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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 - .22
Blogging about Regional Communities … 12.01 - .10
Announcements and Regional Links … 13.01 - .06
Financial Crisis …14.03
Custom search: region, regions, regional communities … 15.
_________________________________________________________________________
Top Regional Community stories
1.
To sell his vision of a high-speed train network to the American public, President Barack Obama this week cited
Yet the country is on track to bypass
The growth of the Alta Velocidad Española, or AVE, high-speed rail network is having a profound effect on life in
But those centuries-old habits are starting to change as
"We Spaniards didn't used to move around much," says José María Menéndez, who heads the civil engineering department at the University of Castilla-La Mancha. "Now I can't make my students sit still for one second. The AVE has radically changed this generation's attitude to travel."
…
Critics say the AVE will never stop losing money. Even its backers say high-speed rail can only be economical if the state bears much of the construction costs. But they say the train's benefits-lower greenhouse-gas emissions, less road congestion and, in
"The country is becoming far more intertwined," says José María Ureña, a professor of city and regional planning at the University of Castilla-La Mancha. "In a country that tends to separate out somewhat, that can only be a good thing."
…
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124018395386633143.html
2. SunRail Promoted as Key to Regional Economy - The Ledger -
Completion of the SunRail commuter rail project is key to making the region economically competitive, Shelley Lauten told the Polk County Commission Wednesday.
"We're the 15th largest economy in the world, but we don't act that way," said Lauten, president of myregion.org, an Orlando-based regional visioning effort, explaining that the region that extends from Daytona Beach to Tampa is deficient in a regional transportation network that includes various forms of transit.
"We can't compete without transit,'' she said.
SunRail is a 61-mile, $1.2 billion proposed commuter rail route stretching through Volusia, Seminole,
But commissioners Jean Reed and Randy Wilkinson said questions have been raised about the SunRail project's effect on regional transportation because the rerouting of freight trains through parts of
Lauten said those issues can be worked out and shouldn't delay the SunRail project, which is under consideration in the Florida Legislature.
She said delaying the project because of those concerns may be short-sighted.
"If we wait to solve every issue on every front, the $400 million (in federal transit funds) will be invested in another community,'' she said, explaining that a recent trip by an
She said Charlotte and other communities are watching how the SunRail project goes in
"Other communities are watching us, hoping we make the wrong choice,'' she said.
...
RC: East
3. Littlefield Calls For Regional Water And Sewer Authority; Unified City/County Services - The Chattanoogan -
Mayor Ron Littlefield, launching his second four-year term, on Monday called for the creation of a new water and sewer authority similar to the Electric Power Board. ... Here is his speech:
I've just returned from
It was a gathering of potential suppliers and others seeking opportunities related to Volkswagen and more. The subject was economic development in the Southeast U.S. and - without being boastful -
I mention this now because in this time of financial turmoil and economic distress, we are seen as a special place with much to look forward to....
I mention this because we are seen as a community entering an age of opportunity; and age of change - but change for the better; an age of unselfish cooperation and teamwork.
It's not just about Volkswagen or Alstom Power or other recent successes; it's about a community that stands to gain an entirely new family of enterprises - entirely new avenues of investment.
…This is a unique time in our history - our greater community. Consider these points:
1. Political restructuring is inevitable. In fact, it is legally required and the task will involve the city, county and state legislative offices.
2. We have the "pull" of economic opportunity during a time of rather sever economic distress - providing a "push" toward focused effort to promote positive change
..
People will say, "Oh my goodness. He's talking about Metro Government." Not necessarily, but I am talking about refinements in our local government to be more efficient, effective and economical. I'm talking about more representative, modern and responsive government.
…
RC: Southeast
http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_149344.asp
4. Saving our region: Nice plans, but... - Crosscut.com -
A candid look at the efforts to preserve
Looking past transient economic tremors, the big questions for our region’s appeal and prosperity two and three decades in the future haven’t gone away: Can the region grow without despoiling both our intimate and grander landscapes? Can we protect
…
Start with the important actors in this play. Our four-county regional planning organization, the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) [http://www.psrc.org/index.htm], tries to fashion strategies that achieve the goals of Vision 2040, adopted about a year ago. Vision 2040 believes the best pattern for growth is to locate new populations and jobs in regional centers. That puts transportation systems to efficient use and preserves rural areas for agriculture, recreation, and preservation of the natural environment.
Next, enter the Puget Sound Partnership, which issued its Action Agenda for saving
However, at these high levels of oversight and generality, gears engage slowly on specific problems. Caution constrains bold speaking. Our instincts seem to be to hide in a morass of process rather than take dramatic action for fear of making a mistake, or worse, a foe. ...
In this spirit of bold speaking, what is the news on growth in recent years? Simply put, it’s not cooperating with the plan.
…
http://crosscut.com/2009/04/16/real-estate/18957/
5.
...
To ensure continued economic growth, business leaders say the state needs to reduce congestion around
The need to devote more money to solve transportation woes is so acute that leaders from Walton, Barrow and other counties far outside of central
“The single biggest impediment to economic development is transportation,” said Hertz, whose distribution company employs 1,200 people at sites in
…
It’s unclear what the business community’s next step will be; most of the issues will have to wait for the next legislative session, which begins in January. Hertz said Get Georgia Moving may have made a mistake by not endorsing one plan over the other, and he thinks that next year the key to winning the bill’s passage may be support for a plan that authorizes regional taxes for regional projects, rather than a statewide tax.
In the meantime, some economic leaders already have plans to engage in some much-needed “damage control.”
“We are going to have to explain it to prospects,” said Blumenthal, with the Metro Atlanta Chamber. “A lot of prospects know we have traffic, and many cities have traffic. The difference is in
http://atlantaunsheltered.com/2009/04/14/georgia-biz-leaders-upset-with-state-lawmakers/
6. Yearwood defends recent ARC vote - Barrow Journal - Winder, GA,
The staff of the Atlanta Regional Commission came to the defense of embattled county chairman Danny Yearwood this week, who has taken it on the chin politically for his vote last week to divert $25 million in federal stimulus dollars to the regional transit system instead of preserving the money for local communities, including Barrow.
In an April 13 letter read at Tuesday’s meeting of the Barrow County Board of Commissioners, the chief of the agency’s transportation planning division clarified that Yearwood’s vote did not affect the $1 million in funding designated since 2004 for a county project. …
Yearwood said that his April 9 vote as a member of the ARC did not give away any funds earmarked for
The dispute erupted after Yearwood attended a meeting of the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Transportation and Air Quality Committee, which is comprised of representatives of local governments from around the region.
He voiced his concerns about being put in the awkward position of having to give up potential federal funding for Barrow in order to salvage MARTA’s operating budget, but he went along with the committee’s unanimous vote, saying he understood the importance of the transit system to the region’s economy.
…
He said Tuesday night that Barrow “cannot cut our nose off to spite our face,” because the ARC controls transportation planning in the metro region that includes the county.
“If we are going to get anything, we have got to be a part of that process and a member of that (committee),” the chairman said. “It would suit me if we could come out of it. But we can’t.”
http://www.barrowjournal.com/archives/1368-Yearwood-defends-recent-ARC-vote.html
7. Transportation board would aid regionalism - Gary Post Tribune -
A four-county transportation board is a significant step to advance regionalism in
The proposed board, which has been approved by the Senate Transportation Committee and faces further scrutiny in the full Senate and the House, would oversee public mass transit in four counties: Lake, Porter, LaPorte and
The board would have the ability to levy an income tax of up to 0.25 percent and bond for major projects. If passed, it would raise $52 million a year in a relatively painless way. Importantly, it would take the votes of three of the four counties to proceed on any project.
Of course, the proposal -- patterned after the mass transit system in the greater
It is for these very reasons the Senate proposal is a positive step forward for the region.
The failure of our local politicians at every turn to take measures to improve the region is why this bill exists.
The key strength of the proposal is …
RC: NWI Regional Planning Commission http://www.nirpc.org/
http://www.post-trib.com/news/opinion/1510166,edit.article
9. Leaders across region decry
Community and political leaders across
"I am abjectly disappointed in the council’s decision since their vote ensures that
The chief executive officer of the region's lead private economic development group said perceptions of the region will be shaped by the vote in
"This meeting actually had nothing to do with the RDA," said Northwest Indiana Forum CEO Vince Galbiati immediately after the vote. "What it had to do with is whether communities are ready for economic development."
Galbiati said his organization was "not surprised, but was certainly deeply disappointed" by the council's 4-3 vote.
Krieg DeVault partner and former Bank Calumet CEO Calvin Bellamy said the region still appears to lack consensus on major issues, and that Wednesday night's Porter County Council vote was emblematic of that.
"When we don't go down to
The Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority was formed in 2005 under legislation passed by the Indiana General Assembly as a way to boost the region's fortunes. The legislation was pushed at various times by political heavyweights such as Visclosky, Gov. Mitch Daniels and even Chicago Mayor Richard Daley.
...
http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2009/04/09/news/top/doc18df90565f603b9a86257593000e5fe8.txt
9. Report Assesses Regional Possibilities in Recovery Act - Nation's Cities Weekly -
A new paper from the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program finds that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is limited in its support for creative regional implementation, but that it delivers critical investments and holds out significant opportunity for regional and metropolitan empowerment and problem-solving.
To produce real prosperity, the paper argues, local leaders require ways to enhance the fundamental “drivers” of productive growth — innovation, infrastructure, human capital, and quality places. But metropolitan actors also need the discretion and power to aggregate, link, and coordinate those drivers to maximize their impact.
The paper finds that ARRA usefully directs billions of dollars towards significant investments in the four key drivers of prosperity. At the same time, the paper concludes that ARRA does very little to actively support efforts to bundle and align ARRA resources to foster local, regional and national recovery.
The report finds that:
The need for fast action created a bias towards “business-as-usual” delivery systems in the crafting of ARRA. That orientation limits the extent to which the Recovery Act actively supports metropolitan-area implementation.
And yet, despite its flaws, ARRA delivers critical investments in what matters. In this respect, Brookings estimates that nearly 43 percent — roughly $335 billion — of the total stimulus appropriation supports the main drivers of prosperity: innovation, human capital, infrastructure and quality places.
In addition, the report says that ARRA holds out significant opportunities for creative leaders to engage in coordinated, regional problem solving. The Recovery Act provides some important chances for linking resources and even for transformative governance. ARRA provides a number of avenues for coordinating its various funding streams at a metropolitan level, particularly in new competitive grant programs.
A few of the relevant provisions include: ...
http://www.nlc.org/articles/articleItems/NCW41309/recoveryBrookings.aspx
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 Metro: More affordable housing needed
The Metro Council has released a report that shows that town centers and transportation corridors are among the most affordable places to live in the region, and that additional investments in affordable housing will be needed as the region grows. The Housing Needs Analysis is available at http://www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=29959
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2009/04/20/daily35.html
.02
WALB News - GA,
The Chairman of the
http://www.walb.com/global/story.asp?s=10198547
.03 Organizers call regional emissions plan a success
The Associated Press
Jeanne Fox, the head of
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i_AnuSsBScdP-6e1hjBiKTey2y9gD97J4BR05
.04 Don’t let regionalism die with Cobo deal
Wayne County Circuit Judge Isidore Torres probably dealt a death blow to the regional plan to upgrade Cobo Hall Thursday when he ruled that Detroit Mayor Ken Cockrel Jr. had no authority to veto the City Council’s disapproval of the agreement. As a practical matter, there isn’t time — or much will — to renegotiate before the April 20 deadline lapses for the transfer of the property to the regional authority created by state legislation. ... But more significant trouble is lurking. If the Cobo deal’s death also sinks the nearly unprecedented spirit of regional cooperation that produced it, there could be more casualties down the line. ...
.05 Put people at heart of regionalism
When dealing with regionalism, we say, "They don't have a clue" if citizens don't support the opinion of suburban and outstate interests. Here's another view: If a city's greatest asset is its people, shouldn't that be the first place we start with regionalism? We should work on a regional effort for Cobo Hall, just after we start regional efforts on improving
.06 Plenty of proof regionalism works
... Here at the Huron-Clinton Metroparks, we have been providing a regional model of cooperation for nearly 70 years. Our regional park system offers 13 Metroparks, or 24,000 acres of scenic parklands in
http://www.freep.com/article/20090414/OPINION04/904140325
.07 Kennedy: Competition is good, but thinking regionally is always worthwhile
Star-Telegram.com -
I didn’t move to
http://www.star-telegram.com/state_news/story/1272039.html
.08
to be the first go-to point for homeless individuals. ... Franke said BRAG completed its homelessness count for
http://hjnews.townnews.com/articles/2009/04/12/news/news04-04-12-09.txt
.09 Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission names new executive director
C-Ville Weekly -
The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission (TJPDC) announced yesterday the appointment of Steven Williams as the new executive director. ... Williams hails from
http://www.c-ville.com/index.php?cat=1991704080566501&act=post&pid=12032104090671470
.10 Committee to make city recommendations
Tallahassee.com -
http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20090412/NEWS01/904120312
.11 Obama is urged to take the wheel on infrastructure
Two prominent governors,
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-governors13-2009apr13,0,5314265.story
.12 SANDAG eyes help for transit agencies
San Diego-area elected officials yesterday wrestled over whether to bail out local public transit agencies, perhaps by digging deeper into the money that the TransNet sales tax provides. But at a special San Diego Association of Governments meeting yesterday, county Supervisor Dianne Jacob and others said using a larger share of the money to pay for workaday operations would anger voters. ... San Diego Councilman Todd Gloria said he's not wedded to one particular solution but said it's critical that SANDAG help the public transit agencies regain their financial footing. ...
.13
Daily Journal -
The Upstate SC Alliance has launched a new navigation tool on its Web site, boasting interactive maps and dynamic data to market the Upstate of South Carolina to site consultants and businesses considering locations in the area. The new technology, which cost more than $290,000 to bring online, involves geographic information system navigation. Two-thirds of the funding came from a grant from AdvanceSC; the remainder of the development funding was obtained through the Appalachian Council of Governments and the Upstate SC Alliance. ...
http://www.upstatetoday.com/news/2009/apr/11/alliance-launches-high-tech-property-search-tool/
.14 Metropolitan
... “This is a defining time in our history and the actions we take now will determine the region’s ability to emerge stronger and more competitive,” said David Robertson, COG’s executive director. “COG intends to be a partner in that process.”
http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2009/04/06/daily92.html
.15 Collin,
.16
Surface water in
http://www.blancocountynews.com/news/article/14873
.17 Latest Plan for MTA Is Foundering in
New York Times
The latest version of a rescue plan for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority appeared on Tuesday to be just as difficult to pass as earlier ones, as a group of suburban Democratic state senators said they still opposed the regional payroll tax that is its centerpiece. ...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/nyregion/22mta.html
.18 County board votes to continue Dial-A-Ride services as is
The Washington County Board of Commissioners … chose not to endorse an option Metro Transit offered to the county which would have placed the county in a position to directly operate or manage Dial-A-Ride services within the county. The county's comprehensive plan states that the county does not operate transit systems, said Washington County Public Works director Don Theisen. ...
http://www.stillwatercourier.com/articles/index.cfm?id=12921§ion=news
.19 Mid-America Regional Council Web site tracks area effects of stimulus
MARC intends for the new section of its Web site to help local governments understand the recovery package, identify where to apply for money and coordinate economic recovery efforts in the
http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2009/04/20/daily34.html
.20
The San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board on Wednesday all but approved an ocean-water desalination plant ... decision brings Poseidon Resources to the brink of financing and building its $300 million plant on the south
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/apr/08/bn08desal-plant-approve/?zIndex=79578
.21 First BCC finalist outlines his goals
Press & Sun-Bulletin -
Pushing
http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20090421/NEWS01/904210377/1116
.22 Resource for seniors
Miller is an aging specialist with the Western Piedmont Council of Governments' Area Agency on Aging, which serves older adults in Alexander, Burke, Caldwell and Catawba counties. Among her duties is counseling people applying for reverse mortgages. Counseling is required for reverse mortgage seekers throughout the
http://www2.hickoryrecord.com/content/2009/apr/19/resource-seniors/
.23 Affordable rents tough to find in region
Times Herald-Record -
"We're not developing enough affordable housing in this county to meet the need," said Tony Figueroa of the Regional Economic Community Action Program, a local anti-poverty agency based in
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090415/NEWS/904150355/-1/BIZ
.24 A library link-up
The Plain Dealer - cleveland.com -
http://blog.cleveland.com/pdopinion/2009/03/a_library_linkup.html
.25 HELP, a good example of how regionalism can be put into action
The Morning Journal -
... proposed non-profit agency would have the self-descriptive name — HELP — or Huron-Erie-Lorain Partnership. The proposed merger of the Lorain County Community Action Agency and the
http://www.morningjournal.com/articles/2009/04/13/opinion/mj880093.txt
.26 Candidates tackle wide range of issues
Daily Journal -
When asked whether Clemson should be involved in the planning process outside the city, Wright said regionalism “is what it’s all about in Clemson” — especially when it comes to creating new jobs that benefit the quality of life. ...
http://www.upstatetoday.com/news/2009/mar/24/candidates-tackle-wide-range-issues/
.27
The Associated Press
A group of
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jUrg-BCi7tG1PyY3Oe9TXl__WT1wD97NNS1O4
.28 Montana Biodiesel Company Fails to Pay Farmers
Flathead Beacon -
A
http://www.flatheadbeacon.com/articles/article/montana_biodiesel_company_fails_to_pay_farmers/9845/
.29 Looking for office space? You're in luck
Though office vacancies are expected to continue to grow, a period of slashed rental rates is not anticipated. That's because the region was not overbuilt when the recession started. "While many regional office markets are bloated with robust development pipelines which will add millions of additional supply into a softening market, our pipeline continues to decrease and is currently at its lowest level of the past four years," Wright said. Grubb & Ellis identified just seven projects with near-term delivery dates - five in
http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20090412_Looking_for_office_space__You_re_in_luck.html
.30 Rideshare Offers New Park-and-ride
infoZine -
The Mid-America Regional Council’s RideShare Program now offers a comprehensive online tool, based on Google Maps, that displays approximately 35 park-and-ride lots in the
http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/35346/
.31 One man leads effort to illuminate Twin Bridges
WFIE-TV -
Unlike many recognizable bridges around the country, the Twin Bridges do not light up at night. ... reason to make them a regional icon, and he's spearheading this effort in conjunction with the chambers of commerce in
http://www.14wfie.com/Global/story.asp?S=10159036&nav=menu54_3
.32 Smaller cities feeling left out on amount of federal stimulus money
azcentral.com - AZ,
MAG approved the road formula in its Regional Council meeting March 25. Schoaf, vice chairman of the Regional Council, voted against the proposal. MAG had anticipated getting a lot more money for the local projects, a spokeswoman said. But it only got $104.6 million, which is why it used $500,000 as its baseline number.
http://www.azcentral.com/community/swvalley/articles/2009/04/08/20090408swv-roadmoney0408.html
.33 HAZMAT RESPONSE
BPDNews.com
On Wednesday, April 8, 2009, three area hospitals called Boston Police to report the receipt of suspicious looking letters. Officers were dispatched ... Boston Police Hazmat Team is working cooperatively with the Boston Fire Department and the
http://www.bpdnews.com/2009/04/hazmat_response.html
.34
In one scenario, an eight-state region including
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2009/04/alabama_makes_plans_in_case_of.html
.35 Across the
Forbes - NY,
Life in
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/hscout/2009/04/14/hscout626061.html
.36 What’s future for
As regional government Metro plots the next phase of growth for the tri-county region, the
http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=123983143209729400
The Business Insider -
Despite the attempts by the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve to prop up Wall Street's existing firms and structures, the market is moving in another direction: toward smaller partnerships and away from large publicly held mega-corporations. Bloomberg treats this as a back to the future story: ... Regionalism. Partnerships. The future is being made on the margins. We need to tread carefully with any new regulations to make sure we don't stomp these innovations while they are still in their cribs. ...
http://www.businessinsider.com/wall-streets-future-smaller-better-faster-2009-3
.38 College cooperation counts
We'll probably never see a Citadel-College of
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/apr/16/college_cooperation_counts78707/
.39 Obama & Kumar Go to the White House
Just Jared -
Kal Penn (aka Kumar) from Harold & Kumar Go to
http://justjared.buzznet.com/2009/04/08/obama-kumar-go-to-the-white-house/
11. Other Regional Community News for Our Local Planet Contents
.01 C&R Stifle Public Debate on Supercouncil
Scoop Independent News - NZ
At Auckland City Council’s Regional Governance Committee meeting yesterday, Citizens and Ratepayers (C&R) councillors decided not to hold public meetings about Council’s position on
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0904/S00140.htm
.02
Waitakere News -
How do the Government’s proposals measure up? Very poorly in my humble opinion. The limited number of Regional Councillors will not be able to provide accountability. Those that have the misfortune of representing wards will have twice as many constituents as a Member of Parliament and be expected to service them on a part time basis. ...
http://www.waitakerenews.co.nz/savage15.html
.03 New co-op targets Easter with regional poultry brand – Farmers Weekly -
A new producer co-op is looking to develop a regional poultry brand in
.04 Composite Park: birth of a cluster dedicated to composite materials at the heart of
JEC Composites -
This project will stimulate a region with a long industrial tradition – the Eastern Moselle “Pays Naborien” in
http://www.jeccomposites.com/composites-news/5893/composites-cluster.html
.05 Council ponders expanding rural transit program
TheChronicleHerald.ca -
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Metro/1117899.html
.06 Urban guru ranks
In Who's Your City?, a new book on his findings,
http://news.guelphmercury.com/News/article/468212
.07
Hindu -
"There is a financial crisis of unprecedented dimensions, which is calling into question the economic processes unleashed by globalisation," the external affairs ministry said in a statement. "In the context of the current global economic slowdown, developing regional synergies is imperative for dealing with the recessionary trends," the ministry said.
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200904100327.htm
.08 Shift towards regional trade deals as WTO predicts big slump
Radio
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/asiapac/stories/200903/s2525178.htm
.09
Reuters.com
Water problems in
Population growth, rapid urbanization and climate change are expected to worsen the situation, according to the report, "
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN1733355820090417
.10 New limits to Antarctic tourism
AFP
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j5wYfUJzAAq7E_BGxYsh4RnRuMXg
.11
RealClearWorld.com
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... praised
http://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2009/03/turkey_a_rising_regional_star.html
.12 African conference held in
Coastweek -
... the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern
http://www.coastweek.com/xin100409-04.htm
.13 Comesa chairman blasts
Computerworld
Eastern and Southern African countries have failed to develop their ICT infrastructure to enhance communication in the region, according to Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, also the chairman of the Common Market for Eastern and
.14 Grand Theft Economics
Signs of the Times - SOTT.net
... EPAs will give
.15 Food crisis not over,
Reuters -
The
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN07484027
.16 Rohee says not ready to speak on weapons tracing pact
Stabroek News -
... US had hoped to sign the agreement with as many regional countries as possible. He noted that that the agreement is an ongoing effort to combat firearm trafficking that grew out of a joint US-Caribbean initiative in 2005 during a summit in
.17 Court hears dispute over
AFP
The Permanent Court of Arbitration in
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i7Z2923UDywymFVuiD6-zBPjZL8w
.18
Ars Technica
Red Hat has published the results of a research project that was conducted in collaboration with Georgia Tech with the aim of determining the level of open source activity in various regions. European countries took the top three spots on the list and the
.19 Province cuts Halton's WNV funding:
Another modification to the West Nile Virus Plan announced last fall stated that the Region will not be collect dead birds for testing any more. The Region no longer needs to the birds to confirm West Nile Virus in the area. “It’s not an early indicator like it used to be,” said Fortuna. “Now we get positive mosquito pools instead of the dead birds. ...
http://www.oakvilletoday.ca/news/article/248389
.20 The
BNP News -
Tuesday night’s North West British National Party Regional Council meeting in Wigan was the best attended, and the most positive and productive gathering of regional officials to date, new North West regional organiser Clive Jefferson old BNP News. ...
http://bnp.org.uk/2009/04/the-north-west-is-ready/
.21 Microsoft and Biscay Government Host i2010 Conference on e-Government
SYS-CON Media
More than 300 local and regional government elites, IT professionals and executives gathered in
http://dotnet.sys-con.com/node/930544
.22 SLIDESHOW: HuffPosters Share Stories Of Their Local Currencies
Huffington Post -
"Each was given one bill to create eg the $5, $10, $20 or $50 bill, and a theme for each one eg community, our bio-region, honoring women and diversity, honoring women and diversity, respectively." ...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/09/slideshow-huffposters-sha_n_185297.html
12. Blogging about Regional Communities Contents
.01 Getting
We continue to sell our region for its cheapness. Unfortunately, we aren’t aware of a city that is succeeding or positioning itself for the future on the basis of cheapness. The currency of success is quality, and most often, it’s the high-cost cities that have expanding economies. ...
http://smartcitymemphis.blogspot.com/2009/04/getting-memphis-on-competitive-grid.html
.02 Make a Plan
By Bruce Fisher
A regional planning board is no guarantee of good regional planning. But these days, especially because there’s a new president whose policy team explicitly endorses coordinated planning within metro areas, there’s no good reason for Erie County to go without a planning board any longer—especially after bipartisan work under Joel Giambra and a Democratic legislature completed the Erie-Niagara Framework for Regional Growth and laid the basis for a new regional planning effort. ...
http://artvoice.com/issues/v8n15/make_a_plan
.03 Candidate Interview: Pittsburgh City District 8
View from the BurghChair
1. What program or service should be cut or scaled back in these tough times, with this bad economy and with our city facing a deficit starting next year? Would you forgo a pay raise?
We can’t address our structural budget deficit with cuts and taxes. We need a third way of rethinking what local government means in the 21st century. We need real regional governance, not what is being proposed. We need to move services like municipal pensions and municipal benefits to statewide programs. And we need to be given the right to collect taxes from regional non-profit institutions. As far as cutting my own salary, I did it (self imposed) from 2003 – 2006 as the city struggled with Act 47. I would support creating a new system of job categories for employees, as long as it was done with regional and similar sized cities as the criteria.
http://burghchair.blogspot.com/2009/04/candidate-interview-pittsburgh-city.html
.04 World’s Largest Urban Farm Planned for
Growing Edge
A
http://www.growingedge.com/worlds-largest-urban-farm-planned-for-detroit
.05
Reflections on
… led to the Auckland Metro Project investigating how to develop
http://joelcayford.blogspot.com/2009/04/aucklands-economy-hollowing-out.html
.06 Bioregional "Biocurriculum"!
Continental Bioregional Congress Blog
At the last Continental Bioregional Congress at Earthaven Ecovillege in 2005, the CBC Coordinating Council was charged by the congress to begin working on a bioregional curriculum, which could be piloted (at least in part) at the next congress. ... WE SEEK YOUR INPUT: ...
http://bioregional-congress.blogspot.com/2009/04/bioregional-biocurriculum.html
.07 Regional research ecologies as key to innovation and competitiveness
iBlog.blogactive.eu
... outlines state of the art thinking, discussion and regional good practice within ERRIN , the European Regional Research and Innovation Network, for which I have the pleasure to work, and some of the debate stimulated by the European Year of Creativity and Innovation: ...
http://iblog.blogactiv.eu/2009/04/08/regional-research-ecologies-as-key-to-innovation/
.08 CNAB Sharply Condemns Changes to Bosnian Cities’ Historic Names in RS
Congress of North American Bosniaks
The Congress of North American Bosniaks (CNAB), an umbrella organization representing Canadian and US Bosniaks, sharply condemns the newly adopted law about the Territorial Organization of Republika Srpska (RS), smaller of the two entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), approved by RS legislators. The law provides that Bosanski Brod and Bosanska Kostajnica will have their city names changed into just Brod and just Kostajnica. ... Negation of the Bosnian prefix in city names equals negation of
.09 Three Competencies of Leading Organizations
Small Planet Partners
Collaborate across boundaries with ease. They know how to get the whole system in the room and respect the different interests and perspectives of all stakeholders, making it possible to build their social networks and realize breakthrough innovations. ...
http://www.smallplanetpartners.com/three-competencies-of-leading-organizations
.10 Community Guru Colin McKay's top 18 resources for community builders
The Moderator Community
Having just finished reading Colin's McKay's insightful and entertaining 'The Secret Underground Guide to Social Media for Organizations' I was compelled to share his resource list for those looking to read the best of the best:
1. Community Guy by Jake McKee – http://communityguy.com
2. ...
13. Announcements and Regional Links. Contents
.01 Call for Tenders for International Conference: Regional Studies Association
The Association invites tenders for the 2011 Annual International Conference. For more than two decades the RSA has had an ongoing programme of international events, attracting participants from all around the world. The next major event is the 2010 Annual International Conference in Pécs,
More information: http://www.regional-studies-assoc.ac.uk/events/future.asp
.02 Megaregions: Literature Review of the Implications for
In the twenty-first century, the
Megaregions: … was prepared for the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration by the Georgia Institute of Technology's Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development. The report summarizes recent literature and places current megaregion research within the context of both previous regional planning efforts and selected regional planning initiatives, related to transportation infrastructure investment, both inside and outside the
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/megaregions1.htm
.03 Federal, State, & Local Governments -
Government Employment & Payroll, Government Finance Statistics, Federal Spending, Tax Statistics, Government List & Structure, Special Topics
.04 Regionalism - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Regionalist)
Regionalism may refer to:
* Regionalism (politics)
* Regionalism (art)
* Regionalism (international relations)
* Regionalism (literature)
* Critical regionalism (architecture)
* A word that is limited to a certain dialect
See also
* Bioregionalism, regions defined by physical or environmental features
This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regionalist
.05 Regional Stability & Cooperation - Australian Government
* Strenthening cooperation on transboundary threats
* Publications
Regional stability is essential for growth and poverty reduction.
However new challenges to stability are emerging in the form of transboundary threats like pandemics, disasters, and climate change.
Transnational crimes such as people trafficking, drug trafficking, money laundering and terrorism also threaten regional stability.
…
http://www.ausaid.gov.au/keyaid/stability.cfm
.06 Shai Agassi: A bold plan for mass adoption of electric cars - TEDTalks
Shai Agassi wants to put you behind the wheel of an electric car -- but he doesn't want you to sacrifice convenience (or cash) to do it.
Why you should listen to him: When horrific climate-change scenarios elicit little but endless chatter from governments and entrenched special interests, the difference between talk and action represent an embarrassing gulf. Meet Shai Agassi, who has stepped fearlessly into that gap. His approach to solving the puzzle of electric automobiles could spark nothing short of an automotive revolution. Agassi stunned the software industry in 2007 by resigning from SAP to focus on his vision for breaking the world's fossil-fuel habit, a cause he had championed since his fuse was lit at a Young Global Leaders conference in 2005. Through his enthusiastic persistence, Agassi's startup
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcoJt2KLC9k&feature=channel_page Video – 19 minutes
14. Financial Crisis. Contents
.01 The Quiet Coup - The
ONE THING YOU learn rather quickly when working at the International Monetary Fund is that no one is ever very happy to see you. Typically, your “clients” come in only after private capital has abandoned them, …
The reason, of course, is that the IMF specializes in telling its clients what they don’t want to hear. ... concern of the fund’s senior staff, and the biggest obstacle to recovery, is almost invariably the politics of countries in crisis.
Typically, these countries are in a desperate economic situation for one simple reason—the powerful elites within them overreached in good times and took too many risks. Emerging-market governments and their private-sector allies commonly form a tight-knit—and, most of the time, genteel—oligarchy, running the country rather like a profit-seeking company in which they are the controlling shareholders.
...
In its depth and suddenness, the
But there’s a deeper and more disturbing similarity: elite business interests—financiers, in the case of the
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200905/imf-advice
.02 Ten principles for a Black Swan-proof world - Financial Times,
1. What is fragile should break early while it is still small. Nothing should ever become too big to fail. Evolution in economic life helps those with the maximum amount of hidden risks – and hence the most fragile – become the biggest.
2. No socialisation of losses and privatisation of gains. Whatever may need to be bailed out should be nationalised; whatever does not need a bail-out should be free, small and risk-bearing. We have managed to combine the worst of capitalism and socialism. In
3. People who were driving a school bus blindfolded (and crashed it) should never be given a new bus. ...
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5d5aa24e-23a4-11de-996a-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1
.03 William K. Black interview – Bill Moyers Journal
BILL MOYERS: …
For months now, revelations of the wholesale greed and blatant transgressions of Wall Street have reminded us that "The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One." In fact, the man you're about to meet wrote a book with just that title. It was based upon his experience as a tough regulator during one of the darkest chapters in our financial history: the savings and loan scandal in the late 1980s.
…
WILLIAM K. BLACK: Fraud is deceit. And the essence of fraud is, "I create trust in you, and then I betray that trust, and get you to give me something of value." And as a result, there's no more effective acid against trust than fraud, especially fraud by top elites, and that's what we have.
BILL MOYERS: In your book, you make it clear that calculated dishonesty by people in charge is at the heart of most large corporate failures and scandals, including, of course, the S&L, but is that true? Is that what you're saying here, that it was in the boardrooms and the CEO offices where this fraud began?
WILLIAM K. BLACK: Absolutely.
BILL MOYERS: How did they do it? What do you mean?
WILLIAM K. BLACK: Well, the way that you do it is to make really bad loans, because they pay better. Then you grow extremely rapidly, in other words, you're a Ponzi-like scheme. And the third thing you do is we call it leverage. That just means borrowing a lot of money, and the combination creates a situation where you have guaranteed record profits in the early years. That makes you rich, through the bonuses that modern executive compensation has produced. It also makes it inevitable that there's going to be a disaster down the road.
…
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04032009/watch.html
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 1,211 regional related sites as of April 22, 2009. Entering the term water planning returned 897 items; "regional water planning" returned 124 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
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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://regional-communities.com/
