The Greenbelt City Council met until 11:30 p.m. at a July 5 worksession with Stuart Eisenberg, executive director, and Molly O’Connell, program manager, of Hyattsville Development Corporation, to review a draft report on economic development programming recommendations that they presented that evening. For the most part the study was well-received according to City Manager Michael McLaughlin and Eisenberg. Eisenberg will take councilmember comments into consideration and prepare the final report, which he estimates will take another three weeks. Also discussed was a Business Toolkit added to the city website (greenbeltmd.gov) and reported in a separate story. (See page 7.) The report includes an assessment of economic development needs and comparison of area Council Reviews Draft Report On Economic Development by James Giese municipal economic development activities. It concludes with recommendations for economic development. Separately, Eisenberg submitted proposals for how the city might spend funds budgeted for pursuing economic development in the current fiscal year budget. Conclusions The preliminary report concludes that the city council needs to “define a clear, concise vision and goals for economic development and consistently promote and utilize said vision.” The consultants concluded that although the council has made a start in undertaking an economic development program, “more non-budgetary and policy groundwork is necessary before the City of Greenbelt would be able to effectively deploy dedicated economic development staffing.” This recommendation could be a challenge for the council whose members have expressed divergent objectives for development within the city. Other conclusions are that the council needs to engage with the business and development community proactively, address the city’s economic development needs through programming designed to address multiple goals and empower city staff to pursue economic development outcomes. For more on this story, click here
