'Bold vision, tenacious leadership' needed for city to grow, IEDC tells Vincennes

Doden called the project one of the most “enjoyable and transformative experiences of his life."

City leaders for years have been trying to figure out ways to turn around the city's declining population. There are often more jobs here than there are people to work, chamber president Marc McNeece said.

“We want people to move here, fill our jobs, pay taxes here, go to our schools, attend our churches,” he said. “And that means an influx of money into our city.”

Doden said his initiative has resulted in nine principals cities can apply to do just that, and they are outlined at http://www.indianaregionalcities.com.

In a nutshell, he told the group that it takes being bold and brave to the point of being perceived as “ridiculous.”

He told the group of his visit to Durham, N.C., the home of the Durham Bulls, the AAA affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball.

A decade ago, Doden said the baseball team needed a new stadium, but residents voted it down in a referendum.

Three city leaders, Doden said, found a legal loophole and proceeded with building the stadium anyway. Two of them, he said, were later fired, but more than a decade later, the stadium is “revered” by all who live there.

It was also the start of millions in additional economic growth. Duke University moved 4,000 employees into an abandoned factory next door, one Doden called a “pigeons' nest.” Duke officials are even leasing the property instead of buying it to keep it on the city's tax rolls.

Soon others followed, Doden said, and began a multiphase process of developing more than a million square feet of previously unused, abandoned space.

“I've never drooled over anything so much in my life,” he told the group. “They had 150 start-up (businesses) all because of the vision of the community. Remarkable stuff, right?

“It was so bold it was almost ridiculous, yet we were looking at it right outside the window. They saw their community as a product, a product that needed to be improved. And it worked.”

Doden said Indiana cities and counties need to stop competing against one another and learn to work together. In some of the most-successful communities they visited, counties even funded economic development projects in neighboring counties simply to see the entire region grow, he said.

The entire Midwest, Doden said, needs to begin working together to compete against growing areas to the south and west.

“A win for one is a win for all,” he said.

Doden said another consistency among successful cities was that their leaders were never critical of one another, their elected officials and developers never negative about the others' ideas.

“I asked them why that was, and their response was usually a laugh,” Doden told the group. “They said they had their problems, sure, but their vision was so bold and the requirements to execute so strong that there wasn't time to argue.

"There was only time to get things done.”

And the leaders in those successful cities, Doden said, were always thinking of the future and “doubling down” when it came to projects. They were consistently eager, he said, when one project was done to “look to the next level” instead of resting on their laurels.

Doden encouraged community leaders to focus on continued improvements downtown. Boarded up buildings, he said, become “part of the landscape,” like dirty laundry left lying about your house.

“You don't even notice it anymore,” he said, “until you have guests over.

“People driving through your communities notice those things, and they begin to wonder, 'Do you care enough about your community to care enough about my investment?'”

Vincennes needs “broad civic leadership” and “a robust, documented plan” for economic development and population growth, he said. Community foundations, non-for-profits, developers, civic organizations allow for a “broad infrastructure of people who transcend” the constant change in city administrations, he said.

“You need deal makers, people who know how to put a deal together from stem to stern,” he said. “You need people with resources who are involved and engaged. There's no silver bullet here. You just need to be relentless about improving yourself.”

Mayor Joe Yochum said he was glad to many community movers and shakers showed up to hear Doden's message. The city is poised to see the kind of cooperation Doden spoke of, but it needs to more to grow.

“I hope people get excited about this,” he said. “We're doing great, we have momentum, but we can do even better.”

City council president Duane Chattin called Doden's message “inspirational.”

“I am going to go check out that website and look more closely at the points in his plan,” he said. “I want to see what we can use here. I'm looking forward to a new year.”