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You've heard the story before.

Somebody smart and enterprising starts a mega corporation in his garage with a screwdriver, spare parts and a Big Idea.

Visions of a young Steve Jobs come to mind, skinny and long-haired -- and recently dropped out of college -- building the first Apple computers in a Palo Alto, Calif., garage with his partner, Steve Wozniak.

It doesn't always quite happen like that, but many big businesses do start small.

Consider the modest beginnings of RF Micro Devices, right here in Greensboro, in 1990.

But even small businesses that remain small can make a big impact on the economy.

That's why it's encouraging to see city leaders and aspiring city leaders paying so much attention lately to the needs of these companies. Such an attitude, backed by tangible actions and policies, would be a refreshing step forward, from Washington to West Washington Street. And a welcome shift.

Little engines that could

Even though small businesses generated the vast majority of new jobs, elected officials traditionally prefer the splashy headlines they receive from landing a corporate big fish (remember Dell?).

But the recession may have shaken them into reality. So, probably, has the long, sad stream of announcements about corporations downsizing, closing in the Triad or closing altogether.

So, it's encouraging, if overdue, that the current City Council, at the suggestion of Councilwoman Trudy Wade, plans a small-business survey followed by a small-business summit scheduled for Feb. 16 and 17, 2010.

The need should be obvious.

Small businesses create the vast majority of new jobs, by some counts as many as 80 percent. Downtown's resurgence has been fueled almost exclusively by small businesses, who keep blossoming there in spite of the downturn. And more than 90 percent of the successful small businesses that are started and nurtured in the local, nonprofit incubator, the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship, tend to stay here, meaning the jobs they create stay here.

The council discussed the survey at a briefing last week. It would target all businesses with city privilege licenses and should be available online and via hard copy by mid-November.

Among the questions posed by the survey will be ratings, from one to five, of inspections, parking, police protection and new-business assistance. The survey will contain open-ended questions as well.

Sam Funchess, president and CEO of the Nussbaum Center, gives the city high marks in customer service.

"Obtaining business licenses is extremely easy in Greensboro," said Funchess, who also runs his own small business.

But there's almost always room for improvement.

New sweeteners?

Among other topics worth pursuing is the city's incentives policy. Is there a practical and affordable way through incentives to encourage small firms to stay and flourish here?

Is the new county incentives policy, which offers tax breaks to nearly any businesses that invest in capital expansions, worth adopting in Greensboro, in whole or in part?

And are even more radical approaches in order? For instance, would it be worthwhile to offer incentives to small businesses that pay above the county's average annual salary of $38,900?

Banking on small business

Finally, the city's loan pool for small businesses might be the most significant and meaningful way it can make an impact quickly.

The city jointly funds the loans with banks, with the city contributing 40 percent of the money, the banks, 60 percent. Businesses borrow from the fund under terms less restrictive than in conventional loans. But they must add one job for every $50,000 they borrow.

The city could press banks, especially those that received federal bailouts, to step up their participation in the pool.

By the time the summit convenes four months from now, the businesses' wish list? likely will be a lot longer.

The City Council obviously won't be able to fulfill every wish. It has its own bills to pay and dollars to mind.

Some ideas may require lobbying of the General Assembly or even Congress. Meanwhile, there's an encouraging bipartisan movement in Washington toward tax credits for job creation that bears watching.

Most promising right now is that the council and businesses seem headed for more meaningful and substantive dialogue.

That's an accomplishment in itself.