Boeing Co. deal earns national recognition

Celebrities have the People's Choice Awards. Smokestack chasers have the annual Economic Development Deal of the Year Awards, as chosen each year by Business Facilities magazine.

And as it turns out, Joe Taylor and his staff over at the S.C. Department of Commerce rose to the top for 2009 on the wings of none other than Boeing Co.

Agencies from 15 states nominated what the trade publication call 19 "big-ticket projects" for consideration by a panel of judges who evaluated economic impact statistics, job-creation estimates and project narratives.

The commerce department snared the "Gold Award" for Boeing's decision to pick North Charleston as the site of its new 787 Dreamliner assembly plant, the magazine noted.

With completion set for mid-2011, the $750 million investment "vaults the Palmetto State into a leadership position in aerospace manufacturing," according to the Tinton Falls, N.J.-based publication.

"The choice of North Charleston as a manufacturing site for Boeing's best-selling commercial jet will have a seismic impact on South Carolina's economic development," said editor-in-chief Jack Rogers.

Several mega-projects -- with a projected overall economic impact of more than $1 trillion -- were nominated for the top award. The runners-up were Tennessee's Department of Economic & Community Development for luring a Hemlock Semiconductor plant; and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership for its role in landing the Northrup Grumman Shipbuilding-led AREVA/Newport News partnership.

Ship watch

Thanks to a few cruise terminal redevelopment "listening sessions," the State Ports Authority learned that merchants and residents want better warning when a ship pulls into town.

In response, the agency developed an e-mail service just in time for the cruise season kickoff next month. Interested parties can sign up by entering an e-mail address at www.scspa.com/cruises.

The site also includes a calendar of all planned cruise calls. The SPA plans to bring on better signs, re-route traffic and handle more cars on the terminal instead of on public streets this year.

The agency recently began planning a major redevelopment of 15 waterfront acres with New York-based urban design firm Cooper Robertson & Partners. One of the first orders of business was to hear out residents and merchants at a series of forums.

The remarkable turnout meant a delay in the master plan as the SPA decided to incorporate some of the many suggestions it received.

Picturesque

TV reception is improving for the 14,000 rural customers of Palmetto Rural Telephone Cooperative Inc. of Walterboro, who can now buy digital service from the company's line-up of products. The co-op will begin taking orders for the state-of-the-art Internet protocol television digital video service today.

To subscribe, customers can sign up at the provider's Walterboro customer service location, 2471 Jefferies Highway. PRTC is also providing Cottageville residents priority installation for digital TV service because of the recent cease in operations by the community's cable television service provider.

Digital TV has a signal delivered using Internet protocol over a network infrastructure instead of through traditional broadcast and cable formats. Only the content the subscriber requests is streamed to the home, and channel capacity is virtually unrestricted.

"With the addition of ... digital TV to our product roster, we're poised to take television viewing beyond what has ever been available to our service area," said Jason Dandridge, the co-op's CEO. Customers can verify if the service is available in their area by calling 843-538-2020 or going to www.prtcdigitaltv.com.

Capital idea

Small business owners can participate in a free online forum to learn about available funding.

The state Commerce Department and the National Federation of Independent Businesses are partnering to present a Webinar titled "Access to Capital -- A Guide for Small Businesses."

It takes place at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

The forum marks the start of a three-part series.

This week's virtual workshop will focus on non-commercial bank resources in the state, such as programs offered through the U.S. Small Business Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. To register, e-mail kyle.jackson@nfib.org or call 803-254-1476.