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The Munificent Five

Michael Bronner, president of Dr. Bronner’s natural soap company, probably didn’t know it, but in 2013 he witnessed what passes for a minor miracle these days in city government.

After learning the Escondido-based company had found a building that could accommodate its growth in Vista, that city’s director of economic development phoned her counterpart to ensure the smooth transition of the business out of the city and into its neighbor to the northwest.

“The cities work extremely well together and I couldn’t be happier,” said Bronner, head of the family-owned company known for its counterculture cred.

Zero-Sum Game?

City governments are often like sports teams, viewing a win for one as a loss for another.

But in North County, five cities — Carlsbad, Escondido, Oceanside, San Marcos and Vista — are about two years into a collaborative economic development and marketing program that rests on the rejection of that attitude.

Matt Sanford

Called Innovate 78, the program launched just over two years ago, coordinated by the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. and overseen by its director of economic development, Matt Sanford.

Each city kicks in $25,000 annually; the $125,000 per year contract with the Regional EDC was recently renewed for another two years.

“This was how the five cities could come together and combine our assets to have a better region to market,” said Matt Hall, mayor of Carlsbad, a staunch advocate for the program. “It’s very worthwhile.”

In years prior to its launch, the mayors of the cities along state Route 78 had worked together on regional transportation issues, he said.

“That led to this conversation about jobs and how difficult it was for people to find work, and how could we work together to become a region or a subregion where we could not only try and maintain the businesses we have today and help them grow, but also how could we work collaboratively to attract new businesses,” Hall said.

Rolando Martinez works with one of the organic soap products at the Dr. Bronner’s plant in Vista.

North County as a Brand

Sanford said the EDC has executed two complementary strategies as part of its work for the cities, including establishing North County as a brand under the Innovate 78 moniker with a website and a social media presence, and working with cities to make sure businesses get the same level of customer service, resources and tools regardless of the city with which they work.

Requests for information from businesses considering doing work in the area get one response, rather than five, for example, he said.

“It’s stepping out of the shadow of San Diego and becoming its own presence,” Sanford said. “You can go across five cities in 15 minutes so you’re talking about a community that even though it has city boundaries, is really one region.”Clothing company prAna, whose origin story starts in a garage in Carlsbad, has since moved three times, to a corporate building in Carlsbad, to a larger facility in Vista, then again to an even larger site back in Carlsbad.

During that process, “we were aware of the needs of the business and our economic development people worked in conjunction with the team in Vista to make sure the business stayed here locally,” Hall said. “That meant those jobs didn’t move elsewhere — most importantly, not out of state.”

PrAna is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Columbia Sportswear Co.

No Poaching

Although Carlsbad has a strong businesses base, Hall said each city has its own assets, from institutions of higher education to medical facilities.

“We realized that working together, we had more to offer,” he said.

Kevin Ham

Kevin Ham is Vista’s director of economic development.

He said the five cities have agreed not to “poach” businesses from one another. (That can be tempting since having more businesses boosts city coffers with tax money.)

“If someone calls us, we’ll let them know we’re working as a team along the 78 corridor and we’d like to share the information with the city in which that company started.”

He said he understands that it can be hard for city staff, officials and residents alike to see company leave the city in which it originated.

“But we also understand that if I have a company that can’t grow here, perhaps because of the space situation or because employees need to be closer to transportation, we still will do anything to help them thrive and grow.”

The Bigger Strategy

Ham said when he found out Dr. Bronner’s success had spurred it to consider buying a bigger building in Vista, he reached out to staff in the city of Escondido, where the company had been since the 1960s.

“We said, ‘we’re more than glad to help you, but we want to see first if the community in which it started can help you find a space,” Ham said. “Everyone is rowing in the same direction, from the elected officials down to the staff, on what the economic development strategy is.”

Bronner said he had hoped Escondido’s economic development staff could do what he and his team hadn’t been able to — find an equivalent facility in that city — but when they also struck out, he was glad to see their continued interest in ensuring the company would continue its success in Vista.

Ham, who is also chairman of the California Association for Local Economic Development, said he has fielded questions about how to replicate the program’s success.

“I get asked in my capacity as CALED chair, ‘how did you guys do it? How can we make it happen?’” he said. “It’s something we don’t see everywhere, but it’s something I would hope to see everywhere.”

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