What’ll it take to Get Our Economy Rolling?

We were discussing Cape May County’s economy in the office last week. This local economy’s a bit like the weather, if you don’t like it, move. We look at the long-range weather forecast, hoping for a hot, dry summer that forces masses from the city to the shore where, presumably, they will spend money. And that’s about it; the end comes in late October. Beyond that we look at the future, like the horizon, and hope there is something better “out there” beyond what we can see. We keep hoping for better paying, more solid businesses to bring college graduates back, not watch them pack their bags, sheepskin in hand and head somewhere else. If things really look up, we may even attract new ones. That would be a tall order, given jobs, taxes, prices and our spongy financial basis.
In the course of history here there have been some long-shots that held lots of potential. In retrospect, it’s probably best they never happened. Henry Ford at one time pondered a car plant in Cape May County, somewhere in the lower end. There was discussion of placing an “atomic park” that would have processed radioactive material or something in Lower Township. It held great potential for terrific jobs. That was a time in America when nuclear power seemed to show the bright path forward, discounting all the bad stuff, like leaking radiation and tainted water. It was decades before Three Mile Island became a nuclear threat in central Pennsylvania.
Then, into the 1970s, there was talk of a deep-water oil port that would have had terminals located here that would have relayed from massive tankers offshore. That, too, held a lot of potential for the kinds of jobs we only wish we could have here. For environmental and a zillion other reasons, the notion died at sea.
Thus, we are left with beaches, boardwalks, and growth potential all around. Freeholder Will Morey is overseeing a basketful of projects all aimed at making the economy solid in the long range. We are going to view some of those in detail and report on them.
It could be stated the people of this county are only as limited as we want to be. Let’s face facts; Cape May County will never be a manufacturing hub. Until trains and trucks can move magnetically and thus, almost without cost, getting raw materials here, paying to turn them into something, then shipping them out is a big, profit-chewing expense. While New Jersey may be eyed as a barrel, tapped at both ends by Philadelphia and New York City, the county is beneath the fulcrum of that balance.
Those who pegged their local hopes on a flourishing casino industry in Atlantic City have been crying in their beer and over their poker chips every time a casino opens in Pennsylvania, New York or Delaware. Each gambler who stays at home means dollars in someone else’s pockets not 40 miles north of here.
There are bright spots, and those are the ones who will flourish given imagination and, yes, finances.
Any industry that considers New Jersey, much less Cape May County, has to look at its stringent environmental regulations and other restrictions. If other states offer bigger tax breaks and fewer environmental restraints, where would a chief executive be more likely to open a new plant?
When discussion focused on jobs, one of the most recent mentions was the rejected pipeline South Jersey Gas proposed to the B.L. England generation station in Beesley’s Point. There was supposedly a raft of construction jobs that would have been a benefit to local workers, as well as in the plant itself. In limbo, and under review, but reviews don’t bring paychecks to families with bills to pay.
Cast your eyes east of that plant, and see the ongoing bridge construction over Great Egg Harbor. How many of those construction jobs are rooted in Cape May County? Only a handful, since hiring for the jobs is done from union halls.
And the massive construction project that is eliminating traffic signals on the Garden State Parkway, how many construction jobs are based in Cape May County? Again, only a very few for the same reason. Thus, what could have been a boon was more like a trickle.
There seems a mindset among too many, maybe it’s everywhere but I only know Cape May County. It has to do with work ethic or lack thereof. Complacency prevails after the summer crunch. “Why should I work? I paid into unemployment, and I can get just about as much not working as working.” That carefree attitude seems to last until the money stops flowing, and there is a sudden flurry of activity to half-heartedly land a job, any job. That’s not the way to build either a career, or a solid community with hope for the future.
The county Technical School offers many courses that may spark new endeavors to build the local economy.
A friend creates almost other-worldly designs on fly rods. (They are used for fly fishing if it’s a new term to you. Find a flowing mountain stream up north, and it’s likely you’ll find a fly fisherman in waders casting cares aside, hoping for a nibble.) He sells them across the nation at very handsome prices. Bet very few people here ever thought about doing that to make money.
The Internet opens Cape May County to the world. Some enterprises here have worldwide reach, and we may never know them, because they are quiet and totally unassuming.
Find a niche and fill it. That’s the marketing key to success. With success comes more success; it spreads like a ripple in a pond. On CNBC a few weeks ago, a woman who liked to make cupcakes turned that into a small fortune. How? She ran out of boxes, and her hubby flippantly urged her to “put them in jars.” So she did, now they’re selling like mad at a price that would make a TastyKake baker shudder. That could happen here, too. Lots of great bakers abound.
We have some world-class carvers here and artists whose work is nothing short of amazing. Fishing vessels moor at docks in Lower Township and unload holds filled with seafood that heads to major East Coast markets. There are budding wineries and breweries here that came into being to fill niche markets, and they are doing a commendable job.
If the workforce here is willing to change, to learn new tasks, and most importantly, to shun the easy urge to collect unemployment simply because “it’s there and I paid into it” this county can step higher and everyone will benefit. Remember, success brings success like ripples in a pond.
Birds are up at the crack of dawn pecking to find food. There is plenty out there, but it’s not delivered direct to their nests, so our feathered friends can get plump waiting for their next meal. They work, eat, and fly, so can Cape May County’s economy. Proverbs 26:14, “As a door turns on its hinges, So does the lazy man on his bed.”