By Mark Scott
Buffalo, NY – The head of the Amherst Industrial Development Agency has just returned from a stay in the Gulf Coast region where he offered his insight and assistance to community leaders trying to rebuild in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Jim Allen describes it as an eye-opening experience.
As head of the Amherst IDA, Jim Allen is used to working on putting together financial incentive packages to help lure new business to the town. But in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, Allen says the challenges are much different.
"The people on the ground their in the Gulf area have lost everything. So, they're sitting there, listening to all the problems the federal government is having to deal with," Allen said. "They're simply saying, 'give us a hint of how long you thing this is going to take' from an objective stand point. They can't be very objective."
So, Allen said he spent much of his week-long visit in meetings, brainstorming ideas. He said leaders are using the post-Katrina period as an opportunity to re-invent their economies.
"They have tremendous economic development assets that they really never capitalized on, simple because they saw themselves more as a resort area," Allen said.
Allen said a priority for many companies in the Gulf Coast region is the status of their work force. So many people have left the region, with no intention of coming back, that some companies are now wondering how they will run their businesses. And even though he was visiting the scene of the nation's worst-ever natural disaster, Allen said he still heard from people making jokes about our weather.
"Here, you have an area that was completely devastated -- 280,000 homes gone -- and they were still cracking snow jokes about Buffalo," Allen said. "I found that quite amusing."
And even though he's back in Amherst, Allen says he continues to offer advice through e-mails and phone calls.