A weekly compilation of news links about and for regional communities pursuing local and regional development.
Published on line since November 11, 2003.
1. Growth patterns just not working The Free Lance-Star, VA - Nov 9, 2007
As the Fredericksburg area grows faster, it must also grow smarter to preserve a sense of community and remain a place where people want to live and work.
That was the gist of remarks yesterday by Parris N. Glendening, former Maryland governor who is now president of the Smart Growth Leadership Institute in Washington. Glendening spoke to about 50 planning professionals at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Planning Roundtable.
The session was hosted by the George Washington Regional Commission, the region's planning agency. It was held at the University of Mary Washington's Stafford Campus.
"From coast to coast, more and more communities are realizing that we cannot continue to build our cities and regions the same way we have for the last 60 years, " said Glendening, who championed smart-growth policies in Maryland during the late 1990s.
The idea is to encourage growth in areas where public services, utilities and transportation are already supplied, and provide state and federal incentives to create areas where people can work, walk, get around and shop.
With the nation's population projected to grow to 430 million by 2050, governments need to address how to grow, using smart-growth principles to make that challenge easier, Glendening said.
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"Basically we are getting older, living longer, delaying marriage and having smaller households. But two-thirds of the housing stock built in the last decade was typical single-family detached units, " Glendening said.
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Unlike many large developing areas in the country, the Mid-Atlantic region "has existing infrastructure in place to make compact, transit-oriented, walkable development feasible, " he said.
Regional transportation planning and more jurisdictional cooperation are in the works here, said Robert Wilson, executive director of the George Washington Regional Commission.
"This is a first step toward a regional smart-growth policy, " Wilson said
To view sessions go on-line with name and email - Videocasting by KZO Networks.
2. Hampton Roads: Forging a region through citizen participation - Daily Press - Newport News, VA, USA
The ongoing rancor over the recent creation of the Hampton Roads Transportation Authority indicates that, when it comes to handling regional issues, Hampton Roads is singularly dysfunctional. However, a review of the urban studies literature shows that what is playing out here is actually normal. But is "normal" good enough and, if not, then what is to be done about it?
While there have been some notable regionalization successes nationwide, virtually all of them have met with massive public resistance. In fact, they rarely occur without some state or federal government intervention, and that is often motivated by large-scale economic interests that trump local concerns. So, what is the source of this toxic attitude that motivates such opposition, and what key action might help Hampton Roads overcome this barrier to progress?
The most successful collaborations tend to be those dealing with service delivery, such as water and sewer. But, once cooperative initiatives begin to put local autonomy at risk by threatening core prerogatives, such as land use and taxing authority, the individual communities invariably begin to deploy their arsenal of defensive routines.
In fact, it can be said that inter-community cooperation is an unnatural act, at least when it involves larger, more complex issues. Analysts go so far as to describe some regions as "lacking a collaborative gene." Yet, these situations can be turned around, sometimes in relatively short order. A key component of many successes is …
While there are many factors influencing public attitudes toward regionalization, the one overarching influence seems to be the level of trust between communities. As touchy-feely as it may sound, trust …
So, what about Hampton Roads? First, it must be said that examples of collaboration are plentiful. The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, created by the Virginia Regional Cooperation Act of 1968 …
3. Region's decline continues despite nonprofit's initiatives - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Despite spending more than $55 million over a decade, the Allegheny Conference on Community Development has not stemmed the Pittsburgh region's population hemorrhage or improved its anemic job growth.
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Kotkin, of a California-based economic research group, describes the city as "sort of the poster child of out-of-scale ideas."
He and others call for the conference to change its policies, its direction, its operating style, its leadership -- to do something more than just talk about the region's precipitous decline.
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All of the state's other regional economies -- Allentown, Altoona, Erie, Harrisburg, Johnstown, Lancaster, Lebanon, metro Philadelphia, Reading, Scranton, State College, York -- have more jobs now than before the 2001 recession. But the 1, 149, 000 jobs reported in the seven-county Pittsburgh metro area in September remain below the pre-recession peak of 1.17 million.
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"The Allegheny Conference has tried all the conventional big things that don't work in the long run, " said Gratz. "Now is the time to truly learn from the smaller, innovative efforts that produce great results, and stop looking for big-bang solutions."
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In Cincinnati, with a population comparable to Pittsburgh, the regional chamber of commerce has a staff of 75 and paid its former president $307, 000 and $120, 000 in benefits in 2004, according to tax filings. …
In 2002, with the Environmental Protection Agency already working with Allegheny County's sanitary authority, health department and other agencies to fix that system, the conference released a study calling for a regional approach.
Then it commissioned a second study by the National Research Council, which reached similar conclusions in 2005.
Both studies suggested the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, which oversees transportation projects, should take the lead on fixing sewers.
Having made its recommendations, the conference moved on to other issues.
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4. Cleveland interests cast a greedy eye on NEOUCOM - Youngstown Vindicator - Youngstown, OH, USA
The Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine has performed its mission and is continuing to perform its mission in exemplary fashion …
The only thing that seems to endanger this highly successful medical school is regional politics. There are some political forces in Cleveland who apparently believe that anything good that happens in Northeastern Ohio must be located in Cleveland.
Time for it to end
It is incumbent on Gov. Ted Strickland and his chancellor of higher education, Eric Fingerhut, to squelch this Cleveland-centric nonsense. That they have allowed the movement to get this far is a more than troublesome because nonsense is the perfect word for the assault on NEOUCOM. It simply makes no sense to undercut this medical school, which was created to produce physicians who would practice family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics and obstetrics/gynecology at a community level. And is doing just that.
The argument is made that a medical school should be linked to a major research hospital. Ohio already has such medical schools. NEOUCOM is unique in its commitment to work with its member colleges to educate doctors in a six-year program that is both academically sound and fiscally responsible.
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Clevelanders who truly believe in regionalization should be working to squelch this attack on NEOUCOM as well. Great efforts are being made to market the Cleveland-Akron-Canton-Youngstown region as "Cleveland Plus." Such regionalism is healthy, but it requires mutual respect between the metropolitan areas.
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If Cleveland State University wants to become a partner in NEOUCOM with Akron, Youngstown and Kent, it should be welcomed. Just as soon as it is clear that CSU and others in Cleveland want no more than a place at the table — not that they want to move the table to Cleveland.
5. That regional government we so desperately need is called a county council Crosscut - Seattle, WA, USA
The centerpiece of the debate over today's decision on Proposition 1 is our old regional standby, roads vs. transit. Supporters say we need both; opponents on opposite wings of the political spectrum say one, but not the other. A peripheral but important issue is governance. We have been arguing about regional governance at least as long as we have been arguing about whether to lay asphalt or tracks. People on all sides of the debate seem to agree that the region needs a new governmental entity to manage transportation. The irony is we have a working, proportional, directly elected regional governance structure already in place. They're called county councils. Unfortunately, we just don't trust them.
In the beginning, cities governed and provided intense levels of local urban services, while counties were responsible for the unincorporated rural area. That is how our state constitution and tax structure were set up. After World War II, however, urban growth, and the need for more services, spread into what had been farming communities, creating new problems. No one had the authority to run a bus system into and out of Seattle or build a regional sewer system. A new form of urban government was needed for the region.
Establishing a pattern, instead of empowering King County, our forefathers created a semi-democratic, appointed regional governing body, the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle, known for short as Metro. Governed by its own appointed council, Metro was given a wide array of regional responsibilities, but the only two it utilized were the authorities to develop and govern regional bus and sewer systems. The Metro Council was comprised of city and county officials, elected locally but given broad regional authority.
In 1990, a federal judge ruled that the Metro structure was unconstitutional because …
6. Brookings report: Set regional funding plans to combat sprawl - Salt Lake Tribune - United States
It's a modern metropolitan nation that Washington treats like a scattering of cow towns, and some fear what that means to the future economy.
The Brookings Institution this week launched a yearlong campaign to get Americans - and their presidential candidates - to recognize the disconnect in planning and infrastructure policy. The experts behind the think tank's "Blueprint for American Prosperity" say national policy must protect efficient transportation and a high quality of life in the densely populated metro regions to keep America competitive.
If the government keeps throwing money at city-edge roads and sewers that help push homes and jobs from the urban core, metro areas will become less enticing to skilled workers and their industries will lose the edge they gain by clustering and sharing their labor pools, said Alan Berube, research director for Brookings.
"If you scatter everybody evenly over a plain, they're going to be less productive, " Berube said. And many foreign commerce centers don't make that mistake.
The numbers draw a clear picture of where American prosperity currently lives: 68 percent of the country's jobs are in the top 100 metros; 51 percent of Utah's are in the million-person Salt Lake City area. But the government still doles out 95 percent of its transportation dollars through states that each answer to hundreds of smaller towns, and most metro areas lack the authority to direct their own growth across city limits.
“We've got a government structure that dates from the horse-and-buggy era, " said Keith Bartholomew, assistant professor with the University of Utah's Center for Architectural Study.
For instance, he said, state and federal policies and funding schemes put individual towns and cities in competition for infrastructure instead of funding regional plans. …
7. Highlands Council debates master plan - NorthJersey.com - Hackensack, NJ, USA
New housing in farm areas may be clustered in corners of cornfields.
And private lake communities may become special conservation zones to control new waterside housing.
Those are just two of the planning ideas being weighed to protect North Jersey's seven-county Highlands region, the source of water for millions of state residents.
They're part of the long-anticipated regional master plan that the overseeing Highlands Council will unveil just before Thanksgiving.
More than three years after the New Jersey Legislature approved creation of a Highlands regional master plan to protect North Jersey's major source of drinking water, the 15-member regional council is still debating what should be saved from the relentless spread of housing and commercial projects.
The 860, 000-acre region stretches from northern Bergen County through parts of Passaic, Morris, Sussex, Somerset, Warren and Hunterdon counties.
It includes 88 communities, ranging from rural West Milford to built-up Mahwah and Morristown.
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The council also discussed additions to the draft plan, based on the mapped features, that would establish lake management zones around private residential lakes and allow cluster-zone development in farm areas, depending on environmental constraints.
"These maps are a tool for more effective local and regional planning, because they allow us to address land capability and capacity throughout the Highlands and see how one decision can affect the entire area, " said John Weingart, chairman of the Highlands Council.
The newly revised maps show areas that may have water supply, sewerage or environmental constraints. This information is meant to guide regional and local planners as to where development could go.
The Land Use Capability Map Series is available on the Highlands Council's Web site, http://highlands.state.nj.us/ .
8. Our Opinion: - Tucson Citizen - Tucson, AZ, USA
Proposition 200 shouldn't be swept away so quickly despite its well-deserved drubbing in Tuesday's city election.
The ill-advised proposal legitimately raised the issue of water and regional management of that most precious resource.
That is the exact opposite of what Proposition 200 protagonist John Kromko wanted. His preference is that the city of Tucson go its own way when it comes to water management.
He cynically doesn't think that the various political entities can come together for such regional cooperation and oversight and that Tucson should take care of itself.
There certainly has been reason for skepticism when it comes to regional cooperation over almost anything. But that has begun shifting as the city and Pima County have found ways to cooperate on libraries, the Regional Transportation Plan and some other services.
There is no reason why that cooperation should not now extend to water.
Officials from Tucson and other metropolitan entities must use the Proposition 200 scare - it frightened $800, 000 out of the wallets of leading businesspeople worried that it would put an end to commerce - to get serious about regional water planning and management.
The city of Tucson has a long-range water plan. But it's Tucson's plan. This is a region that needs a regional water plan.
Mayor Bob Walkup, who easily won a third term Tuesday, was correct to take note of the message voters sent.
Voters, Walkup said, "want a plan for growth in this community and want to know what the plan for water is."
He noted that the problem-plagued delivery of Central Arizona Project water was a key issue when he was first elected mayor in 1999.
"And here we are in 2007 and we're still talking about water, " …
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9. Tax time may see a 4.4 increase at Regional level – Newsdurhamregion-com - Durham, Ontario, Canada
If Regional departments stick to guidelines laid out by finance staff, taxpayers will be looking at an increase of 4.4 per cent or $77 for a $280, 000 home plus an average 0.5 per cent increase for transit.
Regional departments make up 1.5 per cent of the 4.4 per cent increase, while police make up 1.7 per cent, and roads rehabilitation, growth and bridge work make up the remaining 1.2 per cent.
It will be a challenging budget, according to Scugog Mayor Marilyn Pearce, chairwoman of the finance and administration committee. The challenge, she said, will be trying to keep Regional departments to the level recommended.
"Whether it is public health or roads or our own Regional operations we are under tremendous pressure to meet a 1.5 increase, " she said.
If all that Durham needed to deal with was regional operations then, Mayor Pearce said, the increase would be a mere 1.5 per cent.
She said municipal governments don't see the necessary support from other levels of government.
"The federal government had a great opportunity to invest in cities. They didn't. They chose to give it back to people on their income tax, " Mayor Pearce said. "What good does that do to people when we have to increase property taxes."
Announcements made recently by the federal government mean that income taxes will be reduced by more than $400 for a typical two-income family.
"I am so frustrated with one level giving it back and then we don't have the money, " she said. "That lovely little bit of money you just got back you are going to have to pay for it on your municipal tax bill."
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10. U.S. regional communities - sub-State, State or multi-State - in news articles. Highlighted words are Google search terms. In this and the following section, 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
.10 Other states watching to see how Texas pays for roads
Dallas Morning News - Dallas, TX, USA
Those plans are important to North Texas, according to Michael Morris of the North Central Texas Council of Governments. If gas taxes aren't raised significantly, new roads in the Dallas area are going to be tolled, or probably won't be built, ...
.11 Editorial: A 'Healthy Living Map'
Sacramento Bee - CA, USA
Go to www.healthlivingmap.com and click on the ZIP code map. Soon you'll see the region. By clicking on various indicators of health, you can see which ...
.12 No will to fix roads
ReporterHerald.com - Loveland, CO, USA
The failure of the transportation tax in Greeley should serve as a warning for both regional and statewide leaders looking for ways to pay for lagging maintenance and construction on the state’s roadways. ...
.13 Starter route in Kansas City could inspire a regional light-rail system
Kansas City Star - MO, USA
And Kansas City ends up with a regional system. It could happen — it has in almost every other major metro area. Other cities have proven over and over that ...
.14 AS I SEE IT: Establishing regional trust must precede light rail talk
Kansas City Star - MO, USA
If we build the community's imagination, I can see the meetings being carried on local cable TV and becoming the topic of many water-cooler discussions. ...
.15 Maine Governor Baldacci Says Regionalization will Move Maine Forward
All American Patriots (press release) - Taeby, NA, Sweden
... this morning told a group of business leaders interested in regional partnerships that regionalization and wise investments will move Maine forward. ...
.16 EDITORIAL: Regional transit
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal - Tupelo, MS, USA
Those counties are members of either the Northeast Mississippi Planning and Development District or Three Rivers Planning and Development District. ...
.17 New buzz in the Valley on regionalization
Youngstown Vindicator - Youngstown, OH, USA
But attempts at major regionalization efforts or wholesale changes to the Valley's government structure have either failed or it ran into so many roadblocks ...
.18 The Jacksonville Economic Development Commission (JEDC)
Jacksonville Daily Record - Jacksonville, FL, USA
The NEFRC also awarded Fidelity National Financial, the JEDC and Cornerstone Regional Development Partnership the Regional Award for Excellence in Economic ...
.19 County Board meets with SCEDD director
The Nuckolls County Board met Monday with Sharon Hueftle, Holdrege, executive director of the South Central Economic Development District. Roger Watson, Nelson, who represents Nuckolls County on SCEDD...
.20 Partnership meeting tackles regional issues
Springfield Business Journal - Springfield, MO, USA
"We're a stronger voice together than we are all separate, " said Jeff Seifried, the Springfield chamber's manager of regional development. ...
.21 INRCOG honors top volunteers
Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier - Waterloo, IA, USA
Fairbank Mayor Maurice Welsh has been named Regional Citizen of the Year by the Iowa Northland Regional Council of Governments. ...
.22 Battling Terrorism Demands Regional Cooperation
WTOP - Washington, DC, USA
By DAN LAMOTHE BALTIMORE - Regional homeland security forces still face barriers to cooperation, even years after the worst terrorist attack in the nation's ...
.23 Dems look to work together
York Daily Record - York, PA, USA
"Maybe this is the beginning of regionalization, " she said at Tuesday's city council meeting. The city, North York and West York have many of the same ...
11. Other in the news: Highlighted words are Google search terms.
.10 How good is Dutch development cooperation?
By Peter Ballantyne(euforic)
What effects does it have in different countries, in terms of changing the behaviors of governments? The session clearly stimulated discussion on the relations among the policies, the degree they are –or are intended to be – development ...
.11 Dinko Dinkov: Southeast European region has the potential of “Balkanizing” the continent
Focus News - Sofia, Bulgaria
... the idea for regional cooperation in Southeast Europe is gaining new meaning. Most generally I consider “cooperation” as common actions for achieving joint purposes. This supposes pursuing mutual benefits via mutual consent, support and solidarity by finding compromises based on equal rights. ...
.12 "Water management is conflict management"
Latin America Press - Lima, Peru
There's an enormous fragmentation of [government] bodies — regionalization schemes that cut unique projects into pieces under various authorities. ...
.13 Four Baltic Sea Region countries in the top ten of global competitiveness
Tallinn, Estonia - The 2007 State of the Region Report illustrates that the last year has seen exceptionally strong performance by the economies in the Baltic Sea Region, mainly due to the raise in labour productivity and mobilization. ...
.14 Waterloo City Square design contest launched
London SE1 - London, England, UK
Following the publication of the Mayor of London's Waterloo Opportunity Area Planning Framework, South Bank Employers' Group has – on behalf of the Waterloo ...
.15 New ads to lure city folk to the bush
The Age - Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
The program has been backed by the Remote Area Planning and Development Board (RAPAD) and the Queensland government's Blueprint for the Bush. ...
.16 Young people realise their European identity
New Europe - Brussels, Belgium
... of the European Parliament form CEDB in Smolian also presented the chairman of the Commission for regional development to the EP Herardo Galeote. ...
.17 Japan to open up regional airports
Economic Times - Gurgaon, Haryana, India
Japan plans to open up its regional airports to foreign airlines in an effort to increase the flow of tourists from Asia and enhance local economies, ...
.18 France looks to expand Champagne region's borders
... a group comprising a geographer, historian, geologist, agricultural engineer and plant biologist prodded soil in potential new champagne zones, questioned vintners and sampled their wares. Last month, it submitted a report to the National Institute for Origin and Quality, or INAO, said Eric Champion, the institute’s representative in the Champagne region. ...
.19 One country, two systems, a success
China Daily - China
The governments of the special administrative regions exercise their power of administration, legislation and jurisdiction independently in accordance with ...
.20 Building a bridge between regions
Scotsman - United Kingdom
The SNP may not be redrawing the boundaries, but it is recreating regions by another name, which brings significant new challenges for the idea of consensus ...
.21 Toronto Region innovation performance not up to competitor regions
Canada NewsWire (press release) - Toronto, Ontario, Canada
6 /CNW/ - For all its strengths, the Toronto Region's innovation economy is not performing up to competitor regions, according to the first annual report ...
12. Blogs: Highlighted words are Google search terms.
.10 Regionalism, Unigov, so easy the Girl Scouts can do it
By David Esrati
Regional cooperation is talked about in the "Dayton Region" but not much happens. We can't get a Countywide 911 system in place, the idea of a regional fire department, police department or even street maintenance is beyond our reach, ...
.11 Emerging Threats and Missed Opportunities in Natural Crises
By Mark(Mark)
Although the ISDR recognises the primary responsibility of nations to protect against disasters, it also advocates more regional cooperation. There is an opportunity then for the US to demonstrate regional and global leadership by ...
.12 New Stories of Place: But Who's Stories?
By Andy
Over the last couple of years I've spent a not inconsiderable time, as part of my work, studying the 5 years plans of Regional Development Agencies and Learning and Skills Councils. Many of these documents are depressingly similar in ...
.13 Emerging Policy Triangle: Economic Development, Workforce Development and Education
By Terry Calhoun(Terry Calhoun)
Few issues unite policymakers in quite the same way as that of economic development. Whether their responsibilities are national, state, regional, or local in nature, individuals whose job it is to make and implement public policy find ...
.14 TechEd: Metropolis - Interchangeability of Operations
By Sebastien Lambla(Sebastien Lambla)
Those that know of me know I've been doing transactions for a long time; but i've grown to believe that transactions across boundaries are very fragile. I don't think services as boundary of trusts will engage into transactions with ...
.15 Michigan Development News
By TrustFund(TrustFund)
The "Road to Renaissance" initiative focuses on helping the region achieve the following six objectives: 1) become the center for global mobility; 2) develop an aerotropolis; 3) grow Metro Detroit's creative community; 4) expand the ...
.16 Groundwater problems projected for coming decades
By Stephen Covington
Johns River Water Management District on Thursday gave a briefing to the Northeast Florida Regional Council in which he forecast a crisis for water supplies in the state if the rapidly growing area of central Florida is not allowed to ...
.17 Report Describes Water Regionalization Progress in Northwestern Missouri
By Infra Consulting LC(Infra Consulting LC)
Regionalization is generally a difficult and sensitive issue and it has taken over 2 years for the members of the partnership to find a plan they could agree on. Check out the report to see how they did it and maybe a model of how it ...
.18 Review: The Tennessee Valley Authority (Guest Post by Chris Timmerman)
By Brendan(Brendan)
Culvahouse points out that this wholescale approach to regional development was not without its flaws: Of course, not everyone was convinced. The intricate weave of people's lives in the landscape does not readily admit comprehensive ...
.19 Regionalism- everybody else is talking about it- or doing it.
A couple of my posts on regional cooperation on Esrat-com have been picked up by a site dedicated to information on regionalism: Regional Communities - "Think Local Planet, Act Regionally." "Think local planet, act regionally" is a ...
.20 KRM letter from Senator Lehman
By Real Debate(realdebate)
Regional Cooperation – I am somewhat perplexed by the allegation that three county region as presented by the mayors of the cities of Racine, Kenosha and Milwaukee and the executives of the counties of Racine, Kenosha and Milwaukee have ...
.21 Tech Gems - … Mass TLC's "Anytime, Anywhere: 21st Century Interactions Event
By thoughtbrigade(Todd)
… all visions of pervasive computing share one key characteristic: a fundamental dependence on universally available connectivity. Pervasive computing does not work without pervasive connectivity, period. The two are inextricably linked. That’s one reason the pervasive lack of broadband access in parts of our state is incredibly problematic. … board will consider proposals spanning the full range of technologies and business models, including wired and wireless technologies as well as regional and local solutions …
.22 Trade Diversion: How to construct your PTA
By Dingel
Given that regionalism in Asia and, indeed, the entire world is a 'fact on the ground', the main objective of this paper is to go beyond the traditional 'building blocs versus stumbling blocs' debate by underscoring the potential ...
.23 Regional Regeneration Spaghetti
By Mike Denham
The paper, by Tim Leunig and James Swaffield, runs through the history of cities, their importance in economic development, and the sorry tale of regional support operations for Britain's old heavy industry capitals. ...
.24 Online Images for City and Regional Planning
By Karen
While reading through a faculty member's blog, I found this great resource Metropolitan Design Center, to which she has contributed images. I also recommend the "Best of" slide shows from this database.
.25 Regional development in the uk
Purchase of computer equipment On the municipal level , the assessor would have remained responsible for the assessment of property, the emotional...
.26 Garot on the Processes of Regionalization in the European Union
By Mary L. Dudziak(Mary L. Dudziak)
Marie-José Garot, Instituto de Empresa (Madrid), has posted a new paper, The Processes of Regionalization in the European Union. Two Cases: Italy and France. The paper itself is in Spanish. Here's the abstract: The end of the XXth ...
13. Announcements and Regional Links
.10 Super•Community Bank Conferences is a leading provider of highly interactive investment conferences matching micro-, small- and mid-cap banks with regional sell-side analysts and institutional investors. This efficient forum provides maximum exposure for smaller companies seeking to reach a broad audience. Equally important, these conferences provide investors with convenient access to senior management teams and ample opportunity for one-on-one meetings. Mid-Atlantic 2007 Super-Community Bank Conference
.11 Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority
The Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority (PICA) was created on June 5, 1991 by virtue of the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority Act for Cities of the First Class (P.L. 9, No. 6), 53 P.S. 12720.101 et seq., as amended (the PICA Act) for the purpose of providing financial assistance to the City of Philadelphia (City) in overcoming a severe financial crisis.
.12 Groundwork Yorkshire & The Humber – UK
The first Groundwork Trust in the region was established in 1987 covering the South Leeds area. Since then work in the region has extended and the structure now includes a regional office in Leeds and six operational Trusts which are; Creswell, Dearne Valley, Leeds, Sheffield, Wakefield and Selby. Groundwork Yorkshire & The Humber is working constantly with local partners and CLG to determine the need for future development in various parts of the region.
Since the establishment of the first Trust in Yorkshire & The Humber, Groundwork has delivered thousands of projects in neighbourhoods that are blighted by high unemployment, high crime levels, poor public health, run-down housing and public spaces, neglected waste ground and struggling businesses.
14. Subscription
.10 Re-inventing traditional taxation ' or, better highways anyone? - Lake Sun Leader (subscription) - Camdenton, MO, USA
THE QUESTION: Should the Lake of the Ozarks Transportation Council pursue formation of a Transportation Development District to promote a sales tax to fund the Route 5 North highway project?
As of Dec. 31, 2005, 98 transportation development districts had been established in the state of Missouri, including 29 in 2005. Seventy percent of the districts are located in the St. Louis and Kansas City metropolitan areas.
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Of the 98 TDDs established as of December 31, 2005, 95 percent were initiated by a petition filed by the property owners, and all of them have imposed sales taxes, with rates ranging from one-eighth of one percent to one percent on retail items sold within the districts' boundaries.
I remember moving here in 1989 and wondering how in the world one of the largest tourist areas in Missouri had such bad roads.
I had the opportunity to ask a legislator from another area that had been in the Missouri House for a number of years, and his comment was 'they could never agree on their priorities.'
All funding mechanisms would require voter approval.
There are some issues that concern me when we always look to the sales-tax solution. It is one we pay all year and the tourists pay primarily during the summer. So, while we reap the benefits of the extra tourism payments into our coffers, we are also paying into them at a higher level.
If we were to start to look at tourism-based taxes, such as hotel/motel and restaurant taxes, we would pay far less and then it would be primarily a luxury kind of tax for us.
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Maybe the time has come for us to look at creating a Tourist Development Tax that helps fund infrastructure improvements throughout the lake area.
15 . Google News for “Regional Community”
Other menu sections available from this link include: regions, regional, regional community, region, Regional Council, regional development and other search terms. They can be sorted by date or relevance. These are among the 50 search terms I use to produce this newsletter.
My name is Tom Christoffel. I've worked in the field of intergovernmental cooperation since 1973. As a consequence, "I see regions work." Regional Community Development News is published weekly based on news reports as of Wednesday.
Making visible analysis and actions at multi-jurisdictional regional scales is its purpose. "Think globally, act locally" was innovative in its time. Today the local scale is often too small to address today's needs and opportunities. "Think local planet, act regionally, " is my candidate paradigm. (No one said we're only allowed one paradigm.)
We can see that “regional 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 the Google News search service. Media article 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.
To read and search previous issues go to: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/regions_work/
The term “Development” was added to the name in January, 2006.
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Editions since April 11, 2007 can also be found at: http://regional-communities.blogspot.com/
Questions, comments or items to feature in Regional Community Development News?
Please e-mail the editor: Tom.Christoffel@comcast.net or Tom.Christoffel@gmail.com
Thomas J. (Tom) Christoffel, AICP Making regions visible for Leaders and Problem-solvers. www.regionalintelligence.com or www.regions.ws