In a recent editorial (“Our View: Tourism sales pitch not enough to grow Maine’s economy,” June 4), the Portland Press Herald concedes that the state is a success at attracting visitors, but says it must “do a better job telling the whole story” to attract permanent residents.

The paper cites a recent Maine Department of Economic and Community Development survey that seems to suggest that people, especially millennials, love the state’s beauty, friendly people and remoteness as reasons to visit, but that those same attributes don’t encourage them to move here to live and work.

I think that the Press Herald’s conclusion misses the point. A better question to ask is: What can Maine learn from its tourism successes to gain more residents and grow the state’s overall economy?

Maine’s hospitality sector is clearly a success story. Dominated by small businesses, like restaurants and inns, and staffed by exceptionally hardworking employees and owners, the industry continues to grow even as it struggles with its own workforce challenges. It is these people, delivering Maine’s authentic brand of hospitality, who are the glue holding it all together.

Maine’s hospitality industry is the model and path for long-term sustainable growth of Maine’s entire economy, and for bringing more permanent residents here.

The hard reality is that our state’s growth problems exist because we have longstanding issues going back hundreds of years. Typically, we do not welcome new permanent residents – foreign or domestic; we distrust business in general, and that’s reflected in our policies and regulations; and economic development is viewed as something to be controlled lest it destroy our “quality of life.”

Let’s talk about “quality of life” for a minute. Is it safety, good schools (at least in the most affluent communities), affordable housing and an easy commute, as the Press Herald editorial suggests? Ironically much of what we read in this newspaper is pretty much the opposite of this! Or is it simply an accident of geography – that we are fortunate to live in a beautiful place?

Maine has lived on the tired old slogan “the way life should be” for far too long. Clearly the survey data show this is not true. I believe that quality of life means something entirely different to the people we want to attract, and Maine is not cutting it.

We need to create a strong economic environment to accompany our scenic beauty if we are to attract new residents and investment. The highest-performing states and regions recognize this, with government and business working together to raise the standard of living, while seeking to solve social and economic issues collaboratively. Sadly, except for a few organizations and regions, Maine has seen little of this, and consequently we continue to languish near the bottom of most economic metrics.

The issue is most acute in the state’s largest city, which appears vibrant on the surface but has unstable underpinnings.

In Portland, Mayor Ethan Strimling openly accuses city businesses of taking advantage of their employees, being against schools and unwilling to consider his initiatives. Businesses, led by the Chamber of Commerce, chafe at burdensome regulations and tax increases that, in their view, inhibit economic and job growth. All agree that expanding the property tax base is essential to adequately fund desperately needed basic services. But each new residential or commercial development is met with opposition, often resulting in referendums and seemingly endless public hearings. This is no way to run a high-performing city or lead a state!

The first “summer people” started coming to Maine back in the mid-1800s. They traveled to places like Bar Harbor, Rangeley and Ogunquit for the scenery, to enjoy fresh food from our farms and sea and to breathe clean air, exactly as tourists do today. In 2018, visitors come to Maine to escape business, not to do business! Until we create a sustainable economic development strategy, starting at the state level and cascading down to local cities and towns, this will not change.

Joshua Chamberlain, Civil War hero, president of Bowdoin College and governor of Maine, warned us in 1877: “The fact of the matter is, that in our way of doing business in Maine has become an old and exhausted state, before her true wealth has begun to be developed.” Over 140 years later, how has this changed? Maine still has its tired old business climate and unrealized potential. The only way to move forward is through innovative, collaborative leadership. Today more than ever, where is a Joshua Chamberlain when you need him?

 

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