The Mayor Closes the Sportsplex Pool

At last night's City Council meeting, the Mayor lead the charge to close the Sportsplex Pool two months after the opening of the Y pool.

I want to be clear that I am a big supporter of the Y's expansion plans in downtown Brandon.

However, I am appalled by the performance of the Mayor Monday night to foist this decision on an unsuspecting Council and community. This was a pre-emptive strike on a swimming community who already feels that they have been abandoned by the Mayor and the majority of City Council.

There is absolutely no comfort within the swimming community that there will be enough water to meet their needs with the reduction in the number of 25' swimming lanes. They feel that there was minimal consultation with them about the original decision almost two years ago. They feel that there was inadequate efforts made to address the financial situation of the Sportsplex pool. Rather than reaching out and building bridges with Brandon swimmers, the Mayor has once again demonstrated that autocracy is alive and well at City Hall.

The Mayor's decision that the Sportsplex pool will be closed two months after the opening of the Y pool is unseemly in its haste.

The Mayor's assertion that support for the Sportsplex pool threatens the success of the Y's expansion is fear-mongering at its worst.

The Mayor's zeal to ram home the pool closure amendment also subverted legitimate debate about public access, fees, the City's $250,000 a year funding for the next 20 years, and other clauses within the MOU that deserved a public airing.

The Mayor's action's Monday night begs a number of questions:
- If the closure of the Sportsplex pool was so critical to the Y's business plan, why was it not included in the Memorandum of Understanding brought forward at Monday's City Council meeting?
- Why did the Board of the Y not insist on this clause; and if they didn't ask for it, why did the Mayor put it in?
- Why did the Mayor apply such pressure to Council to amend the previously approved MOU at the last moment at 10:30 on a Monday evening?


The Mayor talked long and loud about ensuring the financial viability of the Y, but if anything jeopardizes the success of the Y's expansion plans, it is his actions Monday night. The success of the aquatic component of the Y project depends upon the good will of the current Sportsplex swimmers to transfer their membership and loyalty from the City owned pool to the private membership-based Y pool. Monday's actions are not a good strategy to achieve this objective, and I would urge the Y Board to consider the longer term relationship they need to have with Brandon swimmers, the damage the Mayor's actions could cause, and reconsider this amendment to their MOU.

The unseemly fashion that this motion was sprung upon Council- without consultation with the swimming community, or even it seems the Y itself, is plain wrong.

The Mayor talks about risk to the City if the Sportsplex pool remains open beyond two months after the opening of the new Y facility; but if future Councils reverse this decision, then would not the Y have a case to make against the City that they broke the MOU, and won't we, the taxpayer be forced to pay more to make up any shortfall as we would not have honoured the agreement? This is a costly and foolish mistake and the taxpayers of this city will once again be left holding the bag.

This decision is fundamentally undemocratic, and reflects the ongoing issues many Brandon residents have with the lack of consultation and communication the Mayor adopts on major policy decisions.

The days of the Mayor ramming through important policy without public input should be long over,but apparently they are not. I would suggest that users of the Sportsplex or those tired of this style of governance should make their unhappiness known through the media, to their City Councilors, and to the Mayor's office.

I look forward to debating this decision with the Mayor during the election.

An Election Issue? The Sale of the former Convergys Building on Sixth Street

The tenders closes today (Aug 3) on the former Convergys Building. Some food for thought when evaluating whether we got good value for the sale.

About 25 years ago, Monty Nathanson bought it from Co-op and sold it to the City for over a million dollars (I heard $1.4, but that's just a rumour and that was serious coin back in the day!). They then put a lot of dough into renovating it for an Arts Library complex. Eventually, AGSWM and Library moved across the street to new digs. The City purchased more land and closed Seventh Street to create a parcel of property for a public safety building. That didn't happen, but they did wind up renting it out to Convergys. There is some speculation that the lease hold improvements that Convergys put in gave them a substantial tax/rent holiday. Could be true... What we know for sure is that it has sat empty for over two years when Convergys left town- with no taxes being paid.

So now the tenders are closed and we'll find out to what higher and better purpose the building will be used for. Perhaps seniors housing? perhaps a police services building (gotta' love all the wiring and technology upgrades that Convergys added)? perhaps an educational centre for the College, Neelin, Westman Immigrant Services, with room to spare for a daycare and museum/ archives!

These are all interesting ideas with public value. If the City and Mayor decides that there is more value in cash with a tidy commercial sale, does it recover the opportunity costs of lost taxes, as well as the initial purchase price and public investment in leasehold improvements?

(PA) Prosperity Agenda- A Gastronomic Cluster

In previous blogs, we looked at how the clustering approach could benefit Brandon, and strengthen the economic base. We also explored some of the practical assistance that City Hall could provide if a clustering approach is adopted. Now let's have a bit of fun and look at what might be possible if Brandon wanted to promote the food and hospitality sector- a Gastronomic Cluster!

Brandon has huge potential for culinary tourism. We have valuable assets right under our (ahem) noses. We have restaurants, grocery stores, farmers markets, a culinary school- in inputs, the outputs, and the trained people to support and grow it. You can also add in the hoteliers and food processors into the cluster, and look at the data that shows most of our tourism business is from repeat visits by visitors who live in Western Manitoba and Eastern Saskatchewan.

So we have the products and we know who we're marketing it to, but to really maximize it, we need a few missing pieces....

• Showcase opportunities: wine festivals, beer festivals, Taste of the Prairies- iconic events that showcase Brandon as a culinary tourism destination. Taste the County is a destination marketing website for Prince Edward county in Ontario that gives you an idea about what Brandon could be doing in this area.
• Develop unique products that showcase our strengths: while this could be any food or beverage product, one in particular springs to mind. Assiniboine Community College has long mused about creating a brewmaster program. This would be relatively unique in Canada, making Brandon a centre of excellence for all the craft breweries in North America. Brandon is surrounded by the natural product (barley and other grains), and a locally brewed beer would definitely be both a tourist attraction as well as generate considerable "local" interest. and it builds on our strengths in agriculture, culinary arts, and education. And if beer isn't your passion, we also have a similar opportunity with artisan cheeses (think Bothwell and what Quebec has done with marketing their cheese producers).
• A robust investment strategy: it's not just about marketing, in fact marketing's role is to create the interest and buzz for the investment strategy. Because a gastronomic cluster is about economic development opportunities, not just great places to eat and drink. check out the investment site for the Ontario cheese producers or the companion site to the Prince Edward county destination site that has specific investment information for businesses looking to be part of this exciting growth area or people who would be attracted to relocating to this part of the country.

To recap- Brandon has many of the (ahem again) raw ingredients for a vibrant gastronomic cluster. We just need to put them together so that they have synergy and energy. and then build on what we have with some showcase events and festivals. And best of all, the excitement about culinary tourism or gastronomy- can be easily spread via (ahem) word of mouth, the most effective type of marketing.

(PA) Prosperity Agenda- Clusters and City Hall

Once clusters have been identified, mapped and named, what can Brandon's City Hall do to advance the growth and sustainability of our economic clusters?

Establish a solid foundation: supporting the specific frame of every cluster in the City are various attributes and characteristics. These include:

• Brandon and Westman's educational assets such as Brandon University, Assiniboine Community College, the Fire College, and the K-12 school divisions;
  
• the physical infrastructures of the City- roads, water and sewer, IT connectivity;
• Brandon's attractiveness to creative talent- Richard Florida's research into the economic importance of the creative class and the roles that aspects such as culture, heritage, and diversity can play in attracting and retaining these people are just coming to the forefront of economic development practices;
• Aligning the efforts of our educational system, the workforce, and our economic institutions- Putting these key players around the table creates a solid partnership base and opens further opportunities.

Build relationships: Successful cluster strategy is built on inter-firm collaboration and the tacit knowledge that resides in people and processes. Cluster leadership councils and associations help facilitate the dissemination of this knowledge as well as provide an effective lobbying and public advocacy voice.

Deepen skills and talent: Educational facilities play a lead role in ensuring that clusters have the workforce that they need to be successful. City Hall can be a link between industry and education, and this role will be explored further in the One Smart City postings in this blog.

Align innovation investments: Investments in research and development, centres of excellence, and business innovation are critical components to economic growth and cluster-strategy development. For a city its size, Brandon's economic base has access to unique R&D capabilities within their College and University. Currently, the limited collaboration in healthcare, agriculture, and environmental research only scratches the surface of the potential opportunities of private sector partnership with our educational institutions.

Accelerate entrepreneurship: Talent and research are necessary, but it takes entrepreneurship to translate good ideas into successful products and services. Brandon's City Hall and the Mayor can support entrepreneurship by supporting entrepreneurial networks, the Chamber of Commerce, creating cluster-focused incubators, organizing small-business centres around cluster expertise, and encouraging entrepreneurship education in highschools, the College and the University. Brandon ranked 31 of 36 Canadian cities in the Canadian Federation of Independent Business listing.

Open global opportunities: Successful clusters extend their networks to distant markets, vendors, and institutions. City Hall can help support this growth by supporting participation in international conferences, trade shows, and study tours.


Clusters are not silver bullets, but rather one arrow in a quiver of opportunities for economic development. Properly designed and applied, they offer a promising way to promote innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic growth and can play a key role in establishing Brandon's Prosperity Agenda.


The Prosperity Agenda is a series of postings exploring economic development opportunities for the City of Brandon. City Hall needs to provide leadership to provide a progressive economic strategy for our community, to encourage a new era of income growth, as well as promote a broad-based prosperity that produces the widest possible impact. I'd love to hear from you and can be reached at shariformayor@gmail.com.

(PA) Prosperity Agenda- Clusters to Drive Economic Development

How can Brandon go about systematically and strategically building it's economic base?

One approach that has been very successful in other cities and regions is a concept called "clustering". Clusters help to define key competitive advantages through indepth analysis of related industries, suppliers, services, and foundations such as workforce training, and regulatory environment. Portage la Prairie has made a committment to cluster analysis and has already used it to identify and promote industries in hitherto under-appreciated areas... to their economic advantage as a community. And if Portage can do it, surely Brandon can use this type of information and analysis to strengthen our own economic base.

So what is a cluster? Clusters are systems, not aggregation of firms. They may be connected by functional relationships (suppliers, distributors), or by competition for similar markets (cars, trains, buses, and planes could be part of a transportation cluster). They are defined by relationships, not memberships. They are often overlapping and interdependent. And most importantly for econmic planning in Brandon, they can only flourish in an area that offers the needed human, intellectual, financial, and social capital which includes supportive public policies and programs.

It might be helpful to think of an example to help define the concept. An alternative energy cluster could contain companies that sold products, companies that built products, R&D inputs, workforce training providers, the regulatory environment, marketing and public relations support, and government programs. Cluster analysis would show strengths, weaknesses, opportunities for the cluster (not necessarily individual pieces of the cluster). The strength of the cluster would attract investment and growth.

A real world example is in Minneapolis, which is also known as "Medical Alley", where over 200 companies are clustered around medical technology, pharmaceutical, bio tech, and health care products. Minnesapolis has all the ingredients of a successful medical device cluster - industry leaders, young growing companies, entrepreneurs, education and training focused in this area. There are venture capitalists that know the industry, established medical centres that are early adopters of the technology, a strong professional association. This cluster employs only 1% of Minnesotans, but its jobs are high wage.

What would be the critical economic clusters in Brandon? In Westman? An aggressive economic development strategy would need to know this information. An upcoming blog posting will look at what City Hall could do with this information to benefit our City's economic clusters.

The Prosperity Agenda is a series of postings dealing with economic development in Brandon. City Hall needs to provide leadership to provide a progressive economic strategy for our community, to encourage a new era of income growth, as well as promote a broad-based prosperity that produces the widest possible impact. I'd love to hear from you and can be reached at shariformayor@gmail.com.

(PA) Prosperity Agenda- Assets and Opportunities Scorecard

Good business decisions and good policy decisions are data driven. Citizens in Brandon need a series of quantitative benchmarks that can track economic development and community well being. The Corporation for Enterprise Development (CfED) in the US has developed a national benchmarking system that attempts to evaluate business climate and capacity economic opportunity at the State level.

Brandon would benefit from this type of approach. The insights garnered from the date would help policymakers, the business community, practitioners, researchers, and external users such as business location recruiters and government funders build a stronger foundation for the future. Of course, we would need to modify the kind of data collected to meet our own needs, but scorecards like CfED's can provide a solid framework to build upon. Data could be gathered, analyzed, and disseminated on an annual basis.

Looking well beyond traditional GDP measures, the CfED scorecard looks at much broader indicators such as per capita income, job creation, business expansion, small-business start-ups, education, research, and infrastructure. It collects data on sixty-seven specific measures and rolls it up into three broad themes:

• Performance- including economic, quality of life, and environmental data;
• Business vitality- including business start-ups and closures, and industrial diversity;
• Development capacity- ranging from educational measures to infrastructure quality and investment.

This type of perspective emphasizes investment in infrastructure, education and training, attention to the needs of existing businesses in Brandon, support of new business formation, and innovation through increased access to capital, and improved technology transfer.

The Prosperity Agenda is a series of postings dealing with economic development in Brandon. I'd love to hear from you: shariformayor@gmail.com.

Prosperity Agenda- Brandon 2.0

What does all this talk of New Economies and Creativity have to do with the 2010 civic election in Brandon? It is about a stance, a way of thinking. The mayor is the City's civic leader. Does this person embrace change? Look for opportunities? Have a curious mind? Encourage innovation vs the way we've always done it? Because these are the characteristics that will drive a successful economy or business in the 21st century, and they are also the characteristics that will drive a successful city.

I believe that because of the new technologies and the acceleration of change, knowledge and creativity will be centre of success in the future. Concentrations of skilled people, rather than raw materials, are the engines of growth. Brandon is well positioned to maximize these new opportunities because of our university, community college, and the regional health authority. Access to well-educated pools of creative people (entrepreneurs, innovators, researchers, artisans, designers) is what counts.

Human capital, centres of innovation, research institutions are key assets in Brandon's future. Fostering connections between them and the business community is critical. And the mayor can play a key role in putting the right people around the table.

Brandon will also benefit from this move to the New Economy because of the restrictions of location- access to raw materials, cheap labour, and transportation which was critical in the old economy, is decreasing. People often bemoan our lack of air service. Rather than letting that be a barrier to economic growth, what about looking for economic opportunities where airports are redundant? The internet highway is key to our future, and Brandon's connectivity is outstanding.

One of our challenges in the city will be to build on our culture as a learning community. I'll be presenting ideas on this in other blog postings called One Smart City. We need to create opportunities to have more people connected online, engaged intellectually, and contributing. Brandon needs to be known for our brains, not our brawn.

Our cities must be livable to attract the creative and skilled people that fuel the economy of Brandon's future. Studies show that quality of life and place are more important to attracting technology firms for example, than traditional factors such as land costs and taxes. cultural life, diversity, environmental quality, and digital infrastructure are the magnets for economic growth in Brandon. We are a lovely, safe, clean, beautiful city. Pity the people in large urban centres, stuck in long commutes, anxious about lack of family time, desperate for a bit of green grass and gardens. Brandon is the ideal community to recruit these people to. And the computer on their desk can connect them back to that office tower where they used to work.

Brandon could be a natural location for pools of creative, knowledge-based jobs- if the city can attract and hold them. Old economy negatives can become new economy assets. Recognizing the opportunities, responsiveness, and flexibility are needed to attract these people, these jobs, and capitalize on Brandon's assets.

The Prosperity Agenda is a series of postings dealing with economic development in Brandon. City Hall needs to develop a strategy to capitalize on these new opportunities to encourage higher income growth and increased prosperity for Brandon. I'd love to hear from you. Email me at shariformayor@gmail.com with your ideas.