Published March 12th, 2008

Former mayor of Lansing talks at breakfast

By Dan Meisler
DAILY PRESS & ARGUS
Michigan has a plan to diversify the economy through investment and education, but state officials must show the political will to pay for it.

That was the message delivered by David Hollister, former state legislator and ex-director of the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth, at a speech to the Howell Area Chamber of Commerce's Good Morning Livingston breakfast on Tuesday.

Hollister, one of the architects of the 21st Century Jobs Fund, which is meant to spur economic development in emerging industries using money from the national tobacco settlement, outlined the challenges and opportunities of today's economy. He is now director of the nonprofit group Prima Civitas, whose goal is to promote economic development in mid-Michigan.

"These are exciting times. These are challenging times," he told the audience at Crystal Gardens in Genoa Township. "We have the strategy. The question is, do we have the political will to do it, to pay for it?"

He said spending cuts in other areas of the state budget or increases in revenue are necessary.

Hollister, who has been a county commissioner and mayor of Lansing, said the aging of America and new demands for "technological literacy" in the job marketplace are major factors in transforming the economy.

The present and future health-care needs of the 77 million baby boomers nearing retirement may be a challenge in terms of funding Social Security, but they're also an opportunity for employment, Hollister said.

"Health care also creates economic opportunity," he said. "Those are good jobs that can't be exported."

Making today's students "technologically literate" is also a big challenge, he said.

The new high school graduation standards implemented this year are a start, but also come a little late, Hollister said.

The state has recognized that students need more than just a high school education, he said, by changing the way the Merit Scholarship is distributed. It used to be given to students who do well in high school, but now it is awarded based on a student's enrollment in college.

"We're assuming everybody will need two years, minimum, past high school training to enter the economy," Hollister said.

Merry Sherman, a Genoa Township resident of 27 years who was in the audience, agreed with Hollister's emphasis on
education.

She said it was too bad that many students don't understand how important college is, and many parents don't, either, or can't afford it.

"I felt like he was really right on," Sherman said. "So many kids out there ... their parents don't have the money to send them to college."

Hollister also highlighted some economic success stories in mid-Michigan, including Livingston County-based Electrojet Inc., which makes fuel-injection systems for small engines; and an Albion company that landed a contract with NASA.