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‘A Deeper Channel Floats All Boats’: The Port Economy as Urban Growth Machine David Jaffee Department of Sociology and Anthropology University of North Florida Jacksonville, FL 32224 [email protected] Do not quote or cite without permission from author. Presented at the annual meetings of the American Sociological Association, Denver, August, 2012 Abstract The analysis of urban political economy has been influenced by the insights of the “growth machine” model that posits the power and influence of land-based elites in advancing a pro-growth agenda. As urban areas develop strategies for economic expansion and job creation they are supported by elite coalitions and promoted through the rhetoric of universal economic interest and civic boosterism. This paper analyzes various dynamics of the growth machine model in the context of the recent growth agenda advanced in support of the maritime port of Jacksonville Florida (herein referred to as Jaxport). This case study will serve to highlight some of the ways in which this model and associated forms of “boosterism” represent a powerful and compelling framework for understanding urban development as well as the shortcomings revealed by unintended consequences of the growth juggernaut. It will also illuminate the expanding role and sectoral prominence of distribution and goods-moving – as opposed to production, consumption, and goods-producing – as a consequence of globalization and the rise of logistics. The analysis of urban political economy has been shaped heavily by the insights of the growth machine model (Molotch, 1976; Logan & Molotch, 1987) that posits the power and influence of land-based elites in advancing a pro-growth agenda. As urban areas develop plans for economic expansion, and advance particular strategies for local and regional economic development, they are supported by elite coalitions and promoted through the rhetoric of universal economic interest and civic boosterism. This paper analyzes various dynamics of the growth machine model in the context of the recent growth agenda advanced in support of the maritime port of Jacksonville Florida (herein referred to as Jaxport). This case study will serve to highlight and illuminate some of the ways in which this model and associated forms of “boosterism” (Cronon, 1991; Elfin & Wysong, 1990; Lessof, 2008; Boyle, 1999) represent a powerful and compelling framework for understanding urban development as well as the shortcomings revealed by unintended consequences of the growth juggernaut (see Jonas & Wilson, 1999). The case also points to the growing importance, but relative neglect within sociology, of the goods-moving sector for urban and regional development. Introduction and Background: Growth Machines and Port Economies There are two perspectives that will inform the analysis of the recent and current effort to mobilize economic and community resources around the creation of a port economy in Jacksonville, Florida. First is the growth machine model (Molotch, 1976; Logan & Molotch, 1987). The ability of the meta-theme of growth to mobilize and bind local elites is based primarily on the material interests of those who own land and commercial properties, and the prospect that growth will enhance the exchange-value of these assets. These interests contribute to the political mobilization of elites who seek to influence local government on fiscal and regulatory matters related to stimulating growth and land use policy. As a consequence many other local urban actors and constituencies also benefit from growth due to the resources that flow from an increasing population, income stream, and tax base. This model includes an equally critical dialectical element fueled by the “countercoalitions” that can emerge as growth infringes upon and threatens both the use values and the potential exchange values of urban spaces and suburban neighborhoods (Logan & Molotch, 1987). The mobilization of countercoalitions can thwart efforts of local elites to impose their land use preferences on the local population. A second closely related approach builds upon the growth imperative as a form of civic boosterism that can serve to unify the community, mobilize public opinion, and shape identities of place. In this view, the ability of local elites to advance the growth imperative, and particular associated development projects, requires a range of strategies and tactics that serve both to convince the local population of the goodness of the growth plans as well as shape the larger image of the city and region in a manner that is consonant with the intended development. Boyle (1999, p. 55) has described these “efforts made by local elites to refashion collective emotion and consciousness within cities in order to legitimate political projects that function primarily in their interests” as “Urban Propaganda Projects”. While the term “booster” was originally used to describe land speculators in the American frontier during the nineteenth century (Cronon 1991), today it refers to any type of “promotion of regional economic growth” (Eflin and Wysong, 1990), and associated strategies or tactics (Gold & Ward, 1994). Boosterism has been the subject of studies of Sunbelt regions and cities such as Corpus Christi, Texas (Lessof, 2008), and Tampa, Florida (Eflin and Wysong, 1990) that have attempted to promote redevelopment, a new regional identity, as well as expand the tax base through tourism and particular forms of commerce. This analysis considers the ways in which the local port economy is supported and promoted not only by the power of local and national economic interests competing for the provision of scarce resources but also through public legitimacy campaigns designed to mobilize public opinion and define the collective identity of the region. There are some particular features of a port economy that serve to shape the application of the growth machine model and introduce several other factors in the analysis of the local political economy (see Bonacich & Wilson, 2009). The “port economy” is defined here as the constellation of economic activities that revolve around the transportation, logistics, and distribution of goods moving through a maritime port. The growing significance of port economies over the past twenty years can be directly linked to the larger process of globalization and the dispersion of production, or the increasing distance between the point of production and the point of consumption (Dicken, 1998). This is reflected in the well-established and growing literature on global commodity chains, global production networks, and global value chains (Gereffi & Korzeniewicz 1994; Henderson, et al., 2002; Coe, et al., 2004). Under a globalized production system, raw materials are extracted in one place, parts and components may be produced in another, manufacturing may take place in yet another, and final consumption still another. As the geographic space between interdependent activities in a commodity chain increases, transportation and logistics take on an increasingly vital role in the circulation and distribution of commodities. In this context, U.S. ports, and the urban areas and regions in proximity, serve as the spatial nodes through which global commodity/production chains flow via intermodal transportation to national wholesale and retail markets. On the one hand, the port, as a node in global production networks, has increased in relevance and significance as a result of the spatial dispersion of production, the growing distance between production and consumption, and the subsequent need for transportation and logistics networks and gateways (Hesse & Rodrigue, 2004, 2006). On the other hand, the port economy itself engenders a spatially concentrated set of interdependent landside distribution activities, usually in urban settings (see Jacobs, Ducruet, & de Langen, 2010). Logistics related services are central to this concentrated activity, described by Bonacich and Wilson (2008:64) as “a special kind of industrial district, one geared to the process of international trade.” Rodrigue, Comtois, and Slack (2009) describe these areas as “freight distribution clusters where an array of distribution activities agglomerate” with the advantages of spatial proximity based on the factors of land, accessibility, infrastructure, planning and regulation, economies of agglomeration, and internal multiplying effects. Within sociology generally, the greatest attention has been devoted to the processes of commodity production and consumption while there has been relative neglect of distribution and circulation (for notable recent exceptions see the work of Bonacich and Wilson, 2008; Bensman, 2008). Urban sociology has also tended to view cities as points of production and consumption, or centers for the agglomeration of high value services such as finance and information processing. However, the growing prominence of the goods-movement industries necessitates greater attention to cities as “terminals” (Hesse, 2008) or “gateways” (Notteboom & Rodrigue 2005) through which the flow of commodities is coordinated. This paper advocates much more theoretical and empirical attention to the sphere of circulation and distribution, linked logically to the spheres of production and consumption, and the role of logistics as a potential growth machine for cities and regions. Because container ship cargo coming from Asia, which makes up the vast majority of goods flooding into the US market, is “discretionary cargo” consisting largely of finished or semi-finished consumer goods, it is not linked or tied to any single geographic location. That is, it could as easily enter the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, though destined for the Midwest and the East coast (aka “landbridge”), instead of New York and New Jersey; similarly, cargo could be routed through the Panama Canal and into Jacksonville Florida or other East coast port to reach the same market. With cargo loaded into standardized shipping containers, and an intermodal truck and rail system capable of moving the containers rapidly throughout the United States, shippers and ocean carriers have a great deal of discretion over the port of call. This transformation in the nature of maritime cargo, and the loosening of the relationship between the port and its local economy and market, serve to intensify port competition which is now driven less by one’s particular geographic location than the port infrastructure, the costs of moving cargo, and the ability of the cargo to seamlessly move through an extended -- inter-organizationally and geographically -- supply chain (Fleming, 1989; Fleming & Baird, 1999; Notteboom, 2004; Jacobs, 2007). This means that promoting the growth of the port economy requires a different narrative and a different array of players. It is also consistent with the larger shift of subnational governmental units -- such as cities, states, and counties – competing for private capital investment and playing less a “managerial” than an “entrepreneurial” role (Harvey, 1989). As part of the larger shift toward neo-liberal economic policy at the international, national, and now local levels, the port economy development strategy is consistent with what Swyngedouw, Moulaert, and Rodrigues (2002) describe as the growing emphasis on large scale urban development projects (UDP) and the new urban policy (NUP). This form of urban governance privileges state-financed development projects driven by private –public partnerships but restricted in scope to the imperatives of capital accumulation. Similarly, Brenner and Theodore (2002: 369-371) outline the creation of a new infrastructure for market-oriented economic growth, commodification, and the rule of capital. At the urban/local level the various strategies include new networked forms of local governance involving the establishment of public-private partnerships, the creation of privatized urban infrastructures designed to position cities within supranational capital flows, and the construction of large-scale megaprojects designed to attract investment and reconfigure land-use patterns. The Case of Jacksonville Florida and Jaxport We can now consider the particular case of Jacksonville in this larger context. Geographically, Jacksonville is located in the northeast corner of the state of Florida. The Jacksonville metropolitan area has a population of roughly 1.3 million. Downtown Jacksonville lies on the banks of the St. Johns River 15 miles west of where the river flows into the Atlantic Ocean. The river serves as the channel for the Jaxport marine terminals located at several points along its banks. In 2005 Jaxport operated two major terminals; Talleyrand, located close to downtown Jacksonville, and Blount Island located closer to the mouth of the river. The cargo coming through these terminals was highly diversified among bulk, break-bulk, vehicles, and containers. The primary trade lane for Jaxport was North-South with the Caribbean and Central and South America, and with the leading trading partner Puerto Rico (which does not qualify as “foreign” trade). The relatively low level of container traffic, coupled with the almost exclusive North-South trade lanes, made Jaxport a relatively minor player in national port competition or among global port cities. In order for Jacksonville to move to the upper echelon of East Coast ports (with New York/New Jersey, Norfolk, Savannah) it would have to, first and foremost, attract some major ocean carriers, and move far more Asian, or East-West, container traffic. A critical turning point for the Jacksonville port economy came when Jaxport retained John C. Martin Associates (Martin Associates, 2005) to conduct a business and strategic analysis of the Jaxport enterprise. Martin Associates is the leading consulting firm for maritime ports in the United States and they conduct most of the analyses and economic impact studies for port authorities. The report included a comprehensive analysis of all aspects of the Jaxport enterprise but, for the present purpose, the most significant component pertains to the recommendations for expanding the operation. Clearly the most robust growth market with respect to containerized cargo is the Far East…With more shippers looking for diversification from the West Coast ports, other North and South Atlantic ports stand to benefit from the growth. JAXPORT appears to be a potential candidate due to the fact that it possesses the key factors that are attractive to Far East Carriers… It is recommended that the Port maintain its landlord status and focus on a shared investment with a tenant in the development of Dames Point. A long term lease with a carrier or terminal operator would then provide JAXPORT with the critical service to further develop distribution center activity in the Jacksonville region, further stimulating additional Asian carrier service, but also providing jobs to the local and regional economy. Jaxport followed closely this recommendation and executed it to perfection. It signed agreements with two of the leading global Asian shipping lines – Mitsui MOL (Japanese) and Hanjin (Korean). Currently in place is a completed 158-acre container terminal (at a cost of $230 million) leased by Mitsui MOL (and operated by its TraPac subsidiary) and a second 90-acre Hanjin container terminal (original expected cost of $300 million) slated for completion in 2013, both at the newly developed Dames Point location. Each container terminal will be capable of an annual throughput of 800,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEUs) containers when operating at full throttle. This would move Jaxport into the major league of maritime ports. It was no easy task for Jaxport to pull off such an accomplishment but, as we shall see, there remain significant obstacles to the realization of a fully functioning port-driven growth machine as well as major league port status. Growth Coalitions and Boosterism The pro-growth coalition promoting the port economy has been led by the Cornerstone Regional Development Partnership (renamed the JAXUSA Partnership), a private nonprofit organization affiliated with the regional chamber of commerce. The partnership includes relationships with development agencies in the seven county region of Northeast Florida, as well as the 200 top private sector corporate entities in the Jacksonville area. The staff of Cornerstone is dedicated to corporate relocation, expansion, and site selection. In their effort to market the region, they place a heavy emphasis on international business prospects, the port economy, and associated intermodal logistics opportunities. The language of boosterism can be found throughout the organization’s website: - The Jacksonville region is a “sleeping giant. - Jacksonville is positioned as a low-cost entry point for international businesses. - Jacksonville, Florida's emergence as one of the leading intermodal centers on the eastern seaboard comes as no surprise. - Jacksonville is rapidly becoming a significant international business center. Jacksonville is ideally suited to be your springboard to the world. Jacksonville has become one of the nation’s foremost locations for logistics companies and is poised to become a leading international center for trade and logistics. - Our region is home to JAXPORT, which offers superior infrastructure for highvolume distribution with no capacity pressures, substantial expansion capability and no berth congestion. - You simply won’t find another location that offers the combination of attributes Northeast Florida delivers. Here you’ll find a diverse workforce that is well trained and ready to work, available site in close proximity to an extensive transportation network and one of the country’s best intermodal systems. Along with such sloganeering boosterism, there are more concerted efforts by cities to construct symbolic representations of place (Shields, 1992) and engage in “place management” (Ashworth & Voogd, 1994) or the social construction of place. This has manifested itself into what is referred to as urban branding (Kavaratzis and Ashworth, 2005) based on the larger principles of corporate branding. As part of the promotional campaign to redefine the regions economic strengths and attraction, economic development officials have branded Jacksonville as “America’s Logistics Center”, an effort that, like all good branding schemes, includes a distinctive logo (see below). The newly developed branding logo has been placed at various strategic locations around Jacksonville. The logo proclaims Jacksonville as America’s Logistics Center despite the fact that there are several other cities and regions in the United States that can more legitimately make the same claim. The rhetorical and discursive strategies that are used by those promoting the port economy are equally important. McCann (2002), refers to this as the “cultural politics” involving “a set of discursive and material practices in and through which meanings are defined and struggled over, where social norms and values are naturalized, and by which ‘common sense’ is constructed and contested” (p. 387). In his analysis of economic development in Lexington Kentucky he demonstrates how cultural politics are intertwined with place management. For Jacksonville this takes on the language of intercity competition and the use of sports metaphors such as being the “first to get across the finish line” in deepening the St. Johns channel and attracting the post-Panamax container vessels. In addition to the symbolic dimensions of boosterism there are also the very real material interests that fuel the growth machine and have a direct stake in the success of Jaxport. These business interests could be divided into the diffuse and specific. The diffuse interests are represented by the larger pro-growth coalition supporting investment that attracts new residents and expands the demand for real estate driving up property values generally. Specific forms of support come from those business interests more closely connected to and standing to directly benefit from an expanding port economy. These would include logistics firms broadly defined, those commercial real estate developers that have invested in the construction of warehouse and distribution center facilities, and firms likely to gain contracts from the expansion and modification of the land and coastal infrastructure required for the movement of cargo and goods. As plans for the two new container terminals were firming up, there has been growing speculative investment in commercial real estate. Much of this has been in warehousing and distribution centers where the anticipated containerized goods can be cross-docked, reconsolidated, and value-enhanced for subsequent distribution. One typical example is a 600,000 square foot plus warehouse built by Hillwood Investment Properties, a commercial real estate developer headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. These speculative investments are shaping land use patterns across the region as well as placing demands on the local transportation system. Infrastructural Challenges and “Second Nature” One of the unique aspects of the Jacksonville case is the existence of particular impediments to the realization of the port-based growth machine strategy. But these do not take the form of “counter-coalitions”. As noted, Jaxport was remarkably successful in implementing the consultant’s recommendations by signing long-term leases, and constructing container terminals, with Mitsui and Hanjin (two major Asian shipping giants). What is particularly interesting about the establishment of these relationships is that they were accomplished before all the “natural” physical conditions were in place for the full long-term utilization of the two terminals. First, the St. Johns River channel is not currently at the necessary 50 foot depth required for the largest post-Panamax vessels to access the terminals. Second, is the problem of tidal currents at the point at which the St Johns River intersects the Intracoastal Waterway which prevents a 24-hour window of port access. The first issue will require a massive dredging/deepening project; the second substantial coastal re-engineering. Optimally and more logically these two components of the marine infrastructure would have been in place in advance of signing agreements with the shipping lines to build container terminals. In fact, one might imagine that the shipping lines would be hesitant to enter into any agreement until such conditions were assured or met. However, it would have been difficult, if not impossible, for Jaxport to lobby for these massive public investments in the absence of a real concrete need for such significant modifications to the river. Thus, the decision was apparently made to put the terminal before the channel. This may have been a strategic and calculated move that would allow Jaxport and local officials to strengthen the argument for Federal support and Army Corp approval of the dredging and engineering projects, claiming that the existing terminals cannot function without them. The role of natural physical conditions in both facilitating and thwarting the aspirations of commerce for Jaxport and the Jacksonville port economy is a classic example of Cronon’s (1991) concept of “second nature”. Cronon’s analysis of the economic role played by Chicago in the development of the U.S. economy highlights how presumably natural advantages are used to promote the city as an attractive location for particular forms of economic activity. As Cronon explains: “A kind of ‘second nature’, designed by people and ‘improved’ toward human ends, gradually emerged atop the original landscape that nature – ‘first nature’ – had created as such an inconvenient jumble. Despite the subtly differing logic that lay behind each, the geography of second nature was in its own way as compelling as the geography of first nature, so boosters and others often forgot the distinction between them. Both seemed quite natural.” (p.56). In the case of Chicago, much was made of the role of the railroad as Chicagoans “assimilated the railroad to the doctrine of natural advantages, merging first and second nature so that the two became almost indistinguishable” with “first and second nature mingled to form a single world” (p. 72-73). Similarly, for Jacksonville and other ports along the Southeast Coast, other advantages must be championed that seem “natural” but are in fact of the “second nature” variety identified by Cronon. Often cited are the intrastate highways that offer north-south and east-west transit (I-95 and I-10, respectively) as well as the CSX and Norfolk Southern rail systems that link to national markets. However, the most significant as well as challenging “natural” advantage that Jacksonville possesses is the St. Johns River feeding into the Atlantic Ocean. At the most fundamental level, this gives Jacksonville an advantage over other locations that have no such access to global shipping lanes. The port in Jacksonville was originally built and expanded to exploit this physical geographic asset permitting maritime shipping. Since the port’s inception, the river has been modified and shaped in order to serve as a commercial conduit. While both the deepening and Mile Point projects are framed as alterations to natural conditions, they are simply the latest phase in the seemingly endless reconfiguration of the physical environment to satisfy the imperatives of commerce. As it pertains to the St. Johns River, there is a long history of redirecting the flow and shape of the river for business interests and economic development. The river today has little resemblance to its original state before significant human settlement. At one time sections of the St Johns River were so shallow that cattle were able to walk from one bank to the other. Hence the early name of the Jacksonville settlement as Cowford. The first dredging and deepening operation was conducted in 1892 bringing the depth to 15 feet. In 1902 the river channel was deepened further to 24 feet and its width expanded to 300 feet from Jacksonville to the mouth at the Atlantic Ocean. In 1924 the channel was deepened again to 30 feet. In 1945 the river was redirected at Dames Point creating the Fulton Cut and forming Blount Island. Three additional dredging projects from 1965 to the present have established the current depth at 40-42 feet. Thus, as Cronon has noted, “Whatever the advantages of a particular landscape, people seem to always reshape it according to their vision of what it should be…the location with so many ‘advantages’ turned out to have some daunting disadvantages as well” (p.55). For Jacksonville, while the river is an absolutely necessary condition for a viable port it is now insufficient in its present form to satisfy the next phase of maritime commerce. Further modifications to the river are once again demanded so that the largest post-Panamax ships can be accommodated with 24 hour access. This will require major public infrastructural projects related to dredging, deepening, and coastal engineering. The Cost of Building A Port-Based Growth Machine Promoting a particular engine for urban and regional growth that also requires massive public investment in infrastructure – as does the port economy – poses some additional challenges in the effort to galvanize widespread public support. Because the financial costs of channel dredging/deepening are significant, they are typically shared by federal and regional agencies. However, estimating the costs of such a project is itself a strategic and political process. Projects that are too costly may fail to generate the necessary public support or may fail to be approved by those in a position to do so. This can give rise to serious distortions in the communication of the costs and benefits of this development strategy. In the study of public works projects, there is considerable evidence that costs are routinely and systematically underestimated. According to Flyvbjerg et al.’s (2002) statistical analysis of 258 transportation infrastructure projects, cost estimates are not only highly and systematically misleading but the underestimation is best explained by intentional strategic misrepresentation (or, as they put it, “lying”). In fact, Flyvbjerg (2005, p. 18) has developed the following equation for successful megaproject approval: (underestimate costs) + (overestimate revenues) + (undervalued environmental impacts) + (overvalued economic development effects) = PROJECT APPROVAL One aspect of the growth machine phenomenon that should be more widely considered is the extent to which growth machine coalitions supporting particular forms of public investment, that enable large-scale development projects, facilitate and encourage inaccurate and misleading cost (and benefit) estimates. In the case of various and proposed maritime infrastructure projects aimed at deepening the St Johns River to accommodate the larger vessels, there have been a range of estimates and re-estimates. For Jaxport there are two major projects. The first maritime infrastructure project is at “Mile Point” where the St. Johns River intersects with the Intracoastal Waterway. The swift currents at this location prevent vessels from entering the channel except during two four-and-a half-hour-long windows each day. The Army Corp of Engineers recently approved the project to correct the problem and it is currently awaiting congressional action. The current cost estimate for this project is $38 million. The second and most significant and expensive project involves the deepening of the St Johns River channel from 40 to 50 feet from the mouth of the river to the new container terminals at Dames Point. This project will require a combination of dredging and blasting. The Army Corp approval of the project is based on a cost-benefit analysis as well as review for environmental implications. Initial estimates in 2007 and 2008 placed the cost at around $400 to $500 million. Later a “rough estimate” was placed at $600 million (Bauerlein, Times-Union, 2009). In January 2010 the figure increased to $1 billion (Szakonyi, 2010, Jan29-Feb 4). When and if the project is approved the cost is likely to exceed the current $1 billion estimate. This does not include the environmental costs associated with altering the salinity and hydrology of the river. The lengthy process involved in getting the approval of the Army Corp, and then actually completing the dredging/deepening project, has also become a major issue for the port and its customers. The Army Corp will conduct an extensive study of the costs and benefits of the project that includes an environmental impact statement. The Corp indicated in January of 2010 that the soonest post-Panamax vessels would be able to access the port is 2016. A Jaxport spokesmen responded: “2016 isn’t acceptable and we have to get closer to 2014.” The same report (Szakonyi, 2010, Jan29-Feb 4, p 1) noted that “If Jacksonville is late to have deep water access, the larger ships would go to other ports instead.” John Martin, head of the leading maritime port consulting firm added that, “It isn’t clear how much of the fleet will be requiring 50 feet, but if you don’t have 50 feet you can’t market to carriers to bring in the big ships.” In addition to the underestimation of costs is the overestimation of benefits. This is a common aspect of the growth machine strategy, also highlighted by Flyvbjerg in his analysis of megaprojects, particularly when the desired growth depends on public approval and/or taxpayer dollars. In a period of economic crisis and high unemployment, the promise of job-generating development projects can prove highly appealing. The single most common argument made in favor of Jaxport expansion and infrastructural investment is job growth. That is, one of the most significant benefits of the Jaxport expansion – both the infrastructure projects and the continuing operation of the port – could be the generation of new, and the expansion of existing, job opportunities for residents of the region and beyond. This fact alone often trumps any other considerations or objections related to excessive infrastructural costs or environmental consequences. In assessing the jobs claim, and weighing costs and benefits, it is important to consider both the quantity and the quality of employment opportunities. While the Jacksonville community is told, at every opportunity, that “Jaxport Equals Jobs” there has been very little detailed information about the quantity or quality apart from the information disseminated by Jaxport through its website and included in their promotional materials. More specifically, Jaxport consistently claims that Jacksonville’s port “generates 65,000 jobs” and “these positions provide an average salary of $43,980, well above the Jacksonville average of $27,215” These figures are now echoed by all advocates of the Jaxport enterprise – from the executive director of the port to the Jacksonville mayor -- though most are unaware of their origin let alone their accuracy. They are derived from an economic impact study conducted by Martin Associates, the leading consulting firm for the port industry. But it is interesting how these numbers take on a life of their own. They are published in a report, placed on the Jaxport website, quoted by the press, and then passed on as empirically-based facts. However, a careful analysis of consultant’s report makes clear that the job figure is inflated by at least half and the average income based on limited data for far fewer than 65,000 workers thus also producing an inflated figure. For the purposes here, details on the methodological shortcomings and the more accurate figures are less important than the larger tendency by growth coalitions to make grossly exaggerated claims regarding the economic benefits of urban development projects (see Jaffee, 2010 for a critique and re-analysis). What is also interesting is the use of a single consulting firm for almost all US port economic impact studies and the role these firms play in the larger selling of the port-based growth machine dream. The Local Business Press and Organized Boosterism The local business press has also served as a major booster of the port economy. In 2009 the editorial board of the Jacksonville Business Journal (JBJ) threw down the gauntlet for Jacksonville’s economic development future. In “Game on for Jacksonville”, the journal argued that Jacksonville had received its “economic development marching orders” and they include, first and foremost, unwavering support for the half-billion dollar dredging project to deepen the St. Johns River so that the largest container ships will have access to the two new container terminals. The JBJ also noted that there will need to be significant investment in road and rail infrastructure to move the cargo. Without these two projects, Jacksonville can “watch the ports of Savannah, Charleston, and Norfolk eat our lunch”. The call-to-arms editorial finished with a flourish: “If the Northeast Florida business communities need a rallying point, this is it. All businesses will benefit if Jacksonville becomes a major international East Coast port. Need a slogan? Try this: A deeper St. Johns floats all boats.” It is hard to imagine a bolder claim for the universal benefit of an expanding port economy. On the navigational problems facing the intersection of the river and the intracoastal waterway, which will require a major coastal engineering project to remedy, the JBJ (Sept 4-10, 2009: 29) posed the issue this way: “Let’s see: Uninterrupted shipments vs. hours of delay. Result of findings: Project economically viable, funding approved. If only it were this easy. This is one case where Northeast Florida’s representatives in Washington should swing into action and put some pressure on the Army Corps bureaucracy to get this done quickly. Much is potentially at stake for our region’s economy. Don’t let the port’s expansion plans be compromised by unnecessary red tape.” This salvo, designed to galvanize the local business community, represents a familiar strategy in urban economic development. The JBJ returned to the port issue in a January 2010 editorial re-emphasizing the urgency of the situation: “But here’s the problem: If Jacksonville is not ready to receive the large ships from Asia in late 2014 when they start coming through the Panama Canal, it’s almost certain that other East Coast ports — Savannah, Charleston, Norfolk — will receive them with open arms. That’s not good. Jacksonville doesn’t want to have to play catch-up and try to lure those larger ships here after they have established connections at other ports”. (Jacksonville Business Journal, 2010, Jan 29, p.25). In 2010 a more concerted effort to get the infrastructure projects moving more quickly was launched by a coalition that included Jaxport, the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, and local business leaders. They organized a lobbying campaign to pressure the Army Corp and congressional representatives to fund and shorten the timeline for project approval and completion. This campaign developed their own slogan -- “Bring The Noise”. While possibly inspired by the hit song of the same name by Public Enemy, it ironically suggests an open invitation to deliver to Jacksonville what other port communities have learned to regret about a regional economy that depends on shipping and logistics – audio, air, and water pollution complemented with truck-clogged highways (see Matsuoka, Hricko, Gottlieb, & De Lara 2011). The mission of this campaign, that claims to have mobilized the community to write 14,000 letters to public officials in support of the port and the funding of the infrastructural projects, is “to mobilize North Florida’s competitive spirit to drive port progress, a stronger economy, and a better quality of life because everyone has a stake in the port’s growth and together we are more than the sum of our parts”. The campaign uses the same 65,000 jobs figure disseminated by the port and its advocates. There is no mention of any potential costs associated with the project. The “title sponsor” of the campaign is England-Thims & Miller Inc. a Jacksonville-based firm specializing in the management of large-scale infrastructure projects. Other sponsors include CSX, a rail and intermodal transportation company; the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors; RS&H, a facilities and infrastructure consulting firm; Degrove Surveyors, Inc., a land and hydrographic surveying consultant; HDR, an architecture, engineering, consulting, construction and related services company; and Taylor Engineering, a coastal engineering firm. In short, the local community has been asked to actively lobby in support of a project by the very economic interests that stand to gain the most from the infrastructural dollars. Most recently, some of the enthusiasm for the prospects of Jaxport becoming a major East coast port has waned. One factor contributing to this development is the unavoidable fact that the large number of east coast ports hoping to accommodate the post-Panamax vessels, and cash in on the expansion of the Panama Canal, will create significant overcapacity. There is currently intense competition among East Coast ports for the anticipated increase in cargo associated with the Panama Canal expansion. Almost every port is making investments in infrastructure and seeking Federal funding for coastal engineering projects. Many of these investment plans were made prior to the Great Recession. But given the unique set of conditions responsible for the boom period in the earlier part of the decade, one must consider the extent to which overcapacity will plague the shipping industry even if the global economy recovers. Observers of the maritime port industry are beginning to highlight the obvious and apparent dysfunctional situation of multiple East Coast ports competing and expanding for limited and continuing depressed levels of container cargo. The Journal of Commerce notes the “serious overhang of unused terminal capacity” and the fact that major East Coast ports such as Savannah, Charleston, and New York/New Jersey are all currently operating at less than 60% container capacity. In spite of this, East Coast ports are still projecting $15 billion in infrastructural upgrading over the next ten years. Based on conversations with stakeholders and observers of the port logistics industry, there is growing resignation that Jacksonville will remain in the lower or second tier among east coast ports and will be unable to meet its earlier aspirations for major league status. This view was even communicated recently by the The Jacksonville Business Journal (2011) which suggested Jaxport modify its mega-port aspirations and pursue “Plan B”: “What we need now is a reasonable reassessment of Jaxport’s potential, the niche markets we can pursue, the exports we can grow, and how we can build trade with the fast-growing countries of South and Central America, Brazil first and foremost. Our port likely won’t make it to mega-port status, but were still very much in the game.” Conclusion This paper has attempted to develop a preliminary analysis of an evolving urban growth strategy employing the growth machine and “boosterism” models of urban development and political economy. The focus is on the rise of an economic sector – goods-moving and logistics – that has received insufficient attention from sociologists. The urban case – Jacksonville Florida and the port economy – provides considerable support for the efficacy of the growth machine model of urban development and the associated tactics of boosterism to gain broader community support. There are several key aspects of this urban growth strategy that have been identified and that will be the focus of further study. First, consistent with original growth machine formulations, the coalition of business interests, particularly land-based elites with an interest in rising property values and speculative commercial real estate investment, play an important role in the promotion of the port. For this particular economic sector, warehousing and distribution centers serve as major claimants on urban land use. The critical role of infrastructural development, as necessary conditions for the realization of the port economy, stimulates the active involvement of coastal engineering firms in the promotional effort as seen most clearly in the “Bring The Noise” campaign that is currently underway. Second, the business press – represented most prominently by the Jacksonville Business Journal – has consistently called for a more aggressive lobbying effort in ensuring that the port economies full potential comes to fruition and that the necessary infrastructural projects get sufficient Federal funding and top priority among dredging projects. Third, the boosterism that designates urban and regional places as possessing special physical and geographically unique qualities has been a major part of the Jaxport campaign, as well as the self-proclaimed branding of the region as “America’s Logistics Center”. 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