By Chuck Alvey

In 2004-05, the citizen-based leadership of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada saw our region’s explosive growth and asked if we were creating the kind of place we would want to live in five to 10 years.

Were we growing too fast without a quality-of-life focus for the longer term?

When we released a request for proposals to conduct a thorough economic study of our region’s potential with key recommendations, proposing firms noted their pleasant surprise that we were asking for such help during such a high-growth period. They also felt we were asking the right questions at the right time.

Fifty regional leaders helped review and approve the Target2010 strategic economic plan, which was issued in 2006, just before the bottom fell out of the economy everywhere.

A recent segment on “60 Minutes” highlighted the nearly 25 percent of children who are in poverty in the U.S. Middle-class families who have lost their homes live in their car, a hotel room or with another family. Belongings are stored, and when families can’t pay rent, those few precious items are auctioned off.

Chuck Alvey is president and CEO of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada.

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