Delaware Stresses Easy Access for Business
Published Apr 16, 2008
MGZA Architecture’s Mary Severino says government officials are much more accessible in compact Delaware.
Whewn Mary Severino, president of MGZA Architecture in Wilmington, was newly situated in Delaware, she met a friendly man at a bank reception. Turns out that man was then-Gov. Thomas Carper – now a U.S. senator and formerly a U.S. representative.
“It was cool because I hadn’t met the governor of any other state,” says Severino, a Michigan native who also has lived in California, Georgia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Severino is one of many residents who have been amazed at how easy it is to meet Delaware politicos. Robert V. Harra, president of Wilmington Trust, recalls a transplanted banker from New York who marveled at the ability to pick up the phone and call the Wilmington mayor or the New Castle County executive.
“He always said that in New York state, he’d be lucky to get an aide to a state senator just to return his call,” Harra says.
Known as The First State because it was the first to ratify the Constitution, Delaware is the second-smallest state in area (2,489 square miles) and the sixth smallest in population (fewer than 900,000 residents). The small-town feel is an advantage when it comes to attracting new businesses.
In 2007, a pharmaceutical test packaging and delivery company told New Castle County Executive Christopher Coons that it would be relocating to New Castle County because company officials had been able to gain access to state and county decision makers. They’d received clear answers to questions about incentives, the land-use process, the local labor force and the regulatory environment, Coons says.
“They need to be building in six months, and they need to be open in 18 months,” he says. “They weren’t confident that they could do that in other places.”
Opportunities to rub elbows with government officials can happen almost anywhere. Severino says she met Gov. Ruth Ann Minner at a social function in a client’s home.
Chance encounters also can occur in the grocery store, in church, at a nonprofit event, at a Little League baseball game or at the gym, Harra says, adding, “That is just the way business is done” here.
Story by Pam George
Photo by Stephen Cherry
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