Regional Community Development News - Top Stories - June 28-29, 2011

1. A New Threat to Regional Government & Environmental Quality at Lake Tahoe « Legal Planet: Environmental Law and Policy
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It seems extremely unlikely that California will accede to Nevada’s political demands. (As noted above, it was California’s insistence that the Tahoe Compact be made more environmentally protective that produced the revised, 1980 bi-state Compact.  Environmental preservation of Lake Tahoe continues to draw widespread, bipartisan support among Californians.) So unless Nevada blinks and repeals this unfortunate act of political extortion, nearly a half century of bi-state cooperation and environmental leadership will end in 2015, when Nevada withdraws from the Tahoe Compact. What happens thereafter–and whether the Tahoe Basin’s fragile environment can be preserved–is anyone’s guess.


2. Addressing Regional Skill Gaps « EMSI | Economic Modeling Specialists Inc.


So the topic du jour is the skills mismatch in the US, which is all about how employers are having a hard time finding appropriately skilled employees during a time of abundant unemployment. It’s an odd phenomenon, and one that has folks at all levels flummoxed. 


So why is this happening? There are a bunch of explanations – economic change has revealed that the American workforce: 1) has a lot of out-of-date skills and training; 2) vocational institutions and higher education aren’t equipping students with what employers want; 3) rapid advances in technology and business have created skills needs that very few possess; 4) as businesses become more lean, they want more out of their employees. 
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Below are a series of steps that EMSI recommends. From a best practices standpoint, our clients have taken the critical information identified through this process to execute new strategies, invest in innovative practices, and adjust to rapidly changing economic environments.
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3. A Restructuring of Census Bureau Regional Offices - The Director's Blog
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The regional offices are a key part of our work, and we have been deliberating since April 2010 on how best to organize them for the future. Our goal is to prepare the Census Bureau for the changing landscape of statistical data collection we see coming.


We have decided to transition from a Regional Office design of 12 offices to one of 6 offices. The transition has begun and will be fully completed by January 2013. The new design strengthens and unifies the supervision of field representatives and increases the number of supervisory staff working out of their homes. Simultaneously, we are reviewing the technical and administrative organization within the headquarters offices in order to assure that we have both a strong technical skill mix and a cost efficient administrative organization, matching that of the new regional structure.
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4. Create a network of regional European news agency | Social European Journalism Blog


This proposal was submitted to us by Jean Lemaître ( Director of IHECS International and Further education) and Thomas Lemaigre ( Director of Alter Agency ).


Around 800 European journalists are accredited to European Institutions. They do a hard and necessary work. But they generally favour political and institutional information and often find themselves isolated from their national and regional editors, who compartmentalise European information without leaving sufficient breathing space for the local dimension.


Furthermore, fewer and fewer media can afford the taxes and expenses to maintain a journalist in Brussels. With a few exceptions, they are essentially national media.


At the same time, dozens of thousands journalists work in the 27 Member states, on regional and local areas, close to citizens: local radio and televisions, town and associative newspapers, Internet…...


Our proposal:


We offer to set up a network of regional European press agencies which:
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5. Plan unveiled to build region's 'Culturescape' - The Cornwall Standard Freeholder - Ontario, CA


The regional culture plan ... recommending that a special committee be formed to consolidate resources, including the creation of a central arts facility, in the hopes of boosting economic spinoff opportunities.


The plan, called Building the Culturescape in Cornwall and the Communities of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, was presented to about a dozen municipal politicians and close to 100 members of the public ...


High amongst the recommendations is a cultural council, which would be the glue toward embellishing cultural pursuits in the region, ...


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One of the recommendations cited the role for municipalities to establish a "funding envelope" which moves the plan forward consistently. Oftentimes, some money is needed to "leverage" provincial and federal grant programs.


Another recommendation, to create a cultural map listing as many activities and venues as possible, is needed.




6. Thinking regionally: Great Lakes Bay collaboration growing - Midland Daily News:
Collaboration is growing in the Great Lakes Bay Region, according to attendees at a first-ever community update on regional efforts.

The Great Lakes Bay Regional Alliance organized the event Tuesday at the Midland Center for the Arts, bringing together leaders from Midland, Bay, Saginaw and Isabella counties.

Terry Moore, CEO of the GLBR Alliance, said councils have been formed to improve advocacy efforts, economic development, education and arts and entertainment in the region. The organization also runs the GLBR Leadership Institute, now 171 graduates strong, to spread the message that the communities in the region are stronger together than alone."

Together, we are enough," Moore said. "We're able to do what needs to be done and we are in the process of doing it."

Moore welcomed Isabella County into the alliance at the event.
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"Regional cooperation and collaboration are key elements in a thriving regional economy,"  ...



7. 'Vision' folly | Press-Enterprise Editorials | PE.com | News for Inland Southern California

Spurring greater regional cooperation in San Bernardino County requires more than feel-good public relations symbolism. Yes, collaboration by local governments can be effective at addressing common needs. But innocuous generalities will not build a countywide partnership; city and county officials need to develop practical approaches to reach that goal.

Local government officials plan to adopt a new shared "vision" for the county at a June 30 meeting of the San Bernardino Associated Governments. ...

... developing a coordinated strategy requires something more substantial than the banal results of a "visioning process."

San Bernardino County should focus on functional ways to meet countywide needs, not on rhetorical gestures. Riverside County, for example, has a uniform transportation fee for development and a multi-species habitat conservation plan, which attempt comprehensive solutions to regional issues. Words are no substitute for steps that offer real, practical progress.


8. LOWELL MURRAY: You do not govern, you hold to account those who do | iPolitics

Below is a speech Sen. Lowell Murray, the longest serving senator still sitting, delivered at a conference honouring prominent Acadian scholar Donald Savoie held earleir this month at Le Pays de la Sagouine in Bouctouche, N.B.

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Canadians, especially those who live in or come from the slower growth regions, tend to take for granted and to seldom acknowledge how federal government transfers to persons such as pensions and Employment Insurance contribute indirectly to the maintenance of decent incomes and living standards in those regions, and make possible the existence at any viable level of seasonal industries such as fisheries and tourism. Likewise intergovernmental transfers — not just Equalization but transfers for health, post secondary education and social programs — help maintain national standards and prevent the massive rate of disinvestment, outmigration and depopulation that would occur in the absence of such standards.

Then of course there are the direct federal investments in ports, airports, military bases and various infrastructure that contribute very significantly to the economy of those regions. All this is today part of the Canadian fabric,  ...

9. Anglican-Lutheran dialogue examines service and witness - ENInews

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The commission, which was established in its current form in 2004, will recommend that the next phase of Anglican-Lutheran international work be a coordinating committee, rather than a theological group, to encourage cooperation in regional work. Theology, however, would still be part of its mandate, ....

The meeting heard of the difficulties faced by Christians in the Holy Land, where much of the Palestinian population faces daily restrictions and lack of jobs and opportunities. The meeting also heard from Christians from Tanzania, South Africa, Argentina, Botswana and Japan, whose general message was "an emphasis on getting on with mission," Barnett-Cowan said.

Regional cooperation could take the forms of challenging the stigma of HIV/AIDS or working together to combat climate change, she noted. In Jerusalem, "there had been a full communion commission and the bishops pledged to re-activate that," she said.
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More links: http://www.delicious.com/I.see.regions.work