Well, we'll do it.

Alright, we will call the work session to order, and uh counselor fort, maybe a few minutes late, but should be coming.

And uh we appreciate this economic development topic, and we have Evan Raleigh here uh in lieu of Marshall Adams David.

Yes, so good afternoon, Mayor, members of council.

So uh we have with us Cal Touchstone today with uh the director of Raleigh Economic Development at the Chamber of Commerce to give you a rundown on uh the activities that uh he and his team have been undertaking for us on our behalf uh to promote economic development uh throughout the city and give you a glimpse into their future uh work plans.

Uh so with that, I'll turn it over to Kyle Tushtone.

Thank you so much.

Uh, good afternoon, mayor, counsel.

Good to see you all.

I know that I stand between you and hopefully a win tonight by the hurricanes.

So um I will uh go through a presentation, give you an overview of some of the things that we've been working on, where we are today and kind of what what's ahead for us.

Um, and appreciate this opportunity to do so.

So Raleigh Economic Development, we exist to raise awareness that Raleigh is the premier locale for jobs, business, talent, and innovation committed to helping businesses thrive within Raleigh and offer support in the areas of recruitment retention and expansion to help them grow and prosper.

So the red acronym new.

It's it's been there since it started, and I honestly wondered when we were going through the whole branding exercise why we didn't go why we didn't go with the color red, but the marketing the marketing experts told me no.

Um has its advantages.

We work hand in hand on uh most, if not all projects, and um really enjoy that partnership.

Um, with me today also is Gabe is Gabriel El Hashash, who is economic development coordinator.

We are a team of two.

We are lean and mean, and um excited to work on behalf of the city of Raleigh.

So what I wanted to share here is kind of the breakdown of our budget.

So one hundred percent of Raleigh Economic Development's funding comes from you, the City of Raleigh.

So congratulations on the budget that you approved yesterday, and we greatly appreciate the support for Raleigh economic development in that budget.

Um, the Greater Raleigh Chamber does provide um in-kind services such as office space, technology, uh, administration, and finance uh personnel.

But one hundred percent of our funding does come from the city of Raleigh, and that breakdown, um, you know, we really wanted to show that this, we do spend our dollars on actual uh work.

So just under 40% is spent on marketing and public relations, and then uh right around 24% is on project development and management, with the other just under 40% being for employee expenses.

So what do we do?

You know, a lot of people, a lot of people I think know what economic development is, but economic development is really for us focused on building the relationships that help companies find their location to grow, to uh locate, but also working to help define quality of place and all of those initiatives that um really make this a wonderful place to live and for talent to come here and to stay here for companies to then take advantage of that and hire them and move here to hire our great talent.

So, you know, that's in the form of business recruitment, business retention and expansion, but we spend a lot of our time marketing, and when companies are making their decisions on where to go, they're either using someone internally, a commercial real estate broker, or something that's called a site selection consultant.

So we spend a lot of our time nurturing and building these relationships with site selection consultants.

The majority of the companies that have located here that we've worked with have worked with the site selection consultant.

Those site selection consultants kind of make it take the ease or take the hard work out of it for these companies and provide um comprehensive services of looking at thousands of data points to help them determine where the best location for them to be would be.

And the city of Raleigh continues to show up as a top market for many of these companies, and um so through this we get project activity, and this quarter we've had we are currently working 20 active economic development projects, and by 20 active economic development projects, that means that projects that we have been talking to, continue talking to within the last 60 days.

Um, and those 20 projects represent uh a potential of three billion dollars in capital investment, and could potentially hire 8,600 uh employees and create those jobs here.

Forty five percent of that is in manufacturing, which is uh quite an uptick for us.

We've mostly been seen as an office market, but we've had some uh industrial inventory come on the market, but also some industrial land that um is available.

Um but then headquarters still represents about 25% of our projects, five percent in technology, but 25% showing up in engineering services, aviation, and other type projects.

Just one quick question.

The 8,600.

I know this past year we just announced we had 13,000 jobs in Wake County.

So is this countywide?

And then how do you feel about the 8,600 versus last year's 13,000?

Right.

So these numbers that I'm showing you today are just projects that are looking at the city of Raleigh within Wake County, so they're part of Wake County's projected numbers as well, but then we drill down to where it's just the city of Raleigh.

You know, on some of these projects there it depends on ultimately the project.

Some do a nationwide search.

Some by the time that they get to us, they are they're down to four or five locations.

And so, you know, we really um are hopeful that when these companies come to us and can and start these conversations that we are you know on a shorter list.

Um, however, we do know that there are some on this list that have done nationwide searches and they've just done a blanket search.

Um but primarily these are projects that we are either hosting, planning to host, or have shortlisted us.

So a cumulative number, so over since October 1, which is our um the beginning of our fiscal year, uh we've had 47 projects representing 13,000 potential uh new jobs and 16 billion dollars in capital investment.

If you notice there are some large billion dollar potential investors out there, so most times this represents some large advanced manufacturing projects that have been focused on our area, and they are primarily in things like robotics or in autonomous vehicles, and I know that that has been an interest uh in the past by some of our council members, but um some of this looks at the assembly of autonomous vehicles.

So some of these do carry a pretty large uh investment amount.

So, looking at our economic impact since Raleigh Economic Development returned to the chamber in 2021, we've announced eight projects.

These projects didn't start announcing until 2023.

Our first announcement was early in December of 2023, that was in Divier, then it was followed by uh Utamar Piquet in January of 2024.

But out of these eight projects that we've announced, that represents 1,487 new jobs and 139.8 million in capital investment.

These are primarily office um projects that were lower investment, they're going into buildings that have already been built, they're doing upfit costs, furniture fixtures and equipment, so desks, computers, and then going to work.

So the investment numbers are lower than having to go build a building, and so what does this mean for your investment?

So the total budget for Raleigh Economic Development since 2021 has been just over 1.6 million.

So compared to the investment that we brought in with companies that have located here, that represents about 1.2%.

So that's a pretty uh strong return on investment for the city of Raleigh.

So these represent those announcements.

Utomar Piquet, as I mentioned back in uh January of 24, build ops was last summer.

Chromogenics is our newest, and uh Mayor Pro Tim Harrison was able to join us for that grand opening over at NC State, and Divi are a life science company that invested 68 million here in a facility in Northwest, in Northeast Raleigh, Jewelers Mutual, which opened at North Hills, JTI, which also opened at North Hills, Rallyant Corporation and uh headquarters, North Hills, and Weatherby also at North Hills.

There's a look at some of those grand openings and announcements and ribbon cuttings, and I really want to say thank you for participating, showing up for these events, and helping make these companies feel welcome in our community.

Um, a lot of these events were high energy, you could see the excitement of their workers to be here, to be in these great places to work, and to be here in Raleigh.

A lot of people moved to Raleigh for these jobs, and so it's just a testament to the work that we do and the work that you do in making sure that policies are set to continue our city on the trajectory that it's on, so existing industry support.

It is a lot easier to keep our existing companies here than to go and recruit companies to replace them.

A lot of the work that we do is behind the scenes that most times is never seen, you never hear about it, but it is working with our existing companies to help troubleshoot to help them with with challenges that they're facing, but also just to build relationships with them.

And out of this, so 39 uh retention expansion meetings this year, which I think is a pretty strong number for us, but Gabriel and I uh, you know, dividing that up, meeting with these companies.

Um, but then also this this shows how we're working with some of our existing developers because it is critical for us to work with the developers that are here to make sure that we have product when we're doing recruitment, or some of our existing companies are expanding.

Technical assistance, this is a pretty interesting one.

So it is working with our existing companies, so you can add that 21 to the 39.

Technical assistance is a little different.

This is where we are providing assistance to a company that they may not know where to go within the city of Raleigh, but they know as a business to call the Raleigh Chamber as a resource to business.

And so that may be something along the lines of I need help with getting a pothole filled, or I need help with going through the permitting process.

Or in one instance where we've been heavily engaged is the Red Hat Amphitheater Project and the Convention Center Expansion.

We have the great relationships with the rail companies, and we're able to work with Norfolk, Southern, and North Carolina Railroad to help expedite some of the contracts and some of the timelines to help keep that project on or actually ahead of schedule at this point.

So we worked really closely across the city through various departments.

Having those relationships is critical, and it's part of what we're here for.

It's to be that convener and collaborator and to know who to go to within the city of Raleigh.

A couple of those people, Daniel Stiegall over at City of Raleigh planning and or permitting.

He's he's kind of my go-to when I don't know.

Hey, help me with this problem.

And he always is able to pull in the right people for me to talk with.

So you know that is it's it's an added bonus for our existing companies to know that there's somebody there that can help navigate some areas that sometimes they don't know what to do.

So we're happy to do that.

And again, working with these existing companies is sometimes critical to keep them here because they have lots of options now as we're becoming more dense.

We see companies start to look at neighboring communities.

There's a newer building, you know, in the next county over.

But you know, what helps them stay here, and a lot of times that's workforce, making sure that we're connecting them with our workforce training partners, but also keeping them engaged in the community, and sometimes it's reaching out to one of you and saying, hey, I need I need you to connect with this company, and can I set up this meeting?

And thank you to those of you who have participated in those meetings when I've reached out in the past.

With that, if you have any companies that need the assistance of Raleigh Economic Development, we are always happy to help any of the companies within your districts or across the city and happy to participate in any of those meetings with you.

So marketing is a large part of what we do, as you saw it is the largest part of our budget.

Um we do see ourselves as being the kind of the loan marketer to new business for Raleigh.

Um, and we do this in a number of ways, and a lot of the ways that we do this is through partnerships.

Um as you know, our budget is not very large.

We're competing against communities that are extremely larger, as we've always known.

We've always punched above our weight class.

Um our largest competitors are New York, Dallas, Chicago, San Francisco, Austin, which in population and they're they're large.

So we um continue to win significant projects here, but it takes some creativity in how we're telling our story.

So, in one of those ways, um you have supported a contract for uh a national public relations campaign.

So we work with French West Vaughan, who's located here in downtown Raleigh on this campaign.

Um this last year, and there to the um to the left, is a list of some of the media outlets that have picked up stories on Raleigh where we've been quoted or uh we've gotten uh pitches uh picked up.

But then on the other side of the screen are all of the various marketing initiatives, whether it's digital ads, utilizing LinkedIn ads, but also in some of the publications geared towards business uh recruitment and expansion.

Uh, we've been very fortunate in a lot of those to receive some really strong rankings, and um we always try to do a print ad in those publications.

Unfortunately, those ads are sometimes pretty costly, so we will partner um either with Wake County Economic Development, or we just do fewer of those and rely more on some of the digital marketing.

Um our marketing efforts also include video.

So we started spending quite a bit on video because it it can tell the story in a very concise way with images and uh voiceovers, and so I have one video that I want you to see that really talks about the region because when we talk about Raleigh, we can't just talk about the city of Raleigh.

We have to talk about the region and how all of the growth across the region, and when I say region, I'm talking the Raleigh Carey MSA along with the Durham Chapel Hill MSA, which gets our population to about 2.3 million.

Our workforce numbers climb when we're talking regionally, and we all know that workers are driving from all over our region for jobs.

So it's critical for us to tell that regional story, but know that Raleigh is where we are really working to recruit companies.

So this video is the first of those kind of telling a little bit of the story, and then we'll follow it up with a video where we are bringing in.

It's a five question video that we're doing with recent CEOs or C-suite executives that have moved to the market.

So we've got one uh following this video that I'll show you.

Raleigh is the nation's best performing city on every front, starting with our strong economy and business forward mindset from major players in expanding franchises to niche brands and in-the-no startups.

Greater Raleigh equips companies with a highly skilled workforce.

NC State Duke and UNC anchor the historic research triangle region.

Three tier one universities with thousands of motivated graduates.

And unlike dense cities facing strained infrastructure, Greater Raleigh has room to grow and room to breathe.

We're not big on traditional city limits.

Instead, we live and work across two neighboring cities, Durham and Chapel Hill, along with the 12 municipalities of Wake County, 12 unique vibes, one interconnected community.

For ease of life, you can't overstate the power of proximity.

Hop on a highway or expressway to discover new neighborhoods within minutes.

There's nothing like a smooth commute.

Plus, you're always 30 minutes away from Raleigh Durham International, one of the nation's fastest growing large airports.

From downtown hotspots and late night watering holes to parks and gateways you'll explore for days, it's truly the best of all worlds.

Greater Raleigh notably offers the same opportunities as other major metros without the hassle or expense.

Our expanding skyline signals ongoing business growth.

And because you're never sardine on a subway or drumming your fingers at traffic, you're taking back your time and your life.

Greater Raleigh.

It's a smart move.

What was important to us in our people-centric culture is we found a place that people not only wanted to work but wanted to live.

A place that was friendly to new businesses, and a place where we could get connected to those in the community.

And then very important was the talent, and that comes down to the education system.

It's the wide expanse of opportunities for everybody.

Whether you're just coming out of high school or you're going back and getting a degree, I think you have a wealth of opportunities here.

It's a wide ecosystem, it's unique to this area.

Just how inviting and uh warm reception that we felt across the board.

I think what jumps out to me about Raleigh is the diversity.

We have so many opportunities here in the local market.

I would encourage uh anybody thinking about the area, go go out and see some of the companies that have moved here and talk to the people.

So, like I said, we try to capitalize on the companies that have located here, why they've made the decisions to be here, and this was the first video of this series that is coming out.

We just rolled this one out a couple of weeks ago.

Uh, that was Tammy Newcomb, who's the CEO of Rallyant Corporation.

They opened their offices at North Hills back in the spring, and they were supported by a business investment grant by you.

So thank you for the support of that company.

But like I said, we have to get creative in how we're telling this story, and it's always great to have that experience of someone who's who's been through the process and why they made the decision.

When we are working with companies that are looking to visit here or looking to relocate here, we always make sure that they meet with companies that are already located here that are new to the area, that have been long-term members of the business community, and it really helps in telling the story of of why it works and why companies are successful here.

So as we're looking at what's next.

Um, you know, we've always been known for tech companies that have been here, especially with Red Hat and Pendo and some of the unicorns that that were born and raised here, bandwidth being another.

Um, but with the recent life science announcements that have been occurring within our region, the large investments Fujifilm, umgen, genintech, Novartis, we've started to uh been hearing from some of our site selection consultants that well, you're a life science market, and you know that's true, but we're also a tech market.

So we're going through and revising our tech strategy and how we are utilizing tech of today and tomorrow, whether that's AI and quantum and those resources that we have here, either at NC State, Duke, local companies that are here, but how do we really capitalize on those resources and the talent that lives here to continue growing that sector while also you know working through the sectors that do exist here through our advanced industry strategy?

We worked on this throughout the last year, and this is really kind of very niche in looking at you know where those opportunities exist within advanced industries that we're probably one of the few places within the United States that it would make sense for a company to be.

And how do we go after that list of companies that really need the RD, the expertise that lives and breeds here?

So that's another strategy that we've been working through.

Our outreach and marketing, we um you know do quite a bit of outreach throughout the year.

You saw some of the marketing that we do, which is primarily digital.

A lot of times you're not gonna see that digital marketing because it is targeting other locations.

If you see it, then let me know because we need to reconfigure some of our um outreach with that digital marketing.

Um, but part of this, we're we're getting ready to launch a new um uh marketing campaign with research triangle regional partnership.

And through this campaign, we'll be and Wake County Economic Development.

Sorry, they'll be a part of this as well, but we're going to target specific cities, and we're going to target specific industry sectors that we you know are part of these strategies, and that's going to uh roll out next month and um be a pretty extensive campaign, also followed up with visits to those markets where we'll meet with existing companies and um representatives who are helping those companies make location decisions.

And then finally, our business investment grant.

This business investment grant has been extremely helpful to many, many companies.

Um we feel like we're at a time where it needs some revisions to make it more accessible to companies.

The thresholds are are fairly high.

They're geared more towards manufacturing.

We've seen more office over the last several years, and they sometimes didn't qualify.

And while we never want a company that is solely selecting a community based on incentives, it is a part of the process.

And so we always look at incentives as kind of being the icing on the cake that helps some of these companies make decisions on where to be.

And it is a competitive market.

It is competitive in across the United States.

Companies know that they have that option and communities, and there are communities that will go out and buy projects.

Thankfully, we don't have to do that.

We are Raleigh and we've been pretty successful, but we do believe that there are some opportunities that would make this more advantageous to business.

And so we'll be working through some revision recommendations and have that back to you in probably right after your break for review.

So with that, I will pause and see who has questions.

Questions start down.

Yeah, thanks, Kyle, for being with us.

Two questions.

First, on the data that you presented, I want to make sure I understood back in the beginning of your presentation with the pie charts, Q4.

Q4, what time period is that?

So Q4, that is from it's actually your Q4.

So our fiscal year, Q4.

From April to it will end at the end of this month, sorry.

So this is this is to date.

Okay.

And so those 20 projects received, are those just opportunities that might take place or those done deals?

They are not done deals.

They are opportunities.

They are projects that we have received that we are able to compete on, um, where we have submitted either an RFP or uh some property is being considered by those projects.

There are numerous other projects that that we receive that we are not able to compete on that need hundreds of acres of land for manufacturing and and we just don't have that within the city of Raleigh.

The largest tract of industrial zoned land that we have is around 150 acres.

Um so a lot of those large scale projects we we just don't even get an opportunity to compete.

In that next pie chart, 2025 to 26, that's our that's one year's time.

That is one year's time.

Okay.

All right, just making sure to date.

Alright, and I'm also curious.

I know I'd sent a message about this.

Um, I might have missed an update for the city manager on it, but are there any opportunities to integrate uh daycares into these uh, you know, uh new businesses that are coming to Raleigh or to think about how they can participate in programs like Tri-Share?

What are those conversations looking like?

Is that you know of interest to these businesses?

It is of interest.

We, you know, legally we are limited on what types of requirements we can place on a company, however, we do try and connect them with the various resources that exist here today to to help with those opportunities.

A lot of times some of these office projects um they're looking for where are the daycare centers within this area.

They're going to want to be within areas where they where their employees have choice.

Um that's not always the case, but it is something that um has become very prominent in our conversations with companies considering Raleigh.

Um, being in areas where there are daycares, where they're available, but there are those opportunities where we're having to connect them with those resources.

And try share, is that part of the conversation?

Do you know how many employers are opting into that in Raleigh or?

I don't I can get that number and follow up.

Okay, yeah, I'd be curious.

Thank you.

Happy to do that.

Counselor Silver.

Thank you for the presentation.

I want to frame this in a very positive way.

Um you had mentioned all the new companies moving, and you had referenced Midtown.

Uh I am sure when site selectors, potential companies come here and either choose a specific location or choose not to move to Raleigh.

Are you getting any feedback because it would be helpful to know?

We do know where we score high, you know, access to quality education, affordability, quality of life, all those things.

But just want to know what we as a city can work on to make it easier for companies to say yes for the entire city.

But I want to focus also on downtown.

Uh a lot that you mentioned, they're moving to the midtown location and not downtown.

So is there anything in a positive framework that you can share with us that we can do a better job at making this a desirable location to get those potential companies to get to a yes.

Sure.

Uh great question.

Thank you.

And so first I will talk about the areas that we get feedback.

Um, it's always transit.

Where are you with transit?

Um, bus rapid transit, we talk about bus rapid transit, we show the lines, we show the work, thankfully, thank you.

There's progress, you know, being made.

Um, and so that is one area.

Um, our greenway system, our our bike lanes, all of those things are great stories for us to show and tell.

And thankfully, you are being very proactive in those areas.

I have been told, you know, many times it's not necessarily about having light rail or some of those other forms of transportation, but more about how we move people around this region.

Compared to other places, we move people around the region pretty well.

Um, so there's that.

So that that is one area.

We are often questioned on affordable housing, and you know, we we compared to other major metros across the U.S., we still show up as being fairly affordable, but um, you know, we all know here that that it is a rising issue, and thankfully it is one of your main concerns and priorities.

Um, so it's always great for us to be able to answer that question and show the work that you as the city are are doing.

So that is greatly appreciated.

The one thing where we always get feedback, and it's hard for me to answer, um, is when we bring a company into downtown or through downtown, they look around and they say this is it.

And it's really the fact that, as you know, as I mentioned, we compete against such large communities that have very dense downtown areas.

We are we still have some density issues here.

Um, we show up really well.

It's a beautiful town.

They love coming here, but there is that question of well, where is everything?

So that video that we showed that talked about the region was kind of to answer some of those questions that we were receiving on the front end to be a little bit more proactive and to tell that we are more of a regional community rather than a hub and spoke community.

Um, but you know, here's what I will say about the midtown versus downtown.

The investments that have happened in downtown with the new Civic Tower, with the convention center, with Red Hat Amphitheater, with the Omni, with Bus Rapid Transit, all of those things have attention on downtown Raleigh at this point.

I was with the consultant.

Actually, the consultant who represented Utomar Piquet when they were making their decision, was with him last week, and we were talking about all of the things happening in downtown.

And when I mentioned the Omni, he said, Man, you really needed that.

He said, it just sets you apart and moves you to the next level.

And then when I told him about what was happening with the convention center in Red Hat, and he was like, Man, I I can't wait to come back and visit.

And I told him, Please bring a company when you visit.

So the the things that and I am I am very impatient, and I go and do comparative, you know, visits to other communities quite frequently.

Um, and the thing that I have to remind myself is that in population, we are 25 years behind the city of Nashville.

We are 50 years behind the city of Austin.

If our growth rates continue at what they are today, because the city of Austin has a million people, the city of Nashville has seven fifty.

So I have to remind myself that we are still growing.

Got two folks.

Um counselor Jones and then Councillor Lambert Melton.

Thank you so much.

In the top five, and businesses want to come here.

But we're also dead last in workers' rights.

We're also 52 in wage policies, worker protections.

So in your conversations when you're talking to businesses and bringing them here, how do you navigate that and how do we measure us going up on that list to justify that they're taking care of employees?

So you know, we typically I'll be honest, a lot of times those conversations really don't come up.

And however, it is something that we work towards as a community, especially as we're working through maybe it's through our business investment grant to make sure that there are growth opportunities for these employees and that there are opportunities for them to climb certain ladders.

And you know, I think that that in that ranking um it is, you know, it it is a state policy level uh discussion.

I there's only certain things that we can do as the economic development entity for the city of Raleigh because at the end of the day, I don't think we're gonna look at a business and say, no, don't come here.

Um I think that there is a a great opportunity here to learn from some of the other companies that are here in Raleigh because I fully believe that a lot of the companies that exist here today are treating their company their their employees really well.

I think that some of those companies where there are issues really aren't here.

How do you measure that?

We don't.

Second question that I have related to that is um when we look at a new job and it's bringing in, let's say, a hundred positions or whatnot, do we measure how many of those are brought in from other states versus who if we're using our pool of talent pool that's already in existence, is there any sort of discussion or ratio that you that you're aware of?

There's there is a discussion on you know how many would relocate, how many they want to hire here.

Um there's not necessarily a way that we can actually, you know, track and and measure that.

Um and it the main reason that the companies are coming here is because of the talent pool that exists.

Um if they're just going to be relocating companies, all of all of their employees from elsewhere, then you know, I don't know if that's necessarily the types of companies that we're looking to attract.

Um, but as far as some of the requirements uh for compliance, there that doesn't exist.

Okay, yeah, I I think I asked that just because I know we were at the chamber event last week and we are talking about bringing new jobs, and there was some discussion afterwards with others that said, well, if we're bringing in 13,000 new uh jobs, then we need 13,000 new units.

And then I went, but wouldn't we want at least the majority of those to be inside?

So they're not new units that need to be built.

So I just wanted to understand how we measure that.

So yeah, when those numbers are are mentioned, it's uh it's not bringing in 13,000 new jobs from elsewhere that is accounting for people that are here as well.

Awesome.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah, a couple things.

There was a line in that video you played that I thought was odd.

I was gonna let it go, but then you kind of brought it up.

So I just want to point out that if one of the issues that's keeping companies from locating here, there's a line in that video that says I wrote it down, quote, you're never a sardine on a subway.

Right.

And so I feel like if we know that transit is something that companies are looking for, it may be helpful to actually highlight some of these transit investments and initiatives, both in Raleigh, then obviously we take a regional approach, so regionally as well.

Right.

Um, you know, just because for me, I don't think highlighting all the great highways and how easy it is to get around in your car is necessarily the best way to sell our region.

So that's one point.

And then the second point that was of interest to me was you mentioned how well some folks will come downtown, very nice downtown, but they mentioned that, you know, where is everything?

Uh and that's an interesting sort of approach because we are very our skyline is very undersized for our city.

Um, and I think that's just uh a derivative of the type of businesses we have here.

Um I think you look at Charlotte, and their skyline is a bit oversized for their city, and that's because they have banks that build towers and things like that.

And so I do think it's important to remember from a strictly economic development standpoint that when we do have these rezoning cases that are downtown and people are concerned about height or density, that that we do need that height and density downtown for multitude of reasons for um to prevent sprawl, to prevent loss of tree canopy, to support transit that companies want, but also because there are major investments that could be coming here that are looking at do we look and feel like a big city?

We are a major city now that we've crossed 500,000 residents, and we need the infrastructure, including the built environment that reflects it.

So I think that's an important context remember as well.

But I would certainly um suggest that maybe removing the sardines and the subway line and adding some transit to the video could be helpful.

Thank you.

And if you don't mind, I I would like to respond to that.

I a lot of our projects are coming from larger cities.

And you know, we were trying to reflect the do have some room to breathe in an opening.

Exactly.

We've got some great parks and um but noted, I I understand what you're saying, and I appreciate that feedback.

Thank you.

Counselor uh Patton, and then we'll go with Counselor Ford.

Hello.

Um I have a handful.

Um so on the maybe this is a helpful pie chart.

There's like um uh like an acronym for health healthy economies as like an insurance is one of them, but I can't remember the rest.

Because my ultimate question is do we have do you think we have a healthy distribution of industry versus um are we heavily loaded on one that that risks us being in threat if if the world changes to that industry?

Having been a great question, thank you.

Having been in um locations where they were dependent on one industry, um, we are very blessed to have numerous strong industries here.

Um I um started 20 years ago in economic development in northeast Mississippi in a very furniture-dependent, furniture manufacturing dependent community, and all of those jobs went to China.

Every week I had another company closing and moving to China.

Um, and it was tough.

It was tough to see, it was tough to combat.

We ended up doing a lot of work around reskilling of those workers and ended up recruiting an automotive manufacturer.

Um here, thankfully, and thankfully a lot of those furniture workers were able to go into those jobs.

So workforce development has always been critical, you know, for me, and in the work that we do here, because of the our variety uh in wide expanse of industry sectors and our lack of dependence on one, um, let's look at the office market and in the pandemic when most people were working from home and no one was coming into the office, and no one was you know spending money and our our restaurants and such suffered, but our overall economy stayed pretty strong, and that was because of all of those life science manufacturers that came in to manufacture different vaccines and GLP one drugs, all of those things really help stabilize our economy.

And that, you know, we've long, we've long time had um advanced manufacturing here as well, but a lot of our professional services and bringing our people back into the office, we've been able to remain, you know, very strong.

But that is why we are constantly looking at strategies and building strategies to make sure that we are being proactive and and in looking at what's next for our community.

And definitely AI and quantum being two of those that we think are critical.

And it's it's another reason that as the Raleigh chamber, we do those inner city visits so that we go to those other large communities to learn, you know, what's worked, what hasn't, what should we, what should we implement, what should we mimic, what should we stay away from.

And a lot of those uh visits help us in making those determinations.

Well, it's helpful that you mentioned the inner city visit because that brings me to my second question.

Or fill in your favorite piece of public project, and and we say, Great, how'd you pay for it?

And usually some part of the answer says, Well, our bill, our favorite billionaire when havesy is with us, or our favorite headquartered business when halves is with us.

They're just um we see a lot of corporate philanthropy in some of these other cities, and I'm curious how the conversation is going in the business community here and how folks are thinking about that.

Um, you know, one of the reasons that corporate headquarters are so important to communities is the philanthropy, how they will give back to communities and invest in communities.

Um it's partly why we do economic development so that these companies come in and they start helping with with these issues.

Um I'll point to Jewelers Mutual Group as an example.

They're not a headquarters, but their innovation hub is here in Raleigh.

Um they opened uh last August, and um every time I turn around they they are sponsoring something else.

They're you know engaged within C State, they're sponsoring um various events, and I know that some of these other companies that are new to the area, they're trying to get up and running, and it's conversations that they're having of where to best support the community.

So, you know, our the the Raleigh Chamber CEO, Adrian Cole loves to talk about civic rent and how you know we need more people stepping up and and chipping in and doing their part.

And it's true.

Um we do have we are very fortunate to have numerous individuals and companies that do support our community, but we could always we could always be better and have more, and so it is a large driver in in especially the corporate headquarters piece because they tend to do more and they tend to stay in locations long term.

So, I just have one one more quick one and then I'll pass the mic.

Um on the business incentive grant, one comment.

Um, I have always had an interest in putting a salary floor on that.

I know we have a I know that the average salary of the recipient or of the business replying has to be AMI, but um we don't have a floor and average is averages are made out of a range.

So uh if you'll just take that as feedback, I would like to see that as part of the revision.

And then I am curious if you know how much we pay out in like in a maybe this year in um folks who have received the business incentive grant, shown that they've met the expectations, how much granting have we paid out?

Do you know?

I believe there's only one grant that has been paid out this year, and that was for Gilead, uh, which announced here in 2019, they met their uh requirements for hiring, they exceeded their um their investment amount by around, I think it was around in excess of nine million.

Um I can't remember the exact amount, but I can get that for you and get it to you, but just one.

So thank you.

Um that kind of leads into my question.

I know that um when folks come in, they give us these presentations and say they're gonna hire a hundred people at $75,000 or whatever it is.

Have y'all been like tracking the data for the last like say five-year period to see how many employees were actually hired at that that level and what that the actual average is over a certain time period?

Thank you for that question.

As part of their reporting uh for compliance with not only our grant, the county's grant or the state's grant, um, they have to provide that information um and verify it.

So we do track that.

Okay.

So maybe helpful to give us like an update over like a maybe a five-year time period, how many companies came and fulfill that requirement because we don't necessarily get the back end of that information.

Sure.

Happy to do that.

Right.

And um, you're talking about Adrian's term civic civic rent.

Yeah.

Um I know we've had some conversations, we had it with um the economic development um committee last year, talking about the possibility of having investments from certain um corporations for some of our HBCUs locally, and that conversation is kind of dwindled out.

And then I noticed in your um comments you referenced like the jewelry company partners with NC State.

So it may be time for us to revive that conversation about opportunities for at least one of our HBCUs here in Raleigh to see if there are companies that are interested in pursuing those opportunities.

Sure, happy to do that.

Council branch?

Yeah, definitely thank you for the information uh that you've shared.

And I know your focus is on bringing in big companies, working with big companies, headquarters and things of that nature.

Um Red Hat wasn't always a big company.

It started small.

So my question is, um, where are you all with the relationship of working with the um small business development, which is still within the city of Raleigh, and how to can are there some tools that you all are seeing that can be passed on or that we need to try to figure out how to get to help some of our small businesses so that they become the big businesses and you know they stay true to home.

Yeah.

Um thank you, uh Councilman Branch.

And I you know, sometimes I think that there is the misconception that we're the big whale hunters.

Um, you know, really we work with companies of all sizes, all shapes.

Um, you know, we have the resources that are provided by the city, the business investment grant, uh, to work with.

Outside of that, you know, we do partner with Mark Weldon and his his team, um, but also with other entities throughout the community to help support, whether it's the SBTDC, um Wake Tech Community College, the Capital Area Workforce Development Board.

Um, and so when we are working with these companies, we try to bring uh downtown Raleigh Alliance is another um, but we try to bring all of these entities to the table to solve issues and and create solutions.

Um so uh for example, there's one company that we recently supported.

Um they're doing a three million dollar expansion and hiring 10 people.

Um, and you know, they've been around for for 50 years, their their company has, and um, you know, sometimes that wouldn't show up on the radar for economic developers, but it's one where we rolled up our sleeves and and helped the company through some challenges that they were facing.

Um last week I had a call from someone looking to open a storefront in downtown Raleigh for a retail, and so we reached out to our partners with Downtown Raleigh Alliance to um help support there, but you know, I think that probably where we get the most requests from small business is they need startup capital.

And uh that's tricky.

Uh there aren't a lot of people providing, you know, startup capital for uh new businesses, and um so that that is one that is one area, but I would I would I don't I'm not really sure how the best route to get there would be.

Um, you know, there are acceler accelerator programs, there are programs to help small businesses with writing a business plan and doing elevator pitches and all of those things and the state uh economic development partnership of North Carolina.

They have a small business development team as well, so um everyone's kind of you know coming at this from various angles, but um a lot of times it unfortunately it comes down to startup capital and finding that.

Okay, but thank you because excuse me, because I think that information, that story is something that should also be told as part of what you all offer and do.

And then I think it also could help some of the bigger businesses, knowing that hey, you're here, but they also have these other companies that usually come along with them.

They're a lot smaller, and them knowing that, hey, those smaller companies can also receive uh help and assistance.

So um definitely you know, whatever we can do to help, you know.

I know you chamber got all the marketing money, so whatever the chamber can do to help tell that story, uh, we greatly appreciate it.

And Adrian knows we we love we love the work that they do.

Well, and thank you.

And I I'll touch on this as uh as the son of a small business owner.

My father owned the Ace Hardware store in Macomb, Mississippi, and I grew up there cleaning the bathrooms and sweeping the floors.

That's how I started.

And, you know, we were very dependent on large companies coming into the area to keep revenue coming in, to have you know people there with jobs spending money.

Um I grew up in a in a town that was heavy on textiles, and guess what?

That all left.

Um, and so there was one when I was 13 years old, they recruited their last company.

I'm 47.

So do the math.

That was the last time that they brought a new company into that town.

And my dad was fortunate enough to get the plumbing contracts, and that kept our business afloat for many years and kept six people with high school diplomas employed.

And so that you know, is the impact of what economic development can do for a small business.

So that's my personal story.

So thank you.

That is a compelling personal story.

Uh and congrats on your award that you got recently, uh, recognizing you for the for the work that you're doing.

I guess I just have an open-ended question.

I mean, obviously, there's many things going right here.

As you look at the ecosystem, where do you see the biggest opportunity to improve it?

And I guess examples coming to mind would be, you know, is there a closer relationship with NC State and the Tier 1 universities, or is it or or Wake Tech or just we don't have again all this philanthrop, you know, philanthropic that we've talked about.

We don't have as many conveners here.

Uh, you know, I think the banks and other areas play a stronger role than some of the banks that we have.

Um anyway, just anything that is top of mind for you.

Yeah, I know when we visited other locations we've seen a lot of foundations.

And you know, we have been this agricultural state, state capital, we didn't have a lot of wealth here that, you know, long-term wealth that has that has sustained and maintained.

And so a lot of what we have are, you know, newer tech companies.

And um, you know, I think some of our our long-term companies that have been here and are headquartered here are investing in our community.

Martin Marietta being one of those.

Um, you know, they're they're naming rights at the performing arts center.

Um, you know, but we also have Red Hat.

So we do have tech that that is investing here.

Um, I think that, you know, probably telling our story in a bigger and bolder way.

Um, and coincides with tonight.

You know, I've I've spent the day talking to the media about the impact of the Carolina hurricanes and how they continue to put us on the map.

And you know, that's that's pretty good publicity because every time that they're playing here in Raleigh, it's saying the Carolina hurricanes in Raleigh, North Carolina.

I've had three people tell me recently that one was.

Oh, oh I thought they played in Charlotte.

I had another tell me, a developer who's investing in this market, he said, I but he lives in DC, and he said, I became a Carolina Hurricanes fan, and I've watched more hockey in the last month.

And you know, those types of stories where you know people are feeling part of this community.

I've been in areas where bigger isn't always better because they have some pretty sharp elbows and they're not working together.

Here we do have this great sense of community and this regionalism, and we do work across those lines of working with Durham and Chapel Hill and our neighbors in Carey and Holly Springs, um, to the south in Garner and Johnston County.

Um, Nash County, I, you know, all of these communities, we're all working really closely together to move the needle and to continue creating these great opportunities.

And I think that you know, while we are focused on the city of Raleigh as the you know the predominant player here, these communities do look to us.

And so um being bold, telling the story in a in a strong way, and representing our city and and doing the bold things, you know, taking taking some risks and being bold.

I think is is critical.

And we see that in what's happening in downtown with all of the the Red Hat Amphitheater and the convention center and the Omni and the Civic Tower, and those things excite people.

And so I think that we'll continue to see some interest in investment here in downtown because I fully do believe that, and I'm sorry I left out Dix Park, and it is, I believe, our greatest asset at this point.

Um, but having that public investment is only going to drive private investment.

Um, NC State, phenomenal resource to have here.

I think that it drives a lot of what happens here.

We meet with them monthly and are on the phone with them almost weekly discussing projects and how they partner with us in um RD, but also in that talent pipeline supplying these companies.

Thanks.

Thanks for the presentation and all that you're doing.

All right, thank you.

I appreciate it.

And the other thank you for all that you do.

Okay.

I believe that concludes our business.

Uh so we will reconvene tonight at 7 PM for the public hearing.

I'm the transit planning manager for Raleigh's Bus Rapid Transit program, also known as BRT.

We are overseeing a large suite of capital infrastructure projects that will improve the rider experience through some of Raleigh's highest ridership routes.

What does that really mean?

That means higher frequency bus service, elevated amenities, and safe pedestrian infrastructure to improve on that first last mile experience.

One area I'm excited for is safe pedestrian improvements at every bus stop.

We're gonna be able to deliver that as a part of the BRT program.

I love working for the city of Rale