Local forum will send ideas on economic growth to D.C.

YAKIMA, Wash. -- As President Obama tries to reverse the country's dismal employment picture, local business and agricultural leaders will meet in Yakima tonight to send their own ideas for job creation to Washington, D.C.

The event at Perry Tehnical Institute is one in a series of forums around the nation intended to let the Obama administation hear directly from rural areas on ways to create jobs and improve the economy.

Obama acknowledged in his State of the Union speech Wednesday night that the anxiety over job losses is particularly acute in areas outside big cities. "Small towns and rural communities have been hit especially hard," he said.

He called for a jobs bill and other measures to help small businesses grow and make up for the 7 million jobs lost over the last two years. Dave McFadden, a veteran economic development executive with Yakima County's New Vision, said he's ready with a succinct three-point message: improve access to financing, invest in workforce training and spend money on infrastructure.

"If you ask me one place the feds can make a difference, it's access to capital. Things are incredibly tight," McFadden said.

What's more, he added, the market still can't decide on the basic worth of buildings and other business assets, which makes it difficult to start the economic engine.

He illustrated his point with an anecdote: A local business got a $1 million bid from a contractor for a new building. But an appraiser said the building would only be worth $800,000. As a result, the business can't get a loan.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is holding the "listening sessions" around the country and is compiling a report on job creation in rural areas. The forums are considered the rural version of Obama's jobs summit at the White House in December.

Tonight's forum will return Sunnyside native Mario Villanueva to Yakima from Olympia, where he heads federal USDA's Office of Rural Development.A two-hour forum held Tuesday night in Longview, Wash., drew about 50 people who talked about the need for regulatory reform, the potential for biofuels as a new industry and the need for more creative financing for small business expansion.

"A lot of people had a lot of interest in creating jobs," said Chris Bieker, outreach coordinator with USDA's Farm Service Agency in Spokane.

Ted Sprague, president the Cowlitz Economic Development Council, said the forum was worthwhile and that he felt like federal officials were listening.

"They were audio and videotaping it," Sprague said. "They were actively engaged. I was very impressed with the evening and I think it will do some good in the long run."

Sprague recommended the forum participants present concrete sugges-
tions.

"If folks have creative ideas about things the federal government can do to help in jobs creation they should focus on that. Even if it means telling the federal government to get out of the way," he said.

A representative of U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Pasco, will be at the forum. But Charlie Keller, Hastings' spokesman, is skeptical that much will come of it.

"It's awfully hard to take seriously the needs of Central Washington when your administration is pushing a job-killing national energy tax that will harm agriculture interests," Keller said.

Hastings is co-chairman of the Rural America Solutions Group, created last spring by House Republican Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio.

The group's mission is to understand "the needs of our farmers, ranchers and rural constituents."

* Leah Beth Ward can be reached at 509-577-7626 or lward@yakimaherald.com.

Jobs forum
? What: Forum on rural jobs and economic growth
? Where: Perry Tehnical Institute, 2011 W. Washington Ave.
? When: Tonight, 6:30-9
? Host: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Rural Development and Farm Service Agency
? For more information: www.rurdev.usda.gov/wa/job_forums.htm.