I suspect none.

I know plenty of entrepreneurs (some successful) but not one has started a successful industrial, much less “green”, company. One can argue that the U.S has regulated all industrial production green or otherwise out of the country.

The fact is that there just aren’t that many new industrial scale companies including “green” companies making solar panels, electric cars and alternative energy production equipment.

And yet politicians at all levels of government have the arrogance to suggest that they are smart enough to prefer “green” companies over all of the other endeavors that men can set their minds to. Why so arrogant? Well, because the public buys it.

Most of us aren’t sophisticated enough to know that new business formation is extremely risky. We typically don’t understand that even when things seem obvious that they’ll work they won’t. We don’t understand the depth of investment and commitment a new industrial scale business takes. That’s why forming a successful business, needs to be very rewarding. Because, more often than not, they fail.

Yet politicians at federal, state and local levels continue to champion “green” over all other businesses. Do they know something that the rest of us don’t? Yep they know that the public will eat up their rhetoric and doesn’t understand the underlying economics of business formation. “Green” is the darling of moment and talking about it is like using candy to entice a child.

The Obama administration has perhaps taken it further than even the most arrogant politician could imagine. They are putting “green” patent applications ahead of all others. Effectively this means that a process for increasing fuel efficiency in lawn mowers will step ahead in the already long line for other patents. Fuel efficient lawnmowers could beat out a process to cure cancer. How warped. How arrogant.

Trenton has its share of arrogance. There are politicians running in the 2010 municipal elections who are touting green jobs in Trenton. Really? Are those politicians prepared to invest their own money in a solar panels or electric cars? Not likely, it would be far too risky an investment given the uncertainty of the underlying technology and the scale of worldwide competition chasing an industry that survives on government subsidies.

Instead they are counting on us to think they are singlehandedly finding jobs for the unemployable and combating global warming with just their words. If anything they’ll look for ways to use our money (tax dollars) to fund risky investments that they’ll claim are beneficial.

It’s a con.

Really, is Trenton so picky that it would turn down “non-green” business investment?

As an alternative, Reinvent Trenton suggests you pay attention to politicians who propose to create a better overall business climate in Trenton. Short of bribing businesses to locate here, how will they improve the investment atmosphere?

Today’s Trenton business atmosphere is toxic. Development is hard and cumbersome. The tax rate is high. There are few wealthy residents living here that might invest. There are few educated workers. And, Trentonians are generally hostile to industry.

Yet, in the face of these hurdles, Trenton’s politicians are talking about “green” jobs. Who do they think they’re kidding?

It’s an industry without the risk of the car business. It attracts sought after  middle class workers. And, it’s inherently good for the community.

What’s this wonder industry? And more importantly what do we need to do to attract it?

Education can be Trenton’s next great economic engine, all we have to do is break the monopoly government has on it.

We spend $290M on education annually in Trenton. This is a vast amount of money that’s spent on entrenched interests with no motivation or legal ability to grow and attract students from beyond the city’s boundaries. Creating a voucher system to allow parental choice, will change the educational and business landscape in Trenton and NJ.

Rather than perpetuating a stagnant bureaucracy that rules over teacher contracts and poor schools, let’s open it up and grow a network of independent schools. New independent schools will fight to serve our children, will work to attract suburban kids to the city and will provide options for the teaching profession.

Trenton’s first salvo in to what I hope will be a growth business is the River City School in downtown. The school’s central premise is that an urban environment can be a classroom for teaching. There’s merit in this kind of thinking.

A downtown Trenton school has direct access to the civics lesson that is state government. It is the ultimate classroom for the history of the American Revolution. Within close distance to the downtown location is a textbook of business history. And nearby are lessons in biology, geology and environmental science. 

Education happens when its brought to life for kids. Who doesn’t remember the field trips of their early school days. The new school will provide many such valuable learning experiences within walking distance from the classroom.

River City School will be funded through tuition set to a very low $10,000 through the efforts of a core group of volunteers. My deep hope is that a portion of the $16,000 we spend per student in Trenton can be used in the form of vouchers to help parents pay for their children to go to River City.

Moreover, I hope for the sake of our kids and for Trenton’s economy that we can unlock economic power of the $16,000 per student we spend to start up other independent schools that will attract more children to Trenton.

A vibrant market for education in Trenton will attract education workers to our city, will attract young scholars from throughout the region and will provide an attractive reason for parents to move back in to the city.

Link to River City School’s web site