Despite the naysayers, Illinois has a lot going for it
August 21, 2023
By Jim Nowlan
My successful friends all bad-mouth Illinois. They’re going to leave, or so they threaten; some do. Yes, we have problems, yet these are more than offset by impressive, possibly unmatched, strengths overall.
If I were asked to do a marketing campaign for Illinois (and I have done successful political marketing over the decades), I would slather our state and the world with billboards, as follows: “Come to Illinois — we’re getting warmer, we have oodles of water and we’re becoming less corrupt.”
I mean it. It’s true, and we need to smile at ourselves, which people appreciate. But I fear we lack the confidence to do so. Here’s some fuel for the marketing campaign:
According to former state commerce Director Jim Schultz, regarding the six R’s critical to economic development — roads, runways, railroads, rivers, routers and research — Illinois is arguably among the top three states in each. Think about it:
We have the densest network of interstates in the nation (look at a highway map of the U.S.); half of all intermodal rail container cars in the nation go through Illinois; and Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport attained the status of the most connected airport in the world as of last year. O’Hare offers direct flights to 262 destinations, and 45 airlines fly out of the airport. The globally ranked Universities of Chicago and Illinois and Northwestern University, combined with Fermilab and Argonne National Laboratory, likely have more research firepower than any other state except for California and Massachusetts.
Need I mention all the water we have underground, in rivers and Lake Michigan, and that we’re located smack-dab in the middle of the largest economy in the world?
Yes, we have our problems, but so do all states. Our property taxes are sky-high. Ditto for state debt. The swagger of labor unions, which basically run the Illinois Democratic Party, puts off businesses across the nation. The state is not well managed. For example, the state’s child care agency (our kids, yours and mine as taxpayers to care for) has been under a federal consent decree to do better — for more than 30 years! Street crime is an embarrassment, though localized for the most part.
All these problems can be ameliorated. And every state has its problems. For example, Texas is a darling for economic development right now. Would you want to live there? How fast is the Lone Star state drying up and heating up? Texas struggles mightily with K-12 achievement, as do Illinois and most states.
The biggest challenges for Illinois are lack of entrepreneurship and capital, as well as failure to look ahead. Our research universities are late to the commercialization game, and the residue of an old manufacturing culture that prized safe, careerlong jobs may affect young people’s willingness to fail in pursuit of success.
Illinois has never — never — looked ahead, as Daniel Burnham did so magnificently with his eponymous 1909 Plan of Chicago (also known as the Burnham Plan). The Lone Star State has embarked on Texas 2036, strategic planning in support of 36 aspirational goals. Talk about big thinking. Illinois could sure use some of the same.
Here are some proposals.
Union leaders are not bad people. They are plumping for their members; that’s their job. But their longtime bread and butter — metal-bending jobs — are melting away as I write this. I propose that leaders such as Jim Sweeney of the powerful International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 create a statewide task force with business leaders to see if there is a potential model for a broad labor-management accord. After all, most craft unions and their owner-bosses in Illinois have agreed on good pay and benefits for workers. Capital and labor need one another.
As for entrepreneurship, rather than the state investing $500 million (or whatever) in sweeteners to attract big employers, provide $50,000 to $500,000 each to 1,000 to 10,000 entrepreneurs to create in their labs. Then organize the investors — they don’t need much help; they need ideas and concepts — to have capital ready for commercial development.
Revamp our fiscal system, which relies too heavily on property taxes and debt and not enough on broad-based sales. This is a huge ask for politicians, who want to do things for people, not to people.
That is why we have the underused Edgar Fellows Program. In what will probably be his greatest legacy to Illinois, former Gov. Jim Edgar annually gathers 40 young leaders (400 so far and counting) of all backgrounds for intensive seminars and bonding. If they really see themselves as leaders, these fellows should get together and step up to take on tough issues like this.
Illinois has a lot going for it. I wish people knew.
Jim Nowlan is a former state lawmaker who lives in Princeton, Illinois. His latest book is ”Politics — The Starter Kit: How to Succeed in Politics and Government.”
