A triad is a group of three, and The Triad was named for the three cities of Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem. Here's the rub: There are no longer three items in the set.Winston-Salem is still there to our west, the proud center of Forsyth County, but the other two cities are well on their way to becoming parts of something new and different and much more closely interrelated than the components of the old Triad were imagined to be: metropolitan Guilford County...

...the real challenge is for Metro Guilford itself to gain some self-awareness and to act on the reality and possibilities of its existence.

My newspaper column is about the need for a new kind of regional thinking. You can read the whole thing after the jump.

Guilford needs Guilfordism

by Edward Cone
News & Record
5-13-07

I grew up in Greensboro, and over the years I've met a lot of people from nearby cities and towns, but I've never once heard anyone say that he or she lives in a place called The Triad.

That's because the Piedmont Triad, to use its full name, is not an actual place, and in some ways it's less actual now than ever before. It may be a reality for broadcasters and airlines, but it's otherwise a largely notional location, a marketing concept, the dream of regional planners who rhapsodize about the economic promise of Triadism. Which is fine, regional cooperation is a good thing -- we just need to recognize the true composition of our region and start promoting the idea of Guilfordism.

A triad is a group of three, and The Triad was named for the three cities of Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem. Here's the rub: There are no longer three items in the set. Winston-Salem is still there to our west, the proud center of Forsyth County, but the other two cities are well on their way to becoming parts of something new and different and much more closely interrelated than the components of the old Triad were imagined to be: metropolitan Guilford County.

Metro Guilford extends across county lines from Burlington to Thomasville. It has a population of more than half-a-million people and the Wendover/U.S. 70 corridor as its main street. The cities of Greensboro and High Point already have grown together and engulfed Jamestown; viewed from the air at night, they appear to be one large coterminous entity. The onrushing development of eastern Guilford County will someday connect Greensboro and Burlington and the communities between them in much the same way.

The reality of Metro Guilford seems hard for some folks to grasp. The federal government, for example, keeps changing its designation of our Metropolitan Statistical Area to include and exclude various neighboring cities. But the real challenge is for Metro Guilford itself to gain some self-awareness and to act on the reality and possibilities of its existence. It's time to put down the rivalries and enmities that have divided our various cities and counties from each other, to swallow our pride in order to take pride in something new and better.

That's the point of Guilfordism. It will require vision and political leadership that too often have been conspicuous by their absence across the region. (One encouraging sign that this reality is dawning on people: The News & Record's leadership conference Wednesday will be held at High Point University.)

Guilfordism does not preclude Triadism, but it does require Metro Guilford to stand up and recognize its leadership role in the region and to protect its interests when appropriate. The fact is that Forsyth County is on the edge of this map, part of the territory that has Guilford at its core. The airport is here, the highways cross here, the center of gravity for this part of North Carolina is here. Maybe someday the Heart of the Triad project will create a defining presence akin to the Research Triangle Park, but for now it's just meetings and plans and a fancy name for Kernersville. The heart of the Triad is Guilford County.

Need an example of how Guilfordism should trump Triadism? Earlier this month, The Business Journal reported that a vital local company, TransTech Pharma, is being courted by Virginia and South Carolina.

The article by Justin Catanoso discussed efforts by the City of High Point and the State of North Carolina to keep the firm at the aptly named Piedmont Centre, which straddles the old Greensboro/High Point border, and the relative lack of love TransTech feels from the Triad's Winston-Salemcentric biotech community. The City of Greensboro and Guilford County were unmentioned in the article, but both should be at the front door of TransTech CEO Adnan Mjalli with flowers and chocolates and money, as part of a coordinated economic development strategy that isn't based on the specific location of a business within Metro Guilford.

The Triad is an idea with some specific short-term possibilities and bigger long-range hopes. Guilford County is a real place, and Metro Guilford is an increasingly relevant concept. We could use a little Guilfordism around here.

© News & Record 2007

Edward Cone (www.edcone.com, [email protected]) writes a column for the News & Record most Sundays.

Comments

[Jim Caserta]

This article sounds like it could be retitled "Forget Forsyth". You seem to bemoan the "Winston-Salemcentric biotech community" but give the general impression that Greensboro needs to forget about W-S and focus East.

There is a reason for the Forsyth-Centrism in biotech, and it is Baptist Hospital and Wake Forest School of Medicine. That brings about 400 medical students and 625 Resident Physicians (MD's in training) to the area. Many stay in any of the Triad's cities, and emphasizing the connectedness of the area is a positive, not a negative.

Forsyth is also the home to Dell, which you claimed was A big boost for the region. But even then you manage to focus on how it will specifically benefit Guilford - "Let's hope our economic development people can leverage this into high-value growth on our side of the county line." Growth & development in Forsyth helps Guilford and vice-versa. Shifting jobs from one county to the other doesn't really help anyone.

I'm biased, but I think that what's best for Central NC is for increased cooperation between the biggest cities.

[Ed Cone]

I'm all for increased and ongoing cooperation across the region, I just think we need to have a clearer and more up-to-date understanding of the the regional players. That includes the recognition of Metro Guilford as a center unto itself.

The specific concerns about the W-S centric biotech initiative by the state came from TransTech itself: "Mjalli appears disappointed with the state of the Triad's biotech effort, arguing that it is not truly regional in nature and perhaps too focused on Winston-Salem...'High Point has a much bigger health care (R&D) cluster than any other city in the region, with (companies like) Banner Pharmacaps and Merz and Ciba,' Mjalli says. 'By not recognizing not just TransTech but any biotech company in High Point, it just does this community and the Triad a disservice.'" [emphasis added]

[Jim Caserta]

Good article, but it still seems to point at the need for better cooperation. Other relevant points:

But Riddick [head of the Triad office of the N.C. Biotech Center] believes that TransTech is not overlooked at either the regional or state level. Mjalli was invited to serve on the first regional biotech advisory council. He has been on the statewide board of the N.C. Biotech Center. TransTech is featured in a Triad video showcasing biotech companies. And Riddick says he often takes outsiders on tours of TransTech labs when they are visiting the Triad.

"We use TransTech as a model company that can come here, start up and flourish," Riddick says.
Incentives conundrum

A more critical concern to Mjalli is harder to explain away. In recent years, he has seen the state lavish companies such as Dell, Polo.com and Citicards in the Triad with millions in incentives, training credits and tax breaks to create jobs that pay a third or less of what he pays his employees, which he recruits with Ph.Ds from around the world.

Last year, when Mjalli and his CFO, Steve Holcombe, sought $5 million to expand the drug-making capacity at Pharmacore and add 30 jobs paying an average of $75,000, they found there was no suitable program to help them with a grant or even with a low-interest loan.

"The state prides itself on its biotech community," Holcombe says, "but its incentives programs and policies still favor traditional manufacturing and low-wage job creation. There's something wrong with that."

Mjalli and Holcombe found that that is not the case in South Carolina.

TransTech is also located a lot closer to WS than to Burlington, and I'm also biased to the 68 corridor where there has been a lot of recent office park development.