'Well-oiled' Regional Push Needed to Grow Borderplex Region, New Report Says

The region’s economic development in the next five years hinges on improving the area’s overall quality and spurring innovation and entrepreneurship, according to a strategic plan released today by the Borderplex Alliance.
The 155-page report said those things must be done as “one well-oiled, united economic region” to succeed.
The report, illustrated with photos of the region, contains several recommendations dubbed as “big ideas,” including creating a Western theme park in El Paso and making the region the “entrepreneurial gateway to Latin America.”
It recommends creating a Native American attraction in Las Cruces and creating “Old Mexico” events in Juárez as quality of life initiatives.
It also recommends regionalizing El Paso’s airport and renaming it the El Paso/Las Cruces International Airport.
The report, “2015 Strategic Recommendations,” was done by Angelou Economics, an Austin economic development and site selection firm.
“If the region does not adopt and follow a new strategic plan for economic improvement, it risks falling behind and suffering economic stagnation, increasing poverty and crime, declining work skills, persistent low wages and economic irrelevance,” the report’s executive summary concludes. “Failing to act quickly and cohesively could cost the region its chance to become a competitive player in world markets.”
The report sets three main goals: regional collaboration spearheaded by the Borderplex Alliance; become known for quality in workers, lifestyle and other areas; and spur innovation and entrepreneurship by creating an ecosystem to support business development.
Rolando Pablos, Borderplex Alliance chief executive officer, said in a written statement that the strategic plan is a blueprint to move the region forward in the next five years.
“The power is in collaboration. All public and private elements in our region must come together and speak with one voice,” Pablos said.
The Borderplex Alliance is a private, regional economic development organization based in El Paso. The alliance paid more than $200,000 for the report, Pablos said.
Bob Cook, an El Paso economic development consultant and former president of the El Paso Regional Economic Development Corp., which in late 2012 merged into the Borderplex Alliance, said he agrees economic development has to be done regionally to be effective even though that is difficult to do.
“The concepts that are laid out in the report as I understand them are good focal areas,” said Cook, who no longer has ties to the Borderplex Alliance. “Some of these things have been talked about before, but now, apparently, is the right time to pursue some of them.”
Cook had not seen the report when interviewed by the El Paso Times on Tuesday evening. He made his observations based on a brief summary given to him over the phone by the Times.
Cook was pleased that the report stressed the need for creating more small businesses in the region.
“El Paso has a history of companies started here, but that don’t stay here,” Cook said. “Those companies tend to get more involved in the community” and help improve the quality of life, he said.
The report also summarizes assets and lists specific recruitment strategies for six target industries identified in a report done by another consultant early this year. The target industries are: defense and aerospace; life sciences; tourism; advanced manufacturing; business support services, which include call centers; and advanced logistics.
The Western theme park idea is one that’s been floated in El Paso a number of times over the years. Cook said he remembers a consultant’s report being done more than 10 years ago about a Western theme park, but the area at that time did not have the population and income levels to adequately support it, he said.
Angelos Angelou, head of the Austin firm that did the report, noted in a letter to the Borderplex Alliance and attached to the report that many of the findings are already in progress.
“We applaud your ongoing accomplishments,” he wrote. “Our hope is that you will use this report as a guide to continue building the blueprint that will allow the North American Borderplex Region to thrive.”
The Borderplex Alliance will now create a regional steering committee and task forces to review the report’s recommendations over the next three to four months and create an implementation plan.
It will work with “local, state, national, and international leaders to further define and roll out a regional action plan over time that is both actionable and implementable at all levels and in all areas of the borderplex region,” the alliance said.
It took Angelou Economics just over a year to complete the report. It received input via interviews and focus groups with 150 stakeholders from El Paso, Juárez, Santa Teresa and Las Cruces, and from online surveys completed by 865 business people and others in the region, the firm said.
By: Vic Kolenc (Las Cruces Sun-News)
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