By Russ Henderson
October 28, 2009, 4:20PM

POINT CLEAR, Ala. -- A noted Forbes Magazine columnist and scholar of urban development told a group of local business leaders today that Mobile and surrounding communities are on the right track by building infrastructure and recruiting new manufacturing businesses.

"I've been very impressed with what you've been doing here, investing in your ports and infrastructure, and working to bring in more manufacturing jobs," Joel Kotkin, a professor at Chapman University in Orange, Calif., told the crowd at Envision Coastal Alabama's annual meeting at the Grand Hotel Marriott Resort.