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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 - .16
Other Regional Community News for Our Local Planet … 11.01 - .10
Blogging about Regional Communities … 12.01 - .12
Announcements and Regional Links … 13.01 - .05
Financial Crisis …14.01 - .02
Custom search: region, regions, regional communities … 15.
Bold Italic highlights research terms and/or phrases of interest.
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Note: Next full issue will be June 14, 2010. You can keep up with “regional community talk” in the news via http://twitter.com/tomchristoffel I' ll be at the Regional Studies Association International Conference in Pécs, Hungary
Top Regional Community stories
1. McDonnell, local leaders promote regional economic roadmap - The Virginian-Pilot -
Seventeen city and municipal leaders from across Hampton Roads joined Gov. Bob McDonnell on Thursday morning to sign a declaration to work together to achieve common regional goals.
The event, hosted by the Hampton Roads Partnership, was designed to promote their new regional “road map” for future economic prosperity.
Earlier this year, a group of local business leaders and officials, drafted a 130-page document called “Vision Hampton Roads,” which outlines the region’s strengths and weaknesses and details how leaders should work together.
“What’s going to be the key to all of this is to align all of the local governments, all local organizations, Maritime Association and shipbuilders, and align the entire region under these goals and objectives,” E. Dana Dickens, the group’s president and CEO, said in an interview. “As opposed to everyone working on different things.”
The event featured a regional “crier,” a man who was dressed in 18th century garb, and, while ringing a loud bell, called out to each city and municipality for their representatives to shout aloud their vote for “regional interdependence.”
In his comments to the crowd of more than 400 business leaders and city officials gathered at the
“I know when it came to some of these measures like employment growth, workforce quality, business start ups ... that Hampton Roads is a little bit behind where the rest of the state is,” McDonnell said.
“That should give you incentive. That should give you that competitive spirit to raise up this region that’s got so many tremendous assets, so many great people, and now this renewed spirit of regional cooperation to not compete but to cooperate,” he said.
…
http://hamptonroads.com/2010/05/mcdonnell-local-leaders-promote-regional-economic-roadmap
RCs: Hampton Roads Planning District Commission - http://www.hrpdc.org/
2. Hotel Tax Increase Approved By House - The
The state hotel tax would rise from 12 percent to 15 percent under a bill that passed the state House of Representatives by an 88-50 vote late Thursday and is headed for action in the Senate.
One-third of the 3 percentage point increase would go to the cities or towns where the hotels that collected the money are located; two-thirds would go to the regional planning organizations on a pro rata basis.
All hotel tax revenue currently goes into the state
Regionalization requires coordination and start-up money, and that
The state has 15 regional planning organizations, and, hopefully, tourism is a priority for those organizations, said Sharkey, cochairman of the legislature
Based on projections,
"The property tax is choking our state," Sharkey said, adding that regionalization efforts could result in future savings. "We have to do something. We have to act now."
Action might be needed, but Rep. T.R. Rowe, R-Trumbull, questioned whether a higher tax was the answer.
…
Some cities and towns have expressed concern, but, generally, the tax increase would not hurt the state, Sharkey said, and the extra money that cities and towns would get would more than offset any potential loss.
The Office of Fiscal Analysis estimates that the hotel tax increase would generate $9.4 million in fiscal 2011, which starts July 1, and $18.8 million in fiscal 2012 for cities and towns and regional planning organizations.
...
RCs: Regional Planning Organizations (RPOs) in
http://www.ct.gov/opm/cwp/view.asp?a=2986&q=383046
3. Hirten: LSJ offers lunch for regionalism - Lansing State Journal -
In the interest of encouraging regional cooperation, we - the Lansing State Journal - will buy the lunch. Any restaurant. Just pick the day.
This is our offer to Greater Lansing
This sort of friendly sit down doesn
As the Economic Club program last week made painfully clear, meaningful cooperation, let along larger service consolidations, among the region
…
WILX news anchor Jason Colthorp moderated the Econ Club forum and sat in on the power lunch beforehand. Attending were:
This isn
"They all got along. They were chit-chatting about collaboration," Colthorp said. "It was impromptu and productive."
He said they spent much of time talking about the challenges facing
As for the forum, it lacked the barbed exchanges that entertained the audience at last year
…
"The capital city is the hole in the donut," is how Bernero framed the political landscape. "It needs to be the hub of the wheel." No one disagreed.
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20100509/COLUMNISTS04/5090579
RC: Tri-County Regional Planning Commission
4.
The cities of
The two cities are having preliminary talks about the City of
A private firm, Allied Waste, now collects
South Euclid Mayor Georgine Welo says, "We truly believe the City of
South Euclid Service Director John Gallagher thinks it
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson suggested the
The law now allows mutual aid agreements for firefighting, police and emergency medical service.
It does not allow for spending tax dollars from one community to provide other services in another community.
Mayor Jackson recruited state Sen. Nina Turner and state Rep. Mike Foley to introduce the proposal in the legislature.
…
The Northeast Ohio Mayors and City Managers Association supports the idea.
Bratenahl Mayor John Licastro, spokesman for the group, said, "Regionalism is a topic we discuss often. This defines regionalism. It
http://www.wkyc.com/news/local/news_article.aspx?storyid=135805&catid=3
5. Regional rationale - The Packet - Clarenville, NL,
It
As smaller outports around the province lose populations, and larger towns continue to expand, a regional governance structure may be the only solution.
The words
In hindsight, however, the Liberal government of the late 1980s was on to a good thing.
…
Despite some of the kicking and screaming on their way to the altar, the towns that joined up have realized it wasn
… Municipalities
…
It is time for towns and communities in particular regions to take a good hard look around them and ask themselves whether the status quo - a hodgepodge of incorporated towns, local services districts and communities with no form of governance - is serving us well.
… public opinion is not what it was 20 years ago. The diehards who resisted the idea in the past, who railed against loss of identity, who predict loss of rural freedom, have already lost their argument in the face of common sense.
Even their prediction - that regional government will mean higher costs - is a little lackluster, considering that higher fees are, likely, inevitable as populations dwindle, leaving less people to pay the cost of upkeep of community services.
Regionalization may not work for all; it may not be the be-all, end-all solution for all communities in the province.
But it
Our challenge to local communities, then, is to look around at your neighbours, consider how, by working together you may be able to accomplish more and then convene a meeting to at least talk about it.
http://www.thepacket.ca/index.cfm?sid=339036&sc=373
6. Towns come together for mutual benefit - Daily World -
Regionalism is an important topic now. At its root is the belief that we can do more together than any of us can do alone.
Toward that goal, the communities of Arnaudville, Cankton, Grand Coteau, Leonville and Sunset are coming together to form the South St. Landry Community Development Coalition.
Sunset Alderman Charles A. James, who has been a driving force in the effort, said the mayors and representatives of these communities have been meeting informally for about a year but will soon start a major coordinated effort to involve the region
"We are ready to start surveying. Louisiana Economic Development has agreed to supply us with a Web site where the results can be tabulated electronically," James said.
…
"We want to look at all our assets and all our weaknesses so we can foster community development," James said. "We are going to have to engage as much of the community as possible in these surveys."
…
He said the regional approach makes good sense for these communities.
They are all grouped within a few miles of one another, are among the fastest growing communities in the parish and James said they are already cooperating on many levels.
"We share citizens, fire protection, police protection. We are already involved in this. Let
He said the idea is part of the Smart Growth movement, which is designed to help communities plan their growth rather than simply reacting to it as it happens.
"We believe a new approach is needed, a regional approach. We want to look at our economy, our culture, the whole thing," James said.
http://www.dailyworld.com/article/20100430/NEWS01/4300301
RC: Acadiana Regional Development District http://www.ardd.org/
7. West
While the concept of regionalism is an odd one,
[http://www.compete.org/about-us/initiatives/rii/ ] in
At the Tuesday gathering, which drew nearly 400 to Hudsonville, Samuel Leiken, vice president of the Council on Competitiveness, applauded WMSA for its regional leadership.
"There's not a lot of WMSAs in the country," Leiken said. ""You are one of the models people around the country look to. Regions need identities and a story to tell."
That's something the Council learned from WMSA, he said, which is a case study on regional leadership for the not-for-profit, nonpartisan group.
"It's not because you're necessarily a best-practices region," Leiken said. "It's because you have effective leadership."
On a map of the
"The
That creates a "fundamental problem" between regional leadership and decision making, he noted.
"Regions are unnatural," Leiken said. "We call regional collaboration an unnatural act among unconsenting adults."
But
"Regions in this day and age have to act collaboratively …, especially because we're at a disadvantage globally," where the geography of jurisdictions and economies often do align.
The Council has studied West Michigan's model of regional leadership, as well as
"Don't just stand there, do something, anything," Leiken said. "WMSA is a good example of that. Actions beget actions."
One of the key actions the WMSA has undertaken is the gathering of data on the eight counties it considers "West Michigan": Allegan, Barry,
"The data matters," Leiken said. "You get what you measure. Without a map, any road will do."
WMSA has measured several economic prosperity indicators, including educational attainment and per capita income, as well as social justice indicators and environmental integrity indicators, which it shared at Tuesday's event.
It then provided benchmark comparisons for every indicator with 26 "best-in-class" comparable regions, such as
"We do need to achieve results," WMSA President Greg Northrup said, following Leiken's comments. "People are paying attention to what's going on in
http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2010/04/west_michigan_a_model_of_regio.html
RC - West Michigan Counties
West Michigan Regional Planning Commission - Allegan,
West Michigan Shoreline Regional Development Commission -
Southcentral
8. Forum hits right chord with east and west - Westlake West Life -
East and west residents hit the right key with each other Sunday at
About 70 people attended a mayoral forum with Bay Village Mayor Debbie Sutherland and East Cleveland Mayor Gary Norton Jr. The forum was moderated by noted journalist and
Bethesda Pastor Dennis Stylski, who set up the program, was pleased with how it went.
“When we started the programs, it was more of about a 70-30 ratio of people attending the events from the chuches, with more from here,” he said. “Now it’s about 50-50, which is a good sign that people are interested and engaged in the process.”
He said the communication was good Sunday between not only the mayors, but residents as well.
“We had good, open, honest exchanges which help us understand each other better,” Stylski said.
...
“We work as community activists at NEO in
...
Sutherland noted that although Bay does not have the building issues of
The event drew one candidate for the new Cuyahoga County Council. ...
http://www.westlifenews.com/2010/04-28/ecleforum.html
9. Report of the Regionalization Advisory Commission - April 30, 2010 -
Recommendations on Specific Local Services
In order to conduct efficient and in-depth study of numerous local service areas, the Commission established eleven committees to address specific areas: education, elder services, municipal finance, green communities, housing and economic development, information technology, libraries, public health, public safety, transportation and public works, and veterans’ services. Commission members on the committees were charged with identifying possible opportunities, benefits and challenges to regionalization. See below recommendations on each local service area examined. These recommendations are presented in greater detail and context in the committee reports included as appendices to this report.
Education
• Promote opportunities for increased school district collaboration and regionalization through legislation.
• Encourage stakeholders across the Commonwealth to critically examine how the existing organization of school districts can better support the provision of high-quality academic opportunities and promote district capacity.
• Encourage additional districts to cooperate and collaborate to increase efficiency and capacity, such as through joint bidding and purchasing and use of educational collaboratives for programming.
• Have savings achieved through regional school transportation agreements be returned to the school districts, for educational programs consistent with an improvement plan adopted by the district.
Elder Services
• Complete work on statewide Regional Transit Authority/Adult Day Health Transportation Plan.
• Elder Affairs will work with Councils on Aging to collect service data; disseminate best practices statewide.
• Access Regional Incentive Fund to hire a transportation consultant to review Elder Medical Transportation (~90 percent of total rides statewide).
• Elder Affairs will participate in conversations with municipalities about building regional senior centers and/or senior centers in multipurpose buildings.
Finance
• Replicate Franklin Regional Council of Governments Accounting Program (provides municipal accounting services to multiple towns).
• Expand the Computer Software Consortium Model, which is assessing and collection software that is cooperatively purchased, updated and maintained by 75 municipalities in
• Provide regular and ongoing training for municipal finance officers.
• Encourage information technology risk management assessment and information technology security.
• Expand host agency capabilities, recognized as a valuable model for regionalization.
• Create a regional incentive fund to support implementation of projects.
• Pursue state incentives and relief for regionalization efforts.
Green Communities
• Leverage existing state funding programs to promote regionalization.
• Adopt proposed Property Assessment Clean Energy legislation (expanding home energy efficiency and retrofit programs and allowing the costs to be attached to a property, not an individual), which includes a provision for regional models. Regional programs could be modeled on the Barnstable County Community Septic Loan program, which manages and provides financial assistance, through a betterment loan, for on-site septic repair.
• Develop regional energy plans.
• Establish regional energy managers or energy circuit riders to help cities and towns better their energy management and invest in clean energy strategies without hiring a full-time employee.
• Employ collective purchasing and procurement strategies to help municipalities save time and money in their energy and clean energy related costs and clean energy equipment costs.
• Group multiple towns and regional school districts together in a regional performance contract with an Energy Service Company.
• Municipalities should consider participating in energy cooperatives for the purchase, acquisition, distribution, sale, resale, supply, and disposition of energy or energy-related services.
Housing & Economic Development
• Expand regional management and operation of housing authorities.
• Regionalize affordable housing monitoring activities for which local governments are currently responsible.
• Conduct planning for housing, economic development and infrastructure together on a regional level.
• Establish regional development and tax sharing arrangements, including authority for more types of arrangements. The three municipalities (Medford, Malden and Everett) cooperating in the development of River’s Edge in Medford have special act authorization to share property tax revenues that result from development anywhere within the development site. The development boundaries include adjacent lands in each of the three communities and the development scheduling reflects the best site available, not the need for revenue in one city or another.
Information Technology
• Coordinate hardware and software purchases. A variety of partnership models could be used.
• Expand host agency capacity, such as regional planning agency, to provide internet-based Geographic Information Systems, assessing and permit tracking data sharing.
• Coordinate planning and investment of the Massachusetts Broadband Institute, the Commonwealth’s information technology consolidation, and municipal information technology needs. As the Commonwealth implements its plans to expand broadband and consolidate its IT uses, consider how municipalities can access and benefit from the Commonwealth’s system should be considered and planned for.
• Municipalities should consider opportunities for IT consolidation within their community’s operations, such as consolidation of school and municipal IT.
• Expand the Massachusetts Digital Summit conference with programs to benefit local officials.
• Municipalities should look for opportunities to collaborate on obtaining information technology support services, such as sharing information technology support personnel and joining forces to increase procurement power for support contracts.
Libraries
• Address challenges to collaboration presented by governance issues, particularly library governance models.
• Require libraries to review sharing options prior to requesting construction funds available from the Massachusetts State Board of Library Commissioners.
• Award significantly higher financial incentives for municipalities that build joint libraries through the Massachusetts State Board of Library Commissioners' library construction program.
• Provide funds for technical assistances to study library mergers and facilitate the merger planning process.
• The Board of Library Commissioners should conduct more outreach to municipalities about current and future funding opportunities.
• Provide regionalization grants based on the former Municipal Incentive Grant program.
• Create a state-wide support network for regionalization efforts, perhaps through existing technical assistance centers.
Public Health
• Further amend M.G.L. c.111 s.27B to remove the requirement that a town meeting must vote to approve formation of a public health district. This will streamline district formation and retain appropriate roles for municipal leaders and Boards of Health currently included in statute.
• Begin state funding to promote formation of public health districts by providing pilot funding for six districts, in accordance with the provisions of M.G.L. c.111 s.27A-C.
• Implement lessons from the pilot program in order to take a regional public health system “to scale” in
• Seek opportunities to use state contracts and other revenue sources to promote increased regionalization of local public health.
• Establish an Office of Local Health within the Department of Public Health, with adequate staffing to provide technical assistance to promote and support public health regionalization.
• Establish minimum workforce qualifications for the local health workforce through legislation and regulation, including appropriate “grandfathering” provisions. Municipalities are more likely to form districts in order to share the costs of better qualified staff.
• Establish minimum performance standards for Boards of Health, linked to state funding for operating capacity required to meet statutory and regulatory responsibilities.
• Adopt statewide public health mutual aid legislation.
Public Safety
• File special legislative acts to establish distinct regional enhanced 911/emergency communications entities, taking into account governance, funding mechanisms, and duties, compensation and other employment terms and conditions.
• Create legislation authorizing formation of regional enhanced 911/emergency communications districts, including establishment of governance, powers and duties funding mechanisms, fiscal accountability and employment/labor provisions.
• Review and possibly revise relevant statues to further encourage and allow for ease of regionalization efforts: police districts, fire districts, police mutual aid, fire mutual aid, and consolidated municipal departments.
Public Works
• Municipalities should be encouraged to conduct group purchasing, share public works equipment and share public works facilities as possible.
• Municipalities should be encouraged to consider merging public works departments wherever opportunity exists.
• Municipalities should be encouraged to share public works staff wherever an opportunity should exist.
• Encourage municipalities to coordinate the handling of solid waste, hazardous waste, and/or recycling.
• Best practices, models of regionalization, and sample agreements should be studied and published in a central place for municipalities to find the resources they need to move towards regionalization of services.
• Support passage of Public Works Mutual Aid legislation contained in the Municipal Relief legislation (House No. 4526) released by the Joint Legislative Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government.
Transportation
• Encourage Ch 90 funds to be used for regional uses through incentives.
• Provide incentives for municipalities to provide regional elder transportation services.
• School districts should work together to explore regional busing opportunities when the opportunity exists.
• Standardize transit vehicle fleets and procurement.
• Regional planning agencies and Mass Department of Transportation need to ensure bike sharing programs are regional as they emerge.
• Place "Funded by MassDOT" graphics on Council of Aging vehicles to build awareness of statewide support.
Veterans’ Services
• Establish more veterans’ services districts, for more effective and efficient provision of services.
• Remove barriers to establishing more veterans’ services districts, as contained in Chapter 115, Section 10 and Chapter 471 of the Acts of 1972, including the requirement that municipalities be contiguous, the restriction that only one city can belong to a district and the population ceiling. Along with removing these barriers, the statute should be amended to require the Secretary of Veterans’ Services’ sign-off on formation of noncontiguous districts and districts with populations above the existing ceiling, in order to address concerns about capacity of these districts in order to ensure proper staffing levels to address the veterans population within said proposed district.
• Provide financial incentives to encourage the formation of veterans’ services districts, including funds to purchase hardware and software.
RCs: Massachusetts
http://www.pvpc.org/resources/marpa/MARPA%20Directory-2009.pdf
http://www.pvpc.org/resource_center/marpa.shtml
10. U.S. Regional Communities - sub-State, State or multi-State - in news articles.
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
.01 We value public transportation, for all in community
Statesman.com -
Sometimes it is necessary to articulate our values, otherwise, others do it for us. When they do; they tend to sum things up solely in terms of dollars and cents. In
http://www.statesman.com/opinion/we-value-public-transportation-for-all-in-community-676737.html
.02 Suburbs Unite in Quest for Federal Housing Aid, but Are Shut Out
The New York Times - NY,
When a federal housing agency asked dozens of suburban cities in the
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/us/07cncforeclosures.html
.03 A good first step on regionalization
The Sun Chronicle -
Regionalizing municipal services has long been an ideal for people concerned about the costs and efficiency of government. Does it really make sense in
http://www.thesunchronicle.com/articles/2010/05/07/opinion/7348591.txt
.04 MORPC serves up regional food plan
ThisWeek Community Newspapers - OH,
The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission is assuring area consumers that fresh, affordable and healthy food — from local growers — is within reach. Using a breezy, sunny Earth Day as a backdrop, MORPC unveiled its new Regional Food Assessment Plan ... The document presents strategies for strengthening the economy, ensuring access to healthful food, reducing transportation costs and preserving farm-land. A committee of the planning commission spent the last year reaching out to 12 counties and gathering information for the plan, which establishes two dozen recommendations, from increasing food-processing capacity to showcasing local food in stores and restaurants. ... "Right now local food is a niche. It
.05 Regionalism? What
They say that imitation is the greatest form of flattery, but in the case of
Lambert this week will start getting flower flights from
What happened to regionalism? If the situation were reversed and Lambert had a fledgling operation, you know that MidAmerica
Sadly, regionalism continues to flow only one way in the
http://www.bnd.com/2010/05/04/1241782/regionalism-whats-that.html
.06 Lansing-area leaders differ on how quickly to regionalize services
... mid-Michigan leaders differed today on whether the region should move more quickly on greater regionalism of services, perhaps to a metro-Lansing government serving most of
.07 Regional project profiles being accepted
Buckeye Hills-Hocking Valley Regional Development District (BHHVRDD) is committed to assisting the counties across the region with securing grant funding for projects. For consideration of funding from The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) and The Economic Development Administration (EDA), applicants should complete a Project Profile. The Profile is now available at www.buckeyehills.org/forms/grant or by calling 740-374-9436. The simple, self-explanatory project profile form collects basic information about the project, including: contact information; project description, type and readiness; regional impact; funding sources and total project costs; and project partners. ...
http://perrytribune.com/articles/2010/05/04/news/doc4bd74bdaf3d3d078668921.txt
.08 Backers plan next steps after Third Frontier win
Cincinnati.Com -
Now that
.09 Northeast
The Plain Dealer -
Companies strong in
.10 Groups work together to address poverty
The
...
http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/news/2010/apr/30/groups-work-together-address-poverty/
.11 Area chambers recognized for collaboration at NCBR Bravo! Entrepreneur Awards
everydayfc.com -
Business knows no boundaries and the Fort Collins Area,
• The Northern Colorado Legislative
• Leadership
• Regional Transportation Authority effort: a collaborative effort among the chambers and others working to identify future funding to address the transportation needs of the area. ...
.12 How Geeks Get Us Around Town
WSJ.com
At a software developers "unconference" in
.13 Open Call for Entries: 2010
ModMobillian -
The South Alabama Film Festival (SoAL Film Fest) seeks to showcase and educate the community about filmmakers and their creations, while welcoming all who enjoy the medium. One of the nation’s oldest and most beautiful cities,
http://modmobilian.com/2010/05/08/open-call-for-entries-2010-south-alabama-film-festival/
.14 NIC receives $625,000 health grant
the Sentinel Online - Coeur D Alene, ID,
.15 Japan - Concerns over FMD
Meat Traders News Daily -
The recent recurrence of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks in
http://www.meattradenewsdaily.co.uk/news/120510/japan___concerns_over_fmd_.aspx
11. Other Regional Community News for Our Local Planet Contents
.01 Have your say on cross-border cooperation in
EU Committee of the Regions - Newsrelease -
The Committee of the Regions launched a Europe-wide consultation of regions and cities on EU rules for cross-border cooperation. Organised jointly with the European Commission, the EU Council presidency "trio" and the Interact Programme, the consultation formally kicked off with a conference in
Contributions can be sent to egtc@cor.europa.eu by 20 July.
.02 "National leaders failed at
EU Committee of the Regions - Newsrelease -
A new initiative from the Committee of the Regions (CoR) will help signatories of the Covenant of Mayors turn their commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions into a concrete reality, as local leaders push ahead with plans to tackle climate change despite the failure of
Speaking at the Covenant of Mayors signing ceremony in the European Parliament on 4 May, CoR First Vice-President Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso said: "National leaders failed at Copenhagen: local leaders must not. We have today launched a survey on sustainable energy policies in regions and cities as the first phase of our initiative to collect and disseminate best practice in tackling climate change. I invite all signatories of the Covenant of Mayors, and all local and regional authorities, to participate. This is not simply a question of collecting information about who is doing what – it is also an opportunity to see how they are doing it, why they are doing it and how they could do it better by working together with others." ...
.03 New Vision Required to Stave Off Dramatic Biodiversity Loss, Says UN Report
News Centre - United Nations Environment Program
Natural systems that support economies, lives and livelihoods across the planet are at risk of rapid degradation and collapse unless there is swift, radical and creative action to conserve and sustainably use the variety of life on Earth. This is one principal conclusion of a major new assessment of the current state of biodiversity and the implications of its continued loss for human well-being. The third edition of Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-3), produced by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), confirms that the world has failed to meet its target to achieve a significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. … GBO-3 uses multiple lines of evidence to demonstrate that the target set by world governments in 2002, "to achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level", has not been met. … key findings include:
…
* The five principal pressures directly driving biodiversity loss (habitat change, over-exploitation, pollution, invasive alien species and climate change) are either constant or increasing in intensity.
* There has been significant progress in the increase of protected areas both on land and in coastal waters. However, 44% of terrestrial eco-regions (areas with a large proportion of shared species and habitat types), and 82% of marine eco-regions, fall below the target of 10% protection. The majority of sites judged to be of special importance to biodiversity also fall outside protected areas.
http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=624&ArticleID=6558&l=en&t=long
.04 More to diplomacy than pushing files around
mangalasamaraweera.com –
... Godage says, “The profession of diplomacy is the conduct of our relations with foreign countries, international organisations…..” I would add a caveat to this. It is the conduct of our relations with others for the benefit of
http://mangalasamaraweera.com/2010/04/29/more-to-diplomacy-than-pushing-files-around/
.05
Bartamaha Somali Media
In an effort to combat piracy off of the East African coast, the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime and the government of the
http://www.bartamaha.com/?p=26659
.06 Our water ways for
Sydney Morning Herald -
TOGETHER with population growth, environmental change is imposing new challenges on the water sector. In
http://www.smh.com.au/business/our-water-ways-for-uk-20100510-uov5.html
.07 Community Futures give small towns second chance
CTV -
Jeff Dawson has watched his B.C. town suffer through a decade of downturn in the forestry sector, and he says the best way to revitalize its future is through entrepreneurship. Mr. Dawson is the director of Community Futures Howe Sound (CFHS), a non-profit economic development organization dedicated to building small businesses. CFHS is one of 269 community futures (CFs) dotted around
http://www.ctv.ca/generic/generated/static/business/article1564574.html
.08 Regional partnership revamps to create enterprise
The Gisborne Herald -
The region is finally getting a cohesive development agency through a restructuring of the Tairawhiti Development Partnership. The partnership is refining its direction as the Tairawhiti Regional Governance Group, which will focus on regional development to become an enterprise agency along the lines of Venture Hawke
http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article/?id=17127
.09 No plans for restructuring
Northern News -
Local government changes in
.10 James: Embrace diversity and prosper, GG urges
TheStar.com -
... Maytree Foundation and the Toronto City Summit Alliance launched the DiverseCity project in 2008. Its updated findings have been delayed a month. Tapping into what is claimed to be
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/807493--james-embrace-diversity-and-prosper-gg-urges
12. Blogging about Regional Communities Contents
.01 It’s the Bioregion, Silly! Patti Southard Interview
Building Capacity Blog
EDITOR: For the last several months, we’ve been privileged to support your efforts to convene the third annual King County GreenTools Government Confluence scheduled for May 5th in
SOUTHARD: Well first of all, salmon don’t know when they’ve swum across a jurisdictional border. I like to say that habitat doesn’t recognize a politically drawn line on a map. Let’s face it, if we don’t approach sustainable development from a bioregional perspective, we’ll be missing the mark in a big way.
Some may ask,
.02 European-style Neighborhood Transit Centers: An enhancement to the
In November 2008, The Regional Transit Coordinating Council (RTCC) published a Comprehensive Regional Transit Service Plan. This plan is a twenty-five year roadmap for improving existing transit services for
http://buzzbrown.blogspot.com/2010/04/european-style-neighborhood-transit.html
.03 Regional Arts Policy
The launch of this policy is designed to get the ball rolling on a discussion about arts in the regions, which is no longer constrained by metropolitan perspectives and metropolitan solutions. A discussion that is about the need for serious money in the regions to support the arts in the regions. ... The current situation for the Arts in the regions is this. At the Federal Government level, the focus is primarily on touring. ...
The question then is what should we be aiming for in the arts? The Green’s policy approach is:
* to maintain the unique character and diverse nature of
* to support and promote local content and the development of local projects for all forms of art and culture.
* to promote arts and cultural events and access to those events with appropriate funding and support.
* to increase access to arts and cultural experiences in rural and regional areas. ...
* to reflect the cultural and linguistic diversity of the Australian population.
* to protect artists’ intellectual property rights.
http://widebaygreens.org/2010/05/regional-arts-policy/
.04 Review: The Great Reset by Richard Florida
Urbanophile - Passionate About Cities
Richard Florida takes a lot of heat in certain quarters. As one of the most widely known economics writers, that makes some sense. Pretty much anyone who achieves a certain level of popularity acquires haters along the way. ... But most of the criticisms of
http://www.urbanophile.com/2010/05/09/review-the-great-reset-by-richard-florida/
.05 Resetting a Creative Economy :: Richard Florida
timschrader.com
...
* Every single human being is creative.
* The real challenge of our time is figuring out how to harness that creative energy so that creative furnace inside of each human being is growing.
* The social categories we impose on ourselves [race, religion, gender ,etc] undermine creativity.
The Great Reset
* The most important event of our time is collapse of our financial institutions.
* We are living through the most momentous opportunities in human history.
* It’s not a depression, recession, crisis or panic… it really is a reset.
* We are in a resetting point.
* …
Rise of the Creative
* A growing number of people no longer work in factories, they are working with their minds.
* We’ve shifted into a knowledge economy… an information age, a post-production era.
* What binds us together and makes us human is our shared creativity.
* We stand on the shoulders of giants.
* We cooperate and collaborate, and we have a storehouse of creative history and a future.
* The economic crisis grew a creative economy.
...
http://www.timschraeder.com/2010/05/01/resetting-a-creative-economy-richard-florida/
.06 The Housing Seesaw
Creative Class
... map … plots the Home Price Index values for the 20 metro regions in their series. The graph below charts the movement in the Index values from 1987 to present. Even though housing prices have declined everywhere across the country, prices have held much better in some places than others. A 100-plus point difference separates the highest city from the lowest one on the index. Greater
http://www.creativeclass.com/creative_class/2010/05/06/the-housing-seesaw/
.07 Where to Buy, Where to Rent
Creative Class
When should you rent versus buy? It’s a question lots and lots of people are asking these days. ... a closer look at what might be behind these patterns. The basic measure is called the housing price-to-rent ratio, or HPR ratio. As its name implies, it is a simple ratio of the costs of purchasing a house compared to the annual costs of renting. Specifically, we wanted to explore to what extent HPR ratios are associated with key economic and demographic characteristics of
http://www.creativeclass.com/creative_class/2010/04/30/where-to-buy-where-to-rent/
.08 May 10
John Brown
Reader Comments on "The Future of Public Diplomacy" [Office of the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, "Public Diplomacy: Strengthening U.S. Engagement with the World - A strategic approach for the 21st century" and Judith McHale
http://publicdiplomacypressandblogreview.blogspot.com/2010/05/what-went-wrong-formerly-was-that.html
.09 Take the Lead in Your Region: Apply Now to be a
Physicians for Human Rights – National Student Program
To be increasingly responsive, innovative, and effective at the regional level, PHR’s National Student Program needs one more thing: You. Please consider applying to become a Regional Chapter Mentor or a Regional Training Coordinator. Both Regional Chapter Mentors and Regional Training Coordinators will work with Chapters in their region — Northeast,
http://midatlantic.phrstudents.org/
.10 Agriburbia - A Logical Step in Relocalizing Your Bioregion
Permaculture Politics
While I might not have made the drawings exactly the same, I admire and support thinking that re-imagines combining farms with cities and suburbs. It
http://permaculturepolitics.blogspot.com/2010/04/agriculture-is-new-golf-rethinking.html
.11 Take Action – Marine Bioregional Planning
qsia.com.au/blog
There are two regions in
http://www.qsia.com.au/blog/important-notices/take-action-marine-bioregional-planning/
.12 The Inequation of Deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest and How to Solve it
Nature of Science
The conservation of the Amazônia becomes a more important topic each day on the discussions on the climatic change and global warming, due to its relevance as a vanquisher of carbon and as a repository of biodiversity and a natural regulator of vapors in the atmosphere and the climate. It is unquestionable that we need to conserve, being that the days of discordance between radical environmentalists and developers of short vision are a thing of the past. Both have changed: environmentalists, in their majority, have started to recognize and to take in to consideration the socio-economic imperative; governments and developers understand the necessity of cooperation in environmental subjects with implications that are as much global as local. Strengthening both views are the economic damages of 2005, a year of simultaneous dry rivers in Amazônia and terrible hurricanes (including Katrina) in the Caribbean and
13. Announcements and Regional Links. Contents
.01 "Past Silos and Smokestacks: Transforming the Rural Economy in the Midwest" - Heartland Papers - Issue 2 - The
Author – Mark Drabenstott, director of the Center for Regional Competitiveness at the Rural Policy Research Institute and chairman of the Territorial Development Policy Committee for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
http://www.globalmidwest.org/gm/Activities/Heartland_Papers/gm/Activities/Heartland_Papers.aspx
.02 2010 Annual Conference and Exhibition - National Association of Regional Councils (NARC) - June 15 - 17, 2010 -
Agenda: http://narc.org/uploads/2010%20Annual%20Conference%20EXTERNAL%20Agenda%20050410.pdf
Conference website: http://narc.org/events/conferences/what-is-the-annual-conference-and-exhibition/2010-annual-conference-and-exhibition.html
Contact Lindsey Riley - lindsey@NARC.org
.03 Regional Prosperity Initiative - Planning, Sharing and Growing ... Together
For more than two years, leaders throughout
Once implemented, the Regional Prosperity Initiative (RPI) will provide the structure for coordinated, regional land use planning and new growth tax base sharing in the 16-county
We hope that you will take some time to understand our initiative and, more importantly, join us. There are many ways for you to get involved and become a part of the solution for a prosperous
.04 Europe 2010 - Delivering Inclusive Growth: Lessons from the
The Lisbon Strategy launched in 2000 set the goal of making
.05 North American Futures: Canadian – US Perspectives
A bi-national conference for private and public sector practitioners and scholars interested in the issues driving the North American,
Discussion: North American Futures: A North American Commons
Panel 1: Culture, Identity, and the Social Contract
Panel 2: Managing the Economic Arena
Panel 3: National Security and International Affairs
Panel 4: Managing the
Panel 5: Energy, the Environment, and Climate Change
Panel 6: The Trilateral Perspective -
Panel 7: North American Futures: The Challenges of the 21st Century
Session videos: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=E2CC70DBE692C0E9
Program and Papers: http://igs.berkeley.edu/events/canada2010.html
14. Financial Crisis. Contents
.01 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown - BookTV - CSPAN
Simon Johnson talks about the power of Wall Street banks since the 2008 financial collapse. In March 2009, the heads of the 13 largest banks in the
.02 Computerized Front-Running - CounterPunch.org
Market commentators are fond of talking about “free market capitalism,” but according to Wall Street commentator
Keiser isn’t just speculating about this. He claims to have invented one of the most widely used programs for doing the rigging. Not that that’s what he meant to invent. His patented program was designed to take the manipulation out of markets. It would do this by matching buyers with sellers automatically, eliminating “front running” – brokers buying or selling ahead of large orders coming in from their clients. The computer program was intended to remove the conflict of interest that exists when brokers who match buyers with sellers are also selling from their own accounts. But the program fell into the wrong hands and became the prototype for automated trading programs that actually facilitate front running.
Also called High Frequency Trading (HFT) or “black box trading,” automated program trading uses high-speed computers governed by complex algorithms (instructions to the computer) to analyze data and transact orders in massive quantities at very high speeds. ...
So what can be done to restore free and fair markets? A step in the right direction would be to prohibit flash trades. The SEC is proposing such rules, but they haven’t been effected yet. ...
http://www.counterpunch.org/brown04232010.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 over 1,200 regional related sites.
http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=000551187207053117963:m1gvkhigkeo&hl=en
My name is Tom Christoffel. I
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
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 Google Search services. 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. Regional Community Development News is published bi-monthly based on researched news reports as of the publication date.
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Questions, comments or items to feature in Regional Community Development News?
Please email the Editor: Tom.Christoffel@gmail.com
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Tom (Thomas J.) Christoffel, AICP - http://www.regional-communities.com/
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