What a mess. Again.

Today the administration announced plans for more public housing saying that home ownership isn’t for everyone.

Sad but true.

Yet public housing is loaded with crime, drugs and despair.

Where is the modern version of Levittown which allows low income folks a chance to buy a modest three bedroom and one bath house?

We in Delaware need the next Brookside.

So where is our builder?

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The state that started a nation?

That’s right, our moniker use to be the state that started a nation.

Started a nation is pretty cool stuff. No one else has ever done that.

That was then and this is now.

Now we focus on casino’s. For market survey purposes ask how many employee’s at Delaware Park live in Hockessin.

Our school’s receive over 11,000 per kid to educate them. $11,000 per kid. Yet our test scores have barely moved in TEN years. (We won WW II in four years)

We have conference after conference after conference on economic growth and unemployment remains mired.

In Sussex County young people leave in droves because there are no jobs that pay enough to raise a family on.

And the best for last: state government is the state’s biggest employer.

However rather then ***** I suggest that a conference be held (yea I know) where entrepreneurs get 15 minutes before a three person panel of a finance person, market research person and representative from a gov’t entity where they can pitch their idea based on the number of jobs it can create.

The top ten get funding for a year to get them rolling.

Yes, there are kinks and questions, but there are people out there with ideas that can create jobs but lack that critical first year support. 

Just remember Apple was started in a garage and we use to be known as the state that started a nation.

Use to be.

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Idea for Economic Development

Delaware has an aging population. The Governor pointed this out when he served as Treasurer. Given the huge reduction in manufacturing jobs due to the closing of GM and Chrysler, and adding to that the reduction in Credit Card employees (for all sorts of reasons), and adding that Dupont/AstraZeneca are not exactly growing their employment, we need some new industries.

So, what’s a small state like ours with a growing retiree base supposed to do? The following comes from a recent article in Healthcare IT news:

According to PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the worldwide market for game hardware and software generated $42 billion in revenues in 2007 and will grow to an estimated $68 billion by 2012. Currently, digital health games generate only an estimated $6.6 billion.

With the huge success of games like the Wii Fit Balance Board, one of the popular Wii family of games produced by the Japanese company Nintendo, venture capitalists are beginning to show interest in health-related games, as are nonprofit groups, according to Hawn. Since 2008, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has pledged $8.25 million in grant funding for the development of digital health games.

About a decade ago, the State worked with Christiana Care to help the Helen Graham Cancer Center get a good start, and Helen Graham is nationally recognized for its treatment and clinical research. In the mid-1990’s, the Carper Administration assisted in getting the bio-tech center started, and there has been continued effort to get the University of Delaware, Delaware State, and Del Tech aligned through the Science and Technology Council.

So, here’s an idea… DEDO should take some of the strategic fund money and link with the Universities, Christiana Care, DHSS, and the retirement communities and do what Delaware does best… Work together to make something happen quickly. As the article states:

At the heart of any promising plan to transform the healthcare system lie two priorities: broader access to care for patients and deeper engagement in healthcare by patients,” Hawn said. “Although the problem of expanding access to affordable care remains unresolved, new tools for deepening consumers’ engagement in healthcare are proliferating like viral spores in a virtual pond.

Let’s take the virtual and turn it into something real…

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