Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
P. O. Box 3711
204 Broad Street
Martinsville, Virginia 24115
276-638-8801
Toll Free: 800-234-6575
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Bill Martin (second from right), president of Blue Ridge Aquaculture Inc., leads a tour of plant facilities for (from left) Del. Danny Marshall, Bob McDonnell and McDonnell’s wife, Maureen McDonnell. The tour came after McDonnell unveiled his plans for economic development in rural areas Monday at the fisheries. (Bulletin photo by Mike Wray) |
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
By DEBBIE HALL - Bulletin Staff Writer
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell rolled out his economic vision for rural areas of Virginia in Martinsville on Monday.
His plan calls for having a deputy secretary of commerce and trade focus solely on economic development efforts in rural areas, as well as monthly visits to distressed rural areas by the governor or lieutenant governor.
“State government is not going to sit in Richmond and enact policies,” McDonnell said, adding that if both he and Bill Bolling, Republican lieutenant governor incumbent candidate, are elected in November, one of them would visit an economically depressed and/or rural area each month.
“You can count on me or Bill Bolling to be here every 30 days,” McDonnell said as he unveiled his plan at Blue Ridge Aquaculture Inc. in the Martinsville Industrial Park south of the city.
Titled “Economic Vision for Rural Virginia: Good Jobs Everywhere,” McDonnell’s plan is a six-page document that outlines steps to take toward creating jobs and opportunities.
The document calls for having one of the current deputy secretaries of commerce and trade concentrate on economic development in rural areas. That person would “get up everyday and say, ‘What can we do to create jobs’” in rural areas, McDonnell said.
He also wants to develop a Governor’s Rural Virginia Taskforce to ensure cooperation among agencies and fully use the Center for Rural Virginia, an entity created by the Virginia General Assembly.
The center works with local efforts and as a partner to the USDA-recognized Council for Rural Virginia to provide objective, nonpartisan data to government and businesses.
McDonnell’s plan also calls for providing a $1,000 tax credit per job to businesses that create 50 new jobs or 25 new jobs in economically depressed areas; promoting farm preservation; creating new academic opportunities in K-12 grade and higher education to train a work force and expand existing programs to every rural area of Virginia; making Southwest and Southside “the nation’s hub for traditional and alternative energy research and development”; and expanding the Governor’s Opportunity Fund, from $20 million to $40 million every two years, and broaden rules of the fund to allow more companies to qualify, according to McDonnell.
His plan not only focuses on small businesses but also includes things such as establishing a HUBZone Empowerment Contracting program “to spur job growth and economic development” by creating opportunities for more state contracts to be awarded to distressed regions, McDonnell said.
When implemented, the contracting program calls for 15 percent of state government contracts to be awarded to businesses in HUBZones, he said.
Those business would have to compete in terms of pricing and other areas, “but we want to make sure a reasonable percentage of contracts” are awarded to rural regions, McDonnell said.
With 97 percent of all businesses in Virginia considered small businesses, which account for 75 percent of new job creation, McDonnell said he would streamline services and push for changes such as the state approving routine business applications within 48 hours; creating a more user friendly “First and Only Stop” Web site that would streamline services, information and help through the Virginia Business One Stop Web site; updating and combining the small business guides into one user-friendly document titled “How to Start or Expand a Business”; and other steps.
McDonnell did not say how he would fund parts of his plan.
After his comments, McDonnell toured Blue Ridge Aquaculture with its president, Bill Martin. He praised the operation as a good example of an entrepreneurial business, which should be encouraged in the state.
Republican Dels. Danny Marshall of Danville and Don Merricks of Pittsylvania County also attended the Monday event in Ridgeway as did Ed Creed, who is challenging Del. Ward Armstrong, D-Collinsville, for the 10th District House seat. |
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