Elgin business leaders see silver lining

Journalists are notorious for being bad at math. Ask five reporters why they chose to write and at least one response will be "because I can't do math."

I can actually perform math pretty well, and I've had a lot of practice in subtraction - especially when it comes to my checking account.

Which leads me to a round-table discussion at the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce that I attended last week.

Chamber officials gathered a handful of business leaders to share their thoughts on our country's recession.

A lot of businesses - national and local - are subtracting workers to just stay afloat.

And gloom and doom front page news headlines multiplies anxiety people feel about the future.

But a historic event like the election of Barack Obama may prove to be a very big addition. Going forward, let's hope the country is not divided.

Some companies are adding to Elgin's industrial and visitor base. One of them is Mazak Optronics, which is building a 50,000-square-foot North American headquarters at Randall Road and Interstate 90. The facility should be open by February and half of it will be a showroom for multimillion dollar computerized laser cutting machines.

"This is going to bring people from all over North America (to Elgin) for training," said Mike O'Kelley, the chamber's vice president of economic development. "We anticipate 1,600 hotel stays per year generated by this facility. It's really for sales and training."

A lot people assumed home values would exponentially increase. That variable is headed south, and they are paying dearly for it now.

"People started to use the home equity loan as a piggy bank. It's an unfortunate thing," said Tom Johannesen, president of First Community Bank in Elgin. "I can't tell you how many times I've seen people at an advanced stage of life that owe more on the house than they paid for it, in some cases substantially more. It's not a good thing."

Johannesen, a self-described optimist, said the recession could have some positive effects, too.

"It's a healthy thing for people to learn to live within their means," he said.

Pat Hayes, founder of the Elgin-based Fabric Images, a firm that produces high-resolution images on large sheets for events such as trade shows, said a key to emerging from the recession is the future work force. And that's specialized training through Elgin Community College and other institutions that can multiply what workers can do.

"This is an opportunity for us to take a look at where we are and where we want to go," Hayes said.

Marco Alvarez, Fabric Images president, said his firm expects to add 20 to 30 workers next year sand continue to invest in new technologies. This will multiply what they can do for clients, who also want to multiply what their marketing dollars can do.

"They're not going to stop spending. They're just going to spend money smarter on something that's more measurable," he said.

So, years from now, will people say "addition by subtraction" helped Elgin and the United States make it through the recession?

Let's hope it all adds up sooner rather than later.