You Can't Spell Job Creation Without A-R-T: Everyone's seen those studies from the Association for Inflated Statistics or whatever claiming the widget industry creates 37 gazillion jobs and pumps infinity-plus-one dollars into the local economy, but here's one you ought to pay attention to: A study released last Thursday by Americans for the Arts and the Athens Area Arts Council found that the arts is at least a $10 million industry responsible for 352 jobs and $1 million in state and local tax revenue in Athens. And that's just the nonprofit sector, and only the 10 of 52 groups that responded to a survey. "Jobs, jobs, jobs. Tax revenue, tax revenue, tax revenue. That's what I'm talking about," Jay Dick of Americans for the Arts said at an arts council luncheon.

An analysis by Mayor Nancy Denson's economic development task force found even bigger numbers. The for-profit arts and entertainment industry accounts for 465 local businesses, 3,122 jobs and $165 million in sales. Developer and classical guitarist Ed Nichols, a member of the mayor's task force and Create Athens, an organization that promotes the arts as economic development, told luncheon attendees that "we learned the creative sector here in Athens is powerful, it's vibrant, and we can create jobs."

Yet the task force report gives short shrift to the creative sector, making only one recommendation: hiring a public-relations firm or a staffer, either in the proposed Center for Economic Development or the Athens-Clarke County government's public relations office, to promote the arts. The report spends more time discussing regulations on parking lots than it does the arts. And that's a problem. Athens churns out artists like Detroit churns out cars. It's time we started treating the arts like we treat other industries, not just as something quirky and cool.

Caterpillar gets $75 million in free land, tax breaks and other incentives to build a plant in Athens that might one day employ 1,400 people, and the arts, which employ more than twice that many people today, get next to nothing from our local government and the state. Not even the National Endowment for the Arts gives grants to individual artists anymore. "Unlike other industries, artists go out there and do it alone," AAAC board member Laura Bierema said.

One thing Athens could use is a resource center for artists, a public studio and gathering place where they can get supplies, work, apply for microgrants and swap ideas when their careers are just getting started. Chris Appleton saw a similar need in Atlanta and founded WonderRoot to fill it. The group spent $700 on paint and plywood at Home Depot, gathered up a bunch of artists and painted 109 signs to promote Atlanta's Beltline park and transit project. The city loved it and asked him to do more, he said at a Classic Center conference last week sponsored by the think tank Georgia Forward. "A great city needs great arts and culture, but we don't do enough to promote it, and we don't do enough to retain the talent," Appleton said.

And now, I'll turn the proceedings over to my esteemed colleague John Huie, who's been covering the economic development task force and has some thoughts now that they've turned over their report to the Athens-Clarke Commission. Take it away, John.

More Questions Than Answers: It's hard to be excited about the new report on economic development. It's less than compelling—full of generalizations and short on specifics (such as a suggested budget). It shows the task force's failings more than its accomplishments.

Why didn't the task force talk to economic development agencies and professionals in nearby counties, since a regional approach was the prime recommendation of the last task force report back in 2005? Why did it recommend chartering a new local authority, requiring legislative action that might be hard to get, instead of using one of several existing authorities? Why did the task force back down from suggesting that elected commissioners not serve as voting members, given possible conflicts of interest? If the task force was so sensitive to politics, then why did it suggest a half-mill tax increase—sure to be a hard sell—without even justifying where the $1.6 million a year is supposed to go?

There are lots of good ideas in the report—just like there were in the one before it and the one before that. When Commissioner Kathy Hoard said she doesn't expect the new report "to collect dust on the shelf," she may be right, but only because people are too ashamed by ACC's repeated failings at economic development (with the inspiring exception of the new Caterpillar factory). But why has Mayor Denson now punted the issue to yet another committee—this one of four elected commissioners—postponing action for months, to the very time when Athens’ first gung-ho economic development professional (hired out of retirement for only a year) will be leaving?

Sims, Herod, Girtz and Hoard are competent and hard-working, and if anyone can sort it out, they may do it. But Athens' high poverty rate, belied by UGA's gentility, is not just an ugly statistic; it has grueling daily impacts on many unemployed and underemployed citizens. This, too, has been studied by citizen committees, and one overpowering conclusion has been that the real answer to poverty is more and better jobs. Athens-Clarke County has failed to compete effectively for those new jobs for years, as we have repeatedly been told. And there really is no reason for that failure, no excuse, except that those in power have cared more about other things.

The big push to bring Caterpillar here proved that Athens and Oconee can succeed at economic development. Will that success now become just another excuse for complacency? That would be inexcusable.

Rest In Peace: Blake again. A City Hall fixture, the Rev. Keith Johnson, passed away two weekends ago at age 53. His mother, Lacey, is a formidable activist in her own right, and Keith grew up to be a leader in the local black community and an advocate for the poor and for smart growth. He considered running for mayor in 2006, which would have been a sight to see, but heart trouble sidelined him. After recovering, he reconstituted the local chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and continued to speak out on behalf of the downtrodden. We'll miss Keith striding up to the podium after meetings to drop his inscrutable wisdom on the commission.