Tuesday, January 21, 2025

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‘Welcome to Our Wild Blue Yonder’

By Al Campbell

Aimed skyward, with about 100 watching June 17 at Cape May County Airport, a drone rocketed upward. Along with that unmanned aerial system (UAS), soared hopes for a brighter economic future for the county and region. One of its champions, Freeholder Will Morey, showed a PowerPoint presentation to peers June 23 entitled, “Welcome to our wild blue yonder.”
Morey is charged with overseeing the county’s economic development. To vacationers who stroll crowded boardwalks and loll about on packed beaches, it may seem odd that this vacation mecca is in dire need of economic growth. Locals know differently. When bone-chilling winds of January blow across those same strands the local business climate takes a nose dive. Unemployment is the area’s greatest means of support in those dreary months.
There are many reasons why Morey and the four other freeholders, who oversee county government, want things to change. Part of their reason is a shrinking population due, in large measure, to lack of decent, year-round employment for young families. School populations mirror that decline. Like a farm league to a baseball team, if there are no minor leagues today, in time there won’t be any major leagues. Thus, it behooves the solons of this peninsula to actively encourage the beginning of endeavors that show future promise. The other reason for the exodus is a repressive tax structure that seems impossible to solve. Ask anyone fortunate enough to retire early; many grab their last pay check and head for a new home in the South where taxes take far less of a bite than in New Jersey. That must be fixed if this state and county are to survive.
Tourism is a mainstay, but thus far, that industry isn’t touching many people after the last car leaves in October. The business climate isn’t resuscitated until the next Memorial Day. For that reason, freeholders hope to “hitch their (and our) wagon” to industries with promise. Those include the UAS flying and possible production, vineyards and wineries (as well as breweries and distilleries), and the humble oyster industry. There may be more, but for now, the hope is kindled among those sectors.
Part of the reason for the excitement in drones is the geographic location of the county airport. It’s just a few minutes to the ocean and bay, which is a good safety factor, but more important, according to scrutinizing eyes at the Federal Aviation Administration, is its proximity to metropolitan airports and other “general aviation” flights. They are important, especially when testing drones, because the FAA wants reams of evidence that unmanned aircraft can safely interact in the same airspace as planes and helicopters.
The test flights of the drones in June proved that can be done. Morey showed one image of a Coast Guard helicopter practicing take offs and landings at the airport. The image was taken from the drone, which means coexistence is possible. Encouraging though it may be, don’t start house hunting just yet. There are many miles to fly before the county sees dollars rolling into private bank accounts, and new families start calling real estate offices looking for homes to buy because they’ve been hired by companies located at the airport. As was stated in a release announcing the test flight, “The development of sense-and-avoidance technology is a critical path toward the safe introduction of unmanned aircraft systems into the nation’s airspace.”
As in the captivating film, ‘Field of Dreams,” where the baseball diamond in the midst of a corn field drew the masses, I puzzle, “If we build it (new business), will they come (to Cape May County)?” Starting out in a career, would you opt for a high-tax state, like ours, or one that is more favorable to grow a family?
This county is like Camelot, never too extreme, with a fairly moderate climate, no threats of tornadoes or wild fires, few nasty blizzards with sub-freezing conditions, and generally easy to access amenities of metropolitan areas and cultural sites.
Can the so-called “brain drain” be reversed? Can newly-graduated young people be drawn back to their home county? Can those, raised elsewhere, find a home here before retirement? Will they raise families, reinvigorate youth organizations, fill houses of worship, and spread their wealth throughout the county?
As a start, there must be a vision to make this happen. But vision alone will not suffice, action must follow. Only time will tell if Morey’s vision, and actions of others who are involved in economic development, can implement the pieces and make the county’s economy fly into the future, as that drone flew June 17. As with any successful endeavor, inspiration is but 5 percent while perspiration is the remaining 95 percent.
Now’s the time that it happens. We lack the luxury of waiting.

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