,000 We're not big on traditional city limits. 172 00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:50,000 Instead, we live and work across two neighboring cities, Durham and Chapel Hill, along with the 12 municipalities of Wake County, 12 unique vibes, one interconnected community. 173 00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:54,000 For ease of life, you can't overstate the power of proximity. 174 00:29:54,000 --> 00:30:00,000 Hop on a highway or expressway to discover new neighborhoods within minutes. There's nothing like a smooth commute. 175 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:07,000 Plus, you're always 30 minutes away from rolling during international, one of the nation's fastest-growing large airports. 176 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:15,000 From downtown hot spots at late night watering holes to parks a new ways you'll explore for days, it's truly the best of all worlds. 177 00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:22,000 Greater Raleigh notably offers the same opportunities as other major metros, but not the hassle or expense. 178 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:32,000 Our expanding skyline signals ongoing business growth, and because you're never sardine on a subway or drumming your fingers in traffic, you're taking that your time and your life. 179 00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:42,000 Find a low-strasped hybrid-world lifestyle for one of the most unbecoming business regions in the country. Greater Raleigh, it's a smart move. 180 00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:55,000 What was important to us in our people's infrastructure is we found a place that people 181 00:30:55,000 --> 00:31:04,000 that only wanted to work that wanted to with, a place that was friendly to new businesses, and a place where we could get connected to those in the community. 182 00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:15,000 And then very important was the talent, and that comes down to the education system. It's the wide expanse of opportunities for everybody. 183 00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:23,000 Whether you're just coming out of high school or you're going back and getting a degree, I think you have a wealth of opportunities here. 184 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:31,000 It's a wide ecosystem, it's unique to this area, just how inviting and friendly everybody has been. 185 00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:37,000 It's just a very inviting and warmer section that we sell across the board. 186 00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:45,000 I think what jumps out to me about Raleigh is the diversity. We have so many opportunities here in the local market. 187 00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:53,000 I would encourage anybody thinking about the area. Go out and see some of the companies that have moved here and talk to the people. 188 00:31:53,000 --> 00:32:07,000 So, like I said, we try to capitalize on the companies that have located here. Why they've made the decisions to be here. 189 00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:13,000 And this was the first video of this series that is coming out. We just rolled this one out a couple of weeks ago. 190 00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:17,000 That was Tammy Newcomb, who's the CEO of Raleigh Corporation. 191 00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:25,000 They opened their offices at North Hills back in the spring and they were supported by a business investment grant by you. 192 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:28,000 So thank you for the support of that company. 193 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:40,000 But like I said, we have to get creative in how we're telling this story and it's always great to have that experience of someone who's been through the process and why they made the decision. 194 00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:45,000 When we are working with companies that are looking to visit here or looking to relocate here, 195 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:55,000 always make sure that they meet with companies that are already located here, that are new to the area, that have been long term members of the business community. 196 00:32:55,000 --> 00:33:02,000 And it really helps in telling the story of why it works and why companies are successful here. 197 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:14,000 So as we're looking at what's next, we've always been known for tech companies that have been here, especially with Red Hat and 198 00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:22,000 Pendo and some of the unicorns that have been born and raised here, bandwidth being another. 199 00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:30,000 But with the recent live science announcements that have been occurring within our region, the large investments, Fujifilm, 200 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:42,000 Amgen, Genentec, Novartis, we've started to have been hearing from some of our site selection consultants that you're a life science market. 201 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:46,000 And you know, that's true, but we're also a tech market. 202 00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:53,000 So we're going through and revising our tech strategy and how we are utilizing tech of today in tomorrow, 203 00:33:53,000 --> 00:34:02,000 whether that's AI and quantum and those resources that we have here, either it in sea state, do local companies that are here, 204 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:10,000 but how do we really capitalize on those resources and the talent that lives here to continue growing that sector. 205 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:18,000 While also, you know, working through the sectors that do exist here through our advanced industry strategy. 206 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:31,000 We worked on this throughout the last year and this is really kind of very niche and looking at where those opportunities exist within advanced industries, 207 00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:38,000 that we're probably one of the few places within the United States that it would make sense for a company to be. 208 00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:45,000 And how do we go after that list of companies that really need the R&D, the expertise that lives in briefs here? 209 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:49,000 So that's another strategy that we've been working through. 210 00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:55,000 Our outreach and marketing, we, you know, do quite a bit of outreach throughout the year. 211 00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:59,000 You saw some of the marketing that we do, which is primarily digital. 212 00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:05,000 A lot of times you're not going to see that digital marketing because it is targeting other locations. 213 00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:13,000 If you see it, then let me know because we need to reconfigure some of our outreach with that digital marketing. 214 00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:23,000 But part of this, we're getting ready to launch a new marketing campaign with research triangle regional partnership. 215 00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:30,000 And through this campaign, we'll be, and Wake County Economic Development, sorry, they'll be a part of this as well. 216 00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:40,000 But we're going to target specific cities and we're going to target specific industry sectors that we, you know, are part of these strategies. 217 00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:47,000 And that's going to roll out next month and be a pretty extensive campaign. 218 00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:59,000 Also followed up with visits to those markets where we'll meet with existing companies and representatives who are helping those companies make location decisions. 219 00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:02,000 And then finally, our business investment grant. 220 00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:08,000 This business investment grant has been extremely helpful to many, many companies. 221 00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:17,000 We feel like we're at a time where it needs some revisions to make it more accessible to companies. 222 00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:20,000 The thresholds are fairly high. 223 00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:23,000 They're geared more towards manufacturing. 224 00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:27,000 We've seen more office over the last several years. 225 00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:30,000 And they sometimes didn't qualify. 226 00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:41,000 And while we never want a company that is solely selecting a community based on incentives, it is a part of the process. 227 00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:49,000 And so we always look at incentives as kind of being the icing on the cake that helps some of these companies make decisions on where to be. 228 00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:51,000 And it is a competitive market. 229 00:36:51,000 --> 00:37:03,000 It is competitive in across the United States companies know that they have that option and communities and there are communities that will go out and buy projects. 230 00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:05,000 Thankfully, we don't have to do that. 231 00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:14,000 We are rally and we've been pretty successful, but we do believe that there are some opportunities that would make this more advantageous to business. 232 00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:27,000 And so we'll be working through some revision recommendations and have that back to you in probably right after your break for review. 233 00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:33,000 So with that, I will pause and see who has questions. 234 00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:34,000 Thank you so much. 235 00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:36,000 Questions start down. 236 00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:38,000 Yeah, thanks Kyle for being with us. 237 00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:41,000 Two questions first on the data that you presented. 238 00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:49,000 I want to make sure I understood back in the beginning of your presentation with the pie charts Q4 Q4 what time period is that. 239 00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:52,000 So Q4 that is from. 240 00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:54,000 It's actually your Q4 so. 241 00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:55,000 Our fiscal year. 242 00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:56,000 Yes. 243 00:37:56,000 --> 00:37:58,000 April to. 244 00:37:58,000 --> 00:37:59,000 Yes. 245 00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:01,000 It will end up at the end of this month. 246 00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:02,000 Sorry. 247 00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:04,000 So this is today. 248 00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:05,000 Okay. 249 00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:12,000 And so those 20 projects received are those just opportunities that might. 250 00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:15,000 Take place or those done deals. 251 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:16,000 They are not done deals. 252 00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:17,000 They are opportunities. 253 00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:22,000 They are projects that we have received that we are able to compete on. 254 00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:30,000 Where we have submitted either an RFP or some property is being considered by those projects. 255 00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:36,000 There are numerous other projects that that we received that we are not able to compete on that need. 256 00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:42,000 Hundreds of acres of land for manufacturing and and we just don't have that within the city of Raleigh. 257 00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:49,000 The largest tract of industrial zone land that we have is around 150 acres. 258 00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:55,000 So a lot of those large scale projects we just don't even get an opportunity to compete. 259 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:58,000 And that next pie chart 2025 to 26. 260 00:38:58,000 --> 00:38:59,000 That's our. 261 00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:00,000 That's one year's time. 262 00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:01,000 That is one year's time. 263 00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:02,000 Okay. 264 00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:03,000 All right. 265 00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:04,000 Just make a share. 266 00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:05,000 All right. 267 00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:06,000 And I'm also curious. 268 00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:07,000 I know I'd send a message about this. 269 00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:10,000 And I might have missed an update for the city manager on it. 270 00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:13,000 But are there any opportunities to integrate. 271 00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:16,000 Daycares into these. 272 00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:19,000 You know, new businesses that are coming. 273 00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:24,000 Drolley or to think about how they can participate in programs like try share. 274 00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:29,000 And one of those conversations looking like is that, you know, of interest to these businesses. 275 00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:30,000 It is of interest. 276 00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:37,000 We, you know, legally we are limited on what types of requirements we can place on a company. 277 00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:47,000 However, we do try and connect them with the various resources that exist here today to help with those opportunities. 278 00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:50,000 A lot of times some of these office projects. 279 00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:54,000 They're looking for where the daycare centers within this area. 280 00:39:54,000 --> 00:40:01,000 They're going to want to be within areas where they where their employees have choice. 281 00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:10,000 That's not always the case, but it is something that has become very prominent in our conversations with companies. 282 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:12,000 Considering Raleigh. 283 00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:16,000 Being in areas where there are daycares where they're available. 284 00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:22,000 But there are those opportunities where we're having to connect them with those resources. 285 00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:24,000 And try share is that part of the conversation. 286 00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:29,000 Do you know how many employers are opting into that in Raleigh or. 287 00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:32,000 I don't, I can get that number and follow up. 288 00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:33,000 Okay, yeah. 289 00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:34,000 Be curious. 290 00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:35,000 Thank you. 291 00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:37,000 I'm happy to do that. 292 00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:40,000 Thank you for the presentation. 293 00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:44,000 I want to frame this in a very positive way. 294 00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:49,000 You had mentioned all the new companies moving and you had referenced. 295 00:40:49,000 --> 00:40:50,000 Midtown. 296 00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:57,000 I am sure when sites selectors potential companies come here and either choose. 297 00:40:57,000 --> 00:41:01,000 A specific location or choose not to move to Raleigh. 298 00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:06,000 Are you getting any feedback because it would be helpful to know. 299 00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:08,000 We do know where we score high. 300 00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:11,000 You know, access quality education affordability quality of life. 301 00:41:12,000 --> 00:41:19,000 But just want to know what we as a city can work on to make it easier for companies to say yes. 302 00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:22,000 For the entire city. 303 00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:25,000 But I want to focus also on downtown. 304 00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:27,000 A lot that you mentioned. 305 00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:30,000 They're moving to the midtown location and not downtown. 306 00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:39,000 So there anything in a positive framework that you can share with us that we can do a better job at making this. 307 00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:44,000 A desirable location to get those potential companies to get to a yes. 308 00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:45,000 Sure. 309 00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:46,000 Great question. 310 00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:47,000 Thank you. 311 00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:54,000 And so first I will talk about the areas that we get feedback. 312 00:41:54,000 --> 00:41:56,000 It's always transit. 313 00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:59,000 Where are you with transit? 314 00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:00,000 Bus rapid transit. 315 00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:02,000 We talk about bus rapid transit. 316 00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:03,000 We show the lines. 317 00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:05,000 We show the work. 318 00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:09,000 Thank you. 319 00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:10,000 Thank you. 320 00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:11,000 There's progress. 321 00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:13,000 You know, being made. 322 00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:16,000 And so that is one area. 323 00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:19,000 Our greenway system, our bike lanes. 324 00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:21,000 All of those things are great. 325 00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:23,000 Stories for us to show in tail. 326 00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:24,000 And thankfully. 327 00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:27,000 You are being very proactive in those areas. 328 00:42:27,000 --> 00:42:30,000 I have been told, you know, many times, it's not necessarily about having like. 329 00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:36,960 light rail or some of those other forms of transportation but more about how we move people around this region 330 00:42:37,920 --> 00:42:45,680 compared to other places we move people around the region pretty well so there's that so that that is one area 331 00:42:45,680 --> 00:42:52,320 we are often questioned on affordable housing and you know we we compared to other major 332 00:42:52,400 --> 00:42:59,920 Metro's across the U.S. we still show up as being fairly affordable but you know we all know here that 333 00:42:59,920 --> 00:43:06,800 that it is a rising issue and thankfully it is one of your main concerns and priorities so it's always 334 00:43:06,800 --> 00:43:14,080 great for us to be able to answer that question and show the work that you as the city are doing so that is 335 00:43:14,080 --> 00:43:19,520 greatly appreciated the one thing where we always get feedback and it's hard for me to answer 336 00:43:19,520 --> 00:43:27,280 that is when we bring a company into downtown or through downtown they look around and they say 337 00:43:28,720 --> 00:43:38,160 this is it and it's really the fact that as you know as I mentioned we compete against such large 338 00:43:38,160 --> 00:43:47,040 communities that have very dense downtown areas we are we still have some density issues here 339 00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:55,440 we show up really well it's a beautiful town they love coming here but there is that question of 340 00:43:55,440 --> 00:44:02,640 well where is everything so that video that we showed that talked about the region was kind of to answer some of 341 00:44:02,640 --> 00:44:08,160 those questions that we were receiving on the front end to be a little bit more proactive and to tell that we are 342 00:44:08,160 --> 00:44:16,560 more of a regional community rather than a hub and spoke community but you know here's what I will 343 00:44:16,560 --> 00:44:24,800 say about the mid-town versus downtown the investments that have happened in downtown with the new 344 00:44:24,800 --> 00:44:33,440 civic tower with the convention center with red hat amphitheater with the omni with bus rapid transit all 345 00:44:33,440 --> 00:44:39,920 of those things have attention on downtown rally at this point I was with the consultant actually the 346 00:44:39,920 --> 00:44:45,840 consultant who represented Utomar Pake when they were making their decision was within last week and we were 347 00:44:45,840 --> 00:44:52,000 talking about all of the things happening in downtown and when I mentioned the omni he said man you really needed that 348 00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:58,080 he said it just set you apart and moved you to the next level and then when I told him about what was happening 349 00:44:58,080 --> 00:45:02,160 with the convention center in red hat 350 00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:24,000 He was like, man, I can't wait to come back and visit. And I told him, please bring a company when you visit. So the things that, and I am very impatient, and I go and do comparative, you know, visits to other communities quite frequently, and the thing that I have to remind myself is that in population, we are 25 years behind the city of Nashville. 351 00:45:24,000 --> 00:45:36,000 We are 50 years behind the city of Austin if our growth rates continue at what they are today, because the city of Austin has a million people, the city of Nashville has 750. 352 00:45:36,000 --> 00:45:45,000 So I have to remind myself that we are still growing, and I think that all of the great foundational work is in place to keep us on that path. 353 00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:49,000 Got two folks, council Jones, and then Councilor Lambert Milton. 354 00:45:49,000 --> 00:46:00,000 Thank you so much. I know that on the list that we see for business is we are number, number, and the top five, and business is want to come here. 355 00:46:00,000 --> 00:46:12,000 But we're also dead last in workers' rights. We're also 52 in wage policies, worker protections. So in your conversations, when you're talking to businesses and bringing them here, 356 00:46:12,000 --> 00:46:19,000 we're going to navigate that, and how do we measure us going up on that list to justify that they're taking care of employees? 357 00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:29,000 So, you know, we typically, of be honest, a lot of times, those conversations really don't come up. 358 00:46:29,000 --> 00:46:41,000 And, however, it is something that we work towards as a community, especially as we're working through, maybe it's for our business investment grant, 359 00:46:41,000 --> 00:46:50,000 to make sure that there are growth opportunities for these employees, and that there are opportunities for them to climb certain ladders. 360 00:46:50,000 --> 00:47:03,000 And, you know, I think that in that ranking, it is, you know, it is a state policy level discussion. 361 00:47:03,000 --> 00:47:13,000 There's only certain things that we can do as the economic development entity for the city of Raleigh, because at the end of the day, 362 00:47:13,000 --> 00:47:17,000 I don't think we're going to look at a business and say, no, don't come here. 363 00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:25,000 I think that there is a great opportunity here to learn from some of the other companies that are here in Raleigh, 364 00:47:25,000 --> 00:47:32,000 because I fully believe that a lot of the companies that exist here today are treating their employees really well. 365 00:47:32,000 --> 00:47:37,000 I think that some of those companies where there are issues really aren't here. 366 00:47:37,000 --> 00:47:39,000 How do you measure that? 367 00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:41,000 We don't. 368 00:47:41,000 --> 00:47:50,000 Second question that I have related to that is, when we look at a new job, and it's bringing in, let's say, a hundred positions, or what not, 369 00:47:50,000 --> 00:47:57,000 do we measure how many of those are brought in from other states that are versus who, if we're using our pools of talent pool authority and existence, 370 00:47:57,000 --> 00:48:01,000 is there any sort of discussion or ratio that you're aware of? 371 00:48:01,000 --> 00:48:08,000 There is a discussion on, you know, how many would relocate, how many they want to hire here. 372 00:48:08,000 --> 00:48:18,000 There's not necessarily a way that we can actually, you know, track and measure that. 373 00:48:18,000 --> 00:48:26,000 And the main reason that the companies are coming here is because of the talent pool that exists. 374 00:48:26,000 --> 00:48:33,000 If they're just going to be relocating companies, all of their employees from elsewhere, then, you know, 375 00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:39,000 I don't know if that's necessarily the types of companies that we're looking to attract. 376 00:48:39,000 --> 00:48:46,000 But as far as some of the requirements for compliance that doesn't exist. 377 00:48:46,000 --> 00:48:51,000 Okay, yeah, I think I asked that just because I know we were at the Chamber event last week, 378 00:48:51,000 --> 00:48:54,000 and we were talking about bringing new jobs, and there was some discussion afterwards, 379 00:48:54,000 --> 00:49:00,000 but there's that said, well, if we're bringing in 13,000 new jobs, then we need 13,000 new units, 380 00:49:00,000 --> 00:49:05,000 but we want at least the majority of those to be inside, so they're not new units that need to be built. 381 00:49:05,000 --> 00:49:08,000 So I just wanted to understand how we measure that. 382 00:49:08,000 --> 00:49:14,000 So yeah, when those numbers are mentioned, it's not bringing in 13,000 new jobs from elsewhere, 383 00:49:14,000 --> 00:49:17,000 that is accounting for people that are here as well. 384 00:49:17,000 --> 00:49:18,000 Awesome. 385 00:49:18,000 --> 00:49:19,000 Okay, thank you. 386 00:49:19,000 --> 00:49:20,000 Thank you. 387 00:49:20,000 --> 00:49:22,000 A couple of things. 388 00:49:22,000 --> 00:49:26,000 There was a line in that video you played that I thought was odd. 389 00:49:27,000 --> 00:49:29,000 I was going to let it go, but then you kind of brought it up. 390 00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:34,000 So I just want to point out that if one of the issues that's keeping companies from locating here, 391 00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:36,000 there's a line in that video that says I wrote it down quote, 392 00:49:36,000 --> 00:49:38,000 you're never a sardine on a subway. 393 00:49:38,000 --> 00:49:39,000 Right. 394 00:49:39,000 --> 00:49:44,000 And so I feel like if we know that transit is something that companies are looking for, 395 00:49:44,000 --> 00:49:50,000 and may be helpful to actually highlight some of these transit investments and initiatives both in 396 00:49:50,000 --> 00:49:54,000 than rally, then obviously we take a regional approach, so regionally as well. 397 00:49:54,000 --> 00:49:55,000 Right. 398 00:49:55,000 --> 00:50:02,000 You know, just because for me, I don't think highlighting all the great highways and how easy it is to get around in your car 399 00:50:02,000 --> 00:50:05,000 is necessarily the best way to sell our region. 400 00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:06,000 So that's one point. 401 00:50:06,000 --> 00:50:11,000 And then the second point that was of interest to me was you mentioned that will some folks will come downtown, 402 00:50:11,000 --> 00:50:15,000 very nice downtown, but they mentioned that, you know, where is everything? 403 00:50:15,000 --> 00:50:19,000 And that's an interesting sort of approach because we are very, 404 00:50:19,000 --> 00:50:22,000 our skyline is very undersized for our city. 405 00:50:22,000 --> 00:50:27,000 And I think that's just a derivative of the type of businesses we have here. 406 00:50:27,000 --> 00:50:31,000 I think you look at Charlotte and their skyline is a bit oversized for their city, 407 00:50:31,000 --> 00:50:35,000 and that's because they have banks that build towers and things like that. 408 00:50:35,000 --> 00:50:40,000 And so I do think it's important to remember from a strictly economic development standpoint, 409 00:50:40,000 --> 00:50:43,000 that when we do have these rezoning cases that are downtown, 410 00:50:43,000 --> 00:50:48,000 and people are concerned about height or density, that that we do need that height and density downtown 411 00:50:48,000 --> 00:50:55,000 for multitude of reasons for to prevent sprawl, to prevent loss of tree canopy, to support transit that companies want, 412 00:50:55,000 --> 00:51:01,000 but also because there are major investments that could be coming here that are looking at, 413 00:51:01,000 --> 00:51:03,000 do we look and feel like a big city? 414 00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:07,000 We are a major city now that we've crossed 500,000 residents, and we need the infrastructure, 415 00:51:07,000 --> 00:51:09,000 including the built environment that reflects it. 416 00:51:09,000 --> 00:51:12,000 So I think that's an important context to remember as well, 417 00:51:12,000 --> 00:51:17,000 but I would certainly suggest that maybe removing the sardines and the subway line 418 00:51:17,000 --> 00:51:20,000 and adding some transit to the video could be helpful. 419 00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:23,000 Thank you, and if you don't mind, I would like to respond to that. 420 00:51:23,000 --> 00:51:33,000 A lot of our projects are coming from larger cities, and we were trying to reflect the, 421 00:51:33,000 --> 00:51:39,000 we do have some room to read and exactly, we've got some great parks, 422 00:51:39,000 --> 00:51:44,000 but noted, I understand what you were saying, and I appreciate that feedback. 423 00:51:44,000 --> 00:51:45,000 Thank you. 424 00:51:45,000 --> 00:51:48,000 Councilor Patent and then we'll go with Councilor Ford. 425 00:51:48,000 --> 00:51:50,000 Hello. 426 00:51:50,000 --> 00:51:52,000 I have a handful. 427 00:51:52,000 --> 00:51:56,000 So on the, maybe this is a helpful pie chart. 428 00:51:56,000 --> 00:52:02,000 There's like an acronym for healthy economies. 429 00:52:02,000 --> 00:52:06,000 As an insurance is one of them, but I can't remember the rest. 430 00:52:06,000 --> 00:52:10,000 Because my ultimate question is, do we, do you think we have a healthy distribution 431 00:52:10,000 --> 00:52:17,000 of industry versus, are we heavily loaded on one that risks us being in threat 432 00:52:17,000 --> 00:52:20,000 if the world changes to that industry? 433 00:52:20,000 --> 00:52:22,000 Having been a great question. 434 00:52:22,000 --> 00:52:23,000 Thank you. 435 00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:32,000 Having been in locations where they were dependent on one industry. 436 00:52:32,000 --> 00:52:39,000 We are very blessed to have numerous strong industries here. 437 00:52:39,000 --> 00:52:48,000 I started 20 years ago in economic development in northeast Mississippi and a very 438 00:52:48,000 --> 00:52:49,000 large economy. 439 00:52:49,000 --> 00:52:54,000 Furniture, for an instrument manufacturing, dependent community, and all of those jobs went to China. 440 00:52:54,000 --> 00:52:58,000 Every week, I had another company closing and moving to China. 441 00:52:58,000 --> 00:53:00,000 And it was tough. 442 00:53:00,000 --> 00:53:01,000 It was tough to see. 443 00:53:01,000 --> 00:53:03,000 It was tough to combat. 444 00:53:03,000 --> 00:53:09,000 We ended up doing a lot of work around rescaling of those workers and ended up recruiting an automotive 445 00:53:09,000 --> 00:53:11,000 manufacturer. 446 00:53:11,000 --> 00:53:17,000 Here, thankfully, and thankfully a lot of those furniture workers were able to go into those jobs. 447 00:53:17,000 --> 00:53:25,000 Workforce development has always been critical for me and the work that we do here, because 448 00:53:25,000 --> 00:53:33,000 of our variety and wide expanse of industry sectors and our lack of dependence on one. 449 00:53:33,000 --> 00:53:39,000 Let's look at the office market and the pandemic when most people were working from home. 450 00:53:39,000 --> 00:53:44,000 No one was coming into the office and no one was spending money. 451 00:53:44,000 --> 00:53:51,000 Our restaurants and such suffered, but our overall economy stayed pretty strong. 452 00:53:51,000 --> 00:53:59,000 And that was because of all of those life science manufacturers that came in to manufacture different vaccines. 453 00:53:59,000 --> 00:54:05,000 And GLP-1 drugs, all of those things really helped stabilize our economy. 454 00:54:05,000 --> 00:54:13,000 And that, you know, we've long time had advanced manufacturing here as well, but a lot of our professional services 455 00:54:13,000 --> 00:54:16,000 and bringing our people back into the office. 456 00:54:16,000 --> 00:54:23,000 We've been able to remain, you know, very strong, but that is why we are constantly looking at strategies and building strategies 457 00:54:23,000 --> 00:54:29,000 to make sure that we are being proactive in looking at what's next for our community. 458 00:54:29,000 --> 00:54:36,000 And definitely AI and quantum being two of those that we think are critical. 459 00:54:36,000 --> 00:54:45,000 And it's another reason that as the Raleigh Chamber, we do those inner city visits so that we go to those other large communities to learn, you know, 460 00:54:45,000 --> 00:54:52,000 what's worked, what hasn't, what should we, what should we implement, what should we mimic, what should we stay away from? 461 00:54:52,000 --> 00:54:58,000 And a lot of those visits help us in making those determinations. 462 00:54:58,000 --> 00:55:02,000 Well, it's helpful that you mentioned the inner city visit, because it brings me to the main second question. 463 00:55:02,000 --> 00:55:08,000 There's a lot of times when we go on these inner city trips, they also show us a beautiful piece of public infrastructure. 464 00:55:08,000 --> 00:55:13,000 And they look at this stadium or fill in your favorite piece of public project. 465 00:55:13,000 --> 00:55:15,000 And we say, great, how do you pay for it? 466 00:55:15,000 --> 00:55:26,000 And usually some part of the answer says, well, our, our favorite billionaire, when have these with us, or our favorite headquartered business, when have these with us. 467 00:55:26,000 --> 00:55:32,000 And we see a lot of corporate philanthropy in some of these other cities. 468 00:55:32,000 --> 00:55:39,000 And I'm curious how a conversation is going in the business community here and how folks are thinking about that. 469 00:55:39,000 --> 00:55:52,000 You know, one of the reasons that corporate headquarters or so important to communities is the philanthropy, how they will give back to communities and invest in communities. 470 00:55:52,000 --> 00:56:00,000 It's partly why we do economic development so that these companies come in and they start helping with with these issues. 471 00:56:00,000 --> 00:56:07,000 I'll point to jeweler's mutual group as an example. They're not ahead quarters, but their innovation hub is here in Raleigh. 472 00:56:07,000 --> 00:56:16,000 They opened last August and every time I turn around, they are sponsoring something else. 473 00:56:16,000 --> 00:56:21,000 You know, engaged within the state, they're sponsoring various events. 474 00:56:21,000 --> 00:56:27,000 And I know that some of these other companies, they're new to the area, they're trying to get up and running. 475 00:56:27,000 --> 00:56:33,000 And it's conversations that they're having of where to best support the community. 476 00:56:33,000 --> 00:56:40,000 So, you know, the Raleigh Chamber CEO Adrian Cole loves to talk about civic rent. 477 00:56:40,000 --> 00:56:47,000 And how, you know, we need more people stepping up and chipping in and doing their part and it's true. 478 00:56:47,000 --> 00:56:58,000 We do have, we're very fortunate to have numerous individuals and companies that do support our community, but we could always, we could always be better and have more. 479 00:56:58,000 --> 00:57:09,000 And so it is a large driver and, especially the corporate headquarters piece because they tend to do more and they tend to stay in locations long term. 480 00:57:09,000 --> 00:57:16,000 And I just have one, one more quick one and they'll pass them like, on the business incentive grant, one comment. 481 00:57:16,000 --> 00:57:21,000 I have always had an interest in putting a salary floor on that. 482 00:57:21,000 --> 00:57:33,000 I know we have a, I know that the average salary of the recipient or of the business replying has to be AMI, but we don't have a floor and averages. 483 00:57:33,000 --> 00:57:38,000 The average is there made out of a range, so if you'll just take that as feedback, I would like to see that as part of the revision. 484 00:57:38,000 --> 00:57:50,000 And then I am curious if you know how much we pay out in, like, maybe this year in folks who have received the business incentive grant, 485 00:57:50,000 --> 00:57:56,000 shown that they've met the expectations, how much granting have we paid out? Do you know? 486 00:57:56,000 --> 00:58:05,000 I believe there's only one grant that has been paid out this year and that was for Gilead, which announced here in 2019. 487 00:58:05,000 --> 00:58:13,000 They met their requirements for hiring, they exceeded their, their investment amount by a round. 488 00:58:13,000 --> 00:58:17,000 I think it was around in excess of 9 million. 489 00:58:17,000 --> 00:58:25,000 I can't remember the exact amount, but I can get that far to you and get it to you, but just one. 490 00:58:25,000 --> 00:58:29,000 Thank you. 491 00:58:29,000 --> 00:58:31,000 That kind of leads into my question. 492 00:58:31,000 --> 00:58:39,000 I know that when folks come in, they give us these presentations and say they're going to hire 100 people at $75,000 or whatever it is. 493 00:58:39,000 --> 00:58:53,000 Have you all been, like, tracking the data for the last, like, say, five year period to see how many employees are actually hired at that, that level and what that actual average is over a certain time period? 494 00:58:53,000 --> 00:59:04,000 Thank you for that question. As part of their reporting for compliance with not only our grant, the county's grant or the state's grant, 495 00:59:04,000 --> 00:59:12,000 they have to provide that information and verify it. So we do track that. 496 00:59:12,000 --> 00:59:20,000 So maybe helpful to give us like an update over, like, maybe a five year time period, how many companies came and fulfill that requirement? 497 00:59:20,000 --> 00:59:24,000 Because we don't necessarily get the back end of that information. 498 00:59:24,000 --> 00:59:26,000 Sure. I'd better do that. 499 00:59:26,000 --> 00:59:31,000 All right. And you're talking about Adrian's term, civic, civic rent. 500 00:59:31,000 --> 00:59:38,000 Yeah. So I know we've had some conversations. We had it with the economic development committee last year. 501 00:59:38,000 --> 00:59:47,000 Talk about the possibility of having investments from certain corporations for some of our HBCUs, locally in that conversation. 502 00:59:47,000 --> 00:59:54,000 It's kind of dwindle out. And I know to say here comments, you referenced like the jewelry company partners within the state. 503 00:59:54,000 --> 01:00:00,000 So it may be time for us to revive that conversation about opportunities for. 504 01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:08,000 At least one of our HBCUs here in Raleigh to see if their companies are interested in pursuing those opportunities. 505 01:00:08,000 --> 01:00:11,000 Sure. Happy to do that. 506 01:00:11,000 --> 01:00:12,000 Council branch. 507 01:00:12,000 --> 01:00:15,000 Yeah, definitely thank you for the information that you've shared. 508 01:00:15,000 --> 01:00:19,000 And I know your focus is on bringing in big companies working with big companies. 509 01:00:19,000 --> 01:00:22,000 Hey, of course, things of that nature. 510 01:00:22,000 --> 01:00:25,000 Red Hat wasn't always a big company. 511 01:00:25,000 --> 01:00:36,000 It started small. So my question is, where are you all with the relationship of working with the small business development, which is still within the city of Raleigh? 512 01:00:36,000 --> 01:00:43,000 And how do can are there some tools that you all are seeing that can be passed on? 513 01:00:43,000 --> 01:00:51,000 Are that we need to try to figure out how to get to help some of our small businesses so that they've become the big businesses? 514 01:00:51,000 --> 01:00:54,000 And, you know, they stay true to home. 515 01:00:54,000 --> 01:01:03,000 Thank you, Councilman Branch. And I, you know, sometimes I think that there is the misconception that we're the big whale hunters. 516 01:01:03,000 --> 01:01:10,000 And, you know, really we work with companies of all sizes, all shapes. 517 01:01:10,000 --> 01:01:21,000 And, you know, we have the resources that are provided by the city, the business investment grant to work with. 518 01:01:21,000 --> 01:01:27,000 Outside of that, you know, we do partner with Mark Weldon and his team. 519 01:01:27,000 --> 01:01:41,000 But also with other entities or out the community to help support, whether it's the SBTDC wake tech community college, the capital area workforce development board. 520 01:01:41,000 --> 01:01:48,000 And so when we are working with these companies, we try to bring downtown Raleigh Alliance is another. 521 01:01:48,000 --> 01:01:56,000 We try to bring all of these entities to the table to solve issues and create solutions. 522 01:01:56,000 --> 01:02:01,000 So, for example, there's one company that we've recently supported. 523 01:02:01,000 --> 01:02:06,000 They're doing a $3 million expansion and hiring 10 people. 524 01:02:06,000 --> 01:02:09,000 And, you know, they've been around for 50 years. 525 01:02:09,000 --> 01:02:17,000 But their company has. And, you know, sometimes I wouldn't show up on the radar for economic developers. 526 01:02:17,000 --> 01:02:24,000 But it's one where we rolled up our sleeves and helped the company through some challenges that they were facing. 527 01:02:24,000 --> 01:02:32,000 Last week, I had a call from someone looking to open a storefront in downtown Raleigh for retail. 528 01:02:32,000 --> 01:02:38,000 So we reached out to our partners with downtown Raleigh Alliance to help support there. 529 01:02:38,000 --> 01:02:47,000 But, you know, I think that probably where we get the most requests from small business is they need startup capital. 530 01:02:47,000 --> 01:02:55,000 And that's tricky. There aren't a lot of people providing, you know, startup capital for new businesses. 531 01:02:55,000 --> 01:03:07,000 And so that is one area, but I would, I'm not really sure how the best route to get there would be. 532 01:03:07,000 --> 01:03:16,000 There are accelerator programs, there are programs to help small businesses with writing a business plan and doing elevator pitches. 533 01:03:16,000 --> 01:03:24,000 And all of those things and the state economic development partnership with North Carolina, they have a small business development team as well. 534 01:03:24,000 --> 01:03:35,000 So everyone's kind of, you know, coming at this from various angles, but a lot of times that unfortunately it comes down to startup capital and finding that. 535 01:03:35,000 --> 01:03:36,000 Okay. 536 01:03:36,000 --> 01:03:46,000 But thank you, because, excuse me, because I think that information, that store is something that should also be told as part of what you all offering do. 537 01:03:46,000 --> 01:03:54,000 And I think it also helps some of the bigger businesses knowing that hey, you're here, but they also have these other companies that usually come along with them. 538 01:03:54,000 --> 01:04:01,000 There are a lot smaller and them knowing that hey, those smaller companies can also receive help and assistance. 539 01:04:01,000 --> 01:04:11,000 So definitely know whatever we can do to help, you know, I know you, Jamie got out of marketing money, so whatever the chamber can do to help tell that story. 540 01:04:11,000 --> 01:04:16,000 We really appreciate it, and Adrian knows we love we love the word that they do. 541 01:04:16,000 --> 01:04:21,000 Well, and thank you, and I'll touch on this as the son of a small business owner. 542 01:04:21,000 --> 01:04:28,000 My father owned the A's hardware store in Macomb, Mississippi, and I grew up there cleaning the bathrooms and sweeping the floors. 543 01:04:28,000 --> 01:04:30,000 That's how I started. 544 01:04:30,000 --> 01:04:43,000 And, you know, we were very dependent on large companies coming in to the area to keep revenue coming in to have, you know, people there with jobs spending money. 545 01:04:43,000 --> 01:04:49,000 I grew up in a town that was heavy on textiles and guess what, that all left. 546 01:04:49,000 --> 01:04:55,000 And so there was, when I was 13 years old, they recruited their last company, I'm 47. 547 01:04:55,000 --> 01:04:57,000 So do the math. 548 01:04:57,000 --> 01:05:01,000 That was the last time that they brought a new company into that town. 549 01:05:01,000 --> 01:05:05,000 And my dad was fortunate enough to get the plumbing contracts. 550 01:05:05,000 --> 01:05:13,000 And that kept our business afloat for many years and kept six people with high school diplomas employed. 551 01:05:13,000 --> 01:05:19,000 And so that, you know, is the impact of what economic development can do for a small business. 552 01:05:19,000 --> 01:05:23,000 So that's my personal story, so thank you. 553 01:05:23,000 --> 01:05:26,000 That is a compelling personal story. 554 01:05:26,000 --> 01:05:32,000 And congrats on your award that you got recently recognizing you for the, for the work that you're doing. 555 01:05:32,000 --> 01:05:34,000 I guess I just have an open-ended question. 556 01:05:34,000 --> 01:05:37,000 I mean, obviously, there's many things going right here. 557 01:05:37,000 --> 01:05:45,000 As you look at the ecosystem, where do you see the biggest opportunity to improve it? 558 01:05:45,000 --> 01:05:51,000 And I guess examples coming to mind would be, you know, is there a close relationship with NC State and the Tier 1 universities? 559 01:05:51,000 --> 01:05:59,000 Or is it, or awake tech, or just, we don't have, again, all this philanthropic that we've talked about. 560 01:05:59,000 --> 01:06:02,000 We don't have as many conveners here. 561 01:06:02,000 --> 01:06:09,000 You know, I think the banks and other areas play a stronger role than some of the banks that we have. 562 01:06:09,000 --> 01:06:14,000 Anyway, just anything that is top of mind for you. 563 01:06:14,000 --> 01:06:18,000 Yeah, I know when we visited other locations, we've seen a lot of foundations. 564 01:06:18,000 --> 01:06:23,000 And, you know, we have been this agricultural state capital. 565 01:06:23,000 --> 01:06:31,000 We didn't have a lot of wealth here that, you know, long-term wealth that has sustained and maintained. 566 01:06:31,000 --> 01:06:35,000 And so a lot of what we have are newer tech companies. 567 01:06:35,000 --> 01:06:43,000 And, you know, I think some of our long-term companies that have been here in our headquarters here are investing in our community. 568 01:06:43,000 --> 01:06:46,000 Martin Marietta being one of those. 569 01:06:46,000 --> 01:06:51,000 You know, they're naming rights at the Performing Arts Center. 570 01:06:51,000 --> 01:06:53,000 You know, but we also have red hats. 571 01:06:53,000 --> 01:06:57,000 So we do have tech that is investing here. 572 01:06:57,000 --> 01:07:06,000 I think that, you know, probably telling our story in a bigger and bolder way. 573 01:07:06,000 --> 01:07:10,000 And coincides with tonight. 574 01:07:10,000 --> 01:07:20,000 You know, I've spent the day talking to the media about the impact of the Carolina Hurricanes and how they continue to put us on the map. 575 01:07:20,000 --> 01:07:28,000 And, you know, that's pretty good publicity because every time that they're playing here in Raleigh, it's saying the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, North Carolina. 576 01:07:28,000 --> 01:07:34,000 I've had three people tell me recently that one was, oh, I thought they played in Charlotte. 577 01:07:34,000 --> 01:07:38,000 I had another tell me a developer who's investing in this market. 578 01:07:38,000 --> 01:07:45,000 He said, he lives in DC and he said, I became a Carolina Hurricanes fan and I've watched more hockey in the last month. 579 01:07:45,000 --> 01:07:51,000 And, you know, those types of stories where, you know, people are filling part of this community. 580 01:07:51,000 --> 01:07:59,000 I've been in areas where bigger isn't always better because they have some pretty sharp elbows and they're not working together. 581 01:07:59,000 --> 01:08:03,000 But here we do have this great sense of community and this regionalism. 582 01:08:03,000 --> 01:08:14,000 And we do work across those lines of working with Durham and Chapel Hill and our neighbors in Kerry and Holly Springs to the South and Gardner and Johnston County. 583 01:08:14,000 --> 01:08:25,000 Nash County, you know, all of these communities were all working really closely together to move the needle and to continue creating these great opportunities. 584 01:08:25,000 --> 01:08:33,000 And I think that, you know, while we are focused on the city of Raleigh as the, you know, the predominant player here. 585 01:08:33,000 --> 01:08:46,000 These communities do look to us and so being bold, telling the story in a strong way and representing our city and doing the bold things, you know. 586 01:08:46,000 --> 01:08:50,000 Taking some risks and being bold, I think, is critical. 587 01:08:50,000 --> 01:09:01,000 And we see that in what's happening in downtown with all of the red hat amphitheater and the Convention Center and the Omni and the Civic Tower and those things excite people. 588 01:09:01,000 --> 01:09:14,000 And so I think that we'll continue to see some interesting investment here in downtown because I fully do believe that, and I'm sorry, I left Dr. Dick Spark and it is, I believe our greatest asset at this point. 589 01:09:14,000 --> 01:09:21,000 But having that public investment is only going to drive private investment in sea state. 590 01:09:21,000 --> 01:09:25,000 Phenomenal resource to have here, I think, that it drives a lot of what happens here. 591 01:09:25,000 --> 01:09:37,000 We meet with them monthly and are all in the phone with them almost weekly discussing projects and how they partner with us and in R&D. 592 01:09:37,000 --> 01:09:42,000 But also in that talent pipeline supplying these companies. 593 01:09:42,000 --> 01:09:45,000 Thanks for the presentation and all that you're doing. 594 01:09:45,000 --> 01:09:47,000 All right, thank you. I appreciate it. 595 01:09:47,000 --> 01:09:49,000 Thank you for all edges. 596 01:09:49,000 --> 01:09:50,000 Okay. 597 01:09:50,000 --> 01:09:53,000 I believe that concludes our business. 598 01:09:53,000 --> 01:09:59,000 So we will reconvene tonight at 7 p.m. for the public hearing. 599 01:10:12,000 --> 01:10:17,000 Thank you. 600 01:10:17,000 --> 01:10:22,000 Thank you. 601 01:10:42,000 --> 01:10:50,000 I'm Melanie Rauch. 602 01:10:50,000 --> 01:10:52,000 And this is what I do. 603 01:10:52,000 --> 01:10:56,000 I'm the Trans-Finding Manager for Rally's Bus Rapid Transit Program. 604 01:10:56,000 --> 01:11:05,000 Also known as PRT, we are overseeing a large suite of capital infrastructure projects that will improve the writer experience through some of Rally's highest ridership routes. 605 01:11:05,000 --> 01:11:07,000 What does that really mean? 606 01:11:07,000 --> 01:11:15,000 That means higher frequency bus service, elevated amenities and safe pedestrian infrastructure to improve on that first last mile experience. 607 01:11:15,000 --> 01:11:20,000 One area I'm excited for is safe pedestrian improvements at every bus stop. 608 01:11:20,000 --> 01:11:23,000 We're going to be able to deliver that as a part of the PRT program. 609 01:11:23,000 --> 01:11:25,000 I love working for the city of Rally.