Editor’s Note: “The Economic Development Side” originally appears in the Pine Bluff Regional Chamber of Commerce’s weekly member e-newsletter. It is written by Rhonda Dishner, the Economic Development Alliance’s executive assistant.
As just about every American worker knows, Monday, Sept. 4, was Labor Day. It’s an official federal and state holiday and celebrated in cities around the country. It’s also considered the unofficial end of summer because it coincides with back-to-school time and the approaching actual end of summer.
Labor Day celebrates the contributions that generations of workers have made to our country. As economic developers, whose job it is to help in the retention of existing business and industry and attraction of new ones, staff members of the Alliance place an especially high value on the labor force that keeps local industries operating.
Getting a day off from work to celebrate work is a little bit ironic but very much appreciated! If only getting a day off from work were really possible in this day of smartphones and iPads. It’s probably a certainty that, somewhere, a mobile phone is ringing, chiming, dinging, beeping, or serenading. And a local economic developer is talking about buildings or sites or community assets…or setting up appointments for the day after the holiday.
But, given that this might just be “the” big project call, answering it is a labor of love (for the community).