Top Regional Community stories

 

  1. Wednesday editorial: Regional honor, regional goals - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Regionalism, a value more frequently honored hereabouts in the abstract than in practice, paid off in a nice honor for St. Louis last week: The St. Louis region was named as one of 10 “All America” cities by the National Civic League.

In that, perhaps, is a message: St. Louis is far more than the 61 square miles that comprise the city of St. Louis. It is eight counties, two states, 720 governmental jurisdictions and 2.6 million people who can accomplish far more working together than separately.

The Denver-based National Civic League is a good-government group that supports community-building and political reform. It encourages collaborative decision-making; its last major effort here was in support of the failed 2004 effort to reform the St. Louis City Charter.

For 59 years, the NCL has sponsored the All-America City awards, honoring “communities that cooperatively tackle challenges and achieve results.” The emphasis is on collaboration among government, private organizations and community volunteers. There is also a strong tilt toward projects that affect and involve young people.

St. Louis (the region) was cited for three projects: Downtown Now, the public-private partnership created in 1997 to revitalize downtown St. Louis; the Great Rivers Greenway District’s “River Ring, ” a 600-mile web of 45 hiking and bike trails now in the works, and “The Boomerang Press, ” a project for young artists established by the St. Louis Art Works, a community arts collaborative.

Said Thomas M. Flynn, economic development director for Charlotte, N.C., and one of the jurors, “The St. Louis region did an exceptional job of working across governmental boundaries to take on projects that will have a lasting impact on their region.  …

RC: East-West Gateway Coordinating Council

  2. Futurist says area must be quick to react to changes - Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly - Fort Wayne, IN, USA

Futurist Ed Barlow made a lot of people uncomfortable at the annual economic-development conference June 4 at Pokagon State Park.

    And that, he said, is exactly what he was there to do.

    The conference at Pokagon was sponsored by the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership, a collaboration of corporate, nonprofit and public entities, and also featured speakers on the logistics industry and the site selection process.

    Barlow talked about the huge structural changes coming that will transform the world and the economy as we have known them: the growing emphasis on green industry; the retirement of the baby-boom generation; and a new work force that will be more ethnically diverse, less invested in their jobs than in their lifestyles and completely comfortable with technologies that haven’t yet been dreamt of.

    Those are the same kinds of changes Barlow said he talked about when he visited northeast Indiana a few years ago. So far, he scolded members of the audience, very little seems to have been done here to meet the coming challenges.

    No one — no person, no company, no community — is exempt from the changes that are on the way, he warned.

    “Failure to adapt accordingly has significant consequences, ” he said.

    Among Barlow’s predictions:

…

    • Median income will decline over the next six years. The middle class is on the brink, squeezed by rising food, fuel and health-care costs, and will cut back on spending to accommodate that.

…

    • Dubai will become the financial center of the world, replacing New York City.

    Unfortunately, Barlow said, most traditional economic-development planning doesn’t recognize the pace and scope of the changes to come. Communities still focus on attracting employers — offering them incentives — when the focus and incentives should be directed at attracting the people who will be the main creators of wealth.
…

 

  3. Time to break away? - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Milwaukee, WI, USA

Milwaukeans face a host of daunting and dangerous problems: Housing crises, spiking gas prices and dwindling transit services.

And for lower-income Milwaukee residents, these new realities make everyday life tougher because jobs and housing in outlying communities are becoming even less accessible.

What's especially regrettable is that Milwaukee now confronts these predicaments with fewer options because of institutional barriers and flat-out neglect at the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission.

…

The only difference is that SEWRPC's disinterest in Milwaukee is nothing new or accidental.

That's why Milwaukee should remove itself from SEWRPC and, like Madison and Dane County, become a one- or two-municipality regional planning body, as allowed by Wisconsin law. The goal is not to undermine regional cooperation but to redefine the "region" and put Milwaukee on a more solid footing.

A stronger Milwaukee - the state's financial, cultural and population center - will make the surrounding municipalities and economy stronger, too.

In 1960, the state put SEWRPC in charge of land use, transportation, housing and other aspects of comprehensive planning for a seven-county region that includes Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine, Kenosha, Ozaukee, Washington and Walworth counties.

From the beginning, the City of Milwaukee, with its dominant and unique urban population, was disenfranchised in SEWRPC's management because, by law, all 21 commission seats were allotted to the seven counties - three to each.

Appointments are shared by the governor, county boards and county executives.

The City of Milwaukee has 100, 000 more residents than the combined populations of a majority of SEWRPC counties - Kenosha, Walworth, Washington and Ozaukee - but has zero seats on the commission.

Yet Milwaukee County pays the largest share of SEWRPC's operating budget that is collected from the seven counties' annual property tax levies - more than 33%, or $834, 000 of $2, 370, 000 for 2007, records show.

…

  4. TRANSPORTATION: Guest Column Find the will and the way to create a transportation hub - Toledo Free Press - OH, USA

The discussion about our region's potential as a freight transportation hub is well-plowed ground.

It's acknowledged that we are strategically positioned on the continent. We know that we have all modes of transportation: rail, highways, airport and seaport. International trade is growing, and the increasing cost of fuels has created pressure to find more efficient ways to move goods.

What we need now is the will and the wherewithal to develop the industry. We don't have a wealthy uncle in the private sector. We don't have a source of local, state or federal dollars that we can tap either. It is going to take a partnership and that partnership must be regional.

The will

The will to cooperate and to think creatively is alive in this region. At Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments (TMACOG), we've seen 40 years of nonpartisan, regional planning. Our members work together as partners. They develop priorities, weigh the costs and figure out how to get things done. Clearly, people in this region are willing and able to work together to plan for the future.

There are other examples of regional partnerships that we can harness. Business and industry are working closely with community colleges in work force development.

Universities now incubate profit-making enterprises and extend academic research to the private sector.

In the governmental sector, the Ohio Department of Transportation has developed a new initiative — the Ohio 21st Century Transportation Priorities Task Force. Northwest Ohio is well-represented on the task force which includes a multimodal subcommittee.

Finding the way

To convert will to action we need investment in people and in infrastructure.

According to a recent report by the Workforce Boards of Metropolitan Chicago, transportation, logistics and warehouse (TLW) workers are more than 10 percent of the work force in that region. …

  5. The problem with thinking regionally - The Oregonian - OregonLive.com - Portland, OR, USA

…

How innovative is it when, realizing that you have a problem that you can't afford to solve yourself, you look for other people to help pay for a solution? That's been the basis of lobbying from the very beginning of civil government. Nor is it particularly unique to look to those of us on the west side as the source of that help. This isn't the first time that we've heard, "Don't be parochial; you need to think regionally." Historically this has meant that Washington County ends up sending out more dollars and resources than it ends up getting back. Not only do we appreciate Tom Brian's reluctance to once again get in line with that type of regional thinking, we applaud it.

… Our problems won't be solved with bike paths and trails. Even with great local support for the light-rail system, we need more bus service and we need a public transit system that moves people from where they live to where they work -- not just back and forth to Portland.

We need to expand our heavy rail system, and no one is really talking about how to do that. Our economic development initiatives are dependent upon us not only understanding this problem but finding a solution. We can no longer stand by and not have a strong voice in the transportation planning process. Washington County has proven itself to be the economic driver for the region. We are the engine that can, and regional leaders would be wise to tend to that engine to ensure it can continue to deliver robust jobs in the future.

Make no mistake: We recognize that there is a regional component to solving the bridge problems in Portland. There's also a regional component in helping freight and workers …

RC: Metro

  6. Don’t point fingers on transportation - Beaverton Valley Times - Portland, OR, USA

Tough problems are best addressed — and solved — with a sense of history, an accurate understanding of the complexity of issues and creative problem solving are also needed.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case a week ago when the region’s very difficult transportation problems were incorrectly simplified to baseless finger-pointing in an editorial in The Oregonian.

For more than 15 years, the Portland region and its local communities have struggled to address mounting transportation problems made worse by increased population and state and federal leaders who have been unwilling or unable to increase gasoline taxes since 1993.

Left on its own, the region has achieved some success. Washington County and its cities have implemented many local road improvements. And the region has made brilliant progress in expanding transit in the form of express bus service, light rail, the Portland Streetcar and this fall Washington County commuter rail.

While the region’s transportation problems are great, they are also diverse.

In the city of Portland, street maintenance needs are primary. In Multnomah County, the issue has for decades been the county’s limited ability to fund the maintenance of its Willamette River bridges.

In Washington County, the problem has been a fast-growing population served by mostly rural roads. In Clackamas County, the ability to improve inadequate roads to deal with population growth has been impeded by an electorate that is often cranky with government and largely adverse to new taxes.

But given all of these issues, elected and business leaders over the years have repeatedly espoused regional transportation strategies. Such regional efforts occurred in 1996, 2000 and 2002-2004 before percolating anew this year.

So it was more than a bit perplexing that The Oregonian decided to herald regional strategies now being espoused by …

  7. Regionalism trend gets organized – The Daily Iberian - New Iberia, LA, USA

In order to effectively coordinate the economic development efforts of the region, the area chambers of commerce began a conversation in 2007  about creating an entity that would represent the entire region.

The Acadiana Regional Alliance (ARA) is the product of that conversation and is still finalizing its organization and developing its focus.

The Alliance represents eight surrounding parishes: Iberia, St. Martin, St. Mary, Lafayette, St. Landry, Acadia and Jeff Davis.

Frank Fink, director of economic development for St. Mary Parish, has been named as the coordinator of the ARA’s Regionalism Steering Committee.

Fink, a resident of Franklin, brings to the table experience from an extensive career in business management and economic development.

“It is our intent to support and focus on issues related to our region that the state has an interest in, ” Fink said. “We have looked into several areas of concern and will likely select two or three issues where we can have primary impact.”

…

Tarantino said recently there has been a number of groups that have organized to promote the idea of regionalism.

“ARA is focused on the issues and concerns that affect everyone in the region and when we speak as a group of parishes, our voices are louder, ” he said.

  8. Changing political landscape impacts groundwater issues - Cameron Herald - TX, United States

The groundwater playing field has changed dramatically in Texas - and Blue Water Systems LP, a water marketer operating in the Post Oak Savannah Groundwater Conservation District, is concerned.

Blue Water Systems has permits to pump and export ten billion gallons (30, 000 acre-feet) of groundwater from Burleson County each year.

At last week's Post Oak board meeting, Ross Cummings, president of Blue Water Systems, said that his company has paid over $3 million to Post Oak in permit fees …

A major change in groundwater laws resulted from passage of House Bill 1763 (HB 1763) in 2005. This bill took in consideration that aquifers exist outside the boundaries of individual groundwater districts. To this end, it requires groundwater districts to work together within designated “groundwater management areas” (GMA) to determine how much groundwater is available for use.

Post Oak is a member of GMA-12 which includes Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District (Lost Pines), Brazos Valley Groundwater Conservation District (Brazos Valley), Fayette County Groundwater Conservation District, and Mid-East Texas Groundwater Conservation District.

The HB 1763-dictated process used to determine available groundwater is initiated by the districts within a GMA working together to determine “desired future conditions” (DFCs) for their groundwater resources. DFCs can be defined as the desired, quantified conditions of groundwater resources (such as water levels, water quality, spring flows, or volumes) at a specified time or times in the future or in perpetuity.

The DFCs must be submitted by Sept. 1, 2010, to the Texas Water Development Board which will use them to calculate the amount of groundwater available for each groundwater district.

So, instead of Post Oak making its own decisions about groundwater availability as was the case in the past, the decisions will now be regionalized.

An equally significant effect of HB 1763 is that …

  9. Health-care lessons for Ontario - Toronto Star - Ontario, Canada
…

No one claimed to have a model Ontario could copy. But the architects of regionalization in other provinces knew what worked, what didn't, what they wish they'd done and what the biggest challenges are.

Here are some of their insights:

• Don't spend a huge amount of time and money coming up with a mission or values statement for the regional health authority. The drafting and redrafting process will go on interminably. The bill will escalate. And the result will probably be a collection of empty generalities.
• …
• Don't put off the difficult task of bringing doctors into the new structure. The longer they remain private entrepreneurs, working business hours on a fee-for-service basis, the harder it will be to divert patients from emergency wards, to computerize health records and get all the players in the health-care system talking to each other. Every province has tried to coax its physicians into being team players. None has succeeded and there is no consensus on how to do it. Some participants advised Ontario to be patient and persuasive. Others suggested shifting responsibility for basic medical care to nurses, nurse-practitioners and other health professionals.
• Take advantage of the chance to be creative. Regional health units can experiment in ways that big bureaucracies can't. They can deliver health care in smart, sensible ways….
• Measure what matters, not just what the politicians demand. …
• Let people know what's going on. Most citizens don't have a clue what regional health units do, how they work or who runs them. The solution is not sporadic consultations and focus groups. Local health leaders need to get out into the community, explain in plain language how the health-care system is organized and be as open and accessible as possible.

…

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 U.S. in a news story as well as recognizing other regional organizations.  In most cases, where a full name is present, a Google search will quickly get one to that organization. News reports do not always get the organization name correct.   Contents

 

    .01  Editorial: A cautionary tale of two regions

TCPalm – FL, USA

It’s perfectly understandable why South Florida wants to extend its four-county region to embrace the Treasure Coast. The relatively wide-open spaces of Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties provide fertile fields for growth. But, if we may be so provincial to ask, what’s in it for us? … The rationale for greater regional collaboration is predicated on the premise that size matters, and Murley & Co. suggest that a larger statistical metropolitan area will enhance its chances to attract federal funding. That may or may not be true. But do local residents really want to bet their autonomy on the hope of more largesse from Washington? …

 

    .02  States stake claim to Great Lakes
Detroit Free Press – MI, USA

"In the near future, the tensions over Great Lakes diversions are actually going to be in the Great Lakes region, " said Peter Annin, author of "The Great Lakes Water Wars." …

 

    .03  Ozone Action Season replaces Action Days
FOX Toledo - Toledo, OH, USA
The Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments (TMACOG) and the City of Toledo announced a new way to publicize Ozone Action Day warnings. Action days will now be known as Ozone Action Seasons. …

 

    .04  Position Indeed Requires Bipartisanship
Jamestown Post Journal - Jamestown, NY, USA
As for regionalism, I have come to suspect that word because most of the time it means ‘‘turn everything over to government.’’ As noted in the editorial, ‘‘Chuck brings the background and experience needed to continue to advance the goal of regional development and governance.’’ While this may be true of his ability, it does not fit the task....

 

    .05  Bay City's budget puzzle should be solved regionally
The Bay City Times - MLive.com - Bay City, MI, USA
Consolidation of police departments into a metropolitan or countywide police force also ought to be considered for service and savings. Likewise, a regional or countywide fire department might be the answer to a lot of governments' funding woes. …

 

    .06  Delo: Sees similarities between Oshkosh and De Pere
Oshkosh Northwestern - Oshkosh, WI, USA
Besides the broad regionalization issues, Delo also has worked on some of the smaller intergovernmental problems – like garbage pick up. ... Although he's a proponent of regionalization, Delo said it's important to remember to instill pride in the home community. ...

 

    .07  Brunner: Ready to be next Oshkosh city manager
Oshkosh Northwestern - Oshkosh, WI, USA
Another area that Brunner said he'd work on in Oshkosh is regionalization. "I believe in regionalization. I mean we have to look at better ways of doing things, " he said. "Businesses don't make a decision based on these crazy patch-worked lines that we have that represent our political boundaries. They don't look at, 'this is the town, this is the city' they look at 'this is a market.'" ...

 ...

 

    .08  Duke Energy hosts water pow-wow
Daily Journal - Seneca, SC, USA

… Pickens County is teaming with the Clemson University Restoration Institute to look at its water needs for the next 25 to 30 years. He said Pickens County needs to move from a “hodge-podge system” to a regionalized approach to addressing its long-term water needs. Breazeale added that while jurisdictions are good at making sure their individual needs are met, “there’s a lack of regional planning.”

 

    .09  Working together key to economic growth
Iosco County News Herald - East Tawas, MI, USA
“We recognize that regionalism is the way to market ourselves in these tough economic times, ” Pasakarnis said. “So often communities think within their own their own city limits when cooperative efforts, when regionalism could better affect change and promote prosperity and growth....

 

    .10  If careful, Polk Co. won't get soaked by water agreement

BlueRidgeNow-com
It's good that Polk County is thinking regionally and is moving fast. But commissioners must still be sure that they retain control of an important resource that will be needed to serve a growing population. The history of "regional" water agreements between Henderson County and Asheville should make Polk County leaders cautious as they move forward in the water business. ...

 

    .11  Macomb stays with metro booster
Detroit Free Press - United States
An effort in Macomb County to remove more than $1 million used to promote metro Detroit every year ended Monday with calls for regional unity. …

 

    .12  Five Butler County municipalities mulling regional police
York Daily Record - York, PA, USA
The municipalities are already working with a merger consultant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community Development.

 

    .13  Transportation plan outlines priorities
Toledo Free Press - OH, USA
Diane Reamer-Evans, transportation project manager at the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments (TMACOG), said the benefit of putting together a comprehensive transportation plan is twofold. One, it is required to receive federal funding. The plan is updated with minor changes every four years, and overhauled when new census data is released. Secondly, it's a benefit for the region. ...

 

    .14  SUNY Fredonia names Charles Cornell as Director of the Center for Rural Regional Development and Governance
Evening Observer, NY
“The goal is to keep the agenda of regionalism moving forward in Chautauqua County.” The formation of the Center, now 10 years old, followed the Chautauqua Conference on Regional Governance, which brought together leading scholars and practitioners of regional cooperation. …

 

    .15  Navajo/Apache Regional Partnership Council named - 266 community ...
White Mountain Independent - Show Low, AZ, USA
"The Regional Partnership Councils reflect the heart and soul of First Things First. We encourage community engagement to create community solutions that ...

 

    .16  Lauderdale, Sumter Meeting of the Minds
WTOK - Meridian, MS, USA
A "megasite" being marketed to business and industry at Kewanee, Miss., spreads across Lauderdale County and goes into Sumter County, Ala. … message was of regionalism, which he says has already started. "The cooperation is already there, because we are so dependent on west Alabama ...

 

    .17  Rob Rumpke named CEO of Bluegrass Tomorrow
Kentucky.com - Lexington, KY, USA

… on the Bluegrass Tomorrow board for eight years and has been the regional planning group's interim executive director since March. Rumpke "understands regionalism as well as anyone in the Bluegrass, " s

 

    .18  Some question state's push to unite struggling districts
Boston Globe - United States

… in Gill Montague, which has served two towns and three villages since 1981, residents fear that further regionalization could result in the loss of small schools, longer bus rides for children, and the loss of the traditional high school rivalries. …

 

    .19  Expect hard sell on consolidation, others tell panel
Gloucester County Times - NJ.com - Woodbury, NJ, USA
Take for example, the so-called Cahill Commission's 1972 recommendations that government services be transferred to a higher level of government, that local services be regionalized and that the state take over basic funding of school districts with income taxes, among others. Of the dozen pieces of legislation drafted from the recommendations, only two were passed. ...

 

    .20  Moore & Van Allen Attorney James Forrest Graduates from Regional Leadership Program
Carolina Newswire (press release) - NC, USA
Leadership Triangle is a non-profit organization established to educate and promote regionalism across the separate communities of the Triangle through regional and leadership development classes, seminars and awards....

 

    .21  At Your Library: Working together
Harwich Oracle - Orleans, MA, USA
With regionalization a hot topic on the Cape these days, I thought I’d take the opportunity to talk about how libraries have regionalized some services. I’m talking about CLAMS, which stands for Cape Libraries Automated Materials Sharing. CLAMS is more than just our online catalog – it’s a consortium of libraries on the Cape and Islands sharing resources through an automated system. It was formed almost 20 years ago by librarians who were interested in automation, but couldn’t afford to purchase, run and maintain their own automated system. ..

 

    .22  Separate sewage lines, panel told
Wilkes Barre Times-Leader - Wilkes Barre, PA, USA
He wants to see planning and oversight for such infrastructure regionalized “to get the most bang for the dollar.” The situation is quickly coming to a head, Lawson said, because urban centers “are going to be the place to live because of the cost of energy … but that’s where the infrastructure is poorest.” ...

 

    .23  Locals look north to I-530 initiative

The Ouachita Citizen - West Monroe, LA, USA
"All in all, the three states coming together signifies to me that regionalization is upon us whether we're ready for it or not, " Bowlen said..

 

    .24  Police merger gets serious
phillyBurbs.com - Philadelphia, PA, USA
In the long run, however, the report said municipalities who have regionalized their police departments saw a nearly 25 percent reduction in costs. ...

 

    .25  Brooklyn Day about getting together
Norwich Bulletin - Norwich, CT, USA
The first Brooklyn Day celebration will be Sunday, an event Economic Development Commission Chairman Greg Shimer hopes will become an annual tradition. The event is part of the wider Northeast Regional Springtime Festival, in which towns host events promoting regionalism. ...

 

    .26  Parking, riding - and then saving
St. Cloud Times - St. Cloud, MN, USA
... to biking or walking commuting, ” said Scott Mareck, executive director and transportation planning manager of the St. Cloud Area Planning Organization. ...

 

    .27  Editorial: A sense of urgency
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – Milwaukee, WI, USA

… report, written for the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, praises regional economic development efforts such as the Milwaukee 7 and notes encouraging trends, such as increased numbers of people living downtown, but they are frustrated by the pace of change.

 

    .28  Mid-America Regional Council Launches Innovative Health Clinic Web GIS Developed by Applied Geographics
DirectionsMag.com (press release)
The Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) has launched a web mapping application designed to help patient advocates and health clinic personnel to identify and locate the optimal health clinic for their clients within the bi-state Greater Kansas City ...

 

    .29  LEED regionalization under way, GR summit Friday
MLive.com 
U.S. Green Building Council chapters across the country are meeting to identify regional environmental concerns in an effort to localize the national green building standard LEED, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. …

 

11. Other Regional Community News for Our Local Planet  Contents

    .01  'US should look to UK urban policy'
The Press Association –  UK

Bruce Katz, director of the Metropolitan Programme at the Brookings Institution, added: "Building more prosperous cities and metropolitan areas should be a key concern for the United States - yet our federal government has largely failed to unleash the true potential of these economic engines....

 

    .02  Salmond slams 'metropolitan' BBC
BBC News 
The first minister has accused the BBC's network news of having a "metropolitan fascination" that causes it to ignore Scottish issues. … The BBC management released a statement in response to the report. It said: "We recognise that the BBC must remain in step with the changing face of the UK, and that our UK-wide journalism must deliver a range of perspectives and richness of coverage that reflects the diversity of the nations and regions of the UK. …

 

    .03  Rich areas want split from the poor
New Zealand Herald

The council will today outline its model of amalgamating the seven territorial councils into three cities - northern, central and south - under a Greater Auckland Council. The southern council would include Manukau City, plus Franklin and Papakura District Councils. Mr Ross and Mr Stevens both supported a two-tier model of a single regional body and strengthening the current disempowered community boards. …

 

    .04  UN Report: Empower the People
Daily Dominican Republic News
He said that there is a "schizophrenic regionalization" in the country, where individual government ministries decide how to divide the the country. "But none know what they spend in a province. This is evidence of the low importance the government gives the provinces, " stated the UNDP rep....

 

    .05  Fast Cities 2008

Fast Company Magazine

The great urban theorist Jane Jacobs wrote about cities of "exuberant diversity, " and in our 2008 Cities of the Year, Chicago and London, we have two stellar examples. They -- and our 12 cities to watch -- are no utopias (we're still looking). But amid economic uncertainty, they're vibrant, creative, and growing. ... Note: No reference to region in either city story. Ed.

 

    .06  OPINION: Asean at crossroads with borderless regions
New Straits Times - Persekutuan, Malaysia
THE rising tide of economic regionalism has changed the landscape beyond recognition, as reflected by the growing number of regional groupings and increasing array of acronyms. It has become a daunting exercise for analysts to define East Asia, or for that matter Asia-Pacific, with regional borders moving like shifting sands. ...

 

    .07  New tourism marketing strategies needed
AntiguaSun - St' John's, Antigua and Barbuda
Caribbean Tourism authorities need to continue to market themselves inter-regionally. With the rise of fuel cost and the resultant decrease in airlift to the region, we have to support our own tourism product across the region. ...

 

    .08  Unfinished health-care revolution
Toronto Star - Ontario, Canada

"I know of no province that has totally succeeded, " he said. "Too many governments have made the structure an end in itself. Until health is the core business, regionalization will fail." …

 

    .09  Setting targets
Murray Valley Standard - Murray Bridge, South Australia, Australia
The State Government has started a push to make the strategic plan more applicable to regional and rural areas. As part of this, the Strategic Plan Community Engagement Board began consulting with a steering group of local people about the different targets set through the plan …

 

    .10  North East’ identity is not as deep-rooted as we think

AlphaGalileo News Center
The regional identity of North East England isn’t as deep-rooted and cohesive as previously thought, shows a new book which also highlights the wider political implications for the regionalism debate.  ...

 

    .11  City has real problem with violent crime: report
Metro Canada - Halifax - Halifax, Canada
Clairmont pointed out that violent crime is 25 per cent higher in Halifax Regional Municipality than in the rest of the province – not surprising, since we have 41 per cent of the provincial population....

 

    .12  Jobs worry in regional shake-up
New Zealand Herald
But the commission is questioning the current three-tier system of the Auckland Regional Council, councils and community boards and is probing submitters' views on a two-tier model of a regional body and strengthened community boards.

 

    .13  Cooperation on oil spill protection measures
Norway Post 
… Opening of the oil spill laboratory is a part of a broad environmental programme aimed at strengthening emergency response to oil spills off north-western Russia, implemented jointly by StatoilHydro and Murmansk regional government.

 

    .14  Speed up work on gas pipeline projects: experts
Daily Times - Pakistan
Japan and SAARC member states continue dialogue for possible means and cooperate where appropriate to improve regional connectivity in energy sector in the SAARC region through expansion of energy infrastructure, development of both conventional and non-conventional energy resources …

 

    .15  Business: TURNING THE ISLANDS INTO ONE BIG OPPORTUNITY
Island Business - Suva, Fiji
In a move they describe as “the best example of regionalism for professional services so far in the Pacific, ” the two law firms are pooling together expertise and resources in a new venture called DWT Pacific. It is slated to offer “the only unified, trans-Pacific legal and business advisory team in the market". …

 

    .16  Sir Arthur Lewis
Stabroek News - Georgetown, Guyana
Finally I want to talk about Arthur Lewis and regionalism. Lewis was of course a regionalist; his regionalism was a natural consequence of anti-imperialism; ...

 

    .17  Refugees better off in regional communities: study
ABC Online - Australia
VicHealth chief executive Tod Harper says refugees are healthier and adapt better socially if they move into a welcoming community. ...  the research also showed that refugees provided a direct benefit to regional economies.

 

    .18  Progress Made to Establish Regional Local Government Structure - PM
Government of Jamaica, Jamaica Information Service - Jamaica
"We have increasingly, in recent years, regionalized the consultation where we are talking with our Caribbean partners and this is very useful because there ...

 

    .18  Ecuador hosts forum on regional security
Xinhua - China
Ivonne Baki, president of the Andean Parliament of the Andean Community of Nations, voiced her confidence that the Subregional Safety Forum, ...

 

    .20  Special Report: China In Africa

Fast Company - USA … People's Republic of China (PRC) has become the most aggressive investor-nation in Africa. This commercial invasion is without question the most important development in the sub-Sahara since the end of the Cold War -- … Some are even calling the region "ChinAfrica."

 

    .21  Oil-induced Regionalism Besets Korea’s Exports
Donga-com - South Korea

World retreats from globalization to regionalism - U.S. weekly magazine Newsweek in its latest issue predicted that the global economy may shift towards regional trade, as high oil prices force nations to favor trade with neighboring countries due to rising costs on freight delivery and storage. …

 

    .22  Belgium: Leterme government lurches from crisis to crisis
World Socialist Web Site - Oak Park, MI, USA

There can be no resolution of the Belgian crisis within the existing political system, which bears direct responsibility for creating and promoting the nationalism, regionalism and inequality we see today. The crisis in Belgium emphasises the urgent necessity for a socialist programme to unite the working class internationally and combat the poisonous growth of nationalism and regionalism. …

 

    .23  Adobe roundtable finds more businesses need to use collaboration tools
ITBusiness.ca - Scarborough, Ontario, Canada
... together in an education and business world by synchronizing communications where people can communicate at any time of the day and across boundaries. ...

 

12. Blogging about Regional Communities  Contents

    .01  Building An Agenda For Economic Growth
Smart City Memphis

• Acting (As Well As Talking) Regionally. Memphis talks a good game of regionalism, but we’ve never truly engrained regional thinking into our plans and actions. Too often, we lapse into a “we versus them” mentality and a “if you’re winning, we must be losing” attitude when it comes to our neighboring counties. …

 

    .02  Do Regional Solutions Provide More Efficient Public Services?

Connecticut Local Politics
So here are two contrasting opinions on regionalization in Connecticut. What do you think, should there be more regional solutions or should the 169 towns continue to maintain independent efforts?  Which approach is more “taxing”?  … Comment: - Oh… I almost forgot… CT has “Councils of Governments.” They’re a form of regional (county) government… though, as far as I know, no one is elected directly to fill any roles there (though often it is elected officials who fill the roles… just not elected to those particular positions).

 

    .03  To consolidate or not to consolidate?

Progress Pittsburgh

Regionalism is the governance of a large geographical area. There are several different types of regionalism, such as fiscal (e.g. tax-base sharing), functional (e.g. shared services) or structural (e.g. consolidation). All of these types of regionalism can have benefits for the geographic area(s) they serve, depending on the details of the specific arrangement. ...

 

    .04  MAPC unveils 2008 MetroFuture Regional Plan
North Shore Chamber of Commerce Economic Development & Public Policy Blog
Regionalization Cities and towns in Massachusetts have a long history of independence, which has led not only to the creation of a great many unique and distinctive places, but also to increasingly fragmented planning, purchasing and ...

 

    .05  To Merge?

Newburyport Report
With all of the talk about the necessity for increased collaboration and coordination among state, regional, local, and business interests, let's stop brainstorming ideas, admit life is difficult, and start doing something.

 

    .06  Greater Regionalism
The Spotsyltuckian

Our annual Oriole's weekend is emblematic of a Mid-Atlantic cultural regionalism which exists within the space between Richmond and Baltimore. …