Our Vision of SLO’s Economic Future
T
his booklet is the third major revision of a document originally developed in 1992 during a very serious economic downturn. The Board of Directors of the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce was concerned because many previous years of prosperity had left many residents feeling that economic growth was a “given� and that this growth needed to be tightly controlled. This led to policies that tended to discourage business, whether that business was desirable or not. To have sustained prosperity, there needed to be a clear vision of what the community wanted and how to achieve that vision. Previous editions of this document have led to substantive policy changes and community investments that have contributed to many years of prosperity. To create this fourth version of our Vision, we again assembled a group of knowledgeable community leaders who demonstrate the ability to imagine a community better than it is today. As in 1992, the preparation period of late 2008 and 2009 has been a time of serious economic decline. We feel certain that this unprecedented global economic Modernize physical Nurture and protect crisis will lead to fundamental and regulatory existing businesses infrastructure and jobs restructuring of the national, state and local economies. This economic sea change, comQuality of bined with unprecedentLife in SLO Use tourism as an Nurture and attract ed changes in technoloeconomic development future-oriented gy, lifestyles and culturengine companies al norms, made the task Partner with more complex. While jobs Cal Poly and Cuesta and business health are more highly College as a bridge valued now, the Economic Vision Task to the future Force has had to mentally jump over the current uncertainty to a time when the economy and local business is again expanding. By developing forward-looking strategies and making the right community investments now, San Luis Obispo will be poised to take advantage of coming economic opportunities.
1