Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Mayor Bieter: Boise shows courage during challenging economic times
Bieter harkened to the wonderful courage shown by athletes who participated in the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games. That brought a few tears to my eyes, thinking about my autistic son and the courage shown by Special Olympians in all of the phases of the winter games. If anything, the experience of watching them compete made me feel that I have to try harder to help my son Drew try athletic endeavors, even though he has no interest in doing so. The payoff for him will be big.
The theme of courage also resonated about the difficult economic times that we’re experiencing in Boise. It’s heartwarming to see that Boise is weathering the economic storm better than some, and how many of our businesses and new startups are finding traction in a difficult marketplace because of great talent, smarts and initiative.
Here’s a statistic you might not know: Boise ranks 4th in the nation in the business “churn” factor, an economic term to gauge the number of startups and failures as a percentage of the total businesses in Boise.
“Sure, we’ve lost a lot during these tough economic times, but we stand to gain even more because of ingenuity of our people,” Bieter said, mentioning a few high-tech and alternative energy startups like Inovus Solar and Clearwater Analytics.
Bieter wants to create a “Green House,” a startup incubator center much like the Boise Water Cooler that will be dedicated specifically for alternative energy startups. I love that idea, and it will help create more enthusiasm and investment for alternative energy development in Boise. Bring it on!
We can look back on the last 12 months, and we all know that times have been tough. But in Boise, we have courage. We have innovation. Our business “churn” rate shows we’re not afraid to take risks. Thanks for the inspiration, Mayor Bieter. We’re all in this together. Let’s keep churning and moving forward to the mayor’s goal of making Boise “the most livable city in America.”
Labels: Boise, Boise business, Boise startups, business churn, innovation, oise Mayor, pacific northwest lifestyle
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Boise needs a Streetcar to create a more "walkable" urban core
Leinberger told a crowd of several hundred Boiseans at the Boise DBA's State of Downtown annual meeting this morning that Boise is on the right track in developing a vibrant downtown core. He also said “you’ve gotta have rail transit” to take downtown Boise to the next level.
As many people know, the Capital City Development Corporation and the Boise Mayor’s office are studying the feasibility of building a streetcar system in the downtown core. Drake Cooper is assisting with this project. In his brief remarks, Mayor David Bieter said, “It’s time in the next year to push (the streetcar project) over the finish line and move ahead.”
Leinberger pointed out that the new trend across America is to build “walkable urban” environments, in stark contrast to the “driveable suburban” craze.
Boise’s got a head start in creating a walkable urban zone because city leaders have planned it that way for some time. The streetcar project would further enhance downtown by removing the need for driving downtown, saving on the need for more parking garages and freeing up vacant land for business development.
The average American citizen spends $8,600 a year to operate and maintain one car, he said. Many Boise residents could eliminate one of the cars in the family fleet if a streetcar system is built.
Walkable urban environments add tremendous value to the tax base and resale values. Leinberger encouraged Boise to continue doing good things, focus on building more residential development downtown for “dinks” and retirees, try to raise more money for downtown investment, and try to grow the downtown area toward Boise State.
“You have the opportunity to create a transformable place,” he said.
At Drake Cooper, we’re all for it.
Labels: Boise, Boise Streetcar, pacific northwest lifestyle, smart growth, urban planning
Friday, March 27, 2009
Bike & Trike will be a fun family event
Labels: bicycling, Boise, Coleman Homes, Kristin Armstrong, real estate, trike races, West Highlands
Monday, January 12, 2009
NW Energy Innovation Summit inspires discussion on alternative energy development
But I had no idea it would take sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo long.
Finally, after Americans got soaked by the big oil companies last summer when Exxon Mobil and others made record profits from $4-per-gallon gasoline, people are starting to look at alternative energy sources in a new and big way, not to mention hybrid and electric cars.
Idaho has embraced a goal of becoming 25 percent energy independent by 2025, more large-scale renewable energy projects are pending in this state than ever before, and Idaho Power Co.’s big push in the future is to save energy through improved energy-efficient building practices, tighter insulation and conservation. Idaho ranks No. 5 in the nation in terms of renewable energy development potential.
It is against this backdrop that Boise entrepreneur Mark Rivers organized the Northwest Energy Innovation Summit, which began today in Boise. Mr. Rivers has lined up a bevy of Idaho, regional and national authorities, including Woodrow Clark II, Senior Fellow at the Milken Institute and co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (2007) on climate change, Bill Jayne, regional director of GE Power and Water, Dr. David Hill, deputy director of INL and Catherine Wolfram, co-executive director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Innovation at Cal-Berkeley. The list goes on.
In some respects, Idaho has been on the forefront of alternative energy development given its history. Arco was the first U.S. city powered by atomic power, Idaho Power developed its power base on our mighty Snake River with scores of hydroelectric power projects, and INL continues to be a key national R&D lab for tech transfer projects. Idaho is No. 1 in the nation for patents filed per capita – our thirst for business innovation continues to be strong.
Some key ingredients moving forward will be whether the Idaho Legislature, the Obama administration and Congress provide new financial incentives for alternative energy development. Clearly, we need political leadership on this issue and a host of financial incentives for the private sector to jump in with both feet.
We also need to do a much better job of publicizing the alternative/renewable energy projects that already have been developed, and sharing this information with the general public and business community. This is an area where Drake Cooper expects to leverage its skill set to assist in what could become a major area of economic growth in Idaho and the Northwest. One speaker said we are poised on the edge of the "Third Industrial Revolution."
Thanks to Mark Rivers for getting the ball rolling. Let’s hope that the produces a great buzz and human energy to get this movement going in a big way in Idaho. - Steve Stuebner
Labels: alternative energy, Boise, Drake Cooper, innovation, renewable energy
Monday, December 15, 2008
National media give advice on Twitter
Courtesy of a PRSA teleconference, four members of the national news media weighed in about Twitter. The panelists ranged from a technology reporter from the St. Paul Pioneer Press, a business columnist for the San Jose Mercury News, and the digital audio manager for ABC News. About 10 PRSA members from Boise came over to Drake Cooper agency to participate in the discussion.
A blogger once described Twitter as "the latest Silicon Valley play thing" or "instant messaging for adults." Approximately 4 million people are using it now, a 440 percent increase from this time last year. Between 250,000 to 500,000 new people are jumping on board each 
month. This compares to 41 million unique visitors who frequent Facebook per month. Twitter is growing, but it's certainly not the only social media tool out there. Even so, because million of people are using it, it has become a marketing tool, it's a great way to pass on information to your friends and associates, it's being used by journalists to find sources for stories, and it's being used by PR people to pitch stories to journalists.
So, Twitter is another conduit that PR people can use to reach journalists who may have blocked their email inbox from unsolicited queries. How do we find these folks through Twitter? There are several lists out there online. Click here to see a pretty inclusive list of twittering journalists. This is great intelligence for the PR professional.
BUT ... the journalists on the panel warned us that sending them a story pitch via Twitter may not be the best way to pitch a story. Some of them prefer to receive a pitch via email, and some of them suggest getting to know them first by following them on Twitter, and then pitching them later.
They also reminded us that the same rules apply for pitching stories to them:
1. Research their bio and know what topics they cover.
2. Research the media outlet they work for and make sure they haven't already covered that story.
3. Get to the point quickly.
On the last point, Twitter requires you to be succinct because a "tweet" can not exceed 140 characters. Some journalists in the high-tech field prefer to be pitched on Twitter so they don't have to wade through a lengthy email to find the crux of the story pitch, if one exists at all.
The journalists also suggested hooking up with them via Facebook. The techie reporter for the St. Paul paper said he loves Twitter and hates Facebook. He also just finished a book about Twitter titled, "Twitter Means Business: How Microblogging Can Help or Hurt Your Company."
The other journalists on the panel liked Facebook, and see that service providing a lot more information and bells and whistles than Twitter.
Ultimately, we should know that Twitter is a unique social media tool, and it should be used accordingly. Figure out your goals, and use whatever communication tools are best suited to reach your goal. None of the tools are the end-all be-all by themselves.
But as new tools emerge, the Drake Cooper PR team believes that it is prudent to learn more about them and know how to use them.
A couple of Twitter resources:
- twitturly.com - Shows popular url's that people are sharing on Twitter.
- tweetbeep.com - Set up like a Google alert to keep tabs on what people are saying on Twitter about you, your company or your products.
- twitter.com/stevestuebner My Twitter handle.
Labels: agency, Boise, PRSA, Public Relations, Twitter
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