Multi-jurisdictional
intentional regional communities are, in all cases, “Greater Communities” where
“community motive” is at work at a more than a local scale. This newsletter
provides a scan of regional community, cooperation and collaboration activity
as reported in news media and blogs.
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Top 10 Stories
Home sales are significantly improving, and the progress
is being experienced throughout Greater Nashville and Middle Tennessee.
…
Why are these improvements being experienced when other
locations are not yet seeing the same? While we have faced the same economic
trends as other places, there are many reasons why we are on the early side of
recovery.
First, more individuals, families and businesses are
discovering Greater Nashville and Middle Tennessee. From sports to
entrepreneurial endeavors, from health care to automotive growth, our region is
gaining notice. The Music City Center is also attracting attention as the news
gets out to convention planners.
…
One of the most significant attractions is the sense of
community. We experienced it during the flood two years ago. People throughout
the region helped those in need from all areas. The sense of unity and the
expression of care for people was extraordinary.
But the flood wasn’t the only event that displayed our
sense of community. …
Perhaps the only thing Mower County Board members can be
certain about in the proposed 12-county regional collaborative of human
services is that there's a lot of uncertainty.
…
The collaboration is being driven by a growing patient
base and dwindling government funding, said Julie Stevermer, director of Mower
County Human Services.
'Silver tsunami'
The majority of financial assistance is distributed to
the elderly and the disabled populations, Stevermer said, and a "silver
tsunami" is coming — Baby Boomers.
Given current staff and funding levels, "we will
not meet (required) outcomes, given where we are today," Stevermer said of
services that are mandated by the government. "We have a competent,
committed staff, but how much can they do?"
…
Redesign goals
The current full-fledged human services offices in each
county would be replaced by an expanded network of walk-in and call-in centers
sprinkled across the region.
The system also would be developed to rely more heavily
on telephone and electronic communications between service providers and
recipients.
The service system would be overseen by a centralized
administration, and above that, by a seven-member board of directors and
12-member advisory council, made up of representatives from the participating
counties.
Potential participants: Dodge, Fillmore, Freeborn,
Goodhue, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Rice, Steele, Wabasha, Waseca and Winona
counties.
…speech…endorsing a new highway in the Trinity River
flood zone, Dallas Mayor Mike …said at one point, "I'm a
regionalist," and then he said of people who oppose his view, "For
those that feel that way and don't want the city to grow, I can clearly state, I
am not your mayor and you may not feel comfortable in Dallas over the long haul
because we are going to grow." Check me on this. But was that not "my
way or the highway?"
…I'm glad he said it. It was maybe the only sincere
moment in an otherwise an entirely predictable exercise in fake objectivity.
But, wait. What's wrong with being regional? We live in a region, right? Isn't
thinking about the whole region the rational thing to do?
… If you look closely at the so-called regionalism being
flogged by Michael Morris, it's really all about trying to reverse or at least
stave off that back-to-the-city trend. How? By using a rich but arcane planning
entity to steer coveted federal dollars into projects that are pro-sprawl &
anti-urban.
A new term has entered the political lexicon of
Clackamas County: Portland creep.
Those two words, intended to denote density, crime,
congestion and tax-happy bureaucracy, appear on two can't-miss billboards along
Interstate 205 near Gladstone. The conservative Oregon Transformation Project's
political action committee paid for the billboards to support a slate of
candidates who, if elected, would take majority control of Clackamas County
government.
The new phrase also sums up what's at stake in this
year's race for three seats on the five-member Clackamas County Board of
Commissioners: Should the county be a cooperative partner in regional efforts
or become more politically independent and fiscally conservative?
… If the Oregon Transformation Project's slate wins,
Clackamas County could reverse course and end support of regional planning and
transportation efforts.
… whispers started circulating among discontented
conservatives about withdrawing from Metro and TriMet.
…discussion on proposed Metro service to Loudoun…
…study Stephen S. Fuller, director of George Mason
University’s Center for Regional Analysis, performed on the projects financial
impacts to the region, Virginia Sec. of Transportation…state may contribute
more…
…Dulles International Airport…project would help the
airport double its traffic and become a global hub…a world class airport.
…
Fuller, who earlier this week released his rail study,
continued to describe starkly different futures for Loudoun, depending on its
rail decision.
“With that connectivity, no county in the Washington
Metropolitan region can compete with Loudoun,” he said. “Without it, it’s a lot
more like Frederick, MD, except for the airport.”
In addition, Loudoun’s amenities and diversity makes it
the most attractive county in the region with rail. With or without rail,
Loudoun will do well, he said, but there’s potential to beat competitors to the
east in drawing certain business investments.
“No other area in this region can come close for 20
years,” he said.
…
The Teaming4Success 2012 Economic Summit, sponsored by the Columbiana
County Area Chambers of Commerce, …
…accepted a proposal to enter into a regional partnership with the recently-formed
Tuscarawas Oil and Gas Alliance in Tuscarawas County.
The Eastern Ohio Development Alliance is a non-profit economic
development organization consisting of 16 counties in southeastern Ohio
… The energy business is inherently regional since the shale formations
thousands of feet below the earth's surface have no regard for lines on a map,
he stated. "There are no county borders when it comes to oil and
gas."
… concept is to create a regional
effort that doesn't take away from any one county's efforts at attracting
development within its borders but instead is about assistance and sharing of
efforts. "We have a lot of great resources in all of these counties, and
we can surely share ideas and concepts in facilitating the kind of
opportunities that we have to engage with the oil and gas industry."
…
A coalition of Triangle economic development groups,
which traditionally have focused on attracting companies to the region, are
behind a new campaign that aims to recruit talented workers.
The $1 million effort is spearheaded by Wake County
Economic Development, the business recruiting arm of the Greater Raleigh
Chamber of Commerce. Other partners…
…theme: "Work in the Triangle. Smarter from any
Angle."
The goal is to leverage the region's many appearances on
"best of" lists -- such as Raleigh's No. 1 ranking in Forbes
magazine's list of Best Places for Business and Careers and the Triangle's No.
2 ranking in the Brookings Institution's list of the Fastest Growing Regions
for Green Jobs -- as a recruitment tool.
"We're not doing this because we have a
problem," … Wake County Economic Development. "We tend to rank
remarkably well ... when we talk to companies about the workforce here. We just
want to be proactive and position ourself well for the future."
…
… U.S. Army Corps of Engineers…
…under its Great Lakes Mississippi River Interbasin
Study … Corps will release in late 2013 an assessment of the best options for
keeping Asian carp out of the Great Lakes, including the preliminary estimated
costs and mitigation requirements for each option.
… “This new step
will result in a more focused path forward that could mean faster
implementation of a permanent solution for protecting our Great Lakes from
Asian carp.”
…Corps already has developed a number of interim GLMRIS
products, including an Aquatic Nuisance Species Control Paper that identified
90 control technologies available to prevent 39 invasive species of concern
from transferring through the aquatic pathways in the Chicago Area Waterway
System. The Army Corps also has identified 18 other potential pathways for
invasive species transfer throughout the Great Lakes region, along the entire
basin divide, which already has resulted in action to close off Asian carp
pathways of concern.…
The Internet Society today announced the formal opening
of its regional office in Singapore, … A global, mission-based organisation, …
advocate for the open development, evolution, and use of the Internet for
everyone.
…Regional Bureaus …connecting its Chapters, members, and
staff, and are central to the success of the organisation's mission to ensure
the Internet continues to evolve as a platform for innovation, collaboration,
creativity, and economic development. …
"We work collaboratively with our Chapters,
members, and regional community organisations … bring Internet connectivity to
rural communities to enable holistic socio-economic development."
"The Internet Society joins the vibrant ecosystem
of more than 135 international non-profit organisations (INPOs) making
Singapore their home for the region and beyond," … Director of the
International Organisations Programme Office (IOPO), a whole-of-government
initiative located within the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB).
…
The following is the 21st Century Council statement from
the pre-G-20 meeting in Mexico City, May 4-6, 2012.
****
Members of the Nicolas Berggruen Institute's
21st Century Council met on May 6 in Mexico City with Mexican President
Felipe Calderon, chair of this year's G-20 Summit, to discuss the upcoming
issues.
…
1. KEEPING PAST G-20 COMMITMENTS. First and foremost,
the G-20 must stick to its commitments at previous Summits, especially from
last year's Cannes Summit, for an inclusive global growth strategy, financial
stabilization of Europe, reducing global imbalances and resistance to
protectionism.
…
2. GREEN GROWTH. …
The absence of a global framework on climate change and
carbon prices is stalling the takeoff of the future clean energy economy. This
should be a high priority for the G-20.
…
Another way to promote decentralized global governance
on green growth is for the G-20 to join up with the R-20 (Regions of Climate
Action), an organization that works with subnational governments to develop
low-carbon economic development projects, to pursue global objectives through
the sub-national political entities where growth and pollution actually take
place. The R-20 model is simple; a locality sets its own clean energy strategy
priorities, then the R-20 brings in the necessary technology and financing. We
commend these public private partnerships and consider them additional tools to
foster employment.
Financial commitments of the G-20 dedicated to
sub-national action networks would greatly enhance the effectiveness and
rapidity of green growth. The G20 should formally recognize the need for
national governments to work with sub-national governments and related
stakeholders to effectively cultivate sustainable development and green growth.
Specifically, we recommend the G20 officially recognize the contribution of sub
national collaboration on Green Growth through their communiqué wherein G20
leaders commit to:
- develop formal relationships with international
representative subnational governments;
- convene meetings with their representatives to learn
about the successful policies, programs, and projects that subnational
governments have implemented that could be scaled to the national and
international levels;
- facilitate the participation of sub national
governments and their related stake holders in the design of National
Sustainable Development Action Plans and present these plans at the Leaders'
Summit in 2013;
- continue to work with subnational governments to
implement the National Sustainable Development Action Plans.
As former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin has
suggested, projects such as those that could be pursued at the subnational
level - in mass transportation, urban development and energy - are the best way
to conjoin economic and environmental goals on the ground where the impact can
be readily felt.
3. REDEFINING HOW
TRADE IS MEASURED. …
Greater
coordination of economic policies on a global scale, if is to be effective,
must be based on accurate analysis instead of false paradigms.
4. EDUCATION.
"We are agreed investment in the quality and availability of education is
of vital importance to every economy. …
5. MAKING THE
G-2O MORE EFFECTIVE: TROIKA WITH TWO-TRACK SHERPAS; A G-20 OECD.
- The G-20 does not need to construct some massive new
bureaucratic edifice of world governance, especially in today's world of
decentralized and distributed power. However, as an organization with a
rotating presidency, it cannot be effective without a mechanism of continuity
and institutional memory that can carry forward and monitor commitments from
summit to successive summit.
…
Another solution is to establish a two-track sherpa
system in which the "political sherpa" associated with the member
country's leadership would work alongside a "permanent sherpa" from
the high professional ranks of a country's foreign service who attends to G-20
issues across summits.
When joined with the "troika leadership" - the
past, present and future rotating presidencies - the seconded sherpa system
could effectively close the gap of knowledge and institutional memory that now
exits.
- Effective policymaking in a rapidly changing global
economy must be based on accurate information. To that end, the Organization of
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) should be expanded to include all
the G-20 to work in tandem with the IMF as the policy body that advises the
G-20.
6. The 21st Century Council reaffirms its view of the
importance of the G-20 as the key adjustment mechanism of the global powershift
underway. …
---
Online: G20 Information Center - G20 Research
Group at the University of Toronto and the University of Toronto Library
---
At CivilPolitics.org, our mission is to find and promote
evidence-based methods for increasing political civility. By civility we do NOT
mean politeness, decorum, agreement, bipartisanship, or unity. We think
disagreement and debate are good things. We think America is well served when
political parties represent different viewpoints and then compete vigorously to
recruit voters to their side.
But we are disturbed by the increase in recent decades
in demonization that characterizes American political debate, particularly
among politicians and in the media. We are motivated by recent research in
moral and political psychology showing what happens when disagreements activate
the psychology of good-versus-evil. Compromise becomes far more difficult;
reasoning becomes far less responsive to facts; and combatants begin to believe
that the ends justify the means. When that happens, partisans are more willing
to break laws, play dirty tricks, lie, and ruin the personal lives of their
opponents -- all in the service of what they think is a good cause. Good people
are discouraged from entering politics. Good public servants are driven out of
public service.
Civility as we pursue it is the ability to disagree with
others while respecting their sincerity and decency. We believe this ability is
best fostered by indirect methods (changing contexts, payoffs, and
institutions), rather than by direct methods (such as pleading with people to
be more civil, or asking people to sign civility pledges).
Our approach is to draw on the best scientific research
to understand how we got into this condition, and how we can make systemic
legal and electoral changes that can get us out.
To use this site, please begin by looking at our
"areas for intervention" pages. If you want to dig deeper, check out
our Blog, and our "academic resources" pages. If you want to get the
word out to others, please see our "teaching and multimedia" pages.
...
+ Q&A:
Has [UK] regional strategy derailed? - Financial Times – Free registration available.
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