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
Rather than selling themselves at a discount — cheap
land and cheap labor and tax giveaways – most highly successful cities
are investing in better workers, high-quality universities, quality of
life and efficient public services.
Here’s our start on economic development
priorities for the planned plan for Memphis and Shelby:
• Investments
in Universities. …
• Redevelopment
in the Urban Core. …
• Balanced
Transportation Policy. …
• Technology
Clusters. …
• Local
Innovation. …
• Understanding
Our Competitive Context. Memphis starts by understanding its
competitive context, including market and demographic trends in the
region and its strengths and weaknesses. Most of all, we need to use new
measures that matter in the knowledge economy rather than on the indicators
from old-style economic development. Memphis can find its distinctive
niche to leap frog ahead of other cities, but it must be equally based on
solid research and imaginative strategies.
• Fixing
the Basics. …
• Acting
(As Well As Talking) Regionally. Memphis talks a good game of
regionalism, but we’ve never truly engrained regional thinking into our
plans and actions. Too often, we lapse into “we versus them” and “if
you’re winning, we must be losing” attitudes. Economic activity and
innovation occur in a regional context, and we ignore this at our peril.
It is increasingly clear that Memphis and its suburbs are inextricably
linked into a single economic unit, and Memphis shouldn’t be the only city in
the region saying this.
• Vibrant
Culture and Entertainment Centers. …
• Thinking
and Acting Collaboratively. This requires a shift in
leadership styles from traditional authoritarian models to a new
environment of inclusion, mutual influence and community building.
Opening the door wider to all segments of the community and inviting new voices
to engage in decision-making is the mark of a mature and competitive city. Most
of all, we must rid the halls of government with their “it’s not your
time yet” responses to any initiative shown by young leaders.
• A 21st
Century Workforce. …
• Competition
on a Global Scale. …
• High-Quality
Eco-Assets. …
• A
Reputation for Tolerance. …
I recently dined with a senior City of Edmonton manager,
part of the leadership group around City Manager Simon Farbrother that’s
getting a great deal done.
We talked about global energy/petro-chemical companies,
how decisions are made about where multi-billion dollar plants will be built.
“We’re part of the Pacific rim,” our manager said. “The
guy making that decision is based in Shanghai or Beijing. He’s deciding if that
plant should be built in China, somewhere else in Asia, Canada, the USA or
Mexico. His only interest is the well-being of the company he works for.
“He has hundreds of options – countries and states and
cities are all offering economic incentives.
“If we (Greater Edmonton) want to compete, we have to
have the complete package – land fully serviced and ready to go, feedstock,
infrastructure, labour, financing, tax incentives. In fact, we have to offer
more. Their future consumers are all over there, not here.
“How do we compete,” he said, pointing his fork at my
nose, “when we don’t have a single economic development agency for the region?
How do we compete when 24 regional municipalities spend more time coming to a
consensus than they do pursuing the prize?
“Our political structure,” he concluded, “is built for
failure. When a third of the population of Greater Edmonton lives outside the
city’s borders, getting things done quickly, making decisions quickly,
competing on that global scale, is near impossible.”
“The Way We Prosper” is the economic development
component of an overall planning exercise by the city.
…
A report into Wellington’s local government structure
has recommended a total overhaul, including a new Lord Mayor and one powerful
council governing six smaller councils.
The report slams current structures in the Wellington
area, saying the region has “lost its way” and needs to be “reborn”.
Collated by the Wellington Region Local Government
Review Panel, the report recommends the region’s nine councils be legally
dismantled and replaced by the new structure.
This means the 107 current elected councillors would be
reduced to 79 and the nine chief executives would be reduced to one.
Under the plan, the Greater Wellington Regional Council
will become a new Greater Wellington Council led by an elected Lord Mayor.
The eight remaining councils would become six ‘local
area councils’ tiered underneath the new main council with the task of managing
local issues.
In Wairarapa, the three current district councils would
be merged into one local area council.
…
A political paradigm has shifted, and 24 towns in St.
Louis County are reaping the benefits.
Fragmentation and self-imposed isolation have long been
norms in the countryside that rings St. Louis city. The city itself set that
tone in 1876, when it broke away from the jurisdiction of St. Louis County
because city residents were disinclined to continue subsidizing their
“hillbilly” counterparts.
Modern discussions about reuniting the city and county
plod on, but 24 St. Louis County towns aren’t waiting around. They’ve stuck out
their necks and are giving berth to several new concepts and processes that
have lowered municipal expenses only as a first step.
Just as importantly, according to Chris Krehmeyer, the
new thinking is improving the standard of living of residents by providing
affordable housing, supporting children’s education and ensuring access to
healthy lifestyle choices and health care.
Krehmeyer is the president and chief executive officer
of Beyond Housing. The community support organization counts among its
successes improving the affordable housing market in a number of cities in the
region in defiance of the subprime mortgage mess and subsequent recession.
…
CAPITAL REGION — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Tuesday
continued his statewide Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) Progress
Tour in the Capital Region, where he visited projects to see their progress and
their economic impact in the region.
It was the fifth visit in the governor's REDC Progress
Tour, which is part of a review of last year's strategic economic development
plans and job-creating projects.
"Under the Regional Council process, which has
given individual regions the power to shape their own economic trajectory, New
York State no longer has a top-down approach when it comes to economic
development," Governor Cuomo said. "The Capital Region is putting
their own strategic plan to action and growing jobs and businesses in their
communities."
"Today Governor Cuomo, Lt. Governor Duffy, and the
Strategic Implementation Assessment Team saw first-hand that, through this
regional economic development process, we are successfully collaborating across
sectors and regions to strengthen the Capital Region economic ecosystem,
thereby maintaining and creating jobs, preparing and retaining the workforce,
and celebrating and strengthening our communities," said Regional Council
Co-Chair and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute President Dr. Shirley Jackson.
"Guided by our strategic plan, the Council is
engaging with business, education, government, and other community leaders
across our 8 county region, working together to lay the foundation for
long-term economic security."
…
When the One Region organization recently published its
2012 analysis of 10 key indicators of the quality of life in Northwest Indiana,
I joined other region residents in studying the valuable information.
This report presents an honest analysis of where we
stand as a region with an unbiased assessment of our many positive points and
where we have room for improvement. It’s an ideal reference for Northwest
Indiana leaders and concerned citizens to help us plan for the future.
The People chapter states, “We aspire to be a region
that is diverse and values inclusion.” This chapter contains an in-depth look
at the demographics of Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties.
Our region has seen some amazing changes in the past few
decades. An industrial giant for years, it has undergone countless changes as
times and people changed.
Region residents moved from our urban core to the
developing suburbs. As roads improved, people who no longer needed to live
close to their jobs moved to spacious new suburban neighborhoods in Lake,
Porter and LaPorte counties.
Our families have changed, too. We see fewer households
with married couples and more single-parent families. More people live alone.
We’re getting older. Our median age in Northwest Indiana
has increased from 36.4 years in 2000 to 38.5 in 2010. This trend could have
serious implications on region business, employment, health care, education and
infrastructure in coming years.
However, our racial and ethnic diversity has seen little
change. In 2010 whites continue to account for most of our area
population, the African-American
population was about the same as it was in the 2006 report at 19 percent, and
the Hispanic population grew a few percentage points to 13 percent.
The report reminds us that Northwest Indiana has an
amazing diversity of races, ethnic heritage, politics, ages and incomes. A
diverse population is an asset for any community.
…
England's regions
can no longer rely on handouts from tax receipts collected in the City, Deputy
Prime Minister Nick Clegg has said as he announced Government plans to hand
more local authorities, including Sunderland and Tees Valley, wider spending
powers.
A selected group
of 20 cities and regions could be exempt from meeting strict diktats from
Whitehall as part of plans to give some councils the right to spend tax
revenues collected by companies based in their area.
Ministers have
already handed eight cities, including Manchester, Sheffield and Newcastle,
more powers over strategic planning decisions and transport budgets. Now they
plan to allow 20 other towns, cities and regions the right to bid for increased
powers.
But, as the list
was announced, Mr Clegg warned the successful councils they can no longer rely
on Government handouts for major infrastructure projects which were paid for by
large tax receipts collected within the Square Mile.
"You can't
revive the regions just through handouts from Whitehall. Certainly not now when
the Treasury's coffers are bare. And even if we did have lots of money, the
previous approach was fundamentally flawed," he said.
"Revenues
from the financial services sector were recycled round the rest of the country
through the long arm of the state, creating the illusion of strong, national
growth. Jobs were created but in an unbalanced way, over-relying on the public
sector, funded by tax receipts from the City of London.
…
REMEMBER when we were all passionate people living in a
passionate place?
One of the real legacy projects of regional development
agency One North East was the excellent regional image campaign, which seemed
to receive buy-in from the entire region.
“Passionate People, Passionate Places” was a wonderful
campaign and showcased what an amazing region the North East is to live, work
and visit – we always knew it here in the region, but it was great that the
message was being carried outside our boundaries.
Sadly the campaign was a casualty of the public sector
cuts and when the RDAs days were numbered so was the campaign, or was it?
Momentum may have been lost when One North East closed,
but there is no reason why the businesses, public bodies, education
establishments and any Joe Public with a passion for the region can’t continue
to carry that message.
We must continue to talk our region up here in the North
East, nationally and internationally.
…
The abolition in principle of regional bureaus of central
government ministries is a pillar of the DPJ-led government's policy of pushing
devolution. Of some 300,000 national public servants, nearly 200,000 belong to
regional bureaus of central government ministries. The first step toward the
abolition of regional bureaus is the transfer of regional bureaus of the
infrastructure and transport ministry, the trade and industry ministry and the
Environment Ministry to regional federations of local governments. But the
Cabinet has not yet endorsed a bill for the transfer — a step needed for
submission of the bill to the Diet.
The main purpose of the transfer of regional bureaus of
the three ministries is to eradicate overlapping of administration between the
ministries and local governments. The transfer must be designed to contribute
to increasing efficiency and ending the wasteful use of funds, personnel and
other resources. But the new setup must be capable of quickly and properly
meeting the needs of local governments and residents. This will not be an easy
task.
The main reason for the delay of the bill's submission
to the Diet is that many municipalities are opposed to the transfer of regional
bureaus because they saw the Tohoku Regional Development Bureau of the
infrastructure and transport ministry play an important role in the rescue and
restoration work in the aftermath of the 3/11 disasters.
The cities, towns and villages fear that if regional
development bureaus are transferred to regional federations, they may not be
able to promptly take necessary actions to fulfill their duties in a variety of
areas including infrastructure construction and disaster prevention. In August,
a group of some 500 city, town and village mayors adopted a resolution opposing
the transfer of regional bureaus.
…
MOUNTAIN Gorillas, hippos and various bird species are
some of the most common tourist attractions in Virunga National Park.
The park covers approximately790, 000 hectares of forest
in the three countries of Rwanda, Uganda the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC).
According to figures from Rwanda Development Board
(RDB), last year tourism sector generated US$253 million.
The population in the vicinity of the national park has
over the years closely worked together to conserve it. But stray animals that
destroy crops pose a major threat to the communities.
Recently residents living around the park, in Rwanda and
DRC, built 2 kilometres parameter of stones and a trench to deter stray
buffaloes and other wild animals which destroy crops whenever they come out of
the park.
"It is a way of ensuring that residents do not lose
their harvests as a result of wildlife," says Sam Mwandha, the Executive
Secretary of Greater Virunga Trans-boundary Collaboration (GVTC).
A mechanism to coordinate joint conservation efforts in
the park is underway under which the government engages other partners both at
the national and regional levels.
…
EXTRA
Elizabeth Fretwell was sworn in as city manager of Las
Vegas in January 2009. In what can only be described as a bout of very bad
timing, at that moment, Las Vegas was on the front edge of a precipitous
fall-off in city revenues.
As consumer spending dropped in response to the onset of
the crisis, first to drop were revenues from a state-administered tax that
includes levies on sales of liquor, cigarettes and other goods, as well as real
estate transfers. Before long, city revenues from the property tax followed
suit as real estate values in the city began to plummet. In the downtown area
alone, the assessed value of land and buildings dropped by $1 billion from its
peak between 2008 and 2010.
In all, the City of Las Vegas saw a 20 percent decline
in revenues in just two years.
In Washington, D.C., and in state capitals across the
country, policymakers would respond to a similar declines with a mix of budget
cuts and revenue fixes to try and draw in money from other sources. But in Las
Vegas, budget cuts were the only available answer.
That's because when it comes to raising revenues, the
city’s hands are tied. Local governments in Nevada control just 13 percent of
their revenues; the remaining 87 percent are determined by state formulas. As a
result, Fretwell had no alternative: she cut 615 positions in city government,
amounting to one in five workers. Local government also moved to a cheaper City
Hall building, while slashing funds for everything from education and health
care and parks.
Las Vegas is hardly alone in its inability to develop
reliable revenue streams that can support local priorities through good times
and bad. Indeed, most cities are highly constrained in what they can do by
state laws that place limits on local government taxing and spending authority.
…
SAULT STE. MARIE, MI - The Upper Peninsula Economic Development
Alliance, in partnership with the sister cities of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. and
Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., are hosting a Conference on Bi-National Regional
Collaboration yesterday and today, with events taking place on both sides of
the border.
“Bi-national regional cooperation and collaboration are
becoming more and important to successful economic development,” stated Kim
Stoker executive director of UPEDA. “Our conference will highlight economic
areas that have high potential for enhanced bi-national collaboration and
future initiatives.”
…
Conference sponsors, in addition to the hosting
organizations, include the Sault Ste. Marie (Ontario) Economic Development
Corp., U.S. Economic Development Administration, Eastern Upper Peninsula
Regional Planning and Development Commission, Lake Superior State University,
and the Michigan State University Center for Community and Economic
Development, MSU Canadian Studies Center, MSU Institute of Public Policy and
Social Research, and the Great Lakes International Trade and Transportation Hub
(GLITTH).
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Basic Geocodes -
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Geocode
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Geography
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Wikipedia
page link
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0000
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Earth
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0900
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Arctic Ocean
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1000
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Europe
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2000
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Africa
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3000
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Atlantic Ocean
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4000
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Antarctica
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5000
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Americas
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6000
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Pacific Ocean
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7000
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Oceania
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8000
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Asia
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9000
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Indian Ocean
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"Global Region-builder Geo-Code
Prototype" ©
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