Regional Community Development News – June 24, 2009 [regions_work]

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A compilation of news links about and for regional communities pursuing local and regional development.

Published on line since November 11, 2003.

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Contents

Top Regional Community stories … 1. – 9.

U.S. Regional Communities - sub-State, State or multi-State – news articles10.01 - .40

Other Regional Community News for Our Local Planet11.01 - .28

Blogging about Regional Communities … 12.01 - .16

Announcements and Regional Links13.01 - .09

Financial Crisis …14.01 - .03

Custom search: region, regions, regional communities … 15.

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Top Regional Community stories

1. More regional planning needed, report finds - The Daily Sound - Santa Barbara, CA, USA

Unparalleled challenges face the residents of Santa Barbara County, from increasingly clogged commutes and expensive housing to shrinking open space and agricultural land.

No other agency or organization in the county is more fit to seek out and implement solutions to those challenges than the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments , according to a recent County Grand Jury report.

But the organization, known as SBCAG, has not done enough to focus on comprehensive regional planning, the civil jury found, and instead has focused on road projects rather than other critical issues that impact residents, such as the jobs-housing imbalance and land use planning.

“There is no existing, documented, overarching framework to guide or anchor the decision-making process,” according to the report. “In its review of SBCAG meeting videos and minutes, the jury confirmed reluctance on the part of the board to adopt a collaborative approach to countywide problems. Rather than treating issues as opportunities for collective decision-making, the typical approach has been to frame them as threats to local autonomy, particularly if the state was involved.”

Several elected officials who sit on the SBCAG board — a 13-member panel comprised of the five county supervisors and mayors from each municipality — acknowledged there is work to be done on the regional planning front.

The board itself has acknowledged that fact on numerous occasions, according to the grand jury report, including in a 2004 study that spelled out the necessity for tools to deal with challenges that don’t follow political boundaries.

“Regrettably, SBCAG essentially shelved the report and its recommendations,” the grand jury found.

In its own set of findings and recommendations, the jury lobbied for a fully integrated regional plan and aggressive pursuit of any state funding to develop such a blueprint.

And while the SBCAG [ http://www.sbcag.org/] board is starting to take baby steps, as Kemp termed them, toward regional planning, the executive director said the public also plays a critical role in the process.

“The community needs to support this kind of planning or it will be an uphill battle the whole way,” Kemp said.

http://www.thedailysound.com/061609sbcagreport

2. Tunnel idea forces local officials to juggle - Glendale News Press - Glendale, CA, USA

The prospect of a Long Beach (710) Freeway tunnel bringing more trucks and other vehicles onto the Foothill (210) Freeway and into city streets is becoming a flashpoint for local residents.

It also has caused headaches for the city of La Cañada Flintridge, which earlier this year filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Transportation Authority challenging the use of Measure R funding for a project that has not yet been subjected to the California Environmental Quality Act.

So it’s no surprise La Cañada Councilman Dave Spence is in a difficult position.

He represents only his city constituents, but also serves on several regional governmental bodies, including as president of the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments [ http://www.sgvcog.org/ ], one of four sub-councils to the Southern California Assn. of Governments, [ http://www.scag.ca.gov/ ] which supports the 710 extension.

Therein lies a delicate line Spence and other officials have found themselves in as stakeholders begin to entrench themselves over the proposed project.

“It’s a tricky position,” La Cañada Mayor Laura Olhasso said of Spence’s governmental roles. “I know as a leader of San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments, Dave wears a regional hat. The majority of the members of that body have voted in support of an extension of the 710, and that’s the position that body has. But Dave, as a member of this council, has voiced strong opposition. That’s the hard thing about wearing multiple hats.”

Glendale City Councilman Ara Najarian has found himself in a similar position. In his city role, he has repeatedly voiced opposition to the project, but he is also scheduled to become chairman of the MTA later this summer, placing him in a powerful position at a county agency that would control millions in funding for the tunnel.

Spence, who is up for reelection to the regional council …

http://www.glendalenewspress.com/articles/2009/06/20/politics/gnp-spence20.txt

3. New Rail Lines Spur Urban Revival - New York Times - United States

...

While the credit crisis has halted many housing developments — notably subdivisions and stand-alone condominium buildings — some projects that are going forward are linked to broader revitalization or transit-related efforts.

“People have rediscovered cities and urban living,” said Shelley Poticha, the president of Reconnecting America, a nonprofit organization focused on integrating transportation systems with communities they serve.

Many cities are inspired by the success of Denver; Charlotte, N.C.; Portland, Ore.; Salt Lake City and others in combining transit and development to revitalize downtowns and suburbs.

...

“It’s been transformative,” said Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation. He anticipates 50 transit-oriented developments to be built around FasTracks over the next decade.

Urban-style development may be the brightest spot in a generally gloomy market. A recent survey of developers and investors by the Urban Land Institute for its annual Emerging Trends in Real Estate report found that urban redevelopment had the best prospects among all types of housing, while urban mixed-use properties and town centers scored high among niche property types. “These are the places that will be creating and holding value,” Ms. Poticha said. She said proximity to public transit could raise property values significantly.

“It’s moved from being an interesting idea to a core investment,” said Jonathan F. P. Rose, the president of the Jonathan Rose Companies, …

The most successful projects do more than build housing near transit stations. They take pains to create livable neighborhoods, with parks, paths, retail stores and places for people to gather. “Place-making is key,” Ms. Poticha said.

That often requires collaboration between local governments and private developers. Local governments might invest in transit, parks and infrastructure, revise zoning laws and offer financial incentives in return for a developer taking the risk of building in an unproven area.

...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/14/realestate/14sqft.html

4. Dodging a Bullet (Train): When DART's More About the "Area" Than About "Dallas" - Dallas Observer - Dallas, TX, USA

The concept of regionalism is a Trojan horse designed to gut the city in favor of the 'burbs. If you ever doubted that, take a look at the very close bullet that downtown Dallas just dodged yesterday ... we hope.

For 26 years, ever since the founding of Dallas Area Rapid Transit, downtown Dallas has been waiting to get a direct rail link into Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. A month ago, DART announced it was thinking of not building a line into the airport after all. Maybe ... instead ... perhaps they just might bypass the airport and bend the line out into the high-growth suburban sprawl areas out by Southlake as a way of helping developers out there sell more houses.

Oh, right.

Just what the city should do with a quarter-century's worth of financial and political capital: help fund more sprawl and screw downtown. Crazy, right?

But it almost happened, which means it could happen again. Make that: will happen again.

People with a stake in downtown Dallas have always assumed that DART would build its Orange Line through Irving up into the airport as soon as it had the money. … "For years now we have been promised there would be a direct connection with Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. There has been close to $6 billion in mixed-use development that has been planned or is already constructed in anticipation of that connectivity. That's what's been promised since day one."

Imagine the shock, then, when DART revealed during the recently ended session of the Legislature that it was thinking of not going into the airport but bending the Orange Line west, into the furthermost 'burbs instead. It seemed to make no sense.

Keep your eyes peeled for regionalism. They say it walks by night.

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2009/06/_the_concept_of_regionalism.php

5. Scottsdale may pull out of light-rail group - Arizona Republic - Phoenix, AZ, USA

Will Scottsdale keep riding as a member of the Metro light-rail board of directors, or will the city get off at the next stop?

The Scottsdale City Council will consider that question at a meeting next week.

Scottsdale pays $50,000 a year to belong to Metro light rail, the group that operates and plans the Valley's light-rail system.

However, Mayor Jim Lane wonders if it is worth the investment of money and staff time to remain involved with Metro if the city doesn't have light rail.

Lane said he is reviewing all of the city's memberships and contributions to regional planning efforts to make sure Scottsdale is getting the most bang for its buck during these rough economic times.

But some are concerned that pulling out of the group would cut the city off from talks about how to connect Scottsdale to the regional transportation system in the future - whether by streetcar, bus, trolley or light rail.

Regional transportation discussions are already covered through the Maricopa Association of Governments and Valley Metro, which Scottsdale is "intimately involved with," Lane said.

"We need to look at whether or not it is important for us to be involved with (Metro light rail) since we don't have any track, we don't have any vote and we're to discuss things that don't impact us at all," Lane said.

Scottsdale does have a vote on the Metro board, but it is weighted at the minimum of 3 percent, like other member cities that don't have light-rail tracks.

...

The question of light rail in Scottsdale has been a divisive topic for years.

Supporters view light rail as a way to boost revitalization and relieve congestion.

But opponents say the system is too costly and could corrupt the character of the city's Western-style downtown.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2009/06/13/20090613nesrtransit0613.html

6. Interagency Partnership for Sustainable Communities: DOT, EPA, HUD - US DOT – Press release

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan, U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Ray LaHood, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson today announced a new partnership to help American families in all communities –- rural, suburban and urban – gain better access to affordable housing, more transportation options, and lower transportation costs.

DOT, HUD and EPA have created a high-level interagency partnership to better coordinate federal transportation, environmental protection, and housing investments and to identify strategies that:

* Provide more transportation choices. Develop safe, reliable and economical transportation choices to decrease household transportation costs, reduce our nations’ dependence on foreign oil, improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote public health.

* Promote equitable, affordable housing. Expand location- and energy-efficient housing choices for people of all ages, incomes, races and ethnicities to increase mobility and lower the combined cost of housing and transportation.

* Enhance economic competitiveness. Improve economic competitiveness through reliable and timely access to employment centers, educational opportunities, services and other basic needs by workers as well as expanded business access to markets.

* Support existing communities. Target federal funding toward existing communities – through such strategies as transit oriented, mixed-use development and land recycling – to increase community revitalization, improve the efficiency of public works investments, and safeguard rural landscapes.

* Coordinate policies and leverage investment. Align federal policies and funding to remove barriers to collaboration, leverage funding and increase the accountability and effectiveness of all levels of government to plan for future growth, including making smart energy choices such as locally generated renewable energy.

* Value communities and neighborhoods. Enhance the unique characteristics of all communities by investing in healthy, safe and walkable neighborhoods – rural, urban or suburban.

The HUD/DOT/EPA partnership will:

* Enhance integrated planning and investment. ...

http://www.dot.gov/affairs/2009/dot8009.htm

7. East Texas Council of Governments forms Citizens' Advisory Team - Kilgore News Herald - TX, USA

East Texas Council of Governments [ http://www.etcog.org/ ] has formed a Citizens' Advisory Team to advise staff regarding the area's position on federal and other funding, as well as to prioritize regional transportation project needs.

The team will advise staff on the development of a Rural Transportation Planning Organization (RTPO).

Citizens' Advisory Team members include: Harrison County Judge Richard Anderson; Jeff Austin III, chairman of the Northeast Texas Regional Mobility Authority; Smith County Judge Joel Baker; Randy Brogoitti, MB Construction Management, LLC; Randy Hopmann, TxDOT Tyler District; Griff Hubbard, AMTRAK; Bobby Littlefield, TxDOT Paris District; Robert Ratcliff, TxDOT Atlanta District; Gregg County Judge Bill Stoudt; Tim Vaughn, East Texas Corridor Council chairman; and staff members John Hedrick, director of transportation, and David Cleveland, executive director.

Staff and team efforts would place the region in front of proposed state legislation that would encourage RTPOs being linked to Councils of Governments. The team will consider best practice alternatives with the goal to present the ETCOG executive committee an RTPO framework that will strengthen the region's transportation, planning, consensus building and advocacy activities.

"ETCOG is always looking for ways to address regional needs. As a regional planning organization for nearly 40 years, this project is a perfect fit for us," said David Cleveland, ETCOG executive director.

ETCOG serves as the Rural Transit District for its 14-county region, providing public transportation services for Anderson, Camp, Cherokee, Gregg, Henderson, Harrison, Marion, Panola, Rains, Rusk, Smith, Upshur, Van Zandt and Wood counties.

It also provides administrative support for the East Texas Corridor Council, which is seeking higher-speed rail along the I-20 Corridor.

http://www.kilgorenewsherald.com/news/2009/0620/news/016.html

8. Regional agency opposes Tulsa area code plan - Associated Press

A regional planning agency for the Tulsa metropolitan area is opposing a plan to create a new telephone area code for the region within the existing area code's territory.

In a letter to members of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission last week, the Indian Nations Council of Governments, a voluntary association of 50 municipal and five county governments in the Tulsa area, said the so-called overlay option for the proposed new area code would create a "continuing and undue burden" for telephone customers in northeastern Oklahoma.

Instead, INCOG is recommending the commission create a geographic split where a line is drawn through the area's existing area code. The old area code would remain the same on one side of the line while the new area code would be in effect on the other side.

The three-member commission, which regulates utilities and the oil and gas industry, is considering a new area code for northeastern Oklahoma. The North American Numbering Plan Administration, which works with the Federal Communications Commission, has predicted that the existing 918 code will run out of telephone numbers by late 2011.

INCOG's letter, dated June 16, states that the overlay method, which would place the new area code over the existing area code territory, would require every telephone customer within the 918 area code to dial 10 digits for all local calls, regardless of which area code they were assigned.

NANPA updates their estimates of when area codes are expected to run out of numbers several times a year, but it can be hard to find the information.

"Electronic dialing systems such as fax machines, alarm systems and speed dials would have to be reprogrammed," according to the letter, which is signed by INCOG [http://www.incog.org/ ] chairman John Selph.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/06/23/ap6576038.html

9. Ahead of the curve - The Gazette (Montreal) - Quebec, Canada

We are living through a great turning point in world history. In just a few short months, our economy and our society are on their way to being transformed.

With credit tight and in some cases unavailable, the real economy, real people and real creativity replace finance capital as the new coin of the realm. Montreal has this in spades.

Montreal has a broad structural economic advantage in being part of the fifth-largest mega-region in North America and 12th-largest in the world. The future will be defined by the mega-regions – urban agglomerations

Creativity is in the region’s DNA. More than just about any other region, Montreal has the underlying capacity to broaden the reach of the creative economy to service business, manufacturing plants, and even agriculture.

But the city and the region need a government that can help get them there. Governmental structures in Montreal and most other places are not up to the task. They are fractured and fragmented and filled with contradictions – complicated and clumsy. Hardly anyone who isn't involved full-time can understand them. In Montreal, there are local boroughs, municipalities, the agglomeration council, and a regional administration as well.

I saw similarly overbearing structures in Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., and many other places. It leads to what people in Montreal call “immobilisme” – the tendency for nothing significant to happen because governments, business, social groups and unions are so at odds and so stuck in their ways that no one can provide clear direction and make anything happen.

..

But today’s regions are too complicated for top-down, single-leader strategies. The key is to create a broad shared vision that can mobilize the energy of many groups – an open-source approach that can harness the energy and ideas of networks of people.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/Ahead+curve/1021904/story.html

Note: This just came as a Google news alert. Though dated December 2, 2009, the content remains current for those involved in the long term arc of regional community building and community resilience. Ed.

10. U.S. Regional Communities - sub-State, State or multi-State - in news articles.

Bold font words are Google search terms. Bold italic words considered worth noting. In this and section 11, links to websites of organizations are added to the news excerpt when this is the first time an organization has been found. A goal of this newsletter is to find every regional council in the U.S. in a news story as well as recognizing other regional organizations. In most cases, where a full name is present, a Google search will quickly get one to that organization. News reports do not always get the organization name correct. Contents

.01 Could Metro crash also happen here? Most SEPTA, PATCO lines have crash-prevention systems

Philadelphia Inquirer - Philadelphia, PA

In the earliest stages of its investigation into the Washington crash, the National Transportation Safety Board focused yesterday on why the passenger compartments within the subway cars fared so poorly. The NTSB raised alarms in March 2006 about older-model subway cars after one of the cars in Washington's system collapsed like an accordion in an accident. The safety agency urged the Federal Transit Administration to develop crash standards that would address the telescoping of older cars and come up with a plan to remove aging trains that couldn't be structurally reinforced. The nation's seven largest transit systems, including Washington's and SEPTA, depend on older cars for more than one-third of their fleets, according to a federal study published this spring. The older cars are either near or past their usefulness, the report said. Old subway cars experience the worst damage - a loss of what the NTSB calls "survivable space" - in crashes because most aren't adequately reinforced for impact. … The oldest Regional Rail cars date from 1963, and the newest from 1989, Diggs said. SEPTA is buying 120 new Silverliner rail cars to replace 73 of its oldest cars. … "The key," Diggs said, "is to have systems in place so they don't run into each other."

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20090624_Most_SEPTA__PATCO_lines_have_crash-prevention_systems.html

.02 Emergency response to Metrorail crash shows post-9/11 gains

The Christian Science Monitor - USA

First responders' effective handling of Monday's rail accident in Washington, coupled with the smooth rescue after a Hudson River plane crash in January, may indicate that the post-9/11 demand for better, faster emergency response is being met – at least in some of the nation's big cities. "The regional response that is required during extraordinary incidents (Hudson and Metro being two good recent examples) has, in my opinion, significantly improved since 9/11," Daniel Kaniewski, deputy director of George Washington University's Homeland Security Policy Institute, ...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0624/p02s21-usgn.html

.03 Dayton-area officials endorse regional government

Dayton Business Journal - Dayton, OH, USA

Montgomery County Commissioner Dan Foley and Dayton City Commissioner Joey Williams both endorsed the idea of having a regional form of government Tuesday morning at the Montgomery County Regional Development Forum. … All five panel members agreed the region needs to move towards a regional economic development approach, with strong central governance. Proponents of regional government say the model would make the Dayton region more attractive to outside investment as well as retaining businesses. ...

http://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/stories/2009/06/22/daily13.html

.04 Temple City votes to rejoin San Gabriel Valley Council Of Governments

Pasadena Star-News - Pasadena, CA, USA

City officials have voted to re-join the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments, four years after withdrawing from the organization. The city of Bradbury's decision last month to re-join the COG had left Temple City as the only municipality in the San Gabriel Valley that was not a paying member of the umbrella agency, which lobbies on behalf of area interests. "I think we're better in than out, and I don't think it's going to cost all that much out of our general fund," Councilman Fernando Vizcarra said at Tuesday's City Council meeting, when officials unanimously approved re-joining. ... Because the COG requires returning cities to pay membership dues for those years they were inactive, Temple City will have to pay about $60,000 to re-join. Officials hope to pay 60 percent of that with Proposition A transportation funds from the county. …

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_12620535

.05 Aerotropolis idea takes flight with signed agreement

The Detroit News - Detroit, MI, USA

Nine local governments signed an agreement today that seeks to turn the area surrounding Wayne County's airports into a multibillion dollar economic engine. The Aerotropolis concept, taking cues from airport cities such as those in Dubai and Amsterdam, could create up to 64,000 new jobs and bring $10 billion in annual economic impact to the region. Supporters hope the initiative could entice manufacturing, e-commerce and aviation-related businesses to the region. … The communities of the Aerotropolis Development Corp. have agreed to pay initial fees ranging from $25,000 to $100,000 and have committed to paying further public relations costs to help develop the project over the course of 25 years. ...

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090617/METRO/906170424/1361/Areotropolis-idea-takes-flight-with-signed-agreement

.06 Chicago, City Without Limits

The Wall Street Journal - USA

In the history of American urban planning, Daniel Burnham’s 1909 Plan of Chicago stands alone not only in its innate elegance but also in its astonishing ambition. With near hubris it counseled that the people of Chicago “must ever recognize the fact that their city is without bounds or limits,” and that they themselves are “a population capable of indefinite expansion.” More astonishing, much of it was implemented. Today’s Chicago is a living monument to the plan—which called for replacing the chaos, filth and congestion of industrial turn-of-the-20th-century Chicago with a formal downtown of skyscrapers, an accessible 20-mile public park along Lake Michigan, and a necklace of parks and handsome boulevards uniting neighborhoods. Linkages and flow were said to be crucial to producing an integrated city. ... Because Chicago’s transportation infrastructure was so congested—the railroads, harbor and streets were a disorganized mess—the plan analyzed the city within a 60-mile radius, proposing boulevards connecting the center to the outlying suburbs and the suburbs to one another. While the full street system was not built, the ... As Chicago looks forward to the uncertain times ahead, it can be confident that its 100-year-old plan will again prove to be a sure but supple guide.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052970204482304574217771125507970.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

.07 New Report Says National Energy Policy and Midwest Economic Competitiveness are Inextricably Linked

Chicago Council on Global Affairs - Press release

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs released a task force report, Embracing the Future: The Midwest and a New National Energy Policy, that calls upon the Midwest to turn the challenge of energy and climate policy creation to its economic advantage. ... The report shows that the Midwest economy is significantly more carbon intensive than the national economy. ... At the same time, the region is likely to be disproportionately affected by a new national energy policy, and thus has a considerable stake in its development. ... “The fate of the environment and the economic competitiveness of the Midwest are inextricably linked,” said Sally Mason, president of the University of Iowa and task force co-chair. ...

http://www.thechicagocouncil.org/media_press_room_detail.php?press_release_id=101

.08 Council of Governments translates into strength in numbers - Gettysburg Times - Gettysburg, PA, USA

Banding together often is seen as a solution to problems faces by multiple people, businesses or other entities. The approach, which is on its way to becoming the Adams County Council of Governments, allows the power of a large organization with the ability of its members to maintain their individuality and autonomy, Cumberland Township Supervisor and COG temporary president Barbara Underwood said Tuesday morning. In development for about a year, the informal organization has representatives from about 15 municipalities, two school districts and the county. “I think this is the right time for this,” Underwood said. “Folks seem very interested in sitting at the table and talking with one another.” She began working to create the organization about a year ago, after reading about the concept in the Township News, a magazine for township supervisors. A similar organization already is functioning in Franklin County. ...

http://www.gettysburgtimes.com/articles/2009/06/18/news/local/doc4a38ccd770dce978117278.txt

.09 Intergovernmental committee to take up several issues

Jacksonville Daily Record - Jacksonville, FL, USA

The summer meeting of the Legislative Committee on Intergovernmental Relations ... The committee consists of four members of the State House of Representatives, four members of the State Senate and seven members appointed by the governor. The gubernatorial appointments are from all over the state. "We sit as a legislative body and look at all governmental issues," said Colvin, who is based out of Tallahassee. Colvin called the reaction to Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the New Orleans area, the "mother of all failures" in regards to intergovernmental cooperation. He said Florida is pretty good about dealing with hurricanes, which must be addressed on three levels: federal, state and local. ...

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=52586

.10 Ayer turnout thin for regionalization forum

Nashoba Publishing - Ayer, MA, USA

"Embedded in our culture is the sense that we want to educate our kids in our home commmunities and when you regionalize you loose a piece of that, there's no question," Frost said, "but what's becoming more and more obvious to those involved in the day-to-day function of the schools is that the sustainability of increasing budgets is becoming a challenge." The Regional Planning Board's presentation is available at: http://www.alsregion.org./

http://www.nashobapublishing.com/ci_12618362

.11 Regional development agency cuts staff, freezes salaries

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - Pittsburgh, PA, USA

The Allegheny Conference on Community Development eliminated nine positions as a result of a restructuring to better match staffing with resources, a spokeswoman said today. Six people were laid off Thursday, and three other positions were eliminated which were currently vacant, said Catherine DeLoughry, senior vice president of communications. As a result, the group now employs 47 people. The conference, which focuses on regional economic development and public policy, also froze salaries and cut "some discretionary expenditures," said DeLoughry. The organization's current budget is about $9 million. ...

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/s_629322.html

.12 Coachella Valley officials discuss energy efficiency funding program

The Desert Sun - Palm Springs, CA, USA

Coachella Valley and Riverside County officials are exploring a regional energy efficiency funding program similar to Palm Desert's groundbreaking model. The loan program, if implemented, would make it easier for residents to pay for the often costly, high-efficiency home improvements. Riverside County officials have expressed an interest in spearheading the effort, with collaboration from the Coachella Valley Association of Governments and the Western Riverside Council of Governments. ...

http://www.mydesert.com/article/20090613/NEWS07/906130316/1013/news07

.13 Shrewsbury opts to join council of governments

The Hub - New Jersey

The Borough Council has approved a resolution in favor of joining the Central Jersey Council of Governments (CJCG), a bipartisan organization focused on making government more efficient for the residents of Monmouth County and New Jersey. ... Cooperhouse said the CJCG membership costs $300 and would entitle the borough to participate bring in any of the programs. The CJCG was formed to provide a forum for officials from Monmouth County's 53 municipalities to plan for common needs, cooperate on topics of mutual benefit, develop large-scale shared services, apply for grants and coordinate matters of regional importance. The council meets monthly at locations throughout the county.

http://hub.gmnews.com/news/2009/0611/front_page/006.html

.14 Two Johnson County country clubs plan to merge

Kansas City Star - MO, USA

Squeezed by the recession, two mainstays of the Johnson County country club scene plan to merge their operations. ... Meadowbrook, which was founded in 1954, has about 250 golf members. Brookridge, which was founded in 1959, has about 200. The clubs are about 3½ miles apart. Mike Bray, president of Meadowbrook, said both clubs had “significant debt” amounting to several million dollars and had not been able to maintain enough membership to service their debt. “We both need at least 300 members” for adequate cash flow,” he said, “and we don’t have that. With the recession the way it is, most of the private clubs in the Kansas City area are struggling. There are about 12 private golf courses within a 20-mile radius of this area, and this area just can’t support that number of golf clubs." A recent survey by the National Golf Foundation said that up to 15 percent of the nation’s 4,400 private clubs are reporting serious financial challenges and at least 500 are scrambling to increase their cash flow. ...

http://www.kansascity.com/business/story/1260342.html

.15 City looks to merge services with Trumbull Sheriff's Office

Warren Tribune Chronicle - Warren, Ohio, USA

... , vice president for government affairs for the Regional Chamber, said the chamber supports regionalization and would eventually like to see a Metro police force in Trumbull County. ''A metro force is more of a long-range effort, but we can look at small things like establishing a uniform reporting system and radio system so that all the departments can talk to each other. I told all sides we would be willing to help facilitate this process," Paglia said.

http://www.tribtoday.com/page/content.detail/id/523598.html?nav=5021

.16 Commission Looks at Merging Paducah, McCracken Co.

West Kentucky Star - News

A commission will spend the next year looking at the pros and cons of merging the Paducah city and McCracken County governments. The 21-person commission held its first meeting Thursday. Judge-Executive Van Newberry, the chairman, ... The recommendations will eventually be put on a ballot for voters to decide. A Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce study on the issue concluded that the merger would benefit economic development and attract industries. ...

http://www.westkentuckystar.com/News/Local---Regional/McCracken-County/Commission-Looks-at-Merging-Paducah--McCracken-Co-

.17 The Next Page: For a New Allegheny County- 26 school districts, 26 municipalities

Pittsburgh Post Gazette - Pittsburgh, PA, USA

A statewide effort to reduce the number of school districts, combined with a countywide consolidation of municipalities, presents a golden opportunity: We can do both at once. The promise of such a far-reaching effort is to create more cost-effective, economically competitive and efficient governmental bodies. As a jump-off to this discussion, I offer the following plan to reduce the number of school districts and municipalities in Allegheny County to 26. ...

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09172/978701-109.stm

.18 Inside the Newsroom: Time to consolidate city county

Commercial Appeal.com - Memphis, TN

Fly over Memphis at 30,000 feet and the answer is clear. Memphis and Shelby County aren't two regions. We're bound together, a single urban entity, all living next to one another, working together, alternately fearful and hopeful about the challenges here. Yet we've got duplicated government at every level. Two big, separate law enforcement entities. Two sets of executive suites with deputies for this-and-that, assistants for functions and offices that essentially do the same thing in two bureaucracies operating just a few miles apart. Yet mention the words "consolidate governments" and you would think the cry was "yellow fever outbreak." But that's the bigger story than the 3 percent wage increases. In the next 18 months Greater Memphis will again try to thrash through the thicket of how to unite this one region under a unified governmental structure. The potential for efficiencies is obvious. ...

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/jun/14/inside-the-newsroom-time-to-consolidate-city/

.19 Regionalism Leader Calls Legislature 'Bloated'

Jamestown Post Journal - Jamestown, NY, USA

Residents in two Western New York towns voted to downsize their respective town boards in recent days, a path unavailable for Chautauqua County residents who favor a smaller County Legislature. In both Evans and West Seneca, voters overwhelmingly approved a measure eliminating two of four seats on both town boards. The effort was spearheaded by civic leader and Buffalo attorney Kevin Gaughan, who was catapulted into the spotlight after a series of conferences on regionalism and government efficiency at the Chautauqua Institution in the 1990s. Gaughan has become the leader of a grassroots movement in Erie County that seeks to downsize town boards and dissolve village governments anywhere possible to save taxpayers money. According to Gaughan, the same problem he is fighting in the Buffalo area is epidemic in Chautauqua County, especially taking into consideration the county's dwindling population and the number of paid lawmakers who represent it in Mayville. "It sticks out like a sore thumb in my research," Gaughan told The Post-Journal … "Upstate New York is the center of bloated government, and there's no more dramatic illustration of that than the Chautauqua County Legislature."...

http://post-journal.com/page/content.detail/id/532490.html?nav=5018

.20 Proposed National Heritage Area public meeting

Historic City News - Saint Augustine, FL, USA

... proposed Nation’s Oldest Port National Heritage Area ... Those who live in the coastal St. Johns County and Flagler County region know what a naturally and culturally rich landscape it is. There are stories that the waterways and land, and the people living here, have to tell stories unlike those in other parts of the nation. Interested parties are encouraged to attend and give their input regarding the uniqueness of the region’s heritage - including cultural, natural, recreational, and business resources, stories, culture, and traditions. National Heritage Areas are designated for the unique history, landscapes, and cultural traditions they contain ...

http://www.historiccity.com/2009/staugustine/news/florida/proposed-national-heritage-area-public-meeting-1352

.21 Rural Md. Broadband Coordination Board to Meet, Select Chairman

Southern Maryland Online - MD, USA

The Rural Broadband Coordination Board will meet by teleconference on Monday, June 29, at 9:30 a.m. to elect a new chairman ... Board members represent the Rural Maryland Council, the Department of Business and Economic Development, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Information Technology, the Tri-County Council for Southern Maryland, the Tri-County Council for Western Maryland, the Mid-Shore Regional Council, the Tri-County Council for Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland and the Upper Shore Regional Council. Extending broadband service throughout Maryland is a major economic and community development initiative that stands to benefit every sector the state. ...

http://somd.com/news/headlines/2009/10119.shtml

.22 Group to receive $2.5 million to aid with housing program

NVDaily - Strasburg, VA, USA

The Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission will receive $2.5 million of $17.5 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Funding ticketed for Virginia. The commission will use the money to buy and rehabilitate foreclosed homes in Front Royal, Strasburg and Frederick County and resell them to low- and moderate-income families, according to Executive Director Chris Price. ...

http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2009/06/group-to-receive-25-million-to-aid-with.html

.23 Midwest frontrunner for high-speed rail

St. Louis Business Journal - MO, USA

High-speed rail plans in the Midwest and California appear to be frontrunners in the race for $8 billion in stimulus money, the Associated Press reports. Federal rules favor the two regions because officials say they are looking for projects with established revenue sources and multistate cooperation — two criteria Missouri meets. Missouri and seven other states that are part of the Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commission have a competitive advantage because they have been working on a rail initiative for more than a decade, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has said. ...

http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2009/06/15/daily58.html

.24 High Speed Rail Play: ABB Ltd (ABB)

Green Stocks Central - Seattle, WA, USA

... How many proposals like DRPA’s from around the country get federal funding, according to the CEO? Only 2 out of every 100 projects. That leaves room for states to act more quickly, he says, which can bring a time and cost advantage as the race for regional high-speed rail heats up. We’re tracking companies like ABB (NYSE:ABB), which has played a major role in creating light-rail systems around the world. Next week, a look at what other countries are already doing with high-speed. What’s your experience with rail travel, and how do you think the U.S. should move forward on the issue?

http://greenstockscentral.com/high-speed-rail-play-abb-ltd-abb-1771.html

.25 Rail advocates call for multi-state approach

Vermont Public Radio - Colchester, VT, USA

... Tom Irwin of the Conservation Law Foundation wants even more collaboration. Irwin chairs the steering committee of the New England Regional Rail Coalition

(Irwin) "What we don't have is a true wide regional vision of what projects should be top priority in terms of region-wide benefit."

(Cohen) But others say the conversation has been going on for a long time. The Coalition of Northeast Governors or CONEG says it's working with states to identify which projects could strengthen passenger rail.

http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/85156/

.26 A regional name for YWCA

Times Union - Albany NY

The Troy-Cohoes YWCA serves all the region's women and children and now their name will reflect that. The YWCA branch on 21 First St., founded in 1883, will now be called the YWCA of the Greater Capital Region. "With this name change, we renew our intention to be the leading place for women in the Capital Region; a place where women not only receive support but also give support; a safe place, a place to take root and a place to grow,'' Executive Director Sherry Rounds said in a prepared statement. ...

http://www.timesunion.com/ASPStories/Story.asp?storyID=805460&newsdate=6/3/2009&BCCode=MBTA

.27 Group is seeking high-tech future

Fredericksburg.com - Fredericksburg, VA, USA

A regional economic development group is looking for people interested in pursuing high-tech industries on their land sites. The Fredericksburg Regional Alliance played host to a "high-technology forum" Monday night for area business leaders at the University of Mary Washington's Jepson Alumni Executive Center. The focus was on attracting high-tech industries--such as data centers and facilities for next-generation energy products--to the Fredericksburg area. ...

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/062009/06242009/475231

.28 Southwest Nano Consortium established

University of Denver - Press release – Colorado, USA

At the 2009 Nano Renewable Energy Summit in Denver, Colorado it was announced that nanotechnology stakeholders in five states in the Southwest United States, along with northern Mexico, are joining forces to create the Southwest Nano Consortium. The consortium will pool resources to highlight nanotechnology activity in the region, encourage collaborative ventures, and host internationally recognized events. The Southwest Nano Consortium consists of Nano Networks and Alliances in Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas and northern Mexico. ...

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-06/uod-snc062309.php

.29 Our View: Private and public sectors must collaborate to build Idaho's economy

Idaho Statesman - ID, USA

State government cannot build Idaho's economy by itself. It's going to take strong international trade partnerships, and collaboration with the private sector. A regional economic summit, headed to Boise from July 12 to 16, underscores the value of both relationships. The sponsor is the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region, an organization covering five states (Idaho, Alaska, Montana, Oregon and Washington), three Canadian provinces (Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan) and the Yukon Territory. ...

http://www.idahostatesman.com/opinion/story/812233.html

.30 Groups Urge Governors to Block Gas Island Project

Forum News – Howard Beach, NY, USA

... prevent a private company from constructing an island off the Rockaway coast that would receive shipments of liquefied natural gas. According to groups fighting this and other similar proposals, the five governors from New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia are convening to create a regional forum for coastal and ocean planning in the Mid-Atlantic region. This marks the first region in the nation “to commit to a regional approach to ocean management during President Obama’s administration.” ...

http://forumnewsgroup.blogspot.com/2009/06/groups-urge-governors-to-block-gas.html

.31 Summer Coin Crew working hard

Kosciusko Star Herald - Kosciusko, MS, USA

Roughly 60 young men and women are working in various places throughout the city and county thanks to a federal work program. ... The program is being administered by the Mississippi Partnership Local Workforce Area through Three Rivers Planning and Development District in Pontotoc and in cooperation with Northeast Planning and Development District in Booneville, North Central Planning and Development District in Winona, and the Golden Triangle Planning and Development District in Starkville. ...

http://www.starherald.net/homepage/local_story_169115546.html?keyword=leadpicturestory

.32 Iowa gets money to help with '08 flood

Iowa City Press Citizen - Iowa City, IA, USA

A new allotment of federal money will soon be available for flood-affected communities and homeowners, including in Johnson County. Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, announced Wednesday that Iowa received an additional $516.7 million in Community Development Block Grant funding. The funding was made available through two 2008 Emergency Appropriations ... Funding will be available to Iowa City, Cedar Rapids and Waterloo, as well as council of governments, such as the Johnson County Council of Governments and the East Central Iowa Council of Governments, ...

http://www.press-citizen.com/article/20090611/NEWS01/906110318/1079

.33 Workshop to 'connect the dots' around region

Muncie Star Press - Muncie, IN, USA

Citizens from Delaware, Grant and Madison counties are invited to join in a community conversation June 25 to help East Central Indiana become a more connected, thriving community through economic and community development. The event, "Speaking Regionally: Connecting the Dots in East Central Indiana," is an integrated workshop that will feature presentations and panel discussions by statewide, regional and local leaders, as well as breakout sessions and opportunities to network. ...

http://www.thestarpress.com/article/20090611/YOURTOWNS01/906110309

.34 Public transit task force meets

Kansas State Collegian - Manhattan, KS, USA

Regional transportation was the topic of discussion at the Riley County ATA Transit System meeting Tuesday at the Riley County Courthouse. The meeting laid preliminary groundwork for a regional public transportation system in the seven counties that surround Fort Riley. ...

The Kansas Collaborative recommended the creation of a team to develop an understanding of the Regional Transit Approach, analyze details of how the Regional Transit Approach could work in the Riley County region, and then create an awareness campaign to reach out to consumers, providers, counties and cities. ...

http://www.kstatecollegian.com/today/public-transit-task-force-meets-1.1761348

.35 New data terminals aid CCSO deputies

Princeton Times Leader - Princeton, KY, USA

Communications capabilities of the Caldwell County Sheriff's Department have been augmented with the addition of a new mobile data terminal (MDT) in one of the department's SUVs. The new MDT, funded by a Homeland Security grant administered through the Pennyrile Area Development District (PADD) office, brings the department's total total to five, with a combined value of about $50,000. ...

http://www.timesleader.net/articles/stories/public/200906/14/4ooZ_news.html

.36 Starting at the center

Youngstown Vindicator - Youngstown, OH, USA

… If we had leadership at the County level that talked up regionalism and worked to build coalitions for the advancement of policies that strengthened the region, starting from the center and spreading outward, that would be an important step in moving us forward collectively. Right now, we have a mayor crying in the wilderness, to the disdain of his counterparts in the suburbs. Ironically, however, by being unwilling to give up any control over their situation, they will lose it all.

http://www.vindy.com/weblogs/reason/2009/jun/16/starting-at-the-center/

.37 Beebe Trumpets Regionalism

The Morning News - Fayetteville, AR

All cities and communities in Arkansas will benefit from regional sewer plant under construction in Northwest Arkansas, according to Gov. Mike Beebe. ... Growth in Northwest Arkansas has been unprecedented, Beebe said, but this investment in the authority was needed if growth is to be sustained. Street and highway infrastructure normally grabs headlines, Beebe said. But he reminded the audience of how little a community grows without water and sewer treatment service. That growth that benefits all of Arkansas, said Beebe, not just Northwest Arkansas. All cities in Arkansas benefit when something happens in any city in the state, even though people would rather see the sales tax revenue come back directly to the city in which they live. ...

http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2009/06/17/news/061809rznaca.txt

.38 Summary: Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority; Miscellaneous Tax

S&P Credit Research

Abstract: Standard & Poor's Ratings Services assigned its 'AA' long-term rating, and stable outlook, to Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority's (PICA) special tax revenue refunding bonds (City of Philadelphia Funding Program) series of 2009. At the same time, we affirmed the 'AA' rating on the debt obligations outstanding. The ratings reflect what we view as PICA's: Enabling legislation that precludes additional future debt issuance; Strong debt service coverage that has ranged from 3.5x-4.0x in the past six fiscal years; and Projected debt service coverage that is expected to steadily improve annually, most significantly after fiscal 2009 as annual debt service requirements decline. Other rating factors in our view include: An economically sensitive revenue stream that has performed reasonably well over time; ...

http://www.alacrastore.com/storecontent/spcred/726645

.39 TechAmerica adds voice of state and regional council group

Washington Technology

TechAmerica and the Technology Councils of North America have signed an agreement to coordinate the memberships, programs and services currently offered respectively through TechAmerica’s network of 16 regional councils and TECNA’s approximately 40 independent regional trade associations. The agreement between the two organizations paves the way for TechAmerica to serve as the exclusive national partner for TECNA in advocacy and marketing activities and will begin an effort to consolidate overlapping councils and associations serving the technology community around the country, ...

http://washingtontechnology.com/Articles/2009/06/18/TechAmerica-welcomes-state-and-regional-council-group.aspx

.40 `Crisis City' gets test during multistate drill

Chicago Tribune - Chicago, IL, USA

Crisis City covers 40 acres and was built by the Kansas Emergency Management Agency near the Smoky Hill Air National Guard Weapons Range, with $9 million in state funds and $30 million in federal. … Platt said the training venue should help state agencies improve collaboration for the next big tornado, such as one that nearly wiped out the southern Kansas town of Greensburg in 2007. ... Sen. Jay Emler, a Lindsborg Republican, said the unique opportunities provided at Crisis City could be a way for Kansas to generate revenue by becoming a regional site for other states. ...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-ks-disastertraining,0,6611355.story

11. Other Regional Community News for Our Local Planet Contents

.01 Unrest could hinder Tehran's regional goals

The Associated Press

Iran has had an impressive run for the past decade — expanding its regional muscle through proxy militias, its expanding missile capabilities and its big brother role with Iraq's Shiites after the toppling of arch-foe Saddam Hussein. But the fallout from the post-election unrest will most likely bring tougher times for Iran's ambitions beyond its borders. "Instability inside Iran will minimize the state's capacity to project power in the region and beyond, a practice in which Iran has been very successful recently," said Amr Hamzawy, a Middle East expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington-based think tank. ...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gWuDG2AEaFHXvHiFD1iJ-1T-DC4AD98VR9100

.02 Coping with Pyongyang: Regional Diplomacy Still Vital

Council on Foreign Relations - New York, NY, USA

Since North Korea first tested a nuclear weapon in October 2006, the United States has worked closely with Japan, South Korea, China, and Russia to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions. This six-party framework was designed to address the regional desire for peace and stability on the Korean peninsula. ... The outcome of this experiment in regional cooperation carries profound implications for Northeast Asia and whether it can transform itself from a region of deep national antagonisms and tensions into a community with shared security interests. The jury is still out on whether or not the Six-Party Talks should be declared over. But alongside the United Nations' effort to sanction North Korea's nuclear and missile tests, this regional partnership between the United States and the countries of Northeast Asia remains the best vehicle for addressing the comprehensive agenda of building stable relationships on and around the Korean peninsula. We cannot let its fate be decided in Pyongyang. It is up to Washington and the other four powers to demonstrate their common interests in managing this dangerous neighbor.

http://www.cfr.org/publication/19596/

.03 Water for Sale

Council On Hemispheric Affairs - Washington, DC, USA

The Corporate Crusade to Commodify Water ... Civil society has made strides against the runaway process of privatization and commercialization of water, but there is a formidable challenge ahead. While transnational companies have experienced setbacks in their attempts to privatize water in Latin America, they have had to change their strategy, but privatization still persists in the region. Since privatization has become such an anathema, corporations use different terms to describe their ventures. The appropriation of a territory or bioregion, as is the case in Peru, allows for control over the resources in that area. Large companies, with total engineering capacities at hand, can divert whole rivers as part of their production projects, or end up making water unusable for local inhabitants, which essentially is privatization, but through contamination. Bottling water and monopolizing technology for extraction and purification are other forms of privatizing water and vending it to the highest bidder. ...

http://www.coha.org/2009/06/water-for-sale/

.04 Urban mega-regions: opportunity or regret?

Canoe.ca - Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Take the Golden Horseshoe, an expansive area encompassing the Niagara Peninsula, Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo, and the region’s anchor, the Greater Toronto Area. Nearly a quarter of Canada’s population lives here, in the fastest growing region in North America. ... But this mega-region has come together largely in an unplanned mess of urban sprawl. A once diverse mosaic of woodlands, wetlands, towns and villages, and productive farmland has been replaced with a seemingly endless expanse of built-up areas, crisscrossed with hydro-lines and highways, and pockmarked with trophy homes. A David Suzuki Foundation report released last year concluded that an alarming 16 per cent of farmland in the Greater Toronto Area has been lost to urban encroachment over the last decade alone. ... Take David Suzuki’s Nature Challenge … http://www.davidsuzuki.org/NatureChallenge/?utm_source=dsf&utm_medium=txtlink&utm_campaign=nc&utm_content=leftcolumn

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Environment/Suzuki/2009/06/17/9828566-ca.html

.05 Montreal first city to get geotourism map

Canada.com - Don Mills, Ontario, Canada

It's a tourist map with a difference. A new map unveiled Monday by Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay promotes the geotourism of Canada's second-largest city — that is, tourism which protects and preserves the geographic character of a destination, such as its heritage, culture, environment and the well-being of its residents. The map was the brainchild of the U.S.-based National Geographic Society, with whom Montreal was the first city in the world to sign an agreement in 2007 promising to adhere to 13 principles of geotourism. ...

http://www.canada.com/news/national/Montreal+first+city+geotourism/1698675/story.html

.06 'Inequities' of regional development agencies decried at Paris Air Show

Vancouver Sun - Vancouver, BC, CA

Western Canadian grumbling at the Paris Air Show over inequitable federal corporate aid programs that favour Atlantic Canada over the West prove that regional development is an inherently unfair system, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation said Friday. ... The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Ottawa's regional development arm in Atlantic Canada, contributed $253,000 to help 17 Atlantic companies and industry organizations attend this week's Paris Air Show, one of the world's biggest gatherings. ACOA's western Canadian counterpart, Western Economic Diversification, contributed only $45,000 to assist about two dozen Western Canadian companies here to show off their products to some of the world's most important players in the aerospace industry. ... Gaudet said the existence of separate regional development agencies, with different budgets, priorities and strategic approaches, are incapable of providing a level playing field for Canadian firms competing in a global marketplace. ...

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/fp/Inequities+regional+development+agencies+decried+Paris+Show/1713224/story.html

.07 TLC: Cycling Plan a Smart Investment

Raise the Hammer - Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Getting the cycling network in place will help attract the "creative class" and will do much to "change Hamilton's image as a faltering industrial city paralyzed by conflict and indecision....Hamilton must celebrate itself, recreate its sense of pride and stop listening to the naysayers." ("Summit hears mega-region on road to prosperity", Hamilton Spectator, May 1, 2008) ...

http://www.raisethehammer.org/blog.asp?id=1390

.08 New cycleway slammed as 'dangerous'

The Chronicle - Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia

IT looks like an Irish gag. But the joke is on us. This Toowoomba cycleway cost us $150,000.

“Unmitigated disaster,” is how cyclist Hugh Wilson describes the Tor Street path, constructed about four months ago. “It beggars belief. No engineer could possibly have designed it.” And nobody would ride (or, more accurately, pole dance) along the obstacle course, he added. “It’s a danger to cyclists.” The pathway, near Prosser Street, was jointly funded by Queensland Transport’s Cycle Network Program and Toowoomba Regional Council. ...

http://www.thechronicle.com.au/story/2009/06/12/new-cycleway-slammed-dangerous/

.09 Rockhampton: the place to live

Australian Mining

Rockhampton Regional Council will showcase what is said to be “the most liveable community in the world” at the 2009 Queensland Resources Expo (QREX) trade exhibition ... As the ninth largest council in Queensland, serving more than 103,000 people in 79 unique communities, Rockhampton Regional Council has been a driving force behind the Queensland Resources Expo. According to the Council, the region boasts well-organised infrastructure, an experienced workforce, a strong manufacturing base, accessibility, and a great lifestyle, and provides the right environment for businesses intent on a sustainable future. ...

http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/Article/Rockhampton-the-place-to-live/485504.aspx

.10 Council CEO quits over 'cash for comment' on 4CA

Knowfirst

THE chief executive of a north Queensland council has quit after revelations the council used ratepayers' money to buy a weekly radio slot for its mayor. Cairns Regional Council today said Noel Briggs had resigned, two months after the public learned of the commercial arrangement with local station 4CA. Under the deal, the council agreed to pay a fee in exchange for an hour-long slot with host John Mackenzie. ...

http://www.knowfirst.info/forums/showthread.php?t=28960

.11 It’s time to make local government truly local again!

Pits'n'Pots - The Radical Press - Stoke-on-Trent, UK

A Conservative government would devolve power away from central and regional government down to the local level to ensure that people are given a much greater say in the decisions that affect them. I firmly believe that real innovation is being stifled by the straightjacket of over centralised government control and our localist agenda will change this. Put simply, we want to make local government truly local again. We will put real trust in local democracy by decentralising power, putting communities and their elected representatives in charge.

http://pitsnpots.co.uk/2009/06/its-time-to-make-local-government-truly-local-again/

.12 Bigger isn't better: A return to booming economic growth would put the world back on the path to disaster -- it's time for a radical rethinking

Ottawa Citizen - Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

... the U.K.'s Sustainable Development Commission delivered its report "Prosperity Without Growth?" to the British government endorsing and amplifying many of the ideas expressed here. The Centre for the Advancement of a Steady State Economy based in the United States has obtained more than 3,000 signatures on its position statement designed to help change the goal of the economy from growth to sustainability. At the local level, Transition Towns have spread in less than four years from Britain to many countries including Canada, to raise awareness of sustainable living and to build local resilience ...

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/fp/Bigger%2Bbetter/1590471/story.html

.13 Winners and losers in the new geopolitics

EurActiv - Brussels, Belgium

The West must "rethink its narrative" if it wants to strengthen its standing in the world, writes Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, in a June paper. "Both the global economic crisis and the arrival of Barack Obama are transforming the geopolitical landscape," he states. ... "The recession will not enhance Europe's power and prestige," he continues. "Europe's recovery looks like being very slow […] and in the longer run [Europeans] may have to worry about the ability of South European countries suffering from declining competitiveness to stay in the euro," citing Greece as an example. ...

http://www.euractiv.com/en/opinion/winners-losers-new-geopolitics/article-183069

.14 Consultative workshop on natural products sector of eastern Africa

FARA Secretariat

The establishment of the Botanical products and marketing platform Africa was announced, a regional forum and global community of practice for networking and technical exchange between stakeholders, adding value to the plant products of agroforestry systems and natural plant product value chains of the African continent. The ‘Naturally African Platform’, will develop the science, cultivation and trade of tree and other natural products’ - as a first step ... For more details, visit, http://www.worldagroforestrycentre.org/af1/index.php?id=79

or http://www.naturallyafricanplatform.org/

.15 Asia-Pacific to form bio-security network

Intellasia.Net

A biosecurity regional network that will develop safe and stable bioscience architecture in the Asia-Pacific region will be focus of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) when they meet in Manila next week for the Asean Regional Forum (ARF) workshop on biological threat reduction. ...

http://www.intellasia.net/news/articles/finance/111266787.shtml

.16 North East comes alive at Kamani auditorium in New Delhi

Sindh Today - India

Organised by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). The event aimed at showcasing the culture of North Eastern States on one platform. Besides bonding different communities, it also aimed at spreading the culture of northeastern states in other parts of India. Their coming together at functions like this promotes harmony and development in the region, said N.N.Singh, festival Director. People of the north-eastern states are now looking beyond regional boundaries for bigger platforms to showcase their talent and culture. (ANI)

http://www.sindhtoday.net/news/1/18888.htm

.17 German firms looking to ink research pacts in India

Livemint - Delhi, India

Almost nine months after India and Germany signed an agreement to forge alliances in science and technology research and commercialization, at least a dozen German companies and research institutes are close to signing business deals and research collaborations. Albrecht Laufer, chief executive of BioRegioN, a network of at least 200 German biotech companies, said the areas of interest include vaccines, immunology and diagnostics. ...

http://www.livemint.com/2009/06/19001022/German-firms-looking-to-ink-re.html

.18 Concern grows for communities

TbNewsWatch.com - Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada

There is a growing concern for First Nation communities with H1N1 cases in Northwestern Ontario. Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) were told by Health Canada Tuesday of 13 confirmed cases of the virus in six NAN communities. ... "In order for us to manage this thing better we need to have information on a timely basis," said Fiddler. Northwestern Health Unit Medical Officer Dr. James Arthurs said that due to the different levels of government involved in the process, it’s difficult to discuss specifics about the outbreaks. ...

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/News/?cid=59289

.19 GCC nationals suggest names for proposed common currency

Peninsula On-line - Qatar

The four countries that have signed the agreement to have a currency union are Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait. Both Qatar and Saudi Arabia use riyal as the name for their currency, while Bahrain and Kuwait use dinar. Al Sharq surveyed a number of GCC nationals asking them what their suggestion was for the name of the proposed common regional currency. ... Ali Al Hadi from Saudi Arabia suggested using the name dana (regional name for a large pearl). “Pearl diving is synonymous with the history of the GCC. ...

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=June2009&file=Local_News200906174942.xml

.20 Turkish delight: Tele Atlas maps and geopolitics

GPS Business News

Maps and geopolitics are closely linked together as demonstrated again this week by an email from Tele Atlas to its customers. This email reveals that the Belgium map maker has provided to a customer in Turkey maps that do not satisfy the Turkish military mapping agency. Products of this Tele Atlas partner “are quarantined at the Turkish government because the Turkish Military Mapping agency does not agree on our representation of the following two countries/areas: Kosovo is not mapped as a separate country but part of Serbia; Northern Cyprus is not mapped as a separate area representing Turkish Cyprus”, said the email from Tele Atlas. Tele Atlas is developing its data based on countries recognized by the United Nations. Kosovo and Northern Cyprus are not “countries” according to the UN; but unfortunately they are according to the government in Ankara. Tele Atlas is ...

http://www.gpsbusinessnews.com/Turkish-delight-Tele-Atlas-maps-and-geopolitics_a1577.html

.21 Water from T&T, so what?

Jamaica Gleaner - Kingston, Jamaica

This is in response to an article in Mondays' Gleaner titled "Water on sale from Trinidad". I find it very disheartening to think that such flawed concerns, so lacking in thinking and scope, exist in this day and age. Second, nobody complains of the many foreign (i.e. US, UK, etc) products and bottles of water flooding Jamaican supermarkets that are more exorbitantly priced and doing nothing to promote regionalism. ... CARICOM can never succeed if we constantly pit ourselves against each other and complain about such trivial things.

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090618/letters/letters4.html

.22 What is the 'Fundamental Solution' to the Political Malaise?

The Chosun Ilbo - Seoul, Republic of Korea

In his biweekly radio address, just before leaving for the United States, President Lee Myung-bak said a "fundamental remedy" was needed to deal with the endemic problems of Korean politics. "Public sentiment is still divided by ideologies and regions," he said. ... Everyone knows what the fundamental root of the problems facing this society is. A long history of regionalism has been at the center of all of our problems. After every presidential election, a fierce battle erupted between those in power and those who radically resisted that power. Some people in the ruling political camp say a revision of the Constitution is the only way to resolve the problems caused by regionalism and the concentration of power in the top office. ...

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/06/16/2009061600872.html

.23 [Editorial] President Lee should heed religious leaders' counsel

The Hankyoreh - South Korea

Now President Lee Myung-bak has gone one step further in his radio address. There he claimed that public sentiments are split by ideology and region, and that the culture of political strife has not left South Korea. He is attempting to attribute the current situation created by his own and his government’s mistakes to ideological differences, regionalism or political strife. One hopes this counsel from religious leaders will represent the last of the declarations. For this to happen, the Lee administration must demonstrate a change of heart and become converted. The demands of the religious leaders are somewhat fundamental. If they are not accepted, their actions may assume a more drastic form. If the administration’s goal is to avert crisis by reviving red baiting and regional emotionalism with rhetoric about ideological differences, regionalism and political strife, it must bear in mind that this will leave the country in a drastic situation.

http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_editorial/360648.html

.24 Govt. presents draft law on regional development

B92 - Belgrade, Serbia

Deputy Premier and Economy Minister Mlađan Dinkić said that the draft is one of the most important steps toward the decentralization of Serbia and the most important law from the economic development sphere. However, some ethnic minority parties see the proposed legislation as an attempt to divert attention from the draft Vojvodina statute, while the opposition says this is an attempt to divide Serbia into regions, which according to them the ruling parties are carrying out on the orders received from the West. The draft law envisages the formation of seven statistical regions, while Dinkić told MPs that its adoption would contribute to a more even development of all parts of the country. President Boris Tadić was heard commenting today that decentralization and regionalization "will not lead to a division of Serbia". ...

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2009&mm=06&dd=09&nav_id=59724

.25 Hong Kong, Macao officials stress regional economic co-op

Xinhua - China

Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions will actively engage in economic cooperation with nine Chinese mainland provinces in the Pan-Pearl River Delta region (PPRD), the heads of both regions pledged ... Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang and Macao Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau Wah called for closer ties among the PPRD region to buoy the economic growth amid the global economic turmoil. ... Edmund Ho Hau Wah said the impact of the global economic turmoil was widespread and deep, and cooperation was the only way out. Regional cooperation would help push economy back on track, ...

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-06/10/content_11520199.htm

.26 World Bank outlook: developing region forecasts

Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingdom

The World Bank has warned that the weakness of banks and rising unemployment will continue to cast heavy shadows over the global economy in 2010. Below are the Bank's forecasts for each of the developing regions: ...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/5600212/World-Bank-outlook-developing-region-forecasts.html

.27 Morning Feature: The (Geo)Politics of Emotion - Conclusion and Critique (Non-Cynical Saturday)

Daily Kos - Berkeley, CA, USA

Will the (geo)politics of emotion really determine our fate? This week Morning Feature explores Dominique Möisi's new book, The Geopolitics of Emotion. We began Wednesday with a summary of Dr. Möisi's thesis, and his observations of China and India as cultures of hope. Thursday we examined his idea that the Arab-Islamic world is a culture of humiliation. Yesterday we looked the U.S. and western Europe as cultures of fear. Today we conclude with his projections for the future, and my critique of his theory. ...

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/20/744768/-Morning-Feature:-The-(Geo)Politics-of-EmotionConclusion-and-Critique-(Non-Cynical-Saturday)

.28 Bill Clinton: Global cooperation needed for mankind's survival

CNN.com/World

Former President Bill Clinton urged people to accept themselves and others in a world system that is "unstable, unequal and unsustainable." Clinton gave the keynote address Saturday to members of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Washington. The organization gave the 42nd U.S. president its global leadership award. The world is an "interdependent" system where an event in one country, such as an economic collapse, can affect the entire globe, Clinton said. The former president said recent events such as the swine flu outbreak prove the system is unstable. Inequalities in health care worldwide show the system is unequal and recent trends in global warming show it is unsustainable, Clinton said. Global cooperation is crucial for the survival of mankind, he added. ...

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/06/14/clinton.speech/

12. Blogging about Regional Communities Contents

.01 Breaking Down the Blueprint: Economic Competitiveness, Efficiency, and Opportunity

Transportation For America

... our Transportation Projects of National Significance Program (pg. 40) will provide targeted funds for the “mega-projects” that cross regional boundaries and bring truly national benefits without favoring any specific mode of transportation over another. To help fund this program, we support the plans by the Obama administration to create a National Infrastructure Bank, a government-owned corporation that could fund these large-scale projects by leveraging private investment.

http://t4america.org/blog/2009/06/17/breaking-down-the-blueprint-economic-competitiveness-efficiency-and-opportunity-pt-2/

.02 Auckland Local Government: How Many Wards? How Many Community Councils?

Reflections on Auckland Planning

... Auckland Regional Council has a healthy Council, with good regional decision-making for the most part. That's been my experience. It has 13 members. It does not have 13 wards though. In fact it has two single member wards (Rodney and Franklin/Papakura), two 2-member wards (North Shore and Waitakere), one 3-member ward (Mamukau), and one 4-member ward (Auckland). What this means for the multi-member wards, is that ratepayers have a choice of several when they vote, and they also have a choice of whom to deal with when they have an issue. It also means that elected members in a multi-member ward, can seek support from fellow members when there is a local issue. It also means they can allocate meetings between themselves. And other benefits. It has also meant - in my experience - that members from multi-member wards do take a regional perspective. ...

http://joelcayford.blogspot.com/2009/06/auckland-local-government-how-many.html

.03 The Broken Regions of the North

Artvoice

This week, a group of energetic and hopeful people came to Buffalo to see whether they can figure out how to make President Obama’s “stimulus” money a transformative force for the Rust Belt. Artvoice will report on what was proposed, argued, challenged, and embraced at the summit, called Great Lakes Metros and the New Opportunity (June 18-19) [ http://greatlakesmetros.wordpress.com/conveners/ ] Buffalo State College, where the meetings were held, will compile the talks and PowerPoints onto a Web site and may also make them available as a book. It’ll be a good book, full of color. It’ll contain the best thinking, circa June 2009, on how to address the long-festering challenges of all those metro regions on the south side of the Canadian border that have been losing people and jobs for the past 50 years. … It’s unlikely that the Obama administration is ever going to instruct individual municipal governments to go out of existence or to consolidate outright. But is it too much to ask that all the new federal funds come with conditions? The recent experience of Edmonton, Alberta is an interesting contrast with the 10-year-old success story of Toronto. ...

http://artvoice.com/issues/v8n25/broken_regions_of_the_north

.04 Living In The World As If It Were Home

The League of Ordinary Gentlemen

One step further, I take it to be incumbent upon localists to come to terms with the fact that they have hit upon a set of values that are useful beyond particular regional boundaries. In globalizing the local — or even just extending its reach into larger urban centres — we free those values to work their influence and positive impacts on a much greater cross section of people in a much greater numbers of localities. ...

http://www.ordinary-gentlemen.com/2009/06/living-in-the-world-as-if-it-were-home/

.05 What's a Henweigh?

URBAN DIRECTION

By farming their own eggs, these suburban chicken owners are part of the emerging local food movement in America. There are several important impacts of the local food movement: to reconnect people to where their food comes from, to build local food economies, enhance regional security, promote environmental sustainability, and to combat hunger and obesity. By now there are a number of books and organizations devoted to these issues. In the Philadelphia region, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission is running the Greater Philadelphia Food Study ...

http://urbandirection.blogspot.com/2009/06/whats-henweigh.html

.06 EWR - for Old Metal

Utahdog!

Regionalism is very important. Specifically regionalism refers to the elements of a bicycle's design that relate a purpose built machine directly to the requirements of the terrain for which it was built. The earth is not covered only in the sweeping rolling hills, long switchback climbs, and vision-blurring descents of central California. Nope ... there are variations. I don't live in California. In the late 80's, east coast frame builders popped up and introduced bicycle designs made to tackle their local terrain. Mid Atlantic and New England states feature tight, twisty, muddy, rock strewn and aggressive trails that are very different from standard western state’s fare. Not better. Not worse. Different. ...

http://utahdoglives.blogspot.com/2009/06/ewr-for-old-metal.html

.07 Clay Shirky Explains How Twitter & Facebook Have Changed Geopolitics

Marketing Shift.com - USA

20 years after the Berlin Wall fell in Germany, barriers are falling in Iran and China, only this time, it's not a concrete wall collapsing, it's a firewall. Social Media expert Clay Shirky offered this great piece of insight during his presentation at the TED conference, How cellphones, Twitter and Facebook can make history. During his 17-minute speech, Shirky made this bold claim: We're starting to see a media landscape in which innovation is happening everywhere, and moving from one spot to another. That is a huge transformation. Not to put to fine a point on it, but the moment we're living through, is the largest increase in expressive capability in human history. ...

http://www.marketingshift.com/2009/6/clay-shirky-explains-how-twitter.cfm

.08 The Cloud and Collaboration

Half an Hour

Paper written as a contribution to the Ars Electronica symposium on Cloud Intelligence. ... idea that the cloud enables us to work together, to collaborate, to forge a new consensus. The cloud, in other words, reinforces the ways with which we have attempted hitherto to organize ourselves. ... What is collaboration, though? Is it something that neurons in a human brain actually do? Can we describe the organization of our mind in the same terms we currently use to describe the organization of society? The characteristics identified by the National Network for Collaboration (The National Network for Collaboration, 1995) are typical:

* Accomplish shared vision and impact benchmarks

* Build interdependent system to address issues and opportunities

* Consensus used in shared decision making

* Roles, time and evaluation formalized

* Links are formal and written in work assignments

* Leadership high, trust level high, productivity high

* Ideas and decisions equally shared

* Highly developed communication

Collaboration, on this model, can be contrasted with looser forms of association such as networking, alliance-formation or cooperation. What distinguishes collaboration from these other forms of organization is a commonality of understanding or purpose. This theme permeates writing on the subject. Schrage calls collaboration "an act of shared creation and/or shared discovery" (Schrage, 1990, p. 6) Senge talks about the creation of a shared vision. (Senge, 1994) ...

http://halfanhour.blogspot.com/2009/06/cloud-and-collaboration.html

.09 Secession and Actual Democracy

The American Secessionist Blog

... American democracy now being dismantled from it's citizenry is left with only one alternative; "secession". For a "regional example", eventually the peoples of the States of let's say, "New York" and the "New England States" for instance, will find that their only hopes of securing their borders, reducing their federal budgets, cutting their property taxes and remedying their immigration, medical and socials ills, will be to secede from the Union of the United States and to form their own neighboring country. …

http://www.secessionist.us/sp.html

List of Current North American Secessionist groups - Middlebury Institute for the study of separatism, secession, and self-determination. Cold Spring, New York, USA.

http://www.middleburyinstitute.org/currentamericansecessionistgroups.html

List of active autonomist and secessionist movements - Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_autonomist_and_secessionist_movements

.10 Governance Without Government: A Preliminary Overview

Law at the End of the Day

... The state became the source of an authoritative allocation of values, the entity with the power to frame them through law, and to enforce them through the police power. … But success might well create the conditions for great change. Just as individuals are social animals, so, it appears, are states. States developed systems of relations with other states, and the resulting rules defined a community of states and the international system. But they also served to emphasize the permeability of borders. The reality that borders are permeable produced two simultaneous reactions—control and management. If borders were permeable, then, following the logic of cuius regio, eius religio, it was for states seek to control them to the extent technologically possible, and to assert the power to control the nature and manner of those penetrations. The logic of power and management, in the last half of the 20th century, has been manifested in “globalization”—the coordination of economic, political, cultural and religious systems across borders. ...

http://lcbackerblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/governance-without-government.html

.11 A thought on choosing leaders of intergovernmental organizations

Thoughts About K4D

The current process of choosing leaders for intergovernmental organizations is fully in the hands of the international diplomatic community, and is intensely political. There are informal agreements that specific countries have the right to choose the heads of some organizations or that the directorships would revolve among the regions of the world. There are trade-offs with governments supporting each others candidates in parallel elections. Unfortunately, in the process the idea of selecting the best man or woman for the job seems often to get lost. ...

http://stconsultant.blogspot.com/2009/06/thought-on-choosing-leaders-of.html

.12 Bangalore by any other name...

Books, places, movies and then some

Is it Bangalore, Bengaluru, Bengalooru, Bangaluru or Bangalooru? Agreed, Bangalore is out - it was the old English name given by the British Babus who could not pronounce the regional name; the city was recently rechristened to the original Kannada name "Bengaluru". ... comment: I like 'Bangalore' better. I am sure anyone younger than 50 who loves Bangalore and is not basically from there does so. I don't care what it was called 3 decaded before we were born - hooo ...

http://navy-blue-jeans.blogspot.com/2009/06/bangalore-by-any-other-name.html

.13 Rating the Councils

Homepaddock - NZ

The councils which were best at processing consents on time were: Stratford District Council processed 97 applications and 100% were processed on time. Buller District Council 130 – 100%. Taranaki Regional Council 401 – 100% ...

http://homepaddock.wordpress.com/2009/06/11/rating-the-councils/

.14 Culture change for Government 2.0

acidlabs

Members of governments here, in the UK, in New Zealand and most particularly and publicly in the US, say many of the right things about participatory government underpinned by a connected and engaged society. This is a much needed first move. But it is only the first. It is far from the end game. In a society as connected as Australia, where according to recent research from Forrester, 3/4 of Australian adults online use social tools, 1/4 create their own content, around half are members of social networks, government needs to be present in online communities, listening and responding and sometimes talking. A public service that is disconnected from the public it serves through the government of the day is no public service at all. Rather, it is a bureaucracy. Impenetrable. Byzantine. Inscrutable. The legislature and the public service need to take action to participate online in a more sophisticated way than previously. This will require a fundamental shift in views on openness, risk, conversation, community, collaboration. A shift in the who, the what and the where. This will be a difficult task. But it is one that we must do soon if Australia is to be truly the clever country we have claimed to be for so long. There are well-evidenced benefits to innovation and creativity from collaboration of all kinds.

http://www.acidlabs.org/2009/06/21/culture-change-for-government-2-0/

.15 Secure Communities Elevates Community Insecurity

Border Lines - Reporting from the TransBorder Project of the Center for International Policy

The administration and DHS are also stepping up federal/local cooperation in the new border security initiative that puts local police in close cooperation with ICE and especially the Border Patrol. Latching onto the concern about the possibility of spillover violence from Mexico, Secure Communities has added the drug war and border security to ICE’s evolving justifications for increased federal/local cooperation. Program chief David Venturella recently told the House Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee on homeland security: “We have made the southwest border area a top priority because of the recent surge in criminal gang activity and drug related violence along the border. And while we have already deployed to many locations in that region, we will expedite the deployment to even more locations in those border communities as part of the Secretary’s border security initiative.”

http://borderlinesblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/secure-communities-elevates-community.html

.16 Bioregional Animism: Grey breath

paganism

Bioregional animism is on account of centre relating to the land/bioregion as the well-spring of ones creed and motif. It is a accumulate of Personalism where other then accommodating persons including the all things considered bioregion itself is mutual to and communicated with as a man, not as if it was a man but as a man. ...

http://paganism.edublogs.org/2009/06/19/bioregional-animism-grey-breath/

13. Announcements and Regional Links. Contents

.01 Transportation Authorization Information and Materials - NARC

Activities in both the House of Representatives and Senate have begun on the surface transportation authorization bill. The current law, SAFETEA-LU, expires in September 2009, and both Congress and the Administration are determining ways in which the nation’s transportation system can be financially sustained, while meeting national goals and fulfilling state, regional and local needs. The National Association of Regional Councils (NARC) is working with Congress, the Administration, our state, local, and private partners to create a new transportation vision through flexible and innovative regional collaboration, solutions and partnerships for a sound national transportation system.

http://narc.org/news/231/385.html

.02 Texas Triangle Megaregion Forum: Megaregions & MetroProsperity Sustainable Economics for the Texas Triangle - September 23-25, Houston, Texas

convened by Houston Tomorrow and America 2050.

Confirmed Partners to date: University of Texas Austin, Houston-Galveston Area Council

Purpose:

* Build support for a national infrastructure investment plan and establish knowledge of Megaregions by leaders in the metro areas of the Texas Triangle, which includes Houston, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Austin, and San Antonio.

* Identify the major transportation, energy, and water infrastructure priorities in the Texas Triangle megaregion

* Seek common ground among regions in the Texas Triangle on programs and policies to meet core infrastructure challenges.

* Explore emerging economic trends and strategies for sustainable prosperity in metro regions

* Create a framework for working toward a vision for sustainable prosperity in the Texas Triangle

http://www.america2050.org/2009/06/save-the-dates-september-23-25.html

.03 Call for papers - Special session on spatial competition - 56th Annual North American Meetings of the Regional Science Association International, November 18-21, 2009

Ever since Hotelling’s seminal paper on spatial competition in 1929, the subject of location choice and endogenous product differentiation has given rise to discussion among economists. Up to the present day, the theory is extended and innovative empirical applications are brought forward. We want to organize a special session at the 2009 NARSC conference to bring together recent theoretical and empirical additions in this field. The annual conference of the North American Regional Science Council (NARSC) is structured around a number of thematically-focused sessions during which regional scientists present their work. NARSC-Conference deadline for Abstract Submission : August 1, 2009

Paper submission and registration should be done through the NARSC website below. In addition, express your willingness to participate in the special session by sending an email listing the author(s)’s name(s) and affiliation, title, and abstract to Mark Lijesen, VU University Amsterdam mlijesen@feweb.vu.nl

Abstract/Session Submission: http://www.narsc.org/newsite/?page_id=64

.04 Call for Papers - "Global Recession: Regional Impacts on Housing, Jobs, Health and Wellbeing" - Regional Studies Association Annual Winter Conference - November 27, 2009 -London

Contributions are welcomed on the following themes: Health and welfare at the local and regional scale; Happiness and wellbeing: definitions and indicators; Poverty, exclusion and wellbeing; Jobs, employment and wellbeing; Social impacts of housing; The personal, social and financial costs of housing; Funding public health, housing and care; Social justice, quality of life and standards of living; Healthy lifestyles and healthy living

Please submit offers of papers in the form of 400 word abstracts through the Regional Studies Association on-line conference portal by Tuesday 30th June 2009.

To submit go to http://www.regional-studies-assoc.ac.uk/ and follow the Winter Conference 2009 Call for Papers link.

.05 Michigan – The 'Car Capital' as Crucible of Midwest Economic Transformation”

The Global Midwest Initiative releases its second Global Midwest Policy Brief, part of a new series that frames and analyzes pressing issues facing the Midwest in the global era and offers recommendations on how best to move forward. In this issue, the author charts a path for how Michigan can respond to the collapse of the auto industry by building on new and innovative industries to compete in the global economy. John C. Austin, the Brief’s author, is the vice president of Michigan’s State Board of Education, a nonresident senior fellow with the Brookings Institution, co-director of their Great Lakes Economic Initiative, and a member of the Global Midwest Initiative’s Steering Committee.

http://www.thechicagocouncil.org/taskforce_details.php?taskforce_id=14

.06 MetroMonitor - Brookings

The Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings has initiated the MetroMonitor, a quarterly, interactive barometer of the health of America’s 100 largest metropolitan economies. The monitor looks “beneath the hood” of national economic statistics to portray the diverse metropolitan trajectories of recession and recovery across the country.

http://www.brookings.edu/metro/MetroMonitor.aspx

.07 Institute of the North

Since its creation in 1994, the Institute has gained a wide reputation as a center for the study of commonly owned lands, seas and resources using the “owner state” of Alaska as a model. Its mission combines both economic relevance and geopolitical urgency as most trouble spots around the world are found in regions where the commons has been mismanaged or exploited.

http://www.institutenorth.org/

.08 what does regionalism stand for? - Stand For - English to English Dictionary

regionalism stands for: (3 meanings in total)

1. n. loyalty to the interests of a particular region (view details)

2. n. a foreign policy that defines the international interests of a country in terms of particular geographic areas (view details)

3. n. a feature (as a pronunciation or expression or custom) that is characteristic of a particular region (view details)

Meaning 1: (noun) loyalty to the interests of a particular region

regionalism is a kind of: loyalty ( what does loyalty stand for? )

Meaning 2: (noun) a foreign policy that defines the international interests of a country in terms of particular geographic areas

Meaning 3: (noun) a feature (as a pronunciation or expression or custom) that is characteristic of a particular region

WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

What do YOU think regionalism stands for?

http://www.stand-for.com/what-does-regionalism-stand-for.html

.09 Who Controls the Internet?: Illusions of a Borderless World - bookitplus.net

In this provocative new book, Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu tell the fascinating story of the Internet’s challenge to governmental rule in the 1990s, and the ensuing battles with governments around the world. It’s a book about the fate of one idea–that the Internet might liberate us forever from government, borders, and even our physical selves. We learn of Google’s struggles with the French government and Yahoo’s capitulation to the Chinese regime; of how the European Union sets privacy standards on the Net for the entire world; and of eBay’s struggles with fraud and how it slowly learned to trust the FBI. In a decade of events, the original vision was uprooted, as governments time and time again asserted their power ... Note: Free download.

http://www.bookitplus.net/2009/06/who-controls-internet-illusions-of.html

14. Financial Crisis. Contents

.01 Fool's Gold: How the Bold Dream of a Small Tribe at J.P. Morgan Was Corrupted by Wall Street Greed and Unleashed a Catastrophe - BookTV on CSPAN2

A Financial Times reporter's insider story of how a team at JP Morgan devised the new financial instruments that produced "a revolution in banking" - and the market events of 2008. Ms. Tett was named British Business Journalist of the Year for her coverage of the market decline in 2008. She was also awarded the Wincott Prize (for financial journalism) in 2007. Currently, Ms. Tett runs the global market coverage for Financial Times newspaper.

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&products_id=286433-1

.02 Definancialisation, Deglobalisation, Relocalisation - Dmitry Orlov

This talk was presented at The New Emergency Conference in Dublin, on June 11, 2009.

1. Good morning. The title of this talk is a bit of a mouthful, but what I want to say can be summed up in simpler words: we all have to prepare for life without much money, where imported goods are scarce, and where people have to provide for their own needs, and those of their immediate neighbours. I will take as my point of departure the unfolding collapse of the global economy, and discuss what might come next. It started with the collapse of the financial markets last year, and is now resulting in unprecedented decreases in the volumes of international trade. These developments are also starting to affect the political stability of various countries around the world. A few governments have already collapsed, others may be on their way, and before too long we may find our maps redrawn in dramatic ways.

2. "Sustainability" -- what's in a word?

In a word, unsustainable. So what does that mean, exactly? Chris Clugston has recently published a summary of his analysis of what he calls "societal over-extension" on The Oil Drum web site. Here is a summary of his summary, in round numbers. I don't want to trifle with his arithmetic, because it's the cultural assumptions behind it that I find interesting. The idea is that if we shrink our ecological footprint by an order of magnitude or so, that should make the whole arrangement sustainable once again. This is expressed in financial terms: here we are lowering the GDP of the USA from, say $100 thousand per capita per annum, to, say $10 thousand. Clugston draws a distinction between making this reduction voluntarily or involuntarily: we should make it easy on ourselves and come along quietly, so that nobody gets hurt. I find the idea that Americans will voluntarily lower their GDP by a factor of 10 rather outlandish. We keep the same system, just shut down 9/10 of it? Wouldn't that make it a completely different system? This sort of sustainability seems rather unsustainable to me.

...

http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2009/06/definancialisation-deglobalisation.html?showComment=1245210473357#c2464691995141710773

Dmity Orlov, a Russian who grew up in the U.S. since age 12, later returned there several times after the 1989 collapse, did a PowerPoint “Closing the 'Collapse Gap': the USSR was better prepared for collapse than the US” - http://www.energybulletin.net/node/23259

Orlov is on video presenting at The Long Now organization, February, 2009 -

http://fora.tv/2009/02/13/Dmitry_Orlov_Social_Collapse_Best_Practices#chapter_01

.03 Right Sizing the Economy: Can Herman Daly's Prescription for a Steady State Economy Accomplish this Task? - The Oil Drum - USA

... here are some questions to be considered by anyone hoping that new economic paradigms can ultimately be established.

1. What mechanism(s) should be used for community finance? ...

2. What levels of organization of community finance should exist (e.g. village, bioregion, province, nation-state, international, global)? ...

3. What specific mechanisms should be used to make it clear to everyone that a stable, right sized economic community is the real source of our long term security rather than private financial stashes? ...

4. If atomized wealth accumulation by individuals and families is abandoned as the driving force behind economic activity how can efficiency and productivity to be encouraged and rewarded? ...

http://campfire.theoildrum.com/node/5487

15. Custom search: region, regions, regional communities Contents

To search on topics like those in Regional Community Development News use this custom search engine which utilizes 2,106 regional related sites as of June 24, 2009. Entering the term collapse returned 350 items; rebuilding returned 455 items.

Search engine link: http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=000551187207053117963:m1gvkhigkeo&hl=en

My name is Tom Christoffel. I've worked in the field of intergovernmental and regional cooperation since 1973. As a consequence, "I see regions work.” Regional Community Development News is published bi-monthly based on news reports as of Wednesday of the publication week

Making visible such cross-boundary planning, collaboration and cooperative action at multi-jurisdictional networked regional scales, public, private and NGO is my purpose. "Think globally, act locally" was innovative in its time. Today the local scale is often too small to address today's needs and opportunities. "Think local planet, act regionally,” is my candidate paradigm. No one said we're only allowed one paradigm.

We can see that “regional communities of communities” are organized locally and now act both to avoid tragedy in the commons and gain benefits. An effective multi-jurisdictional regional community has DNA. It is geographically Defined; has a common Name and its Alignment is inclusive of smaller communities and participatory in larger communities. So, by scanning this compilation, reading articles and checking organizations - you too will be able to see the regional communities that already exist.

News references are found using the Google News search service. Media article excerpts and links are “fair use” to transform globally scattered reports to make regional approaches visible. Links go to the publisher and do not compete with it. Such publishers are likely to have related stories and thus be seen by new customers. “Regional” is an emerging news category. There is no charge for this service and no profit is made from its use, though any user can become more aware of the topic itself.

To search previous issues since 2003 go to: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/regions_work/

To join Regional Community Networkers and get a free subscription use this email link – no additional information required: regions_work-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

For the Google Groups version go to:

http://groups.google.com/group/regional-community-development-news

For the Blog and RSS feed go to: http://regional-communities.blogspot.com/

Questions, comments or items to feature in Regional Community Development News?

Please email the editor: Tom.Christoffel@gmail.com

Thomas J. (Tom) Christoffel, AICP - http://www.regional-communities.com/