It's been 27 years since the United States hosted a world's fair - known to the rest of the world as an expo - and the Bay Area Council, the regional business group based in San Francisco, thinks it's time.When? 2020. Where? Moffett Field. Why? To rally Silicon Valley to reclaim its image as the center of the tech universe and, organizers hope, to pump billions of dollars into the region's economy.
To do that, one thing has to happen immediately: The United States has to rejoin the Bureau of International Expositions, which chooses expo locations much like the International Olympics Committee chooses game sites. Membership only costs about $33,000 a year. Bay Area Council CEO Jim Wunderman says if necessary, he'll pass the hat.
The U.S. dropped out of the Bureau of International Expositions during a fit of isolationism a few years back. Today, competing in a global marketplace, we need to be in this game no matter where the expos are.
Last fall the Bay Area Council and then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger went to Shanghai to launch a bid for the 2020 Expo. Wunderman thinks it's ours to lose if the U.S. pays those dues.
The Shanghai Expo drew some 73 million visitors over six months. The council predicts 25 million here, closer to average. But a study commissioned by the council predicts that the event would spark $5.6billion in new economic activity in this region and create 42,000 jobs. We're always leery of studies funded by advocates of a project, but it's common sense that the ripple effects of a well-done event would be significant.
To do that, one thing has to happen immediately: The United States has to rejoin the Bureau of International Expositions, which chooses expo locations much like the International Olympics Committee chooses game sites. Membership only costs about $33,000 a year. Bay Area Council CEO Jim Wunderman says if necessary, he'll pass the hat.
The U.S. dropped out of the Bureau of International Expositions during a fit of isolationism a few years back. Today, competing in a global marketplace, we need to be in this game no matter where the expos are.
Last fall the Bay Area Council and then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger went to Shanghai to launch a bid for the 2020 Expo. Wunderman thinks it's ours to lose if the U.S. pays those dues.
The Shanghai Expo drew some 73 million visitors over six months. The council predicts 25 million here, closer to average. But a study commissioned by the council predicts that the event would spark $5.6billion in new economic activity in this region and create 42,000 jobs. We're always leery of studies funded by advocates of a project, but it's common sense that the ripple effects of a well-done event would be significant.
This presents a challenge for the Bay Area bid. Given the state of the economy today and projections well into this decade, the Bay Area bid will have to rely on private investment. The only realistic hope of public dollars would be to expedite projects like road or transit improvements already in the pipeline.None of this will even be possible unless the U. S. agrees to sign that $33,000 dues check. Political leaders from not just the Bay Area but all of California - and from other U.S. tech hubs, for that matter - should be pressing the case.
No comments:
Post a Comment