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Regional
Community Development News – February 13, 2008 [regions_work]
A weekly
compilation of news links about and for regional communities pursuing
local and regional development.
Published on
line since November 11, 2003.
1. Planners eye
megaregional cooperation - Press-Register – al-com - Mobile, AL, USA
Consider this item from
Press-Register archives, penned by Casandra Andrews:
"During the first half of the
20th century ... some coastal Alabama residents felt like they got the short
end of the stick from the rest of the state. So in 1947, Mobile's city fathers
did a bit more than lobby politicians for a larger slice of the state's
resources.
"That year, the Mobile
Chamber of Commerce published an image of what they thought should be the
Greater Gulf State ... that extended as far west as Pearl River, Miss., and as
far east as Gulf County, Fla., encompassing ... 63 counties and about 2 million
residents. Only a handful of southern counties in Alabama made the cut.
"The Mobile Chamber's
position, then, was that counties in lower Alabama, southern Mississippi and
Northwest Florida had 'emerged as a new economic commonwealth, where the people
have mutual interests and their welfare is so closely interwoven that it might
well be designated as the Greater Gulf State.'"
It was an idea perhaps slightly
ahead of its time. But new research by the San Francisco Planning and Urban
Research Association labels the Gulf Coast -- from the Florida Panhandle to the
Mexican border (including Houston, Mobile and New Orleans) -- one of 10
emerging "megaregions" in the United States.
The megaregion discussion is
somewhat new among planners, said Catherine L. Ross, director of the Center for
Quality Growth & Regional Development at the Georgia Institute of
Technology in Atlanta. She includes Alabama and Mobile as part of the Piedmont
Atlantic megaregion, an area that includes northern Florida and Georgia, then
stretches north to Tennessee and the Carolinas.
Such regions are not drawn
arbitrarily, she said last week, but defined by factors such as economic
interaction, infrastructure, natural resources and cultural identity.
...
For information, see www.cqgrd.gatech.edu/megaregions/PAM.php
2. Economic
analysts: Time for region to step up - MLive.com
Regionalism isn't the wave of the
future, local business leaders say -- it is the future.
Dow Chemical Co. last year even commissioned an
outside firm, the nonprofit Global Environment & Technology Foundation of
Arlington, Va., to facilitate cooperation between Bay, Midland and Saginaw
counties.
The fruit of the discussions is the Mid-Michigan Regional Management System,
a collaborative effort among diverse public and private organizations in the
region.
Participants utilize a regional management
approach to pursue economic, environmental and social goals. The management
system aims to galvanize existing community efforts and identify innovative
approaches to re-energize regional organizations and residents.
It also serves as central location for
brainstorming regionalism ideas.
Such efforts could save money, advocates say, with
communities pooling their resources. It also makes the region as a whole
stronger to attract potential developers, businesses and tourists.
The management system partnership is divided into
three sub-groups: sustainable jobs and business, environment and natural
resources and regional cohesion.
"They felt these were the areas that needed
addressing most, " said Cindy Newman, director of Dow's North American
public affairs.
An
honest broker
It was necessary to bring in an outside agency,
Newman said, because local leaders tend to think solely of their local
priorities. She said it is hoped that "thinking as a region" may very
well open up a world of untapped opportunities.
Global Environment & Technology Foundation
administrators praised the Tri-Cities for showing they can work together for
the betterment of the area, pointing to MBS International Airport in Freeland.
…
3. Time is right for
municipal partnerships - Western Star - Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador,
Canada
Regionalization appeared to be a word on the
tongues of municipal leaders in Corner Brook this past weekend.
Municipalities
Newfoundland Labrador (MNL) held a board of directors meeting here in
conjunction with a Local Action for Developing Regions (LADR) workshop.
LADR is the economic development
arm for MNL. Its purpose is to raise awareness of the municipal role in
economic development. It provides innovative, yet practical, approaches to
economic development, as well as a start-to-finish program as a foundation for
municipal economic development.
Graham Letto, president of MNL,
said development is an important part of what municipalities do and that all
communities need municipal plans in place. The challenges with that is there
are those that don't have these plans in place and/or the resources to do so.
"In the workshop, we are
focusing mainly on rural municipalities, " Letto told The Western Star on
Saturday.
"They are the ones that are
very challenged right now. When we look at the western region, the Northern
Peninsula, and the south coast, there are municipalities facing enormous
challenges with outmigration and the basic resources and opportunities to do
what needs to be done."
While they are encouraged to hear
government is putting more planners in place, the president said it needs to be
accompanied by a focus on helping those municipalities do what needs to be done
to survive. He noted municipalities have to play a role too.
To get there, Letto said a
regional approach must be assumed and accepted.
"For the most part those
municipalities are realizing that, " he said. "Unfortunately, with
these seminars - and it always comes up - the people that need to be here are
not. They don't have the resources to do the plan or do what needs to be done.
…
4. Regional water,
local money - Charlotte Sun-Herald - Charlotte Harbor, FL, USA
A water-management policy that balances regional
needs with local autonomy requires give-and-take.
But Charlotte County Commissioner Adam Cummings
said regionalism is translating
into more take than give for local taxpayers.
Cummings said the Southwest Florida Water Management
District’s "cooperative funding
policy, " which requires regional authorities "perpetually
control" water if state grants finance local projects, "is a power
play."
Under the policy, Swiftmud subsidizes proposals
with 50/50 grants if they serve a regional need, and if water produced is
administered by regional authorities -- such as the Peace River/Manasota
Regional Water Authority.
Cummings favors a regional emphasis, but fears
Swiftmud is manipulating water policy by consolidating control through regional
water authorities.
"Once the regional authority owns and controls
everything, (Swiftmud) is going to squeeze people through their fingers, "
he said. "They end up making it a liability to be a member of the
authority. As soon as you become a member, you lose your rights."
Such commentary is not surprising from Cummings, a
longtime critic of Swiftmud and the Peace River/Manasota Regional Water
Authority, on whose four-county board he once served for years as Charlotte
County's representative.
But Sarasota County is citing the same objections
as it negotiates with Swiftmud over financing and control of its proposed $186
million Dona Bay Watershed Management Plan.
The plan calls for diverting 15 million gallons of
water a day from Cow Pen Slough, a Myakka River tributary that flows into Dona
Bay, to Sarasota County Utilities' Carlton Water Treatment Plant.
Sarasota County has already spent $20 million on
the project. It is seeking Swiftmud 50/50 grants to subsidize the remainder.
However, Swiftmud has balked, claiming taxpayers in
its 16-county region will not pay for half of the project unless its water is
"perpetually controlled" by the Peace River/Manasota Regional Water
Authority.
5. New round of
Hurricane Rita relief coming to Southeast Texas - Beaumont Enterprise - Beaumont, TX, USA
… executive director of the
Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs.
He said around 500 housing
assistance applicants have been approved with about 100 of those homes being
completed.
At a briefing presented by U.S.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, on the Lamar University campus Saturday, a who's who
of Southeast Texas local leaders and politicos were updated on how a second
round of funding for Rita recovery promises to be handled in a more efficient
and expeditious manner than the first time around.
"We want to make sure people
that need the help, get the help, " Cornyn said.
More than 4, 000 people have
applied for housing recovery assistance according to Cornyn's press release,
yet only 13 had received any.
Three executive directors from
area Councils of Governments explained the progress they had made in helping
individuals while pointing out the struggles that have dogged the process as
well.
"We went through some pretty
steep learning curves, " said Shaun Davis, executive director for the
South East Texas Regional Planning Commission.
While helping elderly and disabled
residents fill out lengthy amounts of paperwork to complete applications
certainly took its share of time, Gerber added that the Councils of Governments
required applicants were compliant with 26 federally imposed restrictions as
part of receiving assistance.
Gerber said he was pleased with
how the three Council of Governments, the South East Texas Regional Planning Commission,
DETCOG,
and the Houston-Galveston
Area Council distributed the first $40 million.
But Gerber said with the $222 million that's going to homeowner assistance in
areas affected by Rita, including $12 million earmarked for Rita-ravaged Sabine
Pass, the amount of money and workload for the three entities to try and
disperse with their respective staffing was simply not enough.
"We had to change the
business model to move things quickly, " …
6. Speed up border
crossings, binational leaders say - San Diego Union Tribune - United States
Delays costing
region 51, 570 jobs, $5.1 billion
A second border crossing at Otay
Mesa and longer-term improvements at the San Ysdiro and downtown Calexico ports
are crucial to the region's economy, business and political leaders from the
United States and Mexico said yesterday.
But they said immediate measures
must be taken to reduce congestion at California-Mexico crossings.
Seeking input from the private and
public sectors, organizers of the United States-Mexico Border Efficiency
Conference plan to present proposals for improving the region's crossings to
federal officials from both countries.
“We intend to be loud,
” said John McNeece, outgoing chairman of the Mexico Business Center of
the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, which organized the conference at
the University of San Diego.
Border delays are costing the
region billions of dollars, according to a study released last month by the San Diego Association of Governments
that was commissioned by the California Department of Transportation. In 2007,
the study calculated losses of $5.1 billion and 51, 570 jobs for San Diego and
Baja California.
“If we don't make the
improvements that are necessary, the economic engines are going to go somewhere
else, ” said Pedro Orso-Delgado, director of the Caltrans regional office
in San Diego.
Plans for construction of a second
crossing at Otay Mesa, known as Otay East, would be linked to a proposed toll
road in San Diego County, state Route 11. The new crossing, if approved, could
be completed by the end of 2015, according to Caltrans.
Also discussed was an airport
border crossing connecting Tijuana's A.L. Rodriguez International Airport with
a U.S. terminal in Otay Mesa. The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority
is exploring the cross-border terminal as a way to reduce congestion at
Lindbergh Field.
…
7. Fix the state and
the city will follow, Cicilline says - Providence Journal - Providence, RI, USA
The salad days of constant,
leaping progress may soon be over in Providence, and the state and national
economies and political climates are the cause, Mayor David N. Cicilline said
in his State of the City address last night. But the Providence mayor thinks he
has the fix for the state’s problems.
“In the past, our financial
difficulties arose from internal problems — a shrinking tax base, major
shortfalls from poor budgeting, or bloated government. The financial problems
we face now are caused by forces outside of the city’s direct control. The
city’s fiscal structure is sound, but it looks like a hurricane is headed
right at us, ” said Cicilline, before the rumored 2010 gubernatorial
candidate offered what he termed “suggestions” for rescuing the
state from its fiscal quagmire.
Cicilline proposed overhauls of
the state tax system, consolidation of school districts, regionalized public safety and public works
services, and state-level initiatives to make Rhode Island more energy
efficient — all coming at the state, not the city, level.
“I do not believe that our
budget problems primarily result from a failure of political will. They mainly
result from a failure of imagination, ” Cicilline said of the
state’s problems.
The national economy is also to
blame, the mayor said, pointing at how the foreclosure crisis and the high cost
of gasoline and heating oil have cut the legs out from under many of
Providence’s working families.
“In today’s economy,
too many families are doing everything right and still being left behind,
” he said.
…
8. 'Regional
leadership is in sync with national goals' - Times of India – India
Regional leadership in different states is fully
in line with national priorities of working towards economic growth and
development.
This
was the underlying message on the second day of the Hero Mindmine summit on
'Re-inventing Indian Business: Agenda for Today'.
The
emergence of regional parties and their growing assertiveness has altered the
course of geopolitics
in the country. Often it is felt that when they come to power in states,
regional groups define a set of priorities that are not in tune with national
priorities.
Speaking
on how regional parties affect polity, BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy said,
"Regional aspirations have to be taken into account, and we have to learn
to live with contradictions within this country.
Besides
regional, there are economic disparities and linguistic differences. Also,
states such as Bihar and Assam are recording 2-3% growth, while southern states
like Kerala and Maharashtra are showing a double-digit growth, so divides are
created on that account."
"There
is another major issue here - poverty. Over 250 million people live below the
poverty line, which means that they earn not even Rs 400 a month. If we apply
the global average of people earning $2 a day, the figure may become 850
million. We have been struggling with the problem over the last 60 years and
here as well, regional aspirations come into play. Addressing the issue of
poverty will be the biggest challenge for governments to come."
Giving
a background of the political system in India, he said that there are two
categories of political parties: a structured and an idealogy-based or family
based party.
…
9. Mapping and Deploying High-Speed
Broadband - Stateside Dispatch -
Progressive States Network
The Bush administration recently
declared it has largely succeeded in supplying affordable high-speed Internet
access to all Americans, despite the fact that most Americans would probably
describe their Internet access as slow, expensive, and frustrating. Most
analysts are nowhere near as optimistic as Bush's "Networked Nation:
Broadband in America." These analysts highlight that the U.S. has
fallen to 15th in world rankings for broadband connectivity and that Americans
pay much higher fees for much slower speeds than most of the industrial nations
in the world. Misguided regulatory policies and substandard
infrastructure have helped create a sub-par broadband network in the United
States.
As we have discussed in the past,
broadband is an essential component of economic development, long-term energy
savings and health care cost containment. With studies showing economic
growth happening disproportionately in communities with strong broadband
deployment, the lack of affordable and accessible broadband Internet in much of
the United States is unacceptable.
Since federal broadband policy is
not working, states have taken steps to determine which areas and residents are
under-served and created policies to make affordable and reliable broadband
Internet a reality for their citizens. For example, California, Illinois, …
Some states, those with less
available resources than California, have successfully enacted broadband
mapping and deployment programs, by appropriating money from both general state
funds and from penalties levied on telecommunication carriers/providers for
state law infringements.
·
For example, in Illinois the legislators funding of
the High Speed Internet Services and Information Act came from re-direction of
$4 million from the Eliminate the Digital Divide Infrastructure Funds from
Illinois Commerce Commission, coming from the Telecom Rewrite Act of 2001, and
of which $5 million was invested last fall by ICC in local and regional broadband deployment projects in
rural Illinois. …
10. U.S. regional communities -
sub-State, State or multi-State - in news articles. Bold font words
are Google search terms. Bold italic words considered worth noting. In this and section 11, 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 Area business,
tourism leaders make pact to market region
NewsHerald-com – Panama City, FL, USA
After 13 months of
planning, the previously unknown Coastal Vision 3000 Committee on Wednesday
unveiled a plan to unify and strengthen the identity of Okaloosa, Walton, Bay
and Gulf counties. ... presented the committee’s proposal for “The
Beach, ” the name by which the region
will be marketed, ...
.11 Region to see
more homeless assistance funds
Kannapolis Independent
Tribune - Kannapolis, NC, USA
Community Link plans to add two
social workers at its Cabarrus office to help homeless or at-risk clients
overcome barriers to secure safe, ...
.12 Levee repair: major challenge
Belleville News Democrat -
IL, USA
The East-West Gateway Council of Governments,
which is helping local levee districts and governments address the problem,
estimates the repairs will cost ...
.13 Ridenour stumps for cooperation, sales
tax for roads
Modesto Bee - Modesto, CA,
USA
Modesto Mayor Jim Ridenour used his State of the City address Monday as a
soapbox to promote regional cooperation.
The concept isn't new, but is far more but is far more often preached than
practiced. We're glad the mayor gave it top billing.. ..
.14 A new picture of
the Mahoning Valley
Tribune Chronicle - Warren,
OH, USA
But local regional cooperation
efforts don’t match what happened in Lenoir, NC, which came together as a
region, offering tax incentives, ...
.15 Authority OKs
regional water conservation
The Desert Sun - Palm
Springs, CA, USA
The plan approved Monday by the Indio Water Authority encourages investigation
of water management through regional
cooperation, source substitution, ...
.16 Region could be
touted as Freshwater Coast
Detroit Free Press - United
States
Marketing the Great Lakes region
as America's Freshwater Coast was one of many ideas that emerged Tuesday in a
day-long meeting of civic leaders concerned with boosting the region's economic
outlook. ...
.17 State program
that offers cash to get older, polluting vehicles off to strong start
Dallas Morning News
- Dallas, TX, USA
…the North Central Texas Council of Governments
– which is administering the Air Check Texas program in the Dallas-Fort
Worth area – has received 5, 000 applications. Fewer than half have been
approved so far. …
.18 Lt. Gov. Murray
offers Worcester as economic template
SouthCoastToday.com - New
Bedford, MA, USA
Murray said the Patrick administration wants to "encourage regionalization" and "smart
growth" using urban centers where utilities are already in place. ...
.19 Cagle backs
regional transportation tax with major twist
Bizjournals-com - Charlotte,
NC, USA
Casey Cagle on Thursday unveiled his version of a regional tax that could ease road congestion in metro Atlanta
-- but would also use some of the money raised here to fund transportation
projects elsewhere in the state. ...
.20 Funkhouser’s
regional light-rail plan faces uphill battle, but he deserves credit for trying
Kansas City Star - MO, USA
Funkhouser hopes to build consensus for his regional
transit plan.
.21 Imagine a network of foot ferries
Seattle Post Intelligencer -
USA
Bruce Agnew is director of the Cascadia Center For Regional Development at the Discovery Institute, which led
formation of the Puget Sound Passenger Ferry ...
.22 Give foot ferries
the boot
Crosscut - Seattle, WA, USA
They require cross-jurisdictional
agreements that are notoriously hard to execute in our Balkanized politics.
They have to slow down in some critical places ...
.23 211 Phone Number For Government
Services Launched In N. Va.
NBC 4-com - Washington, DC,
USA
... northern Virginia residents
will be able to call a 211 phone number for information about social services,
the Northern Virginia Regional Commission
...
.24 Bush’s 2009
Budget Cuts $198 Million from SAMHSA
JoinTogether.org - USA
Major SAMHSA programs slated for cuts or elimination under the president's FY09
budget plan for HHS include its Programs of Regional
and National ...
.25 Ypsi City
Council, school board pull together
The Ann Arbor News –
Michigan, USA
Making good on their promise to pursue regional cooperation, Ypsilanti city and
school district officials pledged during a joint meeting Tuesday to help each
other save money by collaborating on projects and purchases. …
.26 Facade program
money available
The Cumberland Times-News –
Cumberland, MD, USA
The city of
Cumberland, in partnership with Tri-County
Council for Western Maryland, announces that funds are available for
the Cumberland Main Street Targeted Facade Program.
.27 Macy's to
eliminate Marshall Field's headquarters, consolidate regional offices
Chicago Tribune -
United States
… a reorganization that unwinds the regional
structure it inherited when it bought May Department Stores Co. three years
ago. Seven regional headquarters will be consolidated into four, and Macy's
said it will set up smaller regional offices in Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis
and Seattle …
.28 UCSC's new Center for Integrated Water
Research will help cities ...
Currents - Santa Cruz, CA,
USA
The new Center for Integrated Water Research (CIWR) at UC Santa Cruz will help
cities and their surrounding regions
address water issues in all their ...
.29 Pending Empire zone projects mean 700
new jobs
Mid-Hudson News - Newburgh,
NY, USA
“The Regionally Significant
Program allows the projects to be within the county, but not necessarily the
designated three municipalities which were ...
11. Other
regional community news for our Local Planet.
.10 'Let's build Europe in partnership':
Luc Van den Brande elected
President of Committee of the Regions
Europa Press-release
"We must jettison the hierarchical idea of Europe as
a pyramid with the EU above the Member States, the Member States above the
regions, and the regions above the towns and local authorities. We must strive
for a new partnership between the different levels of government that allows
the various tiers to work together on an equal footing in order to achieve
jointly defined objectives. What we need is not a 'Europe of the regions' but a
'Europe with the regions, towns
and local authorities'.
.11 Niagara
politicians could downsize themselves; Committee eyes changes in regional
makeup
Niagara Falls Review
- Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
… That new committee's job is to make recommendations about how each of
Niagara's 12 lower-tier municipalities is represented on Niagara's regional council. …
.12 Stating the case for faster broadband
for Auckland
Scoop-co-nz - New Zealand
The expectation is that the alignment
of all initiatives would result in cohesive broadband development in the
Auckland region. ARBA has already
taken steps ...
.13 KRG takes part in
Government Leaders Forum
Kurdistan Regional Government
- Iraq
The Kurdistan Regional Government
(KRG) was invited in January for the first time to the Government Leaders Forum in Abu Dhabi. The Government Leaders Forum ...
.14 US Obligations under the Merida
Initiative
US Department of State -
Washington, DC, USA
To that end, the Merida Initiative would combine each nation’s domestic
efforts with broader regional cooperation
to multiply the effects of our actions. ...
.15 [Comment] Sailing
the black sea at last
EUobserver.com - Brussels,
Belgium
Regional cooperation and exchange of
best practices in these fields could potentially have a major impact on the
fragile governance structures of most former Soviet countries. ...
.16 Indian biotech's
global designs
Express Pharma - Mumbai,
India
... India has been recognised to
host the regional node in bioinformatics with particular emphasis to extend regional cooperation to SAARC countries. ...
.17 New regional
commission to tackle homelessness
Canada-com - Hamilton,
Ontario, Canada
A new regional commission has been
formed and given the task of finding housing over the next five years for
Greater Victoria's homeless. ...
.18 21st Community Council of Ministers
meeting gets underway
Caribbean Broadcasting
Corporation - Barbados
... the best path towards regional integration. So says Foreign
Affairs Minister, Chris Sinckler addressing the 21st Community Council of Ministers meeting ...
.19 SAGIA's plan to
develop new regions
Middle East North Africa
Financial Network - Amman, Jordan
"This plan will help us control the flow of people to major cities from
less developed regions, by
providing them with direct and indirect jobs after ...
.20 Rail link plan
gets mayor fired up
Northern Advocate -
Whangarei, New Zealand
THE Northland Regional Council
should "stick to its knitting", concentrate on flood control and not
get involved in a joint venture to to secure land for the Marsden Pt rail link ...
.21 Regional
investment cuts
Warsaw Business Journal
(subscription) - Poland
The Regional Development Ministry
cut 420 so-called key local investments submitted from all over the country,
with a total value of over z³.44 billion. ...
.22 Sir James Crosby
to lead drive for more northern investment
Yorkshire Post - Leeds,
England, UK
The announcement came today from Northern Way, the joint venture between the regional development agencies Yorkshire
Forward, Northwest Regional Development Agency
and One NorthEast. ...
.23 Ministers
endorse… Regional policy framework for science, technology and innovation
AntiguaSun - St' John's,
Antigua and Barbuda
A new policy framework that will guide regional
planning and development in key
areas of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) was unanimously endorsed at a
recent meeting of Caricom ministers ...
.24 SCORE takes off
Malaysia Star - Malaysia
SCORE, the country's fifth and last regional
development corridor, was launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in Bintulu on Monday ...
.25 Ecowas-EPA: Facts and Falacies
AfricaNews - Netherlands
… ECOWAS regional
integration. In particular, the Nigerian government had tried to express her
ill-feelings … for yielding to the pressures from the EU and endorsing an
accord that is capable of dismembering the unity of the region....
.26 Advice on
procuring lamb regionally
meatinfo-co-uk - Crawley,
England, UK
... hear how buying regional meat can reduce their carbon
footprint and most importantly, find out how they can afford to put it on their
menu. ...
.27 Nine global
regions near ‘tipping point’ – study
Legalbrief - Durban, South
Africa
A team of climate experts has ranked the nine most fragile and vulnerable regions on the planet, warning they are in
danger of passing ‘tipping points, ’ ...
.28 Cameroon: Celebration Focuses on
Regional Integration and Peace
AllAfrica.com - Washington,
USA
The messages brandished this year revolved around the theme of peace and regional integration, responsible
citizenship and moral rearmament in the society ...
.29 Mitchell proposes new airline alliance
Caribbean Broadcasting
Corporation - Barbados
“We are talking about CSME (Caribbean Single Market and Economy) and regional cooperation and at the same time
our people are not able to travel, ” ...
.30 Wharf excitement
'critical' for tourism
New Zealand Herald - New
Zealand
He said yesterday that moves by the Auckland Regional
Council to make the central waterfront wharf a major terminal for
cruise ships and include a signature ...
.31 Community
organizations saving on night school
Yorkregion.com - Regional News
Schools in York Region are getting
more money, but it’s community
organizations that will benefit. Funding provided by the Ontario
Education Ministry ...
.32 Spies Mine YouTube for Intelligence
Wired News - USA
That media has typically included "openly available information
[i]nclud[ing] the Internet, databases, press, radio, television, video, geospatial data, ...
12. Blogs
.10 Light rail summit
is a landslide disaster
By Jay(Jay)
There never will be regional cooperation.
I also want to make metion that the Mayor wants to put together a new
bureaucracy to run the thing. What about the bureaucracy of the already
established Mid-America Regional Council? ...
.11 Mass Transit from
Ann Arbor to Detroit: The Struggle to Break Down Barriers through the Decades
By Allison Pincus
“We just don’t understand each other in this
region, ” said Greenberg. He believes that a transit system could help to
begin bringing people together. …
.12 Cleveburgh watch:
Regional Revenue Sharing Study
By C. Briem(C. Briem)
... you can read about a fairly
organized multi-county regional revenue sharing effort here: http://www.revenuestudy.com/
I will have add that link to my Primer on Regionalism
and Local Government Fragmentation in the Pittsburgh Region.
.13 Council's
Directive to City Manager
Ward 2 Representative –
Yipsilanti, Michigan
Explore a fare increase or a dedicated millage. b. Explore regional cooperation for transportation. c.
Continue to work with AATA to find alternatives to reduce costs through areas
such as route reductions and explore other reductions.
.14 Richard Florida
on Universities and Regional Economic Development
By Jacob Christensen
Opening universities everywhere was a hallmark of Social Democratic regional policy in Sweden during the 1990s
and early 2000s. Richard Florida has some sceptical words about the tendency to
see universities as instruments for regional
...
.15 Finally, an
energy plan worth posting
By Anglico
This includes: 1) making alternative energy use and energy efficiency major
components of our public policy; 2) growing one of the nation’s leading
green economies; 3) pursuing regional
cooperation; and 4) changing the paradigm of ...
.16 HB 6772
Seattle Transit Blog
Financing: One of the major findings of the Regional
Transportation Commission and Blue
Ribbon Commission reports –
that there is not sufficient funding in the system - is not addressed in SB
6772. The revenue options are limited to ...
.17 Transportation citizen committee, more
money to look at taller buildings [Olympia City Council]
By emmettoconnell
… Staff is also asking for more money (up to $150,
000) to look at the issue of taller buildings along the waterfront:
By
climatewatch-comcast.net
“The US State Department, in its role as coordinator for the US
Government’s role in the IPCC, requests public comment on the activities
and process of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in order to facilitate the US ...
.19 Economic
Development and Sustainability: Hand in Hand
By CCRC(CCRC)
CCRC activities around service sharing and regional
cooperation are often connected to issues of economic development.
The CCRC will continue to maintain a close relationship with the LADR workshops
and highlight the opportunities for ...
.20 Regional development
& PSE
By Paris
I just got back from a meeting with the Nova Scotia Association of Regional Development Authorities. Executive
Directors of regional development
authorities from across the province got together to discuss the labour force
and various ...
.21 Seattle Takes
Steps to Recognize Minorities’ Role in Shaping Region
Two new museums and a new traditional gate marking the city’s Chinatown
will be completed this year, acknowledging the role minority groups have played
in shaping Seattle and the region.
.22 Excerpts From
Today's Forum on Regionalization of Police Services in the LMD
RCMP in B.C.
The RCMP is committed to removing boundaries that have
traditionally hampered the effectiveness of inter-jurisdictional
law enforcement. Criminals don't care about boundaries or jurisdictional
borders. The integration of all three ...
.23 Regional Council
Annual General Meeting - London4Change - but changing what?
By Jon Rogers(Jon Rogers)
The winning side continued their practice of close cooperation with paid officials (delegates uncertain of how to
vote were visibly introduced to certain lay activists who helpfully assisted in
the completion of ballot papers - although ...
.24 Frank Sartor
tries to finally kill-off local government
By WaterDragon(clarencegirl)
The Northern Rivers Echo reported last Thursday on Sartor's mad plan to
completely control major regional development
from Sydney or locally through his little mates club. This plan now includes
the Minister taking complete control of ...
.25 PACIFIC: Push to
promote regions music
The Pacific is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse regions in the world, with a rich musical
culture. But its music has never managed to resonate around the world in quite
the same way as African and Latin American ...
.26 Delivering Economic Prosperity in Partnership:
The Crucial Role of the New Local Performance Framework
This narrative is particularly aimed at those working in the economic development field, including Jobcentre
Plus, the Learning and Skills Councils (LSC) and Regional Development Agencies (RDAs).
.27 Regional monetary integration
VOX - Peter B. Kenen, Ellen E. Meade
Many regions are discussing possible monetary unions; a new book
argues that they are not in the position to replicate the European experience.
…
.28 Call for papers:
Community-based Entrepreneurship
By Ian(Ian)
Since Johannisson and Nilsson’s (1989) seminal paper on community-based
entrepreneurship, the literature on how regional
development is facilitated by community interaction has grown. The
increasing sentiment of people and businesses ...
13. Announcements
and Regional Links
.10 Creating
Regional, Cross-System Quality Improvement – Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
No
single health care purchaser, plan, or provider can improve chronic care within
a community on its own. To improve chronic care throughout a region or state,
key stakeholders in the health care marketplace must coordinate strategies.
When this alignment occurs,
breakthroughs in improving health care quality can be achieved.
The
Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) launched its Regional Quality Improvement (RQI)
initiative in June 2006 to improve chronic care in select regions by aligning
purchasers – Medicaid, state employers, commercial, self-insured, and
others – and health plans around specific quality improvement strategies.
The RQI program, a two-year effort supported with funds from the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation, is bringing multiple purchasers and health plans together
to target common chronic conditions, adopt common performance measures, support
common provider improvement interventions, and develop a consistent payment
method to support and sustain provider interventions. Three sites – the
state of Arkansas; Rochester, New York; and the state of Rhode Island –
are participating in CHCS’ regional multi-stakeholder initiative.
This
issue brief outlines key steps taken by the first three regions to establish a
platform for improving quality throughout their regional health care systems.
…
Encyclopedia
of Earth – eoearth-org
Ambient air pollution in an
increasingly urbanized world directly threatens the health of a large fraction
of the world’s population. There is growing recognition that air-borne
emissions from major urban and industrial areas influence both air quality and
climate change on scales ranging from regional up to continental and global.
Deteriorating urban air quality affects the viability of important natural and
agricultural ecosystems in regions surrounding highly
urbanized areas, and significantly influences regional atmospheric chemistry
and global climate change. This challenge is particularly acute in the
developing world where the rapid growth of megacities (cities having population
equal to or more than 10 million) is producing atmospheric pollution of
unprecedented severity and extent. For example, the deterioration of air
quality is a problem that is directly experienced by a majority of the 300
million urban Indians, about 30% of India’s population.
...
14.
Subscription
.10 Stitching
Cincinnati together - Bizjournals-com - Charlotte, NC, USA
Later this month, University of
Cincinnati President Nancy Zimpher will stand before a crowd of hundreds of
local business leaders to assume her place as chairwoman of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber's board of directors.
She'll make a speech, probably
dressed in UC red and black, and more than a few executives in the audience
will have to wonder what in the heck she's thinking.
After all, Zimpher already runs
the region's largest university, which also happens to be the Tri-State's
largest employer. She's already given countless hours and endless energy to
community organizations such as the Uptown Consortium, the GO Cincinnati
economic development initiative, the Agenda 360 regional planning process and
Strive, the education partnership working to make sure every child in
Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky graduates from high school prepared for
college.
And she's active on the national
level. She is chairwoman of the new Coalition of Urban Serving Universities
network and has been working closely with the Washington, D.C.-based Brookings
Institution on its Blueprint for American Prosperity, a push for massive
changes in federal policies as they relate to the nation's metropolitan areas.
…
.11 Group promotes regional teamwork - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (subscription) - Milwaukee,
WI, USA
Amid signs of lingering regional
differences, advocates of cooperative economic development assured Waukesha
County officials Tuesday that the partnership County Board members quizzed
representatives of the Milwaukee 7 consortium
about the need to overcome obstacles between Milwaukee County and its neighbors
to the west.
Supervisor Walter Kolb of the Town
of Waukesha referred to recent difficulties securing the City of Milwaukee's
cooperation in extending Lake Michigan water supplies to the suburbs.
"Those are the kinds of
things that are going to need to be corrected, " Kolb said.
Supervisor Kenneth Herro of
Oconomowoc pointed to similar regional disagreements that have stalled
development of a commuter rail system linking the Milwaukee region to Chicago.
"We recognize borders, "
Herro said, "and we don't work together."
Milwaukee 7 representatives Julia
Taylor and Bill Mitchell responded that business leaders are looking past those
conflicts and are embracing the movement toward a regionalized approach to
business growth.
Taylor, president of the Greater
Milwaukee Committee, said the collaborative group might not be able to overcome
all disagreements among neighbors.
"There's always going to be
old wounds, " she said. "You've got to keep moving forward."
Mitchell, executive director of
the Waukesha County Economic Development Corp., said companies considering
expanding in Waukesha County are starting to inquire about the region as a
whole.
Mitchell said his organization is
even shutting down its localized online site-searching mechanism in deference
to the Milwaukee 7's service listing sites throughout the region.
"The rules of the game are
changing, " he said.
…
RC: Southeastern Wisconsin Regional
Planning Commission
15.
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