Regional/Greater Community Development News – April 9, 2012


     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. More articles are at delicious.com.
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Top 10 Stories
The leader of the Henry County Chamber of Commerce is helping to lead the charge for voter support of a 1-cent regional sales tax to tackle traffic woes in Henry County, Clayton County, and other parts of metropolitan Atlanta.
Henry Chamber of Commerce President, Kay Pippin, maintains transportation problems in the Atlanta region are at “crisis levels,” and measures like the T-SPLOST are vital for ensuring economic competitiveness in years to come.
Pippin and other leaders from the Southern Crescent area are backing the referendum for a Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (T-SPLOST), that would fund $6.14 billion in road projects over 10 years, in a 10-county area that includes Henry and Clayton counties.
The campaign centers on the Transportation Investment Act of 2010, and the referendum vote set for July 31.
…dozens of organizations have been meeting over the last year to generate support for the referendum. They call themselves the First Friday Coalition.
5140-17-05-Atlanta.Regional, re:competitive, re:economic, re:coalition, re:leaders, re:business, re:trans.tax
…key word…inaugural Southwest Tourism Summit… “collaboration”… participants from statewide, regional and local tourism-related organizations learned how to work with each other and use each other’s services to boost their own efforts.
“We get so caught up in who is going where and how long they’re staying in one community, we lose track of the goal to share more about our area in general and make this a bigger piece of the pie,” … …included…Colorado Tourism Office; Four Corners Film Commission; and Southwest Colorado Travel Region.
…representatives from Durango’s business, economic-development and tourism sectors were the first to preach the importance of collaboration and interconnectedness between each of their organizations.
… La Plata Economic Development Alliance has a vested interest in supporting tourism… “When you’re trying to recruit people, tourism is a gateway drug,” he said. People come here on vacation and love it, then want to come back, live and start a business…
5140-44-09-Southwest-Durango, re:statewide, re:community, re:summit, re:collaboration, re:cooperation
Senate Bill 124 is a simple bill.
It would increase the number of Colorado tourism projects that the state Economic Development Commission (EDC) can approve for tax-increment financing this year from two to six — while maintaining a cap of six total projects that can get Regional Tourism Act (RTA) status over the next three years.
….
SB 124, sponsored by Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, ended up receiving preliminary approval on a largely party-line vote, …
Signed into law in 2009, the RTA allows the state to designate significant tourist-generating projects to be allowed to keep all new state sales tax generated within their property area for the next 30 years and put it toward construction and infrastructure.
The nine-member EDC is responsible for choosing a maximum of six projects — no more than two per year over the next three years — to get such tax breaks, and it’s expected to choose its first one or two for the award on May 18.
Wording in the law is somewhat ambiguous ...
5140-44-00-Colorado, re:tourism, re:tax.increment.financing, re:legislators, re:legislation.state
On the website for Pure Michigan, the top state tourism campaign in the country, the Blue Water Area ranks fourth in site traffic — a statistic local officials are touting as a sign of good things to come.
And while Ann Arbor, Traverse City, Mackinac Island and the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn shelled out $500,000 each this year to be in Pure Michigan’s national TV ads, local officials aren’t looking to jump on that high-priced bandwagon just yet.
Discover the Blue, the collaboration of Thumb cities that links directly with Pure Michigan to market the area, signed up for a regional ad campaign to draw summer visitors to towns and beaches along Lake Huron and the St. Clair River.
The group payed $165,000 this year for regional radio ads featuring Tim Allen and pay-per-click targeted Google search ads. The Blue Water Area will also be listed as a “feature destination” on the homepage of Michigan.org for the summer season.
…
5140-27-07-East.Central-Saginaw.Valley, re:collaboration, re:marketing, re:tourism
Any venture worth pursuing usually involves some work. Most entrepreneurial ventures also involve plenty of careful thinking and yes, a bit of luck and a dab of risk. The resulting mix can produce wonderful rewards.
Greater Lansing is on the verge of stepping off a major venture that, when it reaches the finish line, should produce lasting rewards — the inaugural Lansing Marathon scheduled for April 22.
Dr. Owen Anderson’s original dream called for up to 10,000 runners and $1 million raised for local charities. About a month away, he acknowledged that was too ambitious for his first marathon.
...
There will be celebrations large and small. Everyone who runs the race will celebrate his or her accomplishment; many from the region will mark their first marathon run. Anderson, his sponsors and the community leaders who have helped him will celebrate bringing something new and special to the region. Charities will benefit.
There are other, less obvious benefits. ...
5140-27-06-Tri-County-Lansing, re:greater, re:editorial.opinion, re:event.festival, re:sports
… Tampa Bay Partnership plays a key role in local economic development. The business-created group promotes regional cooperation and conducts valuable research.
… some business leaders believe the partnership has become more a think tank than economic engine… not getting…results… agency, established in 1994, promotes economic development across eight counties-Hillsborough, Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota, Polk, Pasco, Hernando and Citrus. …
…critics' complaints: The partnership generates good ideas that often aren't fully executed. It has not been able to bolster the region's political clout; …It focuses more on research than marketing.
Partnership defenders stress its research data are as important as marketing campaigns in luring companies. The region needs to know which enterprises are likely to increase jobs and which ones will wither. …organization can't implement its ideas or bolster the region's clout without the help and cooperation of the business community and local governments.
5140-18-08-Tampa.Bay, re:local.government, re:cooperation, re:implementation.not, re:think.tank, re:marketing, re:editorial.opinion, re:business, re:partnership
Cooperate or compete?
That question…asked many times…a community read of Richard Longworth's book, Caught in the Middle: America's Heartland in the Age of Globalism.…
… on cooperation in the Chicago region: "This word doesn't seem to have reached the state governments, which remain the biggest stumbling block to regional cooperation. All the towns and cities in the Chicago economic region have more to do with each other than any of them have with Madison, Springfield or Indianapolis. Yet jealousies and rivalries between state governments and governors poison inter-state relations and create barriers to cooperation."
Longworth is right, and he could have been talking about anywhere in the Midwest. It's true; more could be accomplished if we all pulled in the same direction.
But how does that affect Muncie and East Central Indiana?
The short answer is this: Cooperation at a regional level could lift all of us up. But skepticism remains when asked to extend that across state lines.
5140-29-06-Blackford.Delaware.Grant.Jay.Madison.Cos.Muncie, 5140-00.CMSA.Chicago.IL-IN-WI, re:states, re:cooperation.not, re:state.lines, re:cooperation, re:editorial.opinion
We work here. We play here. And by knowing all of the great things happening here, we can make an impact on our great region. By knowing about our economy, our growing industries, growth opportunities and how to engage, we can pass the good news to friends, family, colleagues and the media so that the entire world begins to know the Pluses of Northeast Ohio, like we do.
We need to know about:
• The Economy
• Growing Industries
• How to do Business
• The Economic Development System
5140-28-0X-Northeast-Cleveland-NEO, re:promotion, re:news, re:website, re:identity, re:regional.communities
…U.S. Environmental Protection Agency … Gulf of Mexico Program …designed to facilitate collaborative actions to protect, maintain, and restore the health and productivity of the Gulf of Mexico in ways consistent with the economic well-being of the Region.
… Program began in 1988 to protect, restore, and maintain the health and productivity of the Gulf… ecosystem in economically sustainable ways. The program is financially supported by the…Agency and is a non-regulatory, inclusive consortium of state and federal government agencies and representatives of the business and agricultural community, fishing industry, scientists, environmentalists, and community leaders from all five Gulf States.
Founded on the threefold principles of partnership, science-based information, and citizen involvement, the Gulf Program joined the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay Programs as flagships of the nation’s efforts to apply an adaptive management approach to large coastal freshwater and marine ecosystems.
5140-00.Gulf.of.Mexico, re:community, re:non-regulatory, re:consortium, re:economic, re:ecosystems, re:multi-state, re:EPA
...
AMARJEET SINHA (AGAINST)
Bihar has provided the guiding principle not only in creating a national identity, but even an international identity for India. For those who want the fruits of development, the national identity should be greater than the sub-national identity.
...
GOPA SABHARWAL (FOR)
Bihar has a strong regional identity, which is good for the nation as well. Each region should have a different identity. India has prospered despite a pluralistic society, having different languages.
Few cities have dominated the social, political, national and economic identities of India so far. But all regions should be on a par. Strong sub-regionalism gives strong national identity as well as a sense of pride and sovereignty to the nation. The erstwhile Nalanda University prospered only because of the amalgamation of knowledge from all regions.
One can take a person out of the region but not vice versa.
8272-0X-Bihar, re:subnational, re:regional, re:national, re:identity
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Regional/Greater Community Development News – April 2, 2012


     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. More articles are at delicious.com.
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Top 10 Stories

1. Region's failure to cooperate | HamptonRoads.com
… mayors of Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach acknowledged the need to work together to build a plan that would best serve the entire region. They spoke of efforts to lobby the General Assembly for dedicated revenue for transportation funding, to persuade mayors of cities from Hampton Roads through Northern Virginia to band together as a bloc…comments…made clear… help their individual cities.
It's a woefully familiar, shortsighted attitude in Hampton Roads…elected officials' inability to see beyond their municipal borders.
It's also the attitude that time and again prevents us from making the most of this region's inherent advantages.
…
That lack of unity means …we miss opportunities …
How do cities as disparate as those in Hampton Roads set aside their parochial needs, look past their borders, find ways to make decisions to improve the entire region, and set a plan into action?
…Other places have figured it out, not least in Northern Virginia. …
5140-13-23-Hampton.Roads-Norfolk, re:plan, re:action, re:opportunities, re:borders, re:failure, re:cooperation.not, re:mayors
On the surface, the greater Rochester area outperforms the state in education, the economy, housing and issues affecting children and youth.
But on many points in a Community Report Card released Tuesday, there is a deep divide between Rochester and Monroe County compared with the rest of the seven-county region and the state.
Among the most alarming disparities are in areas of health and financial self-sufficiency. And all too often that divide reflects hardships that disproportionately affect minorities.
Conversely, some of the area’s strongest showings — and strongest for Monroe County — are in technology (specifically high-tech jobs) and housing affordability.
The first-ever report card is the product of a partnership between the Rochester Area Community Foundation and the United Way of Greater Rochester called ACT Rochester. It uses 12 “community indicators” to measure strengths and weaknesses both within the region and against the state.
“The needs of the community are many
5140-07-0x-Rochester, re:disparity, re:partnership, re:community.foundation, re:indicators
Montgomery County officials pitched their case Monday evening to create a regional government.
Commissioner Dan Foley was at the NAACP meeting to get feedback about the idea of a more unified government between Dayton and it's suburbs.
He says it's a concept that could transform the entire Miami Valley.
"The structure of local government to me in my opinion can be, needs to be more innovative, needs to be much more of a unified system, so that we can attract companies and keep companies here and we can have a more vibrant community in the long run," said Commissioner Dan Foley.
Opponents to regional governments argue consolidation eliminates jobs and school districts.
5140-28-0X-Miami.Valley-Dayton, re:local.government, re:consolidation, re:opposition, re:suburbs, re:government, re:unified.system, re:regionalism.benefit
To its supporters, the Metropolitan Council is a triumph of regional planning and a model for other urban areas.
To its critics, the agency is a bureaucracy insulated from elected officials and insensitive to suburban concerns.
…
Scott County Commissioner Jon Ulrich recalled recently how local officials responsible for advising the agency were shut out of work on a major transportation plan.
"We were told if you want to see the full plan ... it will be online later in the week," Ulrich said.
The critics want to turn the Met Council responsibilities for planning transit over to a board made up mostly of elected local officials, with many of them appointed by counties.
Current council members are appointed by the governor and don't hold elective office elsewhere. They sometimes profess ignorance of actions taken by the agency's staff. Recently, the council was forced to backpedal after suburbanites complained about designs for new buses. …
5140-32-11-Metropolitan.Council-Minneapolis-St.Paul, re:trans.planning, re:trans.transit, re:officials.elected.appointed, re:metro

Gahanna development director Anthony Jones asked council to authorize the mayor to enter into a regional economic-development agreement (REDA) that encourages the use of financial incentives to attract new jobs and investment and prohibits the use of financial incentives to lure jobs from another central Ohio community.
Since January 2011, Jones said, 10 central Ohio local governments have been working to establish a partnership with two overarching goals: to increase efficiencies and save money through shared services and to cease “job poaching” efforts. The communities have been meeting regularly to formalize the partnership.
Participating municipalities have included Bexley, Columbus, Gahanna, Grandview Heights, Grove City, Groveport, Hilliard, New Albany, Obetz, Reynoldsburg, Upper Arlington and Worthington, according to Dan Williamson, spokesman for Coleman's office, and not all of them are officially on board yet. Canal Winchester and Whitehall were invited, as well.
...
5140-28-0X-Mid-Ohio-Columbus, re:agreement, re:development.agency, re:development
The Atlanta Regional Commission on Wednesday took a formal step toward determining if it can create a transit governance system to serve the region until the Legislature creates one of its liking.
The ARC board voted unanimously Wednesday to seek proposals from law firms to determine the boundaries of the ARC’s authority to oversee regional transit. Legislation on the issue that was proposed by Gov. Nathan Deal’s Transit Governance Task Force failed in the 2012 session.
The ARC’s vote affirms a request for action from its Regional Transit Committee, which the ARC describes as a policy committee focused on transit planning, funding and governance.
Specifically, the RTC sought a “request for proposal regarding legal review of regional transit collaboration options.”
RTC members have been working since 2010 to craft a workable structure that would knit together the region’s transit systems. They have issued a raft of recommendations, but only some of them were included in legislation
5140-17-05-Atlanta.Regional, re:state, re:governance, re:trans.transit
Some heart of Illinois residents received some startling news on the cohesiveness of the area economy Thursday.
The Tri-county Regional Planning Commission teamed up with "VITAL Economy Alliance" to help determine how to establish a stronger regional collaboration. The goal of the project is to have all of the communities in Peoria, Tazewell and Woodford counties working together toward a stronger overall economy.
The preliminary report found the Tri-county area is currently below average in nearly every category, but there is potential for improvement.
"The three weeks have taught us that there is a huge common interest, and a common recognition of what the problems are, and what the opportunity is," ...VITAL Economy Alliance .... "That is something you don't often see, across the public and private sector."
A final report is due April 13. After that, "VITAL" will give formal suggestions to the Tri-county Regional Planning Commission on how to achieve better regional collaboration
5140-30-0x-Central-Peoria, re:economy, re:alliance, re:cohesiveness, re:collaboration, re:commission, re:planning
Whenever things get a bit dull, the urban planning types decide it is time to reexamine “regionalism” — …
Every time… it is treated as a new idea, to avoid the discouragement of realizing that the subject has been front and center in academic and policy circles for more than 40 years — with little result to show for it.
Of course, the most painless, brainless, accommodating way to bring modest regional cooperation to the unwashed masses is county government — a middleman between the state government colossus and the local selectmen and councilmen and mayors and town managers.
Connecticut purged itself of county bureaucracy, with various complaints … Connecticut is proud of its local fiefdoms and their “home rule” …
What complicates the Connecticut situation is its lack of “unincorporated” areas … Every square inch of Connecticut is somewhere, with the power and authority to go about their inefficient business.
…
Amid the bleak landscape is the pending launch of a regional dog pound
5140-06-04-Capital-Hartford, re:planning, re:urban, re:editorial.opinion, re:municipalities, re:county.not, re:policy, re:regionalism
Saturday marked the formal closure of England's Regional Development Agencies following George Osborne's decision to abolish them back in June 2010. The jury remains out on their replacements, the Local Enterprising Partnerships, many of which have board members and strong private sector involvement bringing forward good, positive ideas for growth but are finding these frustrated due a lack of resources and micromanagement from Whitehall. It is clear that a number of big questions for growth across the English regions remain unanswered as we move into a post-RDA world.
Firstly, how do we link skills and growth policy and make them responsive to local needs and requirements? In doing this, how can we involve all the key local and sub regional players – LEPs, Local Authorities, transport bodies, Higher Education and Further Education and big employers and their supply chains in this? In particular, now the RDAs have gone, how do we push forward the large transport and road projects ...
1116-00-United.Kingdom, re:policy, re:RDA, re:development.agency
The Greater Dublin Area accounted for over 40pc of the total population growth in Ireland since 2006, last year's census shows.
According to Dublin Chamber of Commerce, this increase reinforces the importance of an improved and integrated infrastructure for the region in order to contain demand.
Today's publication "This is Ireland - Highlights from Census 2011 Part 1" showed that the overall population of the country increased by 348,404 (8.2pc) since 2006, with the Greater Dublin Area counties of Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare and Meath accounting for 141,620 (40pc) of the overall increase.
Dublin Chamber's Director of Policy, Aebhric Mc Gibney said, "These findings reiterate the importance of what has always been Dublin Chamber Policy - better infrastructure. The population of the region is continuing to grow. This means there is extra demand on infrastructure and particularly on water which is in short supply. Therefore, this must be addressed."
...
1108-0x-Greater.Dublin, re:census, re:growth, re:population, re:infrastructure
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Basic Geocodes - 
0000 - Earth
0900 - Arctic Ocean
1000 - Europe
2000 - Africa
3000 - Atlantic Ocean
4000 - Antarctica
5000 - Americas
6000 - Pacific Ocean
7000 - Oceana
8000 - Asia
9000 - Indian Ocean

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For delicious reader feed:
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