Comments on: || The Closing of the Florida Frontier? http://thepolity.net/wordpress/2009/08/30/the-closing-of-the-florida-frontier/ Toward more sustainable ways of connecting citizens and government Tue, 04 May 2010 12:37:53 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Matt Solomon http://thepolity.net/wordpress/2009/08/30/the-closing-of-the-florida-frontier/comment-page-1/#comment-44 Matt Solomon Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:49:58 +0000 http://thepolity.net/wordpress/?p=38#comment-44 Economic growth in Volusia county is a slim prospect, outside of the major moneymakers: medicine, Nascar, and the 3 or so private universities in this county, not much could be done to spur major economic stimulus, short of receiving any government contracts, (in the case of defense contractors like Lockeed Martin and Northrop Grumman in Brevard county who also hold various other contracts dealing with space flight, missile defense and IT) Volusia County has a relatively small industrial base, relying more heavily on the tourist industry, during the holidays, on the race/bike weeks. Volusia County in my opinion will not receive any large population growth anytime soon, unless there is a stable job platform that doesn’t rely on the tourist industry. Though as Dr. Ball was saying, that it will take a community effort to band together and strive for a more stable economic platform, which in a community with heavy aptitude for catering towards visitors, will be incredible hard to switch from taking care of visitors for a outrageous fee but considering that tourist are willing to pay the price for overrated garbage you can acquire elsewhere for a third of the price, because of the easiness the tourist business, it will be hard for the economy to switch cycles without an considerable effort. So till Volusia County can acquire a reliable asset to their economy (much like Brevard County which has defense contractors and the space program), Volusia County will continue to have a lower of standard of living then neighboring counties, because they rely to much on the economy, and if it is bad, tourism is bad, and thus the county economy is bad. If the economy deals a bad hand to Volusia County, it will only hindering population growth, and that growth is a positive for county and city funds. In my mind it is a system that is fundamental flawed, it seems that there is no backup plan incase of hard times in the economy, and that could prove to be a potential flaw in the coming years. Economic growth in Volusia county is a slim prospect, outside of the major moneymakers: medicine, Nascar, and the 3 or so private universities in this county, not much could be done to spur major economic stimulus, short of receiving any government contracts, (in the case of defense contractors like Lockeed Martin and Northrop Grumman in Brevard county who also hold various other contracts dealing with space flight, missile defense and IT) Volusia County has a relatively small industrial base, relying more heavily on the tourist industry, during the holidays, on the race/bike weeks. Volusia County in my opinion will not receive any large population growth anytime soon, unless there is a stable job platform that doesn’t rely on the tourist industry. Though as Dr. Ball was saying, that it will take a community effort to band together and strive for a more stable economic platform, which in a community with heavy aptitude for catering towards visitors, will be incredible hard to switch from taking care of visitors for a outrageous fee but considering that tourist are willing to pay the price for overrated garbage you can acquire elsewhere for a third of the price, because of the easiness the tourist business, it will be hard for the economy to switch cycles without an considerable effort. So till Volusia County can acquire a reliable asset to their economy (much like Brevard County which has defense contractors and the space program), Volusia County will continue to have a lower of standard of living then neighboring counties, because they rely to much on the economy, and if it is bad, tourism is bad, and thus the county economy is bad. If the economy deals a bad hand to Volusia County, it will only hindering population growth, and that growth is a positive for county and city funds. In my mind it is a system that is fundamental flawed, it seems that there is no backup plan incase of hard times in the economy, and that could prove to be a potential flaw in the coming years.

]]> By: Bill Hall http://thepolity.net/wordpress/2009/08/30/the-closing-of-the-florida-frontier/comment-page-1/#comment-11 Bill Hall Sun, 18 Oct 2009 20:48:07 +0000 http://thepolity.net/wordpress/?p=38#comment-11 The prospect of stasis or decline in population begs the question of what a sustainable economy will look like in a society that has always held consumption to be the engine of growth. Must the fewer consume more per capita or is there an alternative to the consumption economy? The prospect of stasis or decline in population begs the question of what a sustainable economy will look like in a society that has always held consumption to be the engine of growth.

Must the fewer consume more per capita or is there an alternative to the consumption economy?

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