Cheyenne's logjam has to break

Capital City leaders have to do more -- much more -- if they hope to create a workforce big enough to diversify the local economy.

“It’s not all about jobs. You’ve got to have it be a place where people want to live.” -- Charley Ballard, a regional economist at Michigan State University

By D. Reed Eckhardt

There is mixed news for Wyoming, and Cheyenne in particular,  in a recent article from the New York Times, "The States That College Graduates Are Mostly Likely to Leave," that recently has been passed around Cheyenne on Facebook.

As the map at right shows, Wyoming is a break-even state when it comes to net migration -- its losses of college-educated people under age 40 is matched by its inflow. That is in contradiction to its Western neighbors (other than Colorado); they see much larger drains of youthful energy, creativity, and brain power.

The map seems to run against the argument, made even in this corner, that Wyoming is losing many of its young people to places like Fort Collins, Colorado, and beyond. That would be the good news side of this story, though I'm not necessarily convinced. There certainly are many parents here in the Capital City who tell a different tale. And, of course, there are those nagging reports that many of these young people work but don't live here.

Besides, the bad news from the map is that Wyoming is not moving ahead either. Without an influx of the "young college graduates," the Cowboy State cannot hope to truly diversify its economy. Witness a recent story in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, "Smucker's rejects Cheyenne for plant site largely because of smaller workforce." (http://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/smucker-s-rejects-cheyenne-for-plant-site-largely-because-of/article_69da53b0-ee95-11e6-9d62-8301aad64c53.html) In it, one learns that Smucker's chose Longmont, Colorado, over Cheyenne for a $340 million factory that will provide 500 jobs because, says economic development leader Randy Bruns, there is not a sufficient workforce here.

True, the problem is chick-and-egg. You need the jobs to draw the workforce, but you need the workforce to attract the jobs. But the quote from economist Charley Ballard above also must be factored into the equation. Wyoming, and Cheyenne in particular, must work harder at becoming "a place where people want to live." Cheyenne City Council member Richard Johnson made just that point in the WTE article:

"If Cheyenne had more amenities to offer, it would encourage more of our youth to stay here, therefore increasing our workforce. If we had more people, we would entice more companies like this to come."

Let's be frank: This city's leaders are not making aggressive enough moves in this area. In the same WTE article, Mayor Marian Orr can be heard chirping about "incremental growth" for the city when she should be committing to an all-out battle to move Cheyenne forward. 

Indeed, Orr's continued emphasis on streets over amenities -- as reflected in her choices for the sixth-penny sales tax ballot -- puts a brake on efforts to build a more progressive city. And her other actions, like fighting the Civic Center Commons, similarly are problematic. She could make her staff get 100 percent behind the project, like she did with the unwise parking lot for the Hynds Building. Instead, she is letting her city engineer and others get in the way of this essential piece of growing the city's West Edge.

The voters of Cheyenne have a role in this as well. Many of the projects that are coming before them on the May 2 sixth-penny sales tax ballot (absentee voting already is under way) can play a role in creating a place where young singles and families want to live. Expanding the Greater Cheyenne Greenway and growing the West Edge as well as important athletics facilities await the voters' approval. Here's hoping that happens.

The bottom line is that Cheyenne's residents still have a long way to go to recognize the importance of working harder to create a place for young people. Their election of Orr last November is proof of that. Her go-slow mentality will not well serve efforts to create a more progressive community.

None of this is new. It has been said many times before. But it needs to be said again and again until the logjam that represents old-time thinking here breaks. Cheyenne just being Cheyenne -- and demanding that potential newcomers accept things as they are -- is not going to get the job done. The map above is more than proof of that.

To read the entire New York Times story, go to https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/22/upshot/the-states-that-college-graduates-are-most-likely-to-leave.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0 

D. Reed Eckhardt is the former executive editor of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. He has lived in Cheyenne for more than 18 years.