Through an economic looking glass, things are looking pretty swell for Monroe County and Bloomington.
That’s the assessment from business leaders who spoke at Wednesday’s meeting on the 2018 state of the Bloomington regional economy.
Speakers cited lower jobless rates and increased workforce training. But the biggest prize on the economic horizon, according to business leaders, was Cook’s purchase of the old GE Appliances plant and the tentative completion later this year of the Interstate 69 project through Bloomington.
“Folks, it’s very good out there,” Lynn Coyne, president of the Bloomington Economic Development Corp., said to a room of local business owners Wednesdayafternoon.“We are living in a very bright time, and our future is very bright.”
Coyne, Jeff Quyle of Radius Indiana, Richard Rampley of WorkOne South Central and Daniel Lopez of the governor’s workforce cabinet office each shared a rosy outlook.
“We’ve got to be excited about what we are doing in this state,” said Lopez, chairman of the governor’s workforce cabinet office. “The reality is, though, if we are going to take this to the nex tlevel, we’ve got to have employers who are willing to engage, who are taking the mantle for workforce development and preparing the next generation of leaders.”
Despite the economic development highlights of the past year, which brought more jobs and investment to the area, Coyne also focused on the challenge of a lack of affordable housing, which he describe as an issue “across all levels.”