Mayor Mark Begich comments
2007 AEDC Investor Lunch
Noon; July 26, 2007; Hilton Hotel

Thanks, Sophie Minich, for that introduction and for your service to this organization and our community.

It’s always an honor to join Anchorage’s business leaders at this forum for an update on our city’s annual economic forecast.

And I’m especially excited to hear our guest speaker talk about developments in the global market.

We enjoyed great conversation last night over a meal of wild Alaska seafood, so I know you’ll be impressed by Ted Fishman’s insights.

It’s somewhat of a tradition at these AEDC events for the mayor to give a windshield tour of what’s going on in the city.

There’s nothing I like to talk about more. If you can navigate your way through the construction zones, you know Anchorage is undergoing a growth spurt we haven’t seen since the Project ‘80s a generation ago.

We may not have quite as many sky cranes as Shanghai, but between those dotting the skyline in midtown, downtown, Mountain View and soon-to-be Girdwood, a lot of contractors are very happy.

Here in downtown, the new Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center is just about a year away from the grand opening, with construction now 53 percent complete.

Its opening will position Anchorage for many lucrative conventions we couldn’t even bid on before for lack of space. And it couldn’t come at a better time.

Our convention and visitors bureau reports that hotel revenue is up a whopping 8 percent for the first five months of the year, with May itself up more than 11 percent.

That’s thanks to big conferences like the International Whaling Commission, Ducks Unlimited and the National Rural Health Association.

The new convention center is leading the way for a major revival in downtown, with an expanded museum, new parking Atwood garage and pedestrian-friendly E, F and G streets.

Across the city - from Ship Creek to Mountain View, Eagle River to Girdwood - we’re working with private sector developers to renovate or build new housing, office and retail space.

All this is contributing to our 19th straight year of economic growth, improved bond ratings, record building permits. The list of superlatives goes on.

I thought I’d leave the other good news numbers to Bill Popp’s economic report. With the global economy our theme today, I wanted to focus my remarks more on Anchorage’s place in the world.

I was reminded of Anchorage’s huge potential as a global player a couple of weeks ago when AEDC hosted a group of international journalists.

They regularly enlist me in these visits as the Anchorage cheerleader.

We met down at the Bridge Restaurant on a gorgeous sunny day, watching fishermen pull king salmon out of Ship Creek.

Before we could even sit down, one of the visiting Chinese journalists was giving me the Anchorage sales pitch.

In flawless English, he was bragging about Anchorage’s tourist attractions, talking about Alaska’s proximity to Asia, telling me about all the wealthy new Chinese entrepreneurs looking for a place like Anchorage to invest.

Sometimes it takes a little perspective like that for a refocus.

I believe Anchorage is enormously well positioned to capitalize on our assets in the global economy. We’re already doing a lot of things right.

Our city is truly a melting pot of the world’s cultures. Carol Comeau has a hard time keeping tabs on the number of languages spoken within the school district, but I believe the latest is 94 different languages.

A recent University of Alaska report about Anchorage’s changing demographics said that minorities make up nearly a third of our city’s overall population, yet comprise almost half of public school enrollment.

These trends are expected to continue even more dramatically.

Likewise, UAA has attracted nearly 200 students from 34 different countries to enjoy our diverse course offerings.

Alaska’s Native corporations are now major international players, operating across the globe and bringing their profits home to their Alaska headquarters and shareholders.

Of course, our airport is one of our city’s chief economic engines, handling 650 international wide-body cargo landings a week.

This traffic makes us America’s Number One cargo airport and Number Three in the world. Ted Stevens Anchorage International generates one in nine jobs in Anchorage - nearly 16,000.

Numerous organizations and companies work long and hard to promote increased commercial and cultural ties between Anchorage and the rest of the world.

Our own Sister City Commission oversees six sister city relationships from Incheon, Korea, to Darwin, Australia.

UAA’s American Russian Center is expanding its international business development efforts from the Russian Far East to China, Korea and Europe.

And the World Trade Center Alaska works to connect foreign markets with potential Alaska suppliers.

These efforts and many more helped push Alaska’s exports to the highest level ever last year: 4-billion dollars.

But as I bet Ted Fishman will tell us in a moment, we can’t rest on our laurels or the global economy will leave us in the dust.

So I’d offer three suggestions for ways to keep us even more finely honed in this fiercely competitive world.

First, improve our language skills. The School District has nationally recognized immersion programs in Spanish, Japanese and Russian, and incentives to encourage foreign language study.

But these days an increasing number of colleges require mastery of a foreign language. And there’s nothing better for broadening one’s horizons than understanding another culture through language.

One of UAA’s most exciting new initiatives is working with the Chinese government to establish a Confucius Institute here to offer basic language training and cultural orientation. Let’s support efforts like this and more.

Second, we must make Anchorage more welcoming to foreign visitors and companies. By this, I mean doing all we can to encourage direct passenger flights between Anchorage and China, Japan and elsewhere.

Increasingly affluent Chinese travelers are looking for new exotic destinations to enjoy a Big Wild Life. There’s no place better than Anchorage, but getting here from Asia remains literally a pain in the rear.

Alaska Airlines’ new Hawaii flights should help with triangle visits by well-heeled international travelers.

I remember former Gov. Knowles offered a healthy incentive to any airline willing to establish direct passenger service between Asia and Alaska. Let’s think outside the box to capitalize on our location for international passenger travel.

At the same time, we need to make our community more internationally friendly, with signs in foreign languages and bi-lingual merchants. Training young Alaskans with those skills is a good first start.

Finally – and I know this one’s controversial - let’s consider an independent authority to run our international airport and Fairbanks International, to better shape and implement our vision.

Mort Plumb does a great job. But in reality, our airport is controlled by a Juneau-based state bureaucracy.

Our international airport is one of the few managed as it is in the world. We need to better involve the city and companies which depend on the airport’s good health, and to insulate long-term decisions affecting this economic engine from state political changes.

While we’re at it, I’d suggest the city-owned Port should be included in a transportation authority, so there’s even better coordination on international shipping.

Many others with far more international experience than me have plenty of additional good ideas. Let’s take a serious look at them to put Anchorage on the global economy’s cutting edge.

I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunities and optimism of Anchorage and city’s place in the world. Thank you for working together as we reshape our city for the 21st century.

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