Published: September 29, 2007 11:03 pm         

City, PEDC win state recognition

PALESTINE — When filling out the application for the 2007 Community Economic Development Award, Brian Malone didn’t choose any particular economic project from the past year to highlight.

He chose them all.

In doing so, Malone helped the Palestine Economic Development Corporation win the 2007 CEDA for communities between 15,001 and 40,000 in population, beating out Bay City, Ennis, Plainview and Weatherford.

“There’s four different areas (in the application),” Malone said. “We submitted under all four categories. The award we won is a community award. It truly represents the community of Palestine’s efforts over the last year.

“There were some really good projects, single projects, but our application was everything.”

Other CEDA winners include Sunnyvale (population under 5,000); Kilgore (pop. between 5,001-15,000); Georgetown (pop. between 40,001-100,000); and San Antonio (pop. over 100,000).

The CEDAs are sponsored by the Texas Economic Development Council, which presented the awards Thursday at the TEDC’s annual conference in Dallas.

According to information on the TEDC Web site, the CEDAs were established in 1995 “to honor excellence and exceptional contributions of Texas communities in economic development,” particularly in the areas of business retention, business expansion, business recruitment and community involvement.

Applications were judged on innovativeness, transferability, community commitment and leveragability, measurable objectives and ancillary benefits to the community. Projects or programs included in the application must have been complete or ground must have been broken between June 1, 2006 and May 31, 2007.

Past winners in Palestine’s classification include Hereford (2006), Denison (2005), Sherman (1999, 2004), Frisco (2003), Mansfield (2002), Lufkin (2001), Big Spring (2000), Paris (1998), New Braunfels (1997), Cleburne (1996) and McKinney (1995).

Mayor Carolyn Salter said she was proud to see the city and the PEDC honored statewide for the work done to attract and keep business in the community.

“I’m thrilled for the city to win,” Salter said. “This will enhance the community as progressive and pro-active. It should improve our community’s ability to market itself to individuals and new businesses.”

In the Business Attraction portion of the application, Malone described a pair of new businesses recruited by the PEDC to Palestine — Xpad, which manufactures industrial evaporative cooling pads for the poultry industry, and Mountain Pure, which manufactures plastic bottles and also bottles spring water.

Under Business Expansion, Malone described efforts made to help Product Concept Design expand its research lab, as well as the PEDC partnership with the Palestine Area Chamber of Commerce to host monthly “Small Business Seminars” aimed at the local business community and a working relationship with Trinity Valley Community College to open a satellite office of the Small Business Development Center.

For Community Involvement, Malone listed the downtown revitalization efforts, including the provisional Main Street status; the Community Development Grant Program, which allows non-profits to apply for funding for projects that will benefit the community; and the construction of the city’s brick gateways, partially funded through a grant from the Texas Department of Transportation.

In Business Retention, Malone chronicled the partnership with Rusk and the community efforts to save the Texas State Railroad from being shut down.

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Beth Foley may be contacted via e-mail at bfoley@palestineherald.com

     

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