With a striking lack of fanfare on Tuesday, Republican mayoral candidate Sam Katz released his plan for economic development. Here's a thumbnail review:

The Idea

Beyond those basics, Katz's plan offers a list of ideas designed to attract new business, to plan growth and land use more effectively, capitalize on the city's strengths and develop a smarter, more able workforce.

Some of the ideas are new, such as providing fee and tax abatements for "smart" buildings outfitted with the latest technologies. Some ideas are very familiar, like building links with local universities and hospitals and streamlining the city's regulatory process.

And some are things that city agencies are supposed to be doing now, like working with exisiting businesses to retain jobs and promote expansion. Mayor Rendell's Business Action Team is designed to do just that, as well as help businesses through regulatory and zoning issues.

It's hard to judge how successful Katz will be in pursuing this broad front of initiatives, but it's worth noting that past mayors have come in with similar hopes.

In 1984, Wilson Goode conducted a first-ever survey of all the city's businesses in an effort to assess and meet their needs. And Rendell's economic development program has included a variety of efforts to provide incentives and technical assistance.

Katz has certain specific modifications to the Rendell programs in mind. He would change the Tax Increment Financing program to award the incentives to a given area, rather than specific developments, as Rendell has done.

And Katz insists he will evaluate projects on a "but for" test - meaning that public funds should go only to projects that would fail but for the taxpayer dollars.

Katz also proposes a $100 million venture-capital fund to nurture new companies, but it isn't clear exactly where the money would come from or what the government's role would be.

None of the ideas in Katz's plan seems unworkable, but success depends much on the resources and talent behind them.

The Cost

Other Katz ideas could cost money, though just how much is impossible to say. He proposes business privilege tax rebates for certain kinds of start-up companies, as fee abatements and commercial tax reductions for high-tech buildings.

He suggests the city market neighborhood development in part by "aggregating" large sites to businesses. That could mean more money for land aquisition, though the city does some of that now.

And Katz's plan has no estimate of any staff costs that might accompany the business attraction efforts he favors.

Of course, to the extent his plan is successful, the city would benefit from job creation and tax revenues would rise. Katz has said he sees little or no impact on the city's budget from his plan.

The Politics

More tax breaks for business could require action from both City Council and Harrisburg, and might prove controversial. Katz also suggests the state absorb the city's $19 million subsidy to Community College of Philadelphia, in order to develop local educational options. That will require work in the state Capitol.