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532 <br /> <br /> PEDC Executive Summary <br /> 2000-2001 <br /> : Page 2 <br /> <br />Electric Cooperative, and the availability of power for our area through Lamar Power <br />Partners and Tenaska. <br /> <br /> The reinvention of Encyclopedia Britannica is a good example of a company <br />changing with technology. Today you can access the entire encyclopedia via the Intemet <br />and it is updated daily. Encyclopedia Britannica has 300 employees now doing what they <br />used to do with 25,000. Instead of selling the volumes of information door to door, it is <br />totally free to users, paid for by the advertisers posted on their web site. <br /> <br /> In the 1980's the Texas State Agency for economic development operated with a <br />budget of $1.5 million annually. Today the economic development corporations <br />supported by the sales tax spend more than $300 million a year on economic <br />development. The economic development function is no longer driven solely by the <br />smoke stack chaser with an incentive package in hand. The cookie cutter presentation is <br />no longer good enough, each development opportunity must be considered on an <br />individual basis considering what is right for the industry and what is right for the <br />community. <br /> <br /> To compete in today's industrial revolution we must be constantly imaovative to <br /> address new productivity potential in a global economy. Paris has a great history of pro- <br /> active leadership in economic development going back to working with railroads, the <br /> utility companies and now the economic development corporation. Paris and Lamar <br /> County have the potential to have a steady economic growth over the next decade <br /> (1.5%/year) if we maintain an open mind, are prepared with necessary infrastructure <br /> (water, sewer, streets and highways, electricity, and broad band communications), <br /> provide necessary dollars and a pro-active leadership. <br /> <br /> Nationwide we are facing a shrinking pool of labor while Texas and Paris have an <br /> available labor force that can be a location advantage and a potential for growth. The key <br /> to utilizing this advantage will be in education. Can we train this potential workforce to <br /> <br /> <br />