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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 articles …10.01 - .39
Other Regional Community News for Our Local Planet … 11.01 - .23
Blogging about Regional Communities … 12.01 - .18
Announcements and Regional Links … 13.01 - .10
Financial Crisis …14.01 - .02
Custom search: region, regions, regional communities … 15.
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Top Regional Community stories
1.
… town-hall forum sponsored by the Erie Times-News and GoErie.com. … The idea going in, a couple of weeks before the municipal primary, was to turn the tables on the political candidates. Instead of them telling the rest of us what they can do for
That's why we sought input from our readers, …
If one thread ran through the conversation -- in the run-up to voters in numerous political subdivisions choosing a county executive and a mayor, township supervisors and borough councils, school board members and constables -- it's that we're all in this together. That we're not competing across municipal lines, but with the outside world, and in the ways that matter in the long run we'll prosper or decline as one.
It starts at the center of things, in the city at the heart of our region's identity, history and prospects. And that leads directly to the subject of regionalism and what to do about the forces of time, inertia and outdated state law that have set up our urban core to fail.
…
Lawyer and longtime civic leader Jim Walczak made the case for "functional regionalism" through mechanisms such as regional authorities and an expanded role for county government. That approach targets some of the same goals and results without all of the political baggage of combining municipalities.
…
I'm a firm believer that a marriage arranged in
…
http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090510/OPINION04/305109929
2. Expert urges fractured region to change - Buffalo News - NY,
Urban areas that are fractured into dozens of municipal governments lag far behind unified regional governments in everything from economic development and affordable tax rates to racial disparity and sustainable growth, according to a urban planning expert who spoke to a group of activists, businessmen and politicians Friday in
And, said consultant and former mayor of Albuquerque David Rusk, New York State laws designed for a different age are a major barrier to modern governance in the Buffalo area.
It’s not that the New York Legislature has never done anything to help the cause of regional government among its many municipalities, Rusk said. It’s just that it was clear across the state. And it happened in 1897.
As Rusk explained, that was when state lawmakers had the vision to dissolve what was then the largest city in the nation—New York City — and what was then the seventh largest city in the nation — Brooklyn — add the then largely rural areas of Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island and create the modern metropolis that soon became the capital of the world.
“If they were still a bunch of little boxes, do you think their subway would have gotten into
“Little boxes” is the term Rusk uses to refer to large communities that labor under the governance of fractured municipal authorities. Only when they are merged, or at least cooperate enough, to form “big boxes” do the communities stand a chance of providing modern services at affordable tax rates and attracting and controlling the kind of economic growth that is sustainable and beneficial to all.
Rusk was the main speaker at a forum entitled “No More Business As Usual.” It was sponsored by the activist groups VOICE-Buffalo, the …
…
http://www.buffalonews.com/145/story/673278.html
3. Ready-to-Go Regionalism - Governing
... Right now regionalism and the right-sizing of government for the 21st century are on the back burner in most metropolitan areas. They certainly are in
But that's only part of the story because, hard as it may be to believe, every one of the large metro areas in the country already has a regional government. It has a council called a "metropolitan planning organization." If we figured out a better way to use these entities, we wouldn't need to do anything half so complicated as Joel Giambra tried to do in
The history of MPOs can be told in a relatively short space. Almost every metro area has had planning bodies of some sort for the past century, often several at a time, but for 50 years they were essentially volunteer groups and those in political power paid little attention to them. In 1973, Congress changed that by requiring each metro region to designate an official MPO to participate in transportation planning and land use, and giving them some resources to help them do their research.
A couple of places took this language and ran with it.
But those were outliers. The vast majority of MPOs spent the two decades after 1973 under the thumb of state transportation departments, which made the important choices and pressured MPOs to rubber stamp them.
Then, in 1993, … the new ISTEA transportation law offered MPOs a whole new set of tools. …
http://www.governing.com/column/ready-go-regionalism
4. Regional Cooperation: A Pathway to Economic Recovery - Nation Cities Weekly -
Regional cooperation is a proven way to reduce costs, increase economic competitiveness, manage development impacts and create new opportunities and synergies between communities. This was true before the present economic crisis and is even more critical in a time of economic recession.
The long-term strength and stability of local jurisdictions depends on an economic region with a climate for growth, cultivated local assets and healthy, productive residents and businesses. As part of the national economic recovery strategy, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) supports these critical investments in regional development.
…
For example, …
… since 1959 the Metropolitan Development Association of Syracuse and Central New York Inc., (MDA) has been a catalyst for redevelopment of the region by working with local governments and the private sector to attract and create industries with high growth potential.
Robert Simpson, president and CEO of MDA, offered several “lessons learned” to local officials based on the success of MDA’s regional economic development plan, the Essential New York Initiative, including:
• Forge a unified vision for the region;
• Foster an entrepreneurial climate that encourages innovation and adaptation;
• Leverage educational assets, including colleges and universities;
• Facilitate collaboration within industry sectors;
• Participate in regional organizations even if they cannot or do not drive the regional economic development agenda; participation builds trust and respect; and
• Take advantage of the credibility and visibility of your local government by supporting the regional initiatives, even if that means following rather than leading.
Although the barriers to regional cooperation, including lack of trust among leaders in the region, disparate community goals or inability to agree on a particular regional strategy, are very real, the immediate and long-term benefits may prove worthy of the effort.
http://www.nlc.org/articles/articleItems/NCW52509/RegionalEcon.aspx
5. Regional marketing campaign launched - San Diego Union Tribune - CA,
In an effort to promote more outside investment in the border region, a coalition of local business and civic leaders yesterday launched a marketing campaign aimed at selling
The plan, developed by the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. and its counterpart in
The groups hope to attract foreign investors and manufacturers with the idea of tapping into
“We've already got some companies showing interest in the region, but this provides us with marketing tools that unite the whole area,” said Timothy Kelley, who heads the Imperial Valley EDC.
With the help of a $225,000 Commerce Department grant and $90,000 in private contributions, the EDCs have been working together since April 2008 to put together a marketing plan that would identify the region's strengths and opportunities.
Now that the plan has been developed, the next stage is to begin promoting the areas. In mid-June, the EDCs will host 25 foreign journalists from such countries as
...
6.
...
At an industrial park in
…
But
“We will benefit with the site in
...
Landing a carmaker is the chest-thumping recruitment prize that governors and development officials hang their careers on. But auto-parts suppliers generate more jobs, taxes and economic well-being.
Volkswagen expects suppliers will create nearly 10,000 jobs across the region.
…
“We expect to share some of the suppliers” with BMW and Mercedes, Fischer said. “But there should be no doubt that
It’s Ken Stewart’s job to lure them south.
…
Easy access to the ports of
“Most of the manufacturers have been very smart to locate facilities close to state lines,” he adds. “That causes states to compete against each other. But we’re in the sweet spot for German auto manufacturers. That makes (
…
http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2009/05/17/volkswagen0517.html
7. Is Cascadia's train coming in? High-speed rail between Seattle and Vancouver could be a catalyst for regional development, and identity - Crosscut -
Cascadia boosters come in two main flavors: Ecotopians and business boosters. The greens want to let the environmental and spiritual health of the bio-region guide our politics; the boosters see prosperity through trade and economic cooperation.
Thus, Cascadians might wave "Old Doug," the Cascadian flag, on behalf of separate, but sometimes overlapping, agendas. The tribes and eco-activists want to save the orcas of the
A catalyst for Cascadian cooperation could be development of a high-speed rail link along the I-5 corridor between
In a front-page piece in the
It's potentially a game-changing development. We're no longer just talking about slight improvements to this unique Canada-U.S. rail link. The political will now exists in the
It's vital that
...
http://crosscut.com/2009/05/12/mossback/18983/
8. Warm fuzzies all around as southwestern
… mayors of
This group, which was joined an hour later by the president of Western Michigan University, the superintendent of Kalamazoo Public Schools, leader of the Greater Kalamazoo Area Chamber of Commerce, the vice chair of the Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners and representatives from Kalamazoo College, Borgess Medical Center and the Kalamazoo Nature Center, came together to sign the Southwest Michigan Regional Sustainabilty Covenant.
It's a simple, one-page document containing a lot of buzzwords. For example, the governmental, academic and business entities signing the agreement will work together "to ensure that the Southwest Michigan Region continues to be an excellent place to live and that each organization shall commit to the community's betterment through economic, social and environmental strategies germane to their mission for the benefit of future generations."
Or, as Portage Mayor Pete Strazdas put it much more eloquently and succinctly: "We want to leave this place better than we found it."
Now the fine citizens of
On a practical level, this agreement means that all of the above groups and other businesses or organizations which want to sign on, have agreed to work together to share best practices for operating more efficiently and saving money wherever they can.
...
Covenant – PDF pages 89-97 - http://www.kalamazoocity.org/docs/20090518DraftPacket.pdf
RC: Southcentral
http://blog.mlive.com/readreact/2009/05/warm_fuzzies_all_around_as_sou.html
.9
...
While officials acknowledged the setback which the termination of the contact with M/A-COM presented, they were also optimistic opportunities to utilize newer technology and improve governance of cross-jurisdictional communication and data sharing would come from it. For example, instead of building a statewide communications network and offering to connect counties and other local governments to it, the state would work to facilitate the development of regional networks that connected groups of partnering counties thereby improving its usefulness.
Several counties had no desire to participate in the statewide wireless network, according to Perry. "The new strategic road map we are pursuing de-emphasizes the one-size-fits-all notion and envisions an interconnected system of systems," she said.
…
"Two other reasons we should continue with this new regional approach: The major emergencies that have occurred around the state are far more regional in nature than they are statewide. Whether it's a plane crash in
…
Mayberry-Stewart said the governance structure would contain both top-down oversight and bottom-up collaboration.
Governance is a major part of all of the homeland security programs now, Gallagher said. "Your governance has to be in place. If you do not have that, …
http://www.govtech.com/gt/635218
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 New activism defines road builder's efforts
In the frenzied final week of the 2008 legislative session, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle broke away to take an urgent call from a key player in a highway funding debate. The caller wasn’t the governor, or the transportation commissioner or a lawmaker. It was Bill Hammack, president of C.W. Matthews Contracting Co.,
http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2009/05/17/cwmatthews0517.html
.02 National PBS documentary points to
OregonLive.com
A national PBS documentary will point to
PBS: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/blueprintamerica/reports/road-to-the-future/overview/549/
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/05/national_pbs_documentary_point.html
.03 REGION: SANDAG adopts $1 billion budget
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2009/05/22/news/sandiego/zddc03371380aea5d882575be007c7120.txt
.04 Regional planning agency hopes to avoid 'doomsday' budget situation
Medill Reports -
Board members for the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) are hoping they have successfully averted a budget crisis and reclaimed more than three million dollars in state funds. Six members journeyed to
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=129251
.05
Four years after withdrawing from the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments, city officials are now considering re-joining the organization. Other than the small and largely gated city of
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_12441837
.06 Governor "My Man" Mitch Daniels Dismantling
Daily
.07 Metro: Where do we go from here?
The Missouri Legislature recently authorized a $12 million lifeline for the
.08 Metropolitan
Jay Fisette, vice chair of the Arlington County Board, was tapped to head the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments' new regional environmental policy committee. The panel was created in response to a recently released regional climate change report by the COG’s climate change steering committee. ...
http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2009/05/11/daily89.html
.09 Local companies partner for community health
Wellness Works is a collaborative effort between White River Health System,
http://www2.arkansasonline.com/news/2009/may/24/local-companies-partner-community-health-20090524/
.10 Take a trip upstate
You don't have to go to
http://www.scrantontimes.com/news/1.26665
.11 TBARTA board adopts regional transportation master plan
Bizjournals.com
The Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority board has adopted its regional transportation master plan. ... Now the TBARTA board will begin to discuss priorities and funding options in the coming months, beginning in June 2009, it said in the release. The Florida Legislature created TBARTA in 2007 to plan and develop a multimodal transportation system that will connect the seven counties of the
http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2009/05/18/daily70.html
.12 Aerotropolis becomes hot topic for regional leaders
Crain's
Fireworks flared Friday at the annual leadership luncheon of the Eight Mile Boulevard Association — but once the dust settles, Southeast Michigan's “Big 4” plan to be back to work on regional cooperation. ... Cobo was a passing topic of discussion Friday, but not nearly the lightning rod that Ficano's push for tax incentives related to the aerotropolis proposal turned out to be. ...
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090517/SUB01/305179969/1069
.13 Six Businesses to Be Recognized During 9th Annual Leading Edge Awards
E-SoMD.com
.14 Thrive:
Wisbusiness.com -
For the second year in a row, a regional coalition (including the cities of Fitchburg, Madison, and Middleton; Madison Gas and Electric; Alliant Energy; Thrive, the Economic Development Enterprise for the eight-county Madison Region and the UW-Madison, new to the coalition this year) will promote the Madison Region’s biotech strengths at the BIO International Conference, scheduled in Atlanta May 18-21, 2009 (bio2009.org). The annual BIO shows are the biotech industry’s largest event, typically attracting a global audience of more than 20,000 scientific and executive leaders. ...
http://www.wisbusiness.com/index.iml?Article=158856
.15
Oilweek.com
... , the company has signed a letter of intent with the Three Rivers Regional Solid Waste Management Authority, which owns and operates a regional landfill that serves Calhoun, Itawamba, Lafayette, Lee, Monroe, Pontotoc and Union counties. Three Rivers has agreed to supply Enerkem with about 189,000 tons or 60 per cent of its solid waste annually as feedstock. ... Randy Kelley, Executive director of Three Rivers Planning and Development District, said while he is excited about the Enerkem project he is still "cautiously optimistic." "Is it a done deal? No," said Kelley. ...
http://www.oilweek.com/news.asp?ID=22806
.16 Consolidation of Belleair Bluffs, Largo fire departments could set example, chief says
Tampabay.com -
Facing an $18.5 million deficit in its upcoming Emergency Medical Services budget,
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/fire/article1003516.ece
.17 Regionalized dispatching can still deliver
Scarlet Scuttlebutt -
Green Brook officials are exploring plans to join a regional police dispatch service that would save money through eliminating four local dispatchers. And, as seems to nearly always be the case when such sensitive consolidations are considered anywhere in New Jersey, residents and other critics have been up in arms at a feared loss of services ... At the heart of this debate is an entirely unrealistic expectation by the public that government should be able to maintain and improve top-notch services at permanently low cost, and any failure to do so is merely a function of egregious government waste. ...
.18 AROUND
Belmond Independent -
County extension director Bev Peters talked about the big changes coming to
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20313893&BRD=1907&PAG=461&dept_id=133418&rfi=6
.19 Earthtrepreneurship. It may be tough to pronounce but the term is a great description of green rural growth opportunity
DailyYonder.com
Rural sustainability needs to be built on an earthtrepreneurial middle class that understands how to create, use, and sell appropriate technologies and services at home and around the world. In some cases, this might well be social earthtrpepreneurship, dedicated to helping others through a nonprofit organization. But it might also involve ways of profitably, but responsibly nurturing and cultivating the earth’s natural heritage. Earthtrepreneurship is based on respectful, earth-centered ingenuity. Earthtrepreneurs understand and love their own backyards. But they also understand that their ideas have markets elsewhere. They serve their communities, building sustainability at home. They also serve the world, building global sustainability. ...
http://www.dailyyonder.com/earthtrepreneurship/2009/05/14/2118
.20 How much to seek in override? That is the question for officials
South Coast Today -
"I would like to challenge the region," Lakeville School Committee Chairman David McQueeney said. "We in Lakeville are in favor of regionalization (which would include the elementary schools). The region should be able to function as if we were fully regionalized in fiscal 2010. It would mean the fourth grade would remain at (
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090523/NEWS/905230332
.21 In Our Own Words: You and Me and National G
Ukiah Daily Journal -
Question: What is National Geographic doing in
http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/ci_12440596
.22
The
.23 Food Export
FoodBizDaily.com -
Food Export USA Northeast, www.foodexportusa.org, is a non-profit organization that promotes the export of food and agricultural products from the northeast region of the
http://foodbizdaily.com/articles/29671-food-export-usa-northeast.aspx
.24 Bad economy drives down accident rate
The
… poor economy, higher gas prices and motorists driving fewer miles are all key contributors according to a traffic-crash report that found there were 6,675 fewer traffic crashes in southeastern
http://www.detnews.com/article/20090523/METRO/905230350/Bad-economy-drives-down-accident-rate
.25
New West -
... the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA) was drafted by local residents of the Northern Rockies bioregion, including political leaders, wildlife biologists, economists, scientists, business owners, sportsmen, sportswomen, conservationists, and concerned residents who fully recognized the need for, and the benefits of, protecting the
.26 Former Ford plant site nears Phase 1
Recession aside, work appears to be on track to redevelop the Hapeville site, to be called Aerotropolis Atlanta, into a mixed-use project adjacent to
http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/stories/2009/05/26/hapeville_ford_site.html
.27 Towns find obstacles to saying 'I do' to mergers
The Associated Press
…
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hCWI1lTJzTLoFf5uc070x2yE8f3AD987D9C00
.28 The imperiled fields of
In 2003, Gov. Jennifer Granholm joined a busload of
.29
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/transportation/stories/DN-orangeline_17met.ART0.Central.Edition1.4cb9829.html
.30 PV processing applications for home repair grants
… Sengstock said his staff referred perhaps 25 applicants to the Northern Arizona Council of Governments office in
http://www.dcourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&subsectionID=1&articleID=68224
.31 Let's blow up whole notion of cities and towns
... place our focus not on how cities and towns can raise more money to continue these anachronistic administrative systems, but on how to deliver essential public services more efficiently. The answer is to significantly expand the regions within which services are delivered. But regionalization will not come easily. Past efforts have demonstrated that pursuing it is not in the vested interests of cities and towns, so it may take more stick than carrot. We could take a lesson from the way the Obama administration is dealing with US automobile manufacturers. If our cities and towns are faltering financially but in the aggregate are too important to fail, then, in return for financial support, perhaps we should require some closed "dealerships" and some "industry consolidation."
.32 Guest Column: County plays important role
Lewisboro Ledger -
In
.33
Fort Worth Star Telegram -
A two-year study recently released by the Dallas Regional Chamber concluded that
http://www.star-telegram.com/242/story/1384616.html
.34 New 'coffee table' book offers views of Lakes Region
Laconia Citizen -
"Why don't you do a book of great photographs of the Lakes Region?" For
http://www.citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090525/GJNEWS02/705269994/-1/CitNEWS
.35 The exit interview: Retiring county chief John Zeunik on what's next
Q: Is the recession a catalyst for more cooperation and intergovernmental agreement among
A: When I started in this position in May 1988, one of the things I quickly noted was that there was a strong commitment towards intergovernmental cooperation, certainly among the three elected leaders. I don’t think there wasn’t a day that went by or an issue that went by that (then-County Board Chairwoman
http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2009/05/16/news/doc4a0f0e07a081d820960153.txt
.36 Chagrin police could
Chagrin Herald Sun - cleveland.com
http://www.cleveland.com/chagrinsun/opinion/index.ssf?/base/opinion-0/12428482256550.xml&coll=4
.37 Collaboration.gov
Government Technology -
Beth Noveck, Obama’s open-government guru, looks to boost civic engagement through technology.
Open Government Initiative: www.whitehouse.gov/open
.38 Genius of Common Sense: Jane Jacobs and the story of The Death and Life of Great American Cities. By Glenna Lang and Marjory Wunsch. Publisher: David R. Godine, Boston 2009.
Spotlight - Regional Plan Association
When it comes to status-affirming events, there is one that may even surpass a Nobel or a Pulitzer: having a children's book written about you. ... In twelve short chapters comprising a bit more than 100 pages, Authors Glenna Lang and Marjory Wunsch, both from Boston, lay out the essence of Jacob's life and the contribution she made to how people view cities and the way people think about them. They recount how she grew up in
http://www.rpa.org/2009/05/spotlight-vol-8-no-10-book-review-genius-of-common-sense.html
.39
Government Technology -
11. Other Regional Community News for Our Local Planet Contents
.01 Choosing Our Imaginary Communities and Identities
Ethical Technology
In June 1983 I arrived in
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/hughes20090518/
.02 Expert slams Supercity plans
Stuff.co.nz
The Government had "taken one of the headlines of the Royal Commission's report but removed many of the mechanisms that would have achieved better regional governance." He said the Government should go back to the original Royal Commission report instead of its own Making Auckland Greater proposals. ... "The Royal Commission's proposal is the result of 18 months of research, over 3500 submissions, and discussions with leading international advisors on metropolitan governance. It is a solid piece of evidence-based work," Mr Wilson said. In contrast, the Government had "fundamentally misunderstood" the problem in
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/2407228/Expert-slams-Supercity-plans
.03
Stuff.co.nz
The Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill should be renamed the Removal of Democracy Bill, said Progressive leader Jim Anderton in parliament today. He was speaking on the proposal to create an
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0905/S00276.htm
.04 Brand makeover for Trade Centre
GulfNews.com
http://www.gulfnews.com/business/Construction/10315460.html
.05 16500 km towards a safe nation
Mid-Day - Mumbai,
A prosperous businessman from Mumbai, Lal has launched an organisation called United Force of India to defeat the opposing forces of regionalism and religion. "I decided to spread the message by travelling to the border regions while meeting soldiers and people living in these far-flung locations. As a nation we are indebted to our soldiers and I wanted to pay my homage to them," he said. ...
.06 Pochury Regional Council NNC dismisses one
The Morung Express -
Dimapur - The Pochury Regional Council of the NNC has terminated one Lutsütu, s/o Yiteli of Phor village from “active service of the Pochury Regional Council NNC” with effect from May 25 “on Anti-National activities ground”. ... neglected the “National Days and consequently for gap of 2 (two) years, he did not indulged or perform any nation activities of the Pochury Regional Council, NNC”. The two also stated that Lutsütu “distort, dismantle, defeated” and did not honour the “good office of the Pochury Regional Council”. Besides, the note alleged that Lutsütu, without the knowledge of the concerned “Region Government”, randomly collected revenue and taxes. The note also cited the use of alcohol and other intoxicants, “provoking the Regional workers and the Region Government”, “misconduct, misbehaviour” and “committing proxy anti-national activities” …
http://www.morungexpress.com/local/24302.html
.07 Economic man is dead. Time for rebirth
guardian.co.uk -
Step forward Unesco. The oldest UN agency, during the era of economic man, has been pushed to the sidelines. Its emphasis on education, on the physical, human and social sciences, on culture and language, on the sustainable use of natural resources, as the mainsprings of human development and wellbeing, has seemed quaintly old-fashioned in an era of aggressive profit-seeking. But a restatement of those goals and values is now overdue. We can now assert, amid the wreckage created by economic man, that we are more than economic agents, and that Unesco's preoccupations point the way to a more complete and empowering sense of where our future lies. ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/28/unesco-global-recession
.08 The logic of illogical
mydigitalfc.com -
We are a diverse nation. Coalition government is the norm of the day. The question is what is optimum diversity for an effective coalition? For example, a coalition government can be constituted with 2 or 20 different political parties. What should be the optimum number of parties for the coalition to be most effective? What is better – a smarter group or a diverse group? ...
http://www.mydigitalfc.com/opinion/logic-illogical-233
.09
AFP
The process should begin with "a region-wide consensus on action - a home-grown, home-based approach to unity, progress and peace," Abdullah said, urging Middle Eastern countries to work together. "To succeed, we must build regional multi-sector, multi-skill partnerships. No single entity owns the region's most pressing challenges - or their solution," the king said. ...
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g-5ud544zJSB1874T90AtU-jcu5A
.10 Council gathers at forum
Stuff.co.nz
As parliament debated combining
http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/2414212/Council-gathers-at-forum
.11 Chinese Economist: Yuan Should Be Regional Currency to Rival Dollar
BusinessWeek -
Yu Qiao, an economics professor at
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/may2009/gb20090522_519171_page_2.htm
.12 Coalition wants region for northern
Joy Online -
Mr Isaka Buraima, President of the Coalition for Peace and Development in Buem (COPADIB), has called on the government to create a region for the northern part of the Volta Region to facilitate the development of the area. ... Mr Buraima stressed that “the creation of a new region would ensure the rapid realization of government’s decentralization policy and equitable distribution of the country’s resources in line with the Directive Principle of State Policy as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.” …
http://news.myjoyonline.com/news/200905/30078.asp
.13 Five regencies in Papua lack infrastructure, clear boundaries
Regencies of Paniai, Mappi, Puncak, Asmat and Mimika are facing many challenges to their development, and are lagging behind other regencies in Papua province, particularly in terms of autonomy and budget issues. ... the underdeveloped regencies are prone to conflicts as they have yet to have clear boundaries in mapping, and tended to claim their territories through a variety of methods. This may trigger fears among residents. ...
.14 ScanBalt approves affiliated membership
Informationsdienst Wissenschaft (Pressemitteilung) -
Affiliated members can ie be regions, companies, networks and institutions which are not physically located within the original ScanBalt BioRegion but would like to strengthen ties with Life sciences on Top of
http://idw-online.de/pages/de/news315349
.15 Sierra Leone/Liberia launch
Awareness Times -
... launching of the park. This he said will actualize a long dream for the conservation of the natural beauty and wild life between the two sister countries. ... The Trans-Boundary Project, he informed, will also help provide serious security zone where no more rebels or dissidents will hibernate to wreak havoc. ...
http://www.news.sl/drwebsite/publish/article_200512234.shtml
.16 Government to resurvey boundaries
Monitor Online -
In bid to end the escalating disputes over boundaries in the districts of Butaleja, Tororo, Mbale and Budaka, the government has sent a team of surveyors to carry out fresh surveys and re-demarcate the local inter-district boundaries. This comes barely a month after President Yoweri Museveni directed the ministries of Lands, Housing and Urban Development and Local Government to draw a road map and find way of resolving the disputes over the inter district boundaries between the four districts. ...
.17 Curbs on hammour sales to save stocks
The National Newspaper - United Arab Emirates
Hammour is one of a number of species highlighted as a priority for protection by the Regional Commission for Fisheries (RECOFI), following a dramatic fall in its population over two decades. Hammour stocks are estimated to be down to just three per cent of their natural levels, and scientists have blamed overfishing and a lack of regulation or regional policies that take into account migratory patterns. ...
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090514/NATIONAL/705139814/1010/rss
.18 On the International Day for Biodiversity, some great resources for exploring the topic
Examiner.com -
There are a lot of valid ways to look at the world's biological richness. Should biodiversity be measured by country, despite the vast differences in size between nations? Or should it be measured by bioregion, regardless of national borders? In the end, I decided that a ranked list was not important. Instead I've chosen to offer some useful sources for exploring the topic of biodiversity. ...
.19 Back to plastic? Reusable grocery bags may cause food poisoning
National Post -
Get out your bleach and launder those reusable fabric grocery bags after each use. You're not clogging up landfill with plastic throw-aways, but your environmental conscientiousness could make you sick. A microbiological study — a first in
.20 Come Together now -
Alibaba News Channel -
The Yangtze River Delta includes
.21 Deloitte report urges governments around the world to step up cybersecurity efforts or face the threat of disruption and isolation within the global economy
ArabianBusiness.com (press release) -
... role of Governments around the world in meeting this challenge is one of the issues raised by the report. The Deloitte member firms specialists interviewed agree that the public sector should set standards that build better security and protection, should develop new laws on data privacy that align with the new reality, and should create reliable metrics for internet service providers, equipment manufacturers and software designers to secure the online environment and to empower users against cyber crimes. ...
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/press_releases/detail/38767
.22 Are computers transforming humanity?
Computerworld
"Today, with technology, we can enable people to act collectively across boundaries. And one of the things that is different today isn't that we can just act collectively very quickly, but we act across heterogeneous groups," Earl says. She points to the collective actions taken to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina as an example. ... And it doesn't take an emergency for new and different types of communities to emerge. "Technology changes the whole idea of who we belong with," says anthropologist Ken Anderson, a senior researcher at Intel Corp. ...
http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/303629/computers_transforming_humanity?pp=1
.23 The New Socialism: Global Collectivist Society Is Coming Online
Wired Magazine
… 2008 book, Here Comes Everybody, media theorist Clay Shirky suggests a useful hierarchy for sorting through these new social arrangements. Groups of people start off simply sharing and then progress to cooperation, collaboration, and finally collectivism. At each step, the amount of coordination increases. ... How close to a noncapitalistic, open source, peer-production society can this movement take us? … Every time that question has been asked, the answer has been: closer than we thought. Consider craigslist. Just classified ads, right? But the site amplified the handy community swap board to reach a regional audience, enhanced it with pictures and real-time updates, and suddenly became a national treasure. Operating without state funding or control, connecting citizens directly to citizens, this mostly free marketplace achieves social good at an efficiency that would stagger any government or traditional corporation. … Who would have believed that poor farmers could secure $100 loans from perfect strangers on the other side of the planet—and pay them back? That is what Kiva does with peer-to-peer lending. …
Comments: … Oh. A connected free form network of individuals cooperating freely, with no centralized planning... You actually meant the title to be "The New Liberalism: Global Individualist Society Is Coming Online", right?
http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/magazine/17-06/nep_newsocialism?currentPage=all
12. Blogging about Regional Communities Contents
.01 A different path toward regional decisionmaking?
... putting aside the legitimate issue of composition, could a SEWRPC that was the direct recipient of federal dollars and that was empowered to enforce its regional land use and transportation plans inch us closer to a regional approach to governing that would make us more cohesive and competitive? The answer largely depends on whether one believes that our existing government structure is ineffective and outdated, and that the collective needs of the region should trump the desires of existing municipal and county units of government. ...
http://milwaukeetalkie.blogspot.com/2009/05/different-path-toward-regional.html
.02 Sub-Regionalism Run Amok
... Thankfully, Sound Transit’s sub-area equity protects sub-regions from having to pay for other areas’ attempts at regional one-ups-manship. But nothing could be worse for transit expansion and riders than political stances that ensure that high-cost, low-ridership extensions and routings there just to appease interests that want their section to be special or underground just to compare well to
http://seattletransitblog.com/2009/05/20/subregionalism-run-amok/
.03 Bipolar regionalism is no regionalism at all
The Center for
... The region can't support two major air transport/logistics systems or two back-biting regional economic development strategies. Coming on the heels of the Cobo debacle, this bipolar regionalism is just one more sign that it's going to take a new generation of political leaders to move ONE region forward. Metro
http://www.thecenterformichigan.net/blog/bipolar-regionalism-is-no-regionalism-at-all/
.04 More Thoughts on the State
City Manager's Blog
... The Ventura City Manager Blog posted a great essay yesterday on the upcoming election and some of the ideas floating around to reform state government. He talked about a group called "Common Sense
http://www.ci.manteca.ca.us/blog/2009/05/more-thoughts-on-state.html
.05 Local economy Tech clusters will keep us prosperous
... the Hampton Roads Research Partnership comes in. We’re in our ninth year and are currently a consortium of seven colleges and universities, two federal laboratories and a research institute ... We at the research partnership think, and are betting on, the viability of Hampton Roads clusters to create not just a small-scale nexus of prosperity, but a model for the regional economy. Our premise in creating clusters in 2004 was to gain the power to compete on an equal footing with other areas in the country by leveraging existing strengths in judiciously selected disciplines. The three technology clusters that we chose – bioscience, modeling and simulation, and sensors – have a critical mass of expertise and proven economic viability in Hampton Roads, ...
http://hrpartnership.blogspot.com/2009/05/local-economy-tech-clusters-will-keep.html
.06 Northeast
Greater
... Regional Prosperity Initiative (RPI) taking place in
http://greaterohio.org/blog/2009/05/15/northeast-ohio-group-examines-possible-regional-approach/
.07 A Reality Check Comes to the
JaxPoliticsOnline.com
According to research performed by the GeoPlan Center at the University of Florida and the Northeast Florida Regional Council, the First Coast area is expected to projected to add 1.6 million people and 650000 new jobs by 2060. The visioning exercise conducted at the May 21 event was designed raise awareness as to the projected levels of region-wide growth, and to lay the foundation fort the development of a concrete list of next steps to meet the region’s future job, housing, transportation, infrastructure and recreational needs. To that end, over 275 of North Florida’s political, business and non-profit leaders gathered to share their vision of what the
http://jaxpolitics.wordpress.com/2009/05/21/a-reality-check-comes-to-the-first-coast/
.08 Why a Referendum on County-Wide Planning Will Win
ArtVoice.com
The 1950s was when county government in
http://artvoice.com/issues/v8n21/bring_it_on
.09 Fed, local officials say they'll fight to keep Atlanta-Griffin rail funding
Creative Loafing
Dave Williams of the Atlanta Business Chronicle managed to sneak into the
.10 More 'aerotropolis'
Piedmont Publius
I'm not sure what I'm missing here, but I thought anticipating
http://triad.johnlocke.org/blog/?p=2568
.11 Car-Free in
Room for Debate Blog – NYTimes.com -
... While walkable communities have become common all over the United States in the last 15 years, going car-free is another challenge altogether. Is this a realistic goal in a car culture like ours? We asked some urban planners, developers and other experts to comment. ... Reader comment 13. ... Most of the carless zones in
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/carless-in-america/?hp
.12 Intergovernmental Relations Manager:
Recreation Jobs & News
As a member of FCM’s Advocacy team, the Intergovernmental Relations Manager will work with a team of experts in municipal-federal policy making, government relations and communications, to represent and advance the interests of cities and communities with the Government of Canada. ... Please apply by mail, fax or email by June 1, 2009 to: ...
http://jobs.recreation4sale.com/jobs/intergovernmental-relations-manager-ottawa-area/
.13 Amerikan Expose The Threat of Agenda 21 - Sustainable Development
Freedom Fighter Radio
Regional Governance - Undermining state sovereignty and control is essential to the implementation of Agenda 21. Learn how regional governance essentially eliminates state borders and bypasses elected officials in favor of unelected bureaucrats. ...
http://freedomfighterradio.net/?p=7175
.14 The Regional National Taxonomy
Id - The Entity Within
... More interestingly meeting a person of an Indian origin in
http://dhruvidentity.blogspot.com/2009/05/regional-national-taxonomy.html
.15 Maps
design-newyork.com
This isn't a regional map, people. This is the WHOLE WORLD. Look at
http://design-newyork.com/blog/2009/05/15/maps/
.16 Regional Economy Part I
Daily
I believe North America can describe well what happenned to the Regions, in
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/5/25/735147/-Regional-Economy-Part-I
.17 Why Geotourism Fits the Inclusive Tourism Model
Rolling Rains Report
Just as there is a very specific definition of the term "Inclusive Tourism" (definition: "the application of the seven principles of Universal Design to the products, services, and policies of the tourism industry at all stages of their lifecycle from conception to retirement and introduction of a replacement") there is also a precise definition for "geotourism": ...
http://www.rollingrains.com/2009/05/sandra-rhoddai-first-came-across.html
.18 Power Plugs of the World Map
Gizmodo
Power plugs by region – Note: many comments.
http://gizmodo.com/5259219/power-plugs-of-the-world-map
13. Announcements and Regional Links. Contents
.01 Rebuilding and Renewing
The forum will aim to build support for a national infrastructure plan needed for America to respond to the big challenges of rapid population growth, our dependence on foreign oil, climate change, global competitiveness, and deteriorating infrastructure, and identify the major transportation, energy and water infrastructure priorities in the Southwest Megaregion that are issues of national significance.
The forum will take place at the
http://www.america2050.org/2009/05/next-america-2050-forum-in-los-angeles-june-19.html
.02 Call for Papers - 56th North American Regional Science Association International (RSAI) Conference -
The Conference is sponsored by the North American Regional Science Council (NARSC) and the Western Regional Science Association (WRSA). It is easy to register. Click on the link to the conference section for general information on the conference. http://www.narsc.org
To register for the conference or submit an abstract/session online you must first login to the User Area. If you are not in our database, you will need to register for a free NARSC user account and then you will be able to register for the conference and submit an abstract.
If you have questions about the program, local arrangements, or submitting a paper or session, or experience any difficulties, contact the 2009 Program Chair, Serge Rey Email: srey@asu.edu
For local arrangements issues, please contact the 2009 Local Organizing Committee Chair, David Plane, plane@u.arizona.edu
.03 Call for Papers - Global Recession: Regional Impacts on Housing, Jobs, Health and Wellbeing -
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
• 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
• Jobs, employment and wellbeing
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. Your MS Word file should contain your name, telephone, fax and e-mail details.
To submit: www.regional-studies-assoc.ac.uk follow Winter Conference Call for Papers link.
.04 “Data Governance Part III: Frameworks – Structure for Organizing Complexity” - National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO)
NASCIO is pleased to announce the release of its new research brief. NASCIO is continuing to build its series on enterprise IT governance and data governance in particular. This report will present several leading frameworks and calls to action for the state CIO. This issue brief is available at www.nascio.org/publications/
Contact Eric Sweden, NASCIO Senior Enterprise Architect esweden@AMRms.com
.05 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - Office of Program Planning and Integration – Regional Collaboration
NOAA is expanding upon existing regional coordination and communication efforts with a shift toward Regional Collaboration, which adds the component of integrating program activities to address NOAA’s priorities at both the national and regional scale. The purpose of regional collaboration is to improve NOAA’s productivity and value to customers, using existing authority and accountability structures. This effort does not entail any changes to NOAA’s organizational structure. Rather, it seeks to identify and apply NOAA’s full range of capabilities, within and across regions, to design the best, geographically specific solutions for customers.
http://www.ppi.noaa.gov/PPI_Capabilities/regional_collaboration.html
.06 Regional Cooperation -
Regional cooperation is essential to strengthening and uniting older suburbs and to improving the viability of metro
http://www.michigansuburbsalliance.org/regional_cooperation/
.07 National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD)
The “dialogue and deliberation community” is a community of practitioners, organizations, researchers, public officials, activists, artists, students, and others dedicated to solving problems through honest talk, quality thinking and collaborative action. NCDD provides the infrastructure needed in this community so we can work together to increase both our individual and our collective impact.
If you or your organization actively practices, promotes, or studies collaborative, transformative communication, we encourage you to join the National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation. …
http://www.thataway.org/?page_id=1008
.08 Wolfram|Alpha – Places & Geography
Wolfram|Alpha's long-term goal is to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone. We aim to collect and curate all objective data; implement every known model, method, and algorithm; and make it possible to compute whatever can be computed about anything. Our goal is to build on the achievements of science and other systematizations of knowledge to provide a single source that can be relied on by everyone for definitive answers to factual queries. …
Note: Regions are not yet a defined data set. Ed.
http://www41.wolframalpha.com/examples/PlacesAndGeography.html
.09 Intergovernmental organization - Wikipedia
An intergovernmental organization (IGO) is an organization comprised primarily of sovereign states (referred to as member states), or of other intergovernmental organization. Intergovernmental organizations are often called international organizations, although that term may also include international nongovernmental organization such as international non-profit organizations (NGOs) or multinational corporations.
…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intergovernmental_organization
.10 Nassim Nicholas Taleb: A Crazier Future - FORA.tv
The Long Now Foundation - Stewart Brand Hosts Seminars About Long-term Thinking. Nassim Nicholas Taleb discusses his book, "The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable" in relation to predicting the future, learning from the consequences of the unknown, and the power of randomness.
http://fora.tv/2008/02/04/Future_Has_Always_Been_Crazier_Than_We_Thought
14. Financial Crisis. Contents
.01 Prudent
During the emerging economies' commodities boom a few years back, Chilean Finance Minister Andrés Velasco was a wet blanket at the fiesta.
As the savings swelled above $20 billion -- more than 15% of
The 48-year-old Mr. Velasco, wary that a flood of copper income could generate lending and consumption bubbles, stood his ground, even as the popularity of the center-left government withered. Latin American history, he cautioned, was full of "booms that had been mismanaged and ended badly."
Today Mr. Velasco looks like a prophet. Since the onset of the global economic crisis, copper prices have fallen by 50%, in line with the sharp decline in other commodities. Emerging economies that got too giddy in the good years are now coping with nasty hangovers. Soybean-dependent
Thanks to Mr. Velasco's caution,
...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124337806443856111.html
.02 Thriving
When capitalism seemed on the verge of collapse last fall, Kristin Halvorsen,
As investors the world over sold in a panic, she bucked the tide, authorizing Norway’s $300 billion sovereign wealth fund to ramp up its stock buying program by $60 billion — or about 23 percent of Norway ’s economic output.
…
The global financial crisis has brought low the economies of just about every country on earth. But not
With a quirky contrariness as deeply etched in the national character as the fjords carved into its rugged landscape,
And in the midst of the worst global downturn since the Depression,
…
Instead of spending its riches lavishly, it passed legislation ensuring that oil revenue went straight into its sovereign wealth fund, state money that is used to make investments around the world. Now its sovereign wealth fund is close to being the largest in the world, despite losing 23 percent last year because of investments that declined.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/business/global/14frugal.html?ref=business
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 2,095 regional related sites as of May 27, 2009. Entering the term regionalization returned 559 items; regionalized returned 313 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/
