County-Wide Survey Results

Detailed results and citizen comments

• On Attracting New Businesses

Greater Kalamazoo Community Convention Outcomes:

[About the Convention]

Statements agreed upon by 100% of participants:

• We stand for maintaining a strong economic base in our county which will be the engine for maintaining and improving our quality of life.
• We stand for promoting and encouraging high quality investment: sustainable businesses that display good citizenship, vitality, strength, and environmental consciousness.

Strategies for achieving what "we stand for," overwhelmingly supported by participants:

• Try to attract more small to mid-sized businesses as a means of diversifying this employment base.

Discussion

On the heels of plant closings and downsizings, jobs and the economy are a concern throughout the community. Economic issues rank fourth in the list of most pressing issues for the random sample of the county, but Kalamazoo City residents afford them more importance, ranking them second. A successful entrepreneur, who lives in the area but has located his businesses throughout the Midwest said, "The area is beautiful, that's why I have not left. For economic opportunities, I'd be gone in a flash."

The reason most people gave in favor of growth was the perception that better jobs would be available (67% overall). A third of the survey respondents believed growth would help with the growing inequality in the region by offering opportunity to our poorest residents.