Regional/Greater Community Development News – March 12, 2012


     Multi-jurisdictional intentional regional communities are, in all cases, “Greater Communities” where “community motive” is at work at a more than a local scale. This newsletter provides a scan of regional community, cooperation and collaboration activity as reported in news media and blogs. More articles are at delicious.com.
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Top 10 Stories
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel made an unusual visit-to downstate Illinois and told a Peoria crowd his city and other communities need to move past historic animosities and capitalize on the economic links between them.
Emanuel appeared at the Peoria Civic Center at the invitation of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The mayor told close to 500 local businesspeople and elected leaders that the traditional tension between Chicago and the rest of the state isn’t constructive.
“The politics of the past where we used to play Chicago versus downstate is over. It doesn’t serve the people of Illinois, who we all work for,” he said.
“We can’t let the regionalism or the differences of party pull us apart …It’s not working anymore.”

Emanuel, a Democrat, stuck to his one-state message. He also offered a list of his own plans and achievements as mayor.
He said he’ll need to work with downstate politicians to achieve much of what he hopes to do, particularly in the area of improving public schools
5140-30-00-Illinois, 5140-30-0x-Central-Peoria, 5140-30-illinois-01-Chicago.Metropolitan, re:communities, re:economic, re:officials.elected.appointed, re:mayor, re:regionalism.problem
Chicago region … report asserting that the tri-state area's potential is stymied by fragmented and uncoordinated economic development efforts and wasteful border wars. … conducted by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development for the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, … Emanuel's plan, developed by World Business Chicago … came up with similar findings …
… A coordinated approach can be more effective in unclogging some of the region's hindrances to stronger growth, such as disjointed job training efforts, and an aging and overloaded transportation system, the study found.
Streamlining efforts is particularly crucial, it said, because governments are financially strapped, with project funding likely to diminish rather than grow.
The clarion call for cooperation comes at a time when governors of Indiana and Wisconsin have made overt plays to lure Illinois firms. But intraregional poaching, which is fairly common between states and cities, is not productive
5140-00.CMSA.Chicago.IL-IN-WI, re:economic.development, re:cooperation, re:economy, re:intraregional, re:border-war
The tri-state Chicago area is in jeopardy of falling behind other global economic powerhouses despite its large size and national importance, according to results … study led by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
… tri-state Chicago region compares well among the metro regions in the OECD. In fact, the Chicago region is one of the richest metropolitan areas in the OECD and has a number of key assets," …
… Chicago remains the nation's most important transportation hub, but said other significant roadblocks have to be removed. He said the Chicago area has had "disappointing" economic performance since 2000 and if regional employment growth in the last 20 years occurred at the national rate, the area would have nearly 600,000 additional jobs today.

"When neighbor fights neighbor, we end up in a race to the bottom. … A regional framework is critical because a global economy requires flexibility, innovation and responsiveness to keep up with a rapid pace of change.
5140-00.CMSA.Chicago.IL-IN-WI, 5140-30-0x-CMAP-Chicago, re:innovation, re:OECD, re:global, re:employment, re:framework
The first-ever snapshot of the regional economy that runs from Milwaukee through Chicago to northwest Indiana recommends that economic development efforts need to be updated and upgraded.
Wisconsin economic development officials and political leaders cooperated with the study of the so-called Tri-State Chicago Metropolitan Region. The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce was the main driver behind the study by Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the U.S. Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration.
“In order to reach our greatest potential as a city, it is imperative to form the strongest partnerships as a region," said Racine Mayor John Dickert. "Today we are demonstrating that long range planning, along with cooperation is how you achieve growth and bring new job opportunities to your community.”
The study said the region needs to:
• More efficiently use its technology-based innovation assets;
• Recognize that innovation goes beyond ...
5140-31-06-Southeastern-Milwaukee, 5140-00.CMSA.Chicago.IL-IN-WI, re:development.economic, re:economy
The county executive of Prince George's County wants to work more closely with the District of Columbia in solving problems that are common to both jurisdictions by utilizing a concept that has worked in other major cities across the country.

The county executive is a strong advocate of a concept known in some academic and business circles as regionalism. It is the belief that cities, counties, and in some cases, states, that are in close proximity should work together to accomplish common goals.
The District is the cultural and economic epicenter of the Washington,D.C. region that covers the city, Prince George's and Montgomery counties, and Northern Virginia areas that include Arlington, Fairfax, …
New York City and Philadelphia are model examples of regionalism by urban planning experts in the same mode of the District. New York City serves as the economic and cultural hub for parts of New Jersey and Connecticut while Philadelphia does the same for southern New Jersey and Delaware
5140-12-00-District.of.Columbia, 5140-12-01-Metropolitan.Washington-DC-MD-VA, 5140-09-07-Delaware.Valley-Philadelphia-PA-NJ,
5140-00.Regional.Plan.Association.NY.NJ.CT, re:officials.elected.appointed, re:regionalism
It's often said that more business gets done on the golf course than in the boardroom. In a recent conversation with Neal Wade, I learned that golf can offer lessons on regionalism.
Wade, former head of the Alabama Development Office …
But that doesn't mean Wade isn't paying attention to what happens in Alabama and Mississippi -- he is also president of The Aerospace Alliance, a group that works across state and county lines to market the aerospace assets in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
He's also working with officials in southeast Alabama and northwest Florida to develop a megasite near Dothan.
That's what had him talking about the value of regionalism and offering this example.
It seems that renowned golf coach Harvey Penick used to talk of visualizing a hole the size of a wash tub when attempting a long putt. Aim for that, and your fair share of putts will go in.
Regionalism, Wade said, allows us to put a wash bucket over the Gulf Coast as we seek new comp
5140.Aerospace.Alliance.FL.AL.MA.LA, re:multi-state, re:regionalism
… regional policy, which embraces local government, the English question, the gaping asymmetry between London and the south-east and the rest of the country in terms of productivity and growth – and, of course, the political fact Labour draws its strength more from north than south, the Tories and vice versa.
At the launch of the Smith report, Changing Gear, someone labelled English regional policy as Maoist – and it has been in a state of permanent revolution ever since it was invented in the 1930s. Just after the 2010 election, the Cameron government smashed the regional development agencies (RDAs) created under Labour and replaced them with local enterprise partnerships, a variant on something tried under the Thatcher and Major governments – non-statutory groupings of councillors, businesses and others, with very little money to spend and, on the evidence of the past 18 months, destined for oblivion.
… nature of wicked issues is that it's easier to identify failings than find a way forward. …
1116-00-United.Kingdom, re:national, re:development.agency, re:regional, re:policy, re:regionalism
Greater Manchester could “join the world elite” if Whitehall “lets go” and gives it the powers it needs to unleash its potential, a report said today.
It is the key message of a new growth strategy for the city region.
A panel of economic heavyweights, led by Gatley-born Jim O’Neill, of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, has identified four pillars for growth:
·         Boosting business, science and innovation
·         Investment in infrastructure and housing
·         Skills policies
·         The effective use of public money
The blueprint lists 10 recommendations, including focusing on boosting trade with growth economies such as China, tailoring skills funding to local needs, business rate discounts in key sectors and unified planning rules for Greater Manchester.
A key theme running throughout the report, commissioned by the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership, is pushing the government to devolve more powers to the city region.
It said Greater Manchester would be an “ideal pilot UK growth city” if given more freedom, which would help it catch up with the likes of Munich, Amsterdam, Chicago and Detroit.
1116-04-North.West, re:partnership, re:city-region, re:greater
The Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the United States Forest Service (USFS) have completed a set of sage-grouse habitat maps which will be used as planning tools for the management of greater sage-grouse and its habitat in Nevada. These maps can be viewed at NDOW at BLM, and at USDA
NDOW’s Greater Sage-grouse Habitat Categorization Map is an analysis tool that incorporates the best available data (lek observations, telemetry locations, survey and inventory reports, vegetation cover, soils information, and aerial photography) into a statewide prioritization of greater sage-grouse habitat.
...
“This mapping effort shows great collaboration, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is committed to assisting in the collaboration to conserve sage-grouse,” …, Regional Director for the Pacific Southwest Region.
These maps will provide information for the Greater Sage-Grouse Planning Strategy. … California-Nevada Environmental Impact Study ...
5140-42-00-Nevada, 5140-50-00-California, re:habitat, re:environmental, re:federal, re:state
What is the Rural Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge?
The Rural Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge leverages existing financial and technical assistance resources from 13 federal agencies and bureaus to spur economic growth in rural areas in approximately 20 regions to be selected through a competitive inter-agency grant process. The Federal Funding Opportunity (FFO) announcement will open from March 8, 2012 to May 9, 2012.
The Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge offers a combination of $15 million in funding from four agencies and technical assistance resources from nine additional agencies and bureaus. This opportunity will support customized solutions targeted to address the gaps and opportunities specific for individual regions by strengthening linkages to self-identified, high-potential industry clusters in competitively selected rural regions across the nation and across all sectors.
...
5140-00-00-USA.United.States.of.America, re:grants, re:USDA
More from the week – 46 stories: http://delicious.com/i.see.regions.work  
Top stories tweeted daily – 44 :  http://twitter.com/#!/tomchristoffel
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