John PotterChannel 2 News
At the Grand Sierra Resort Thursday, 730 people filled every chair available at "Directions 2012." Each year, this event serves as an early indicator of just where we're headed.
Leaders in business, politics and education all come together once a year to hear what some very big names have to say about the "direction" our area will be going in this year. The word we heard there was "promising."
That was the message we heard from Steve Hill, the director of the Governor's Office of Economic Development. He told us, "We've seen the bottom, and things are starting to improve."
The Chamber puts on this event, promoting Reno as a great place to do business, so it's a positive spin. But then we met Tom Clark from Denver. He hasn't visited Reno since 1973. But this economic development director from Colorado was struck at how Reno today, is exactly what Denver used to be. "It's so appropriate it's Groundhog Day. I felt like I just walked into Denver, 25 years ago."
He described downtown Denver as a "desert" in the 1980's. Now it's full of activity, complete with a renovated train station, late night entertainment, old buildings turned into condo lofts and major league sports. This outsider says Reno should do the same thing he did to help turn Denver around. "Ultimately Reno's going to have to diversify its economy much greater than it is now."
He said too much of Denver's economy was based on oil and gas, and says Reno is too centered on gaming. What helped diversify Denver were "transitional jobs," jobs that are focused on hot sectors, even if they're low pay. "They lead you into something greater. We started out with call centers and ended up being the center of information technologies."
But even before that happens, Steve Hill, the Governor's Economic Development Director, says 2012 is the year that starts the comeback. "I think 2012 offers some hope, and I think we're headed in the right direction." Asked what evidence he sees of that, with home prices still dropping and Reno-Sparks unemployment up in December, he told us, "The employment situation will be better. We think the community has put behind it some of the issues that were causing problems and we think the direction's up from here."
A lot of positive thinking. Which, according to Denver's Tom Clark, really does work… with a little help. "Private sector has to bring the checkbook. That is the reality."
Political expert Karl Rove was a featured speaker at Directions 2012, but he would not allow any video or audio recordings of his presentation and was not available for an interview.
