1. Team approach Regionalization a priority for 21st-century Maine  - Central Maine Morning Sentinel - Augusta, ME, USA

Gov. John E. Baldacci - Leadership in Maine requires several skills: setting a vision, creating a road map, listening to feedback and making adjustments to achieve the goal.

 

Regionalization is part of my vision for maintaining quality education, preserving our environment and building a stronger Maine economy.

 

At the beginning of my term as governor, I proposed municipal service districts, regional school districts and efficiency grants as paths toward the regionalization goal. The dialogue around these ideas has turned into action. Reducing high administrative costs at the local level has been debated in the Statehouse and across Maine for more than 30 years. Finally, we are seeing progress.

...

 

 2.  Municipalities look to regionalization for cost savings - Clawson Mirror - MI, USA

As cities and other municipalities are forced to tighten their belts because of state budget cuts, the trend is to look more and more at regionalization to save money.

 

Ideas range wide, from implementing cross-county transportation, to consolidating fire departments, to forming a library district.

 

"(Regionalization) is meant to be more efficient and save taxpayers money," Royal Oak City Manager Tom Hoover said. "Tradition has shown the first couple years it costs more, but then saves money.

 

"We look at (regionalization) all the time and we decide what is the best way to get things done."

...

RC: Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (Region 1)

 

 3. EDITORIAL/East Asia Community:Patience is needed for the regional grouping - Asahi Shimbun - Tokyo, Japan

 

The plan to create an East Asia Community, a loosely-knit organization of Japan, China, South Korea and Southeast Asian countries, by taking a leaf out of the European Union's book has begun to falter.

 

The foreign ministers of the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Japan, China and South Korea met in Laos. They decided to invite the leaders of India, Australia and New Zealand to the first summit conference for organizing the community to be held in Malaysia in December.

 

The number of countries represented will thus increase to 16 from the original 13, and the population of the proposed regional grouping will soar from 2 billion to 3 billion.

...

The participating countries have conflicting intentions, meaning that the plan to form the community has faced difficulties from the outset.

 

But no one expects the creation of such a regional community to be easy. The Asian countries involved have a complex and diverse mix of cultures, religions and political systems. A regional community cannot take shape in just 10 or even 20 years. It should be brought into fruition patiently.

...

 4. Polk Areas Part of Preservation Project - The Ledger, FL - Aug 13, 2005

 

The Lake Wales Ridge, Green Swamp and Greater Kissimmee Prairie in Polk County are among seven "must-save" natural areas in east central Florida targeted for preservation by a regional partnership, its leaders announced Friday.

 

"Together it is as important as the Everglades," said Duane DeFreese, a marine biologist who sits on the board of directors of the partnership called myregion.org, which consists of community leaders from Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole and Volusia counties.

 

Unveiling of the project titled "Naturally Central Florida: Fitting The Pieces Together" occurred at a meeting of the organization at the Admiral's Inn near Cypress Gardens.

...

 

 5. Projects succeed despite region buzz - Greensboro News Record - Greensboro, NC, USA

 

The Triad's politicians, business leaders and job recruiters have bemoaned for years the lack of "regionalism."

 

Those leaders have long held that success will require the region's communities to work together when it comes to planning economic growth.

 

"We live in a world of regions," said Michael Luger, the director for the Center for Competitive Economies at UNC-Chapel Hill. "Any individual community like Greensboro cannot compete with Phoenix or the state of Arizona."

 

Or can it? Even without regionalism, the Triad has had a run recently of economic good fortune that any region would accept.

...

There's a lot of history to regionalism; some of the support stems from a federal push starting in the 1960s to award grants at a regional level.

 

It has become a mantra within economic development circles, where it's said that businesses want large, well-educated labor pools that only large cities and regions can provide.

 

But one of the problems with regionalism is that no one has an exact definition.

...

 

RCs: Northwest Piedmont Council of Governments    Piedmont Triad Council of Governments  Piedmont Triad Partnership

 

  6. Regional cooperation key to boom in economy - Kinston Free Press - Kinston, NC, USA

 

For economic development to be successful, it must be conducted on a regional level without regard to traditional political and state boundaries. Also, economic development can't move forward without educational institutions, business and industry, non-profit organizations, government, and citizens working in harmony.

 

That's the message Jim Clinton, executive director of the Southern Growth Policies Board, brought Thursday to business and government leaders in Kinston. The Southern Growth Policies Board is a 13-state public policy think tank based at Research Triangle Park.

...

For economic development to be successful, it must be conducted on a regional level without regard to traditional political and state boundaries. ...

 

 7. Riyadh Eyes Venezuelan Model to Tackle Poverty - Arab News - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

 

The Kingdom has shown interest in seeking Venezuela’s cooperation in formulating a strategy for poverty alleviation using the Latin American nation’s experience in social welfare programs.

 

Venezuela’s Ambassador Ramon Herrera Navarro said his country was negotiating the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two the countries. It would lead to a wide-ranging cooperation agreement with the Kingdom in technical, financial, economic and cultural fields as well as in tourism promotion.

 

“We are also trying to implement a cultural agreement that we have signed,” the ambassador said, adding that the framework for cooperation in these areas was discussed by a high-level delegation to Venezuela earlier this year.

... Asked about the scope for cooperation in terms of regional development in the Kingdom, the ambassador said his country faced problems similar to those of Saudi ...

 

 8. Regional Planning Commission move discussed - Pulaski County Democrat - St. Robert, MO, USA

The reluctance of the Crocker Board of Aldermen to support the entrance of Pulaski County into the Meramec Regional Planning Commission was the main topic of discussion at the Aug. 11 meeting of the Pulaski County Commission.

 

Presiding Commissioner Tony Crismon and Western District Commissioner Dennis Thornsberry discussed the matter with 16th District state Sen. Frank Barnitz, who dropped by the meeting and acted as a "guest commissioner" in the absence of Eastern District Commissioner Bill Farnham, who was on vacation.

 

"Crocker's been trying to get a new bridge on Highway 17 for five years, and they don't want to leave the Lake Ozark Council of Local Governments, even thought it hasn't done a thing to help Crocker get that bridge," Thornsberry said. "That shows a lack of leadership and support for the community," Thornsberry said of the current Crocker administration.

 

Although the Crocker Board of Aldermen seemed to indicate the decision was in the hands of Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, both Thornsberry and Crismon expressed disappointment with the city's handling of the issue.

 

RC: Lake of the Ozarks Council of Local Governments - PO Box 786 Camdenton, MO 65020 - Phone: (573) 346-5616

 

 9. Iran envoy proposes formation of commonwealth of regional states - Islamic Republic News Agency - Tehran, Iran

Iran has proposed the establishment of a commonwealth of regional countries to effectively march towards enhancing security and trade in the region.

 

In an interview with IRNA on Wednesday, Islamabad-based Iran's Ambassador Mohammad Ibrahim Taherian laid emphasis on the

establishment of the commonwealth of regional states.

 

The envoy spoke at length about the proposal, Pak-Iran relations, proposed gas pipeline from Iran to India via Pakistan, Afghanistan situation and other matters.

 

He said that after the success of Iran's detente policy with regional states, particularly its neighbours, it was time to shun traditional mentality with regards to security and trade in the region.

...

 

10. a) 'Future-proof' airport should include subway - New Zealand Herald - New Zealand

 

Auckland Airport is being urged to "future-proof" itself by including an option for an underground railway station in its master-plans.

 

A consultants' report, commissioned by the airport company and due to be outlined to Manukau City Council tonight, suggests more buses and cheaper taxis as quicker relief to road congestion.

 

The report says research indicates rail is a relatively expensive way of providing an access corridor compared with the use of roads by buses, taxis and shuttle vehicles.

 

It suggests Auckland City Council relax its ban on taxis and shuttles with fewer than 13 seats in bus lanes.

...

 

      b) ARC facing residents' revolt over rates rise - New Zealand Herald - New Zealand

The Auckland Regional Council is facing a fresh rates revolt from residents who say they are being forced from their homes.

 

Some rates bills have almost doubled as house prices continue to soar - with more rates demands to arrive in people's mailboxes this week.

...

The ARC will glean an extra $9.2 million from Auckland ratepayers in 2005, with the rate take increasing from $108.2 million to $117.4 million. Auckland Regional Holdings will provide it with another $79.7 million and other revenue sources with $32.9 million.

 

This will be used to fund public transport initiatives, regional parks, environment protection and to help manage the region's rapid growth.

...

      c) Paint recovery scheme goes regionwide - Scoop.co.nz (press release) - New Zealand

 

An award-winning paint recovery scheme piloted last year in North Shore City will be relaunched next month across the Auckland region.

 

The Paintwise project, run by Resene Paints - with the assistance of North Shore City Council and Auckland Regional Council - set out to reduce the amount of paint and packaging going to landfill.

 

The six-month trial, believed to be the first of its kind in New Zealand, processed more than 20 tonnes of material and returned 2000 litres of reusable paint, worth $20,000, to the North Shore community.

...

 

11. Study Suggests Cooperative to Bring Broadband to Area Homes - Washington Post - United States

 

Southern Maryland should create a cooperative to bring high-speed Internet to the thousands of residents and businesses in the region without access to the service, a new study says.

 

The report, commissioned by the Tri-County Council for Southern Maryland, also recommends that Calvert, Charles and St. Mary's counties fund a "broadband czar" to help expand high-speed Internet service, also known as broadband, to all parts of the region.

...

12. Region Ten buys new property - Charlottesville Daily Progress - Charlottesville, VA, USA

Region Ten Community Services Board, which serves more than 5,500 people with mental illness, mental retardation and substance abuse problems, is moving to a new administrative home in much larger digs.

 

In an agreement announced Wednesday, the agency will pay just under $6 million for the 70,000-square-foot property at 500 Old Lynchburg Road, previously the site of the Mountain Wood substance abuse treatment hospital.

 

The agency hopes to move its administrative offices to the new location by the end of the year, said Philip Campbell, executive director of Region Ten. “This will give us a permanent home,” he said. “It helps provide the public with an awareness of our being a part of the community.”

 

RC: Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission (PD-10)

 

13. Straight from Google.

 

      a) Law protecting highlands touted  - Asbury Park Press - Asbury Park, NJ, USA

... law on Aug. 10, 2004, created a regional council and growth controls in the hilly area of 800,000 acres stretching from Phillipsburg northeast to Ringwood, on the New York ...

 

      b) Editorial: Epidemic of districts - Sacramento Bee - CA, USA

... In 1946, Sacramento and Yolo counties created their own joint abatement district, an achievement for regionalism but not for representative government. ...

 

      c) San Tan incorporators work quietly - AZ Central.com - AZ,USA

... aside. A new committee was formed, promising a more public process and boundaries that left rural areas outside proposed city limits. ...

 

    d) Looking beyond oil - Khaleej Times - Dubai, United Arab Emirates

...

While the current oil boom presents an ideal opportunity for the GCC countries to initiate and fund a range of economic diversification measures, it is equally true that when the oil price is high, there is a tendency to maintain the status quo and delay reform.

...

 

      e) KY RCPI - Kentucky Regional Community Policing Institute

Community policing in action. Kentucky Regional Community Policing Institute at EKU.  What is Community Policing? ...

 

      f) New urban renewal district would pay for mall demolition - Herald and News - Klamath Falls, OR, USA

... located. The development district would allow the city to borrow as much as nearly $3 million to put toward tearing down the mall. ...

 

      g) Spirit of Shanghai: From settling border issues to multilateral ... - RIA Novosti - Moscow, Russia

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) obviously occupies a special place among regional structures trying to implement the idea of multipolarity. ...

 

      h) From Tulsa to LA: Ford's engine, Hughes aircraft steer Filling Station westward - Urban Tulsa - Tulsa, OK, USA

... fabulous. "American regionalism" is how Ford describes his cuisine, adding that each restaurant has its own creativeness. "I ...

 

      i) RS: HALTED IMPLEMENTATION OF LAW ON TERRITORIAL ORGANIZATION - FENA - Bosnia and Herzegovina

... Chair, Remzija Kadric, and Deputy Chair Pejo Krnjic on Thursday halted the implementation of the Law amending the Law on Territorial Organization by launching ...

 

14. U.S. regional communities in news articles.

 

      a) Town considers housing code - Charlotte Observer - Charlotte, NC, USA

... The town will pay the Centralina Council of Governments $4,800 to put together the town's minimum housing ordinance and enforce residential and nonresidential ...

 

      b) Bringing order out of chaos - Kansas City Star - MO,USA

... moments where confusion is present, because of the magnitude of the event," said Dan Manley, emergency service planner for the Mid-America Regional Council. ...

 

      c) Grant will help people find jobs - Traverse City Record Eagle - Traverse City, MI, USA

The Northwest Michigan Council of Governments is getting $52,636 from the federal Work First program, which offers job placement help to low-income residents ...

 

      d) Bulls Gap apartment renovation complete - open house August 19 - Rogersville Review - Rogersville, TN, USA

... According to Retha Patton, of the First Tennessee Development District (FTDD), the group responsible for administering the grant funds, the project represents ...

 

      e) Maysville among Recovery Kentucky sites - Ledger Independent - Maysville, KY, USA

... The project was a joint effort of Comprehend, the city, Mason County and Buffalo Trace Area Development District, Penrose said. ...

 

      f) Small businesses may get financing help - El Defensor Chieftain - Socorro, NM, USA

... in that position could soon have access to financing via a program under development by an unlikely source -- the South Central Council of Governments. ...

 

      g)  Aldermen tackle array of topics - Branson Daily News - MO, United States

... to pass a resolution to develop a natural hazard mitigation plan, which was presented by Natasha Longpine, of the Southwest Missouri Council of Governments. ...

 

      h) TAKING OUT THE TRASH - Monitor - McAllen, TX, USA

... competitive grant from the Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council, one of 24 councils of government throughout the state focusing on regional development. ...

 

      i) Trimble plans for growth - St. Joseph News Press - St. Joseph, MO, USA

... Helping the city get a handle on this looming scenario are Missouri Western State College, the Mo-Kan Regional Council, the University of Missouri Extension ...

 

      j) Fiscal court magistrates call for talks with city over shared revenue - Winchester Sun - Winchester, KY, USA

... The Bluegrass Area Development District presented a study on a plan to share payroll taxes to the Winchester Board of Commissioners on July 19. ...

 

15. Other in the news:

 

      a) Grants for usury - Planet Porto Alegre - Porto Alegre, Brazil

 

Globalisation, a corporate-led process across the world, has had immense negative social and environmental impacts, particularly in the Third World. Though the huge commercial forces behind globalization have tried to make people think that it is some kind of an uncontrollable force of nature, and that the famous free market rules the world by its own right, there is increasing awareness that a large part of such devastation is financed and backed by tax-payers' money using national export credit agencies, commonly known as ECAs.

ECAs are Northern-based public agencies that provide the largest source of government --i.e, taxpayer’s-- financing to projects in the South and the East. Through the provision of loans, guarantees, credits and insurance, ECAs allow private corporations from their home country to do business abroad.

... Most ECAs only recently adopted environmental policies that benchmark against those of the World Bank Group and regional development banks (like the European ...

 

      b) Legal industry sees more work sent offshore - Denver Post - Denver, CO, USA

 

Lawyers and legal assistants across the world are doing routine legal work that once was taken care of in the U.S.

 

"There are no more boundaries," said John Tredennick, chief executive and founder of Denver-based CaseShare Systems. "That doesn't mean walking into the courtroom, but beyond that there isn't anything that can't be done with the Internet."

...

 

16. Data & IT  

 

      a) Area planning group earns state honor - Kentucky Post - Covington, KY, USA

The Environmental Systems Research Institute has given its 2005 Special Achievement in Geographic Information Systems Award for Kentucky to the Northern Kentucky Planning Commission.

 

The commission received the award for its LINK-GIS, an Internet-based geographic information system for Boone, Campbell, Kenton and Pendleton counties.

...

 

       b) Revenge of the Nerds -- Again - BusinessWeek - Jul 27, 2005

Some call it the "giant sucking sound" emanating from Silicon Valley. For others, it's a migraine in the making. But whatever they're calling the hiring binge at Google (GOOG ) and Yahoo! (YHOO ), just about everyone is a bit astonished at the fearsome force swallowing up some of tech's best and brightest.

 

"High-profile researchers are now flocking to the search engines," says Marti Hearst, associate professor at the University of California at Berkeley's school of information management and systems.

 

STOLEN SUPERSTARS.  The migration of software-engineering talent to Google and Yahoo is a testament to how high these search companies have risen in the tech firmament. Coveted talent from academia, startups, and venerable tech companies that a decade ago would have flocked to Microsoft Corp. (MSFT ) or Sun Microsystems (SUNW ) are now more than willing to switch teams and join Google or Yahoo.

...  

 

17. Subscription link stories 

 

      a) Chambers consider unification - Evansville Courier & Press (subscription) - Evansville, IN,USA

 

The Posey County Chamber of Commerce is nearing a decision on whether the group should merge with the Metropolitan Evansville Chamber in an attempt to develop a stronger regional voice.

 

The 230-member Posey County Chamber has been discussing the issue for several months, said M. Michelle Hudson, president of the group. A committee will make a recommendation regarding the merger to the Posey County Chamber's board of directors at an Aug. 17 meeting.

...

Hudson said the move is part of a growing trend toward regionalization among business groups.

 

"Through regionalization, you can have a much stronger voice," she said. "Southwest Indiana is kind of the lost step child to Indianapolis. They have to ask for directions to get down here.

 

"If we can get a regional chamber, we'll have more of a say in what goes on."...

 

      b) Government sacks 'incompetent' council - The Age (subscription) - Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

 

The State Government has sacked Glen Eira's nine city councillors amid allegations of incompetency and unwillingness to fix mistakes.

 

Local Government Minister Candy Broad announced the decision today, citing a scathing independent report into the running of the Liberal-dominated council, which covers metropolitan Melbourne's conservative heartland. 

 

"This report outlines, in great detail, a litany of deficiencies of governance which made it impossible for the council to provide fair representation for its local community," Ms Broad said.

...

"There has been, and continues to be, a serious failure to provide good government. Their failure to provide good government is due to a breakdown in working relationships characterised by a total absence of goodwill, respect and trust between councillors and an inability or unwillingness on their part to seriously attempt any remedial action," Mr Whelan wrote in his report.

 

"A break in electoral representation at Glen Eira City Council is required to send a clear message that a serious failure by councillors to provide good government coupled with an incapacity or unwillingness to address the underlying causes, is unacceptable."

...

      c) Residents see commuter rail plan as a loser - Atlanta Journal Constitution (subscription) - GA,USA

 

For months, the taxpayers of Clayton and Henry counties and other Southside communities have been reading about the debate over construction of a 26-mile commuter rail line from downtown Atlanta to Lovejoy.

 

Residents keep hearing elected representatives and business leaders tell them the train will be a panacea for congestion while we sit in endless traffic just trying to get around our cities and counties. They believe they know our lifestyles, habits and bank accounts and assume we will abandon our cars to pay $11 for a round-trip daily commute to downtown Atlanta.

 

As a business owner who has worked in Jonesboro for 27 years and lived in Henry County even longer, I can say that residents here are sick and tired of being told by their elected officials what is best for them. We want a voice in the decision.

 

... Experts say past behavior is indicative of future behavior, and the Atlanta Regional Commission projects that 25 years from now, 96 percent of us will still ...

 

      d)  Cities' software upgrade on track - Dallas Morning News (subscription) - TX, USA

 

It's a project some said would never happen.

 

Grand Prairie, Carrollton and Arlington city officials began working together last year to replace aging software systems used for payroll, finances and other city departments. Skeptics said three government entities would be unable to agree on a single system.

 

But with the North Central Texas Council of Governments serving as a neutral party, the CityNet project is on track to begin serving all three cities Jan. 1.

 

"There have been people all along the way who said there is no way this is going to work," said Tim Barbee, Arlington's chief information officer. "They said culturally and getting people working together wouldn't happen, but so far that part has been a breeze."

 

The need to find new software became critical after American Management Systems announced that by August, it would stop providing support for its old programs. ...