Initiative #1

First the city needs to focus on creating institutions of learning as a long-term ongoing initiative for the city.  When I say institutions of learning I am referring to places that our citizens can go to, whether it being in-person or online, to learn various skills and to learn about relevant topics.  Funds and tax incentives need to be allocated for the formation of learning facilities dedicated toward the organic economic growth initiative.

 

With this long-term focus in mind, the following three organizations need to work closely together and be fully funded and staffed; the DeSoto Development Corporation (DDC), which is designed to attract new business to DeSoto, the DeSoto Area Chamber of Commerce (DACC), which is designed to support existing businesses in DeSoto and the Planning and Zoning committee, which would know when land is zoned or rezoned for commercial use for a specific company.  Every business that comes through the DDC or the planning and zoning should be referred to the DACC.  No business should come to DeSoto without the DACC knowing who they are.  Also, only paid members of the DeSoto Area Chamber of Commerce should be able to enroll in the DDC online program for free but non-members of the DACC will have to pay for the online program.  This will encourage local businesses to pay their membership dues to the DACC for an added benefit which will help fund the DACC more as part of the DeSoto Economics First! initiative. 

 

This new division of the DeSoto Development Corp. needs to have a separate main staff member who is the Director over this online programs division specifically.  The existing Director that handles the normal operations of the DDC could be Executive Director that new Director reports to.  The new Director of the online programs division will also be the liaison between both the owners and workers sides to ensure both sides are working in tandem as far has having the same end goals which is full employment.  Also, the Director of the online programs would need to be responsible for reaching out to local banks for them to set up low interest business loan programs specifically for DeSoto business owners who are a part of this initiative.  This piece is critical for business owners to be able to access low interest loans. 

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Now how will the program work?  

 

Since the DDC is publicly funded that is why this initiative needs to fall under the DDC umbrella so public funds can be allocated to it for this initiative to work.  The DDC will first need to hire a good website coding person that can create and maintain back-office portals.  The next thing is the DDC can solicit for retired long time business owners here in DeSoto that are willing to give back and help the young entrepreneurs not make the same mistakes they went through.  We should start with several of them. We should also solicit at least one retired teacher that is good at developing online courses and programs.  We should pay them to develop this for the city’s benefit preferably as DDC employees if possible but if not they can get paid as consultants or contractors but all things created must be specifically for the city’s use for this program.  They should present their courses to the website coder once a course is finished to have it put on the website correctly. 

 

The retired entrepreneurs and teacher's job will be to develop online learning courses for any topic that the retired entrepreneurs can think of that will help the young entrepreneurs.  For example, how to hire employees, how to manage employees, how to keep track of basic book keeping,  how to deal with basic business taxes, how to market, how to deal with vendors, how to deal with banks, how to apply for bank loans, etc. 

 

This is not for the general public only for the entrepreneurs of DeSoto enrolled in the program regardless if they are a one-man operation or already have hundreds of employees.  The usage of the online portal is free but again it is only for DeSoto entrepreneurs.  All entrepreneurs that use the online courses must sign into an online portal and to access it, they must either live in DeSoto or have an existing business in DeSoto before they are allowed to create an account. 

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Once the online courses are made then the retired program producers can decide on specific days and times throughout each month that they can get on Zoom calls to speak with business owners in allocated time slots outlined on a calendar.  Only members with existing online accounts can speak with the content producers via Zoom during specific determined time slots.  These open time-frame slots should be filled through an online appointment calendar in the online portal.  Every month their schedule will be posted in the calendar in the online portal.  

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All entrepreneurs must upload proof that they operate a business in DeSoto.  If they are a one man show then their DBA showing DeSoto as their place of business would be sufficient.  The goal is to specifically help our DeSoto entrepreneurs. 

 

The content creators can decide if they will offer any additional one-on-one coaching outside of the DDC for an additional fee if they want to set up a consulting business outside of their duties to the DDC.  Any paid consulting they are on their own and that will not fall under the city’s umbrella and they would have to agree to have any client sign a disclaimer saying they understand that any paid consulting has nothing to do with the city’s program.  Also, part of the disclaimer form that all entrepreneurs have to sign before they can access the online portal is a waiver of all liability and that any information that they receive from the courses either online or talking to a content creator in person is strictly information and is the content creators opinions from years of being in business but should not be taken as any legal advice and the city, DDC and any content creator and/or affiliates will be held harmless for any information given on and offline, added or implied in perpetuity.  Every entrepreneur will be required to sign this with no exceptions.  This will allow the content creators to give their information freely and as much as they have. 

 

Also, part of the required documents all entrepreneurs have to sign before they can log in the first time is they must agree that if they move their residence out of DeSoto and also no longer sell to the citizens of DeSoto then there online access will be terminated. 

 

Another document all must sign is to agree that if and when DeSoto has graduates from Desoto approved trade schools and learning institutions then the entrepreneurs that are using the portal will agree to interview the graduates first if they are looking to hire employees in that particular field.  If the city council could figure out a tax incentive for the business owners when they hire at least one graduate that would be even better.  The idea is we want to connect the local business owners with the local workforce.

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And last, there needs to be a special mark in the DeSoto Area Chamber of Commerce directory that designates businesses that are a part of the online DDC program.  Also a prominent link to this directory needs to be on the city's website and also in a future city app.  Marketing is an ongoing struggle for most small businesses and the citizens need to be able to easily find businesses in DeSoto in one main online resource.  

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Initiative #2

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Simultaneously, while Initiative #1 is being implemented, the second initiative needs to be implemented.  We need to focus on the workers.  We can start this initiative through the DeSoto Development Corporation as well.  It will be most effective under the same roof simply because the DDC is public funded.  

 

Again we can have a back office online portal for the workers.  To set up account they too will first be required to show proof of DeSoto residency along with signing waivers.  Once signed in, then they will also have resources designed specifically for workers such as how to interview for a job, how to compose a resume, how to work well with others, how to write emails, etc.  Our existing partnership with the Texas Workforce Commission could help with this.  They have a plethora of content.  Also any companies that DeSoto has a partnership with in regards to hiring DeSoto citizens will be listed in their back office portal. 

 

Also, the city needs to partner with both blue and white collar trade schools throughout the DFW metropolis and also provide incentives to bring in trade schools into DeSoto when possible.  All trade schools should be both the traditionally male jobs and the traditionally female jobs.  We want our male and female residents to have the maximum benefit from this program.  Some white collar trade schools are online nowadays so those would work as well to partner with DeSoto.

 

In the city’s partnership with the trade schools, low interest tuition loans should be available for DeSoto residents along with a conditional discount off of the normal tuition cost.  The condition should stipulate that the pre-negotiated discount off of their tuition only applies if they graduate and that they maintain their physical residence in DeSoto for a minimum of 3 years after their graduation date.  The conditions are very important because what we don’t want is to train workers and they move to another city when they graduate.  In those cases the other city reaps the benefits not us so the student would need to pay full price.  Also, typically when someone lives somewhere for 3 years they normally stay put and we want our highly trained workers to stay in DeSoto. 

 

Also, we need to pay someone from DeSoto to work at the DDC to be the job placement liaison for every graduate to help partner them up with a DeSoto business owner for job placement.  We understand that sometimes there will be a surplus of workers who graduate and not enough business owners in DeSoto that will be hiring at that moment.  In those cases the graduates should be placed with companies throughout the metroplex who DeSoto has partnered with that will be willing to hire DeSoto residents.  This is another reason why we need to require that the workers maintain their residency here in DeSoto for at least 3 years even if they find a job in another city.

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Initiative #3  

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While initiatives 1 and 2 are being developed and implemented the third initiative should be ongoing as well.  This initiative involves the City Council. 

 

The very first thing that needs to be done is a “DeSoto Business Owners Assembly” needs to be held.  This should be a convention strictly for business owners of DeSoto held in DeSoto.  This convention should be a regularly scheduled meeting where the city’s business owners can come together to agree on no more than three main topics that they feel DeSoto needs most.  An Assembly representative should present the three items to the City Council at a City Council Meeting on a predetermined basis.  For instance once every quarter or once every four or six months, the Assembly needs to decide what the interval will be and stick with that interval.  Presenting any more than the top three items would be too much.  This will give the City Council better direction on what the business owners need and want for and from the city.  Of course there is no guarantee that the City Council will do the items however, the Council will specifically know the business owners needs and can decide accordingly.   

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Also, considering DeSoto is quickly running out of usable land all new residential single family housing developments not already approved or in the works should be paused.  Any vacant land should be carefully considered for the possibility of rezoning it for commercial use first if at all possible unless the land is a vacant lot in an established neighborhood then it can stay zoned residential.  We are basically out of land to go wide so we now need to go up.  Future housing needs to be 3 story townhouses, condos, mixed use high rises and residential high rises.  The maximum height high rises need to be between 10-15 stories high and there should be a gradual increase in building height the closer you get to I-35.  Any new commercial based housing projects should be geared toward the middle and upper middle class income earners.  We want to be able to attract both the blue collar and white collar workers into DeSoto.  I also think that we have enough industrial zones.  We don't need to expand our industrial zones but we do need to fill up every inch of the existing industrial zones with industrial properties.  

 

Going up is a way that we will be able to attract and keep white collar workers.  That being the case, the City Council needs to approve a top of the line, state-of-the-art Fire House on the far north side of DeSoto.  They also, most importantly, need to approve the purchase of a top of the line Fire Truck with a ladder for high-rise buildings.  The average citizen has no clue that the reason DeSoto has never had any tall buildings is not just because of our bedroom community policies, it is also because we have never approved a Fire Truck with a ladder tall enough for high-rise buildings.  Because of this, no high-rise building could ever get approved even if the citizens wanted it.

We may need to add a new water pump station in order to support high-rise buildings.  A feasibility study will need to be done concerning this.  When I say high-rise I don't mean downtown high-rises just anything higher than 7 stories.  I'm thinking anywhere from 10-15 stories high should be sufficient for DeSoto.    

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Once we get our limited land rezoned for commercial and we get the proper fire truck then we can finally open up DeSoto for sustainable organic economic development long term.  Going up will give the city more options which in turn will give the citizens more options.  Mixed use high-rises would be best where the bottom floors are businesses for the general public.  Some high-rises will have residential at the top and some high-rises will have commercial business at the top.  Our high-rises can house some of our learning facilities as well. 

 

In the meantime any of our existing empty commercial buildings can be re-purposed into learning institutions, trade schools and white-collar small business incubators.  A good example could be the same concept as the DeSoto Marketplace but having computer booths and rooms for start-ups.  Every room should be equipped with a desk, a chair and a high speed internet connection.  Also an area for tenants to make their business videos.  Everyone knows the stories of millionaires saying that they started in their garage, well the incubator rooms could be the space for some of our citizens’ “garage” stories.  It could be an entrepreneur incubator. 

 

We also need to reserve some of the commercial land for entertainment, shopping, and dining facilities.  We want to fill the commercial buildings with our locally trained white collar workers working for our local business owners.  That being the case, the High-Rises should be the last thing built in this equation because we need to have the owners and workforce in place and overflowing first.  This will take some time first. 

 

The entertainment. shopping and dining buildings can be built first but the land allocated for High-Rises should not be used for anything else until it’s time to build the High-Rises on them later on.  High-Rises will maximize tax revenue for the city to help keep existing residential houses taxes low. 

 

We keep our precious DeSoto dollars circulating within our community when the workers are going to work in DeSoto then eating lunch at a local DeSoto restaurant.  When they get home they are eating dinner at a local DeSoto restaurant.  And on the evenings and weekends they are shopping in DeSoto and going to a DeSoto entertainment facility.  This is how we grow strong economically with DeSoto Economics First!