Regional Community Development News - August 9, 2006 - 30 IL [regions_work]
Tom Christoffel
Regional Community Development News – August 9, 2006 [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. 8-county agency seen as answer - Sarasota Herald-Tribune - Sarasota, FL,USA
Florida has a state transportation department, tollway authorities, local transit and road departments, and several city-county transportation panels.
They all have budgets, staffs and reams of long-range plans.
So, why do state Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, and a coalition representing 150 businesses and institutions want the Legislature to launch yet another transportation agency -- specifically for the Tampa Bay area?
"We're choking on (transportation) plans," Galvano said. "It's not a lack of plans. It's a dearth of money. We could create authorities and planning organizations all day long -- and, to some extent, we've done that. But nothing is going to happen unless (those agencies) relinquish some control to an autonomous, regional authority."
Galvano and the Tampa Bay Partnership, a 12-year-old association that promotes economic development, say the current disjointed system doesn't cut across enough county lines to deal with the broad traffic issues facing Southwest Florida.
They believe it's too nearsightedly focused on local priorities and constrained by its divvied-out shares of gas taxes to build the major network of transit lines and expressways they say will be needed alternatives to Interstate 75, U.S. 41 and other routes.
They contend Tampa Bay can't wait any longer to kick-start such projects, and back formation of a Tampa Bay Regional Transportation Authority that would span Sarasota, Manatee, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Polk, Citrus, Hernando and Pasco counties.
...
RCs: Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council - Manatee, Hillsborough, Pasco , Pinellas; Central Florida Regional Planning Council - Polk;
Withlacoochee Regional Planning Council - Citrus, Hernando; Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council - Sarasota
2. Independent tradition threatens neighbors' cooperative plans - Shelburne News - Shelburne, VT,USA
Among Vermont's many traditions is the relative independence of its municipalities. It's a trait that helps magnify the strength of each Vermonter in his or her own governance. Strong towns ensure strong citizens -- and a weakness at the regional level.
The differences in the planning philosophies of Chittenden County's municipalities are often as marked as their boundaries. Towns have their own plans. When they conflict, some local officials say, there is no authority in place to ensure that there is compromise. In effect, cooperation in planning is only an option.
"It brings up some hard issues in planning," said Shelburne's former town planner Kate Lampton. "The instances of where it's becoming important are becoming more and more prevalent. Right now, it's just up to the municipalities to make [cooperation] happen."
The conflicts arise when borders separate very different land-use patterns. ...
In Vermont's Act 250 permit process, the final criterion -- Criterion 10 -- asks if a proposed development is in conformance with both the regional plan and the corresponding town plan. ...
3. Consolidation to test will of residents - Press & Sun-Bulletin - Binghamton, NY,USA
Broome County municipal leaders and taxpayers agree on the same thing -- governments need to cut costs for their survival. But experts and local leaders warn that consolidating towns and villages isn't always the guaranteed fix taxpayers crave.
"Dissolution raises enormous issues that need to be carefully worked through," said Thomas Sinclair, director of Binghamton University's Masters of Public Administration program. "There may not be a one-size-fits-all answer."
Mayors and supervisors are looking for ways to share services among themselves to compensate for increasing costs in areas like health insurance. However, some residents want something more drastic: to dissolve municipal boundaries and merge their governments.
Last week's call from County Executive Barbara J. Fiala for residents to start the process of dissolving villages may have planted the seed for many residents, who may have thought the move had to be initiated by those who govern.
Some residents, including John Sullivan of Johnson City, want to wipe away the boundaries of the villages they live in. Sullivan and others in his village are ready to take their effort door to door to get signatures on petitions required by state law to start the dissolution process. If enough signatures are collected, the village board must come up with a plan for consolidation that would go to voters in a referendum.
"If we could get this on the ballot in November, we would start tomorrow," Sullivan said. "We are very eager."
MERGING GOVERNMENTS
Government with fewer layers is more common in the southern and western United States. Arlington County, Va., operates with only a county government overseeing about 200,000 residents -- roughly Broome's population. Metropolitan areas around Indianapolis, Ind., and Louisville, Ky., are sharing services to streamline services to residents.
New York state is even making money available to encourage governments to share services, such as gasoline fueling stations, and dissolve through its Shared Municipal Services Initiative grant program.
But residents shouldn't automatically think dissolution is the answer without knowing the details, said Sinclair, who has also researched municipal consolidation for the Greater Binghamton Council of Governments.
...
4. Prescott's regional quangos hindering Thames Gateway regeneration - Conservatives.com – UK
Caroline Spelman has blamed John Prescott's obsession with regional government for the lack of progress with plans to regenerate the Thames Gateway area east of London.
Responding to a Campaign to Protect Rural England report, the Shadow Local Government and Communities Secretary said the scheme to build new homes in the Gateway was being "strangled" by the Deputy Premier's legacy of overlapping public bodies and bureaucracy.
After the CPRE warned that the Thames Gateway project was in danger of being blown off course, and that its transformation will not now be met, Mrs Spelman declared: "The Thames Gateway area offers great potential to build more homes and take the pressure off development on Green Belt sites elsewhere.
"Yet its regeneration is being strangled by John Prescott's legacy of 37 overlapping public bodies being in charge. Regional government has become the problem, not the solution, and is hindering the construction of communities that people actually want to live in."
...
5. 12-county region struggles with dilemma of exposing its value without losing it - Pittsburgh Post Gazette - Pittsburgh, PA,USA
...
After decades of neglecting the tourism potential of 2.1 million acres of public land and surrounding towns in 12 primarily rural, naturally spectacular, northern tier counties, the state plans to spend almost $200 million dollars to promote it.
Branded Pennsylvania Wilds by state marketers, the project focuses on a swath of rolling woodlands that blankets the Allegheny Plateau and drapes in lush folds across the Appalachians. It's a landscape where the state's bulging elk herd, tallest trees, grandest canyon, wildest woodlands and darkest skies can be found.
It's also a sparsely populated area where the political landscape is decidedly conservative, historically short on cooperation between the counties and long on distrust for any government not populated by neighbors. And a cyclical economy defined by natural resource extraction -- logging, wood products production, oil and natural gas drilling and mining -- has helped foster an underlying tension between development interests and conservationists.
Against that green state-red state backdrop, the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, until the past few years, has been like a hiker on a narrow, unmarked trail, anxious to move ahead but daunted by the danger and difficulty.
...
Don Masisak, deputy director of the six-county North Central Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Commission, said some county governments were slow to embrace the regional approach pushed by the state. Elk, Lycoming and Clinton counties especially, where land demands for agriculture, housing developments and industrial parks is sometimes seen as competing with tourism and environmental interests.
"There was some concern, but the state's approach has been working. It's throwing out a plan, but getting local input," he said. "They've made it dynamic, and local people are driving it. Businesses want to be identified with Pennsylvania Wilds."
...
Related RCs: Northwest Commission SEDA - Council of Governments Northern Tier Regional Planning & Development Commission
6. Service contract for Memphis Regional Chamber wins initial approval - Bizjournals.com - Charlotte, NC,USA
A Memphis City Council committee unanimously approved a $175,000 contract for services with the Memphis Regional Chamber Tuesday that could ultimately mean $350,000 in new revenue for the economic development group.
The contract is designed to be a joint agreement between the City of Memphis and Shelby County governments, who are being asked to equally fund the program. The full City Council is expected to vote on the contract at its Aug. 15 meeting.
A Shelby County Commission committee will look at the contract Aug. 9 and vote on the contract Aug. 14.
The annual contract provides that, among other things, the Chamber will submit quarterly progress reports indicating progress made on the scope of services.
As a part of the scope of service contract, the Memphis Regional Chamber proposes to provide 13 separate services in the areas of economic development, community development and research. Specific goals include creation of 6,000 net new jobs inside Shelby County, $750 million in private sector capital investment inside Shelby County, contacting 400 local businesses annually and coordinate 100 prospect site visits to Memphis.
...
RC: Memphis Area Association of Governments
1420 Union Avenue, Suite 420
Memphis, TN 38104
7. Tourism management requires regional response - Scoop.co.nz (press release) - New Zealand
Tourism management requires regional response
A fresh approach in dealing with the management and funding for tourism growth in the Auckland region is being recommended by Auckland City's Economic Development and Sustainable Business Committee.
"Tourism is a key plank in the economic development of the region and enhanced tourism management, supported by a wide representation of the industry and related stakeholders, is essential if we're going to capitalise on this important market," said committee chair Councillor Richard Northey.
Auckland City Council currently provides most local authority funding for Tourism Auckland and a review of the organisation has shown the need for a wider scoping of tourism's promotional management region-wide.
"There needs to be a sharper regional focus on the six functions of tourism commonly pursued in tourism marketing," said Councillor Northey.
These are:
* destination marketing
* attraction and promotion of meetings, incentives, conferences and events (MICE) * facilities marketing
* visitor information centres
* tourism-related infrastructure advocacy
* cooperation among tourism industry associations.
"Our review of Tourism Auckland's operation has shown the need for a wider examination of roles and responsibilities across the region and with all parties associated with tourism management. We'll be organising discussions along these lines."
A further report will be submitted to the committee which this week approved $1.645 million in funding for Tourism Auckland, tagged with new performance measures and agreed outcomes.
8. Data paints revealing landscapes - Boston Globe - United States
Local planners will soon have a new state-funded tool to gauge changes to the region's landscape, including the loss of open space to development.
The Legislature included $400,000 in the fiscal 2007 budget to develop new mapping data pinpointing the location of residential and commercial buildings, forests, farms, and other land features.
The state's Geographic Information System office maintains more than 1,000 digital layers, which are categories of data that a user can access on a computerized map.
That data, which ranges from population information to the location of wetlands, is commonly used by planners, businesses, land preservationists, and others.
But the newest initiative will provide the first new land use data since 1999. As a result of state-of-the-art technology, it is expected to produce the most accurate and detailed mapping of land uses to date in Massachusetts, according to GIS specialists.
``It's going to give an up-to-date picture of your community," said Allan Bishop, GIS manager for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, a regional agency that provides planning help to 101 cities and towns in northeast Massachusetts. ``You can take information from 30 years ago and see how your community has developed."
The new technology includes sophisticated digital cameras that were used to create new statewide aerial photos last year, and new computer software that can automatically recognize and identify different types of land uses.
...
Clarke said that the most recent version of the Mass. Audubon report, ``Losing Ground," published in 2002, estimated that the state is losing 40 acres of open space a day to development.
He said the society estimated that when the ``hidden development" is factored in, the true loss is 78 acres a day.
...
9. The Evolution of a Data Czar - B-EYE-Network - Boulder, CO,USA
...
But the Data Czar was by no means completely sure of what he was doing at all times. His company, a well-known retailer, was big on packaged applications, and new systems (aka: new data sources) were being introduced regularly. He still had trouble making sure his group was kept apprised of projects in IT’s pipeline. And he had his share of politics, too. Not surprisingly, when I asked him about his top three challenges, he gave me five:
- Data hoarding. Even though the Data Czar had the full support of the CIO and the executive staff, he couldn’t convince certain departments to share their data. “Managing data as an asset” had entered the corporate lexicon. Nevertheless, marketing and finance were stonewalling his organization, and business initiatives had suffered as a result.
- “Executive ADD.” The Data Czar was a victim of his own competence. Although the CIO had given him support and funding, he was often called in to advise on troubled projects, many of which had bigger problems than just data. The Data Czar had been careful to repeat the question, “What is the goal of this project, and how can data help?” However, several executives continued to rely on him for his business knowledge and problem-solving skills. While flattered by this, he knew his organization risked losing focus.
- Dirty data. No, it never goes away. With the onslaught of new packaged software came untested, poorly defined, often-proprietary, loose-ruled data. New data was coming in faster than the Data Czar could assign someone to steward it, which brings us to the next challenge.
- A shortage of skilled personnel. The Data Czar was short on data stewards. He’d originally assigned a steward for each of the company’s subject areas, but the data was so complex that he discovered he needed specialists to understand the inbound and outbound data from specific systems, such as the company’s ERP system. He could find ERP experts, but they weren’t necessarily “data people.” And even when he managed to wring a new staff requisition from the CIO, the Data Czar knew that the business and company-specific knowledge would still need to evolve.
- ...
10. U.S. regional communities - sub-State, State or multi-State - in news articles. Highlighted words are Google search terms. In this and the following section, links to websites of organizations are added to the news excerpt when this is the first time an organization has been found. A goal of this newsletter is to find every regional council in the U.S. in a news story. In most cases, where a full name is present a Google search will quickly get one to that organization.
a) WisBusiness: Regional Cooperation Key to Growth, Denver
Development Pro Says
Wisbusiness.com - Madison, WI,USA
For counties, towns and cities surrounding Madison to grow their economies in a “sane, rational and compatible” manner, the best strategy is to work regionally and collaboratively. Moreover, communities that want to compete in the global economy must cooperate instead of fight each other, said Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. ...
b) When does the stupidity end?
Dailyrecord.com - Parsippany, NJ,USA
When does the stupidity end about property taxes? ... While there is strong
support for regionalization, what exactly does that mean? If three towns hire
one police chief and fire two, does anyone really believe that the divided
savings among the three towns will have any real effect on municipal taxes? The
real problem in New Jersey
is real-time, major-league ...
c) Constitutional convention main priority
for Madden
The Gloucester
County Times
- Woodbury, NJ,USA
... Joint Committee on Constitutional Reform and Citizens Property Tax
Convention will focus on clearing legal impediments to tax reform. ...
committees will examine: possible changes to education funding; changes to
public pensions and benefits; and consolidation and regionalization by the
state's 566 municipalities and 611
school districts. ...
d) Consolidation: a long and winding road
to unity
Hopewell Valley
News - Hopewell, NJ,USA
Recent outcry over rising property taxes ... call for a referendum on
consolidating Hopewell Township, Pennington Borough and Hopewell Borough into
one municipality A state law, known as the Municipal Consolidation
Act, allows two or more contiguous municipalities in the same county to be
consolidated into a single municipality. ...
e) Attacking home rule isn't going to
solve property tax problem
Asbury
Park
Press - Asbury Park, NJ,USA
... We agree that regionalization and
service sharing present excellent opportunities for local savings. That is why
so many municipalities have been involved for so long in many such
arrangements. Unfortunately, there are many impediments for larger-scale
sharing of services ...
f) Report Calls for Radical Rethink of New
York Area Planning
StreetsBlog - New York, NY,USA
A major report released today conclude that the New York region needs to radically rethink
its approach to land use, transportation and school finance. The report was
issued by the Citizens Housing and Planning Council and the Regional Plan
Association. ...
g) State-to-State Cooperation: How Should We Rate NY?
The Empire Page - Albany, NY,USA
... problem is that New York’s
political leaders seem to miss the boat each time they come up with one of
these schemes – the boat being inter-state cooperation ...
h) Neal Peirce, Curtis Johnson: Facing New
England's education crisis
Providence Journal - Providence, RI,USA
NEW ENGLAND'S colleges and universities are famed across the globe. But today thousands of young New Englanders lack either the grades or the motivation -- or both -- to attend them.... a shortage of highly trained workers could hobble the high-tech industries that the region has come to count on. ...
i) `War room' scrambles to meet record
demand
Boston Globe - United States
... As temperatures soared to 98
degrees at Logan International
Airport in mid afternoon and touched
100 elsewhere in New England, regional power
grid officials appealed to consumers and businesses to shut off lights and
appliances. Shortly after 1 p.m. they also ordered a 5 percent voltage
reduction, or reduction in regional electric output, to stretch supplies, which
New Englanders could see showing up as dimmer lights, slower-opening electric
garage doors, and slightly smaller television screen pictures. ...
j) Differences slow regional fire plan
Tribune Chronicle - Warren, OH,USA
... Trumbull County communities to discuss regional
fire and emergency medical services brought to light the differences in needs
of each fire department. ...
Consultant John Preuer told the group Tuesday that he organized the phases in a
regionalization study by priority
based on questionnaires given to community representatives, but ...
k) Alliance fosters region's economy – Note: South Carolina
story in Pennsylvania
newspaper. Ed.
Centre Daily Times - Centre County, PA,USA
... The goal of the North Eastern
Strategic Alliance,
a coalition that spans the Pee Dee and Grand
Strand, is regional economic development, which has a profound ...
l) Opponents: There are better ways to
tackle crime
MLive.com - MI,USA
Thomas R. Call Jr. has one word to say to proponents of the "No Boundaries" public safety tax: STOP.
The Saginaw Township resident ... Thomas R. Call Jr. has one word to say
to proponents of the "No Boundaries" public safety tax: STOP. ...
m) Ethanol Refining Company Planned For
Finger Lakes Region
North Country Gazette - Chestertown, NY,USA
... commitment to New York
State, Empire Biofuels
LLC is eligible to apply for designation as a Regionally Significant Project as
an agribusiness. If granted, the company would receive full Empire Zone
benefits. Additionally, Empire Biofuels is eligible for $1 million in New York
State Multi-Modal Transportation funding, ...
n) Regional commission seeks new candidate
Youngstown Vindicator - Youngstown, OH,USA
Mercer County commissioners are seeking a minority county resident with business experience to serve on the Northwest Pennsylvania Regional Planning Commission. ... the current minority member, had to resign because of her work schedule. ...
o) EMS merger worth pursuing
Wisconsin State
Journal - Madison, WI,USA
... Fire and EMS leaders in about 15 municipalities in central and eastern Dane County are talking about a regional district. It's now up to local leaders to work out the details and build momentum. ...
p) Official blasts county agency
Stockton Record - Stockton, CA,USA
... Andrew Chesley, San Joaquin
Council of Governments executive director, spoke on
behalf of the measure, which he said has delivered more than 30 major projects ...
q) Keep cash close to home
The Tribune-Democrat – Johnstown, PA,USA
The regional organization Chambers
of the Alleghenies – which covers Cambria, Somerset, Bedford, Blair and
three other counties ... A survey of members of various chambers of commerce
would provide information about buying habits in an effort to create a strategy
for keeping commerce spending close to home. ...
r) Tennessee hospitals treat helmetless
motorcyclists from other states
WBIR-TV - Knoxville, TN,USA
... The
hospital has treated 114 Arkansas
residents since 2002 who have been involved in motorcycle wrecks. Vanderbilt is
trying to establish written agreements with Kentucky
hospitals to take back residents after they received emergency care in Tennessee. ...
s) 3 Minnesota areas to receive federal assistance in
coordinating regional services to job seekers and businesses
BusinessNorth.com - Duluth, MN,USA
... Workforce Service Areas (WSAs)
– Stearns Benton, Central Minnesota and Southwestern Minnesota –
have been selected jointly to receive federal assistance in aligning education
with economic and workforce development activities. ... Together, the three
Minnesota WSAs are one of just six designated sites in the nation ...
t) Geographic split is best
El Defensor Chieftain - Socorro, NM,USA
... So far, public opinion has proven to be almost equally divided, with a slight tilt toward the geographic split. Most of those who favor the overlay plan cite the inconvenience of having to change to the new area code ...
u) Berryville Community Center becomes a
regional drawing card
Eureka Springs Times-Echo - Eureka Springs, AR,USA
... As of last Friday, membership from 110 different Zip Codes stood at 8,887,
... “The Berryville Community Center is a city-owned profitable organization and we wanted a non-profit to
do more charitable works.”. ...
v)
Ten ways to make City Council work
Los
Angeles
Daily News - Los Angeles, CA,USA
... public formal voting power
over planning and land-use issues by changing the system through which the five
members of the seven area planning commissions are ...
11. Other in the news: Highlighted words are Google search terms.
a) One size does not fit all cities
Toronto Star - Ontario, Canada
The Conference Board of Canada recently called for urban policies that
concentrate investments in Canada's nine "hub cities," claiming that growth
in big cities will lift up smaller cities and communities. ... it is a policy
that grossly oversimplifies the wide range of challenges faced by different
Canadian cities and regions. ...
b) Late-night train plan to forge Glasgow-Edinburgh link
Sunday Herald - Glasgow, Scotland,
UK
ROUND-the-clock train services between Edinburgh and Glasgow are to be one of the top priorities for the new cities connectivity chief Laura Gordon. ... the lack of services after 11.30pm was stifling tourism and the arts, as visitors and arts enthusiasts either cannot attend evening events or have to leave events early to avoid being stranded. ...
c) Putting region on the map
n-e-life.com - Gateshead, UK
North East England’s new tourism delivery structure, Tourism Network North East, is now well on the way to becoming fully established and operational. ... only region in the country to have such an integrated approach that will provide tourism businesses with a simpler, more cost effective range of marketing and development opportunities. ...
d) Wisdom from a Half-Century of Struggle: Hunter Gray on
Organizing
Left Hook - USA
... discussing the 17 principles themselves
here in the Pocatello
region as we ... 1] The organizers should insure that
the community organization is significant in ...
e) JAPANESE COLLABORATION MAY BE PATTERN FOR FUTURE
CONSOLIDATION
MEPS - Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UK
... This new partnership agreement in Japan may form the pattern for future rationalisation within the industry when traditional methods fail. The organisations have undertaken some lateral thinking and turned competitors into allies. ... Teaming up with rivals to provide opportunities for consolidation will not be the panacea to solve the global overcapacity problem but it may make a contribution.
f) An
Assessment of the Community System of Pharmacovigilance
European Public Health Alliance - Brussels,
Belgium
... community pharmacies within the Community Pharmacovigilance System ... and the existing network
of pharmacies ... companies
pharmacovigilance and risk
management systems ...
g) Beyond Borders: Maximizing Nonprofit
Effectiveness Through Collaboration
OnPhilanthropy.com - New York, NY,USA
... authors address the role of philanthropy in globalization. They point out the value of building coalitions across sectors which include nonprofits, business and government, and also suggest that coordinating strategy among philanthropic organizations means leveraging each other’s power and building alliances for greater effectiveness. ...
h) Call for regional homelessness
champions
Inside Housing - UK
The National Housing Federation has called for the appointment of a homelessness champion in each region to ensure a more strategic approach is taken to tackling the problem. The champions would work within the regional assemblies to ensure that homelessness objectives are tied to other national policies, such as Supporting People. ...
i) Building a mega growth alliance in
central China
People's
Daily Online - Beijing, China
... the exclusively economic marriage with the coastal areas negates the central area's own unique advantages. With every province having its own coastal partner, the area will find it hard to organize within itself and form a regional economic force. On the contrary, chaotic competition between the provinces is likely. ...
j) Think tank claims regions imbalance
East Anglian Daily Times - Suffolk, England,UK
... the trends in economic performance are worrying for both north and south, with the north facing further migration of young people and slower business formation, while the south faces greater congestion and rising living costs. ...
k) Regionalism & Maximizing Potentials in the 21st
Century
Mycaribbeannews - Miami, FL,USA
... Regional and subregional organisations make sense as an indispensable link in the chain as they, amongst other things, provide a forum for discussion and make it less costly for states to discuss issues with one another; allow governments to take a long-term perspective, making them less concerned about immediate results; provide economies of scale, maximizing return on investment of international assistance as well as provide greater transparency and accountability for donors; ...
l) Voice of Our Readers: The 2006
Strategic Management Survey
Intelligent Enterprise
- San Mateo, CA,USA
... information technology, while enabling critical business insight and smarter processes, also produces silos that can hobble companies trying to integrate information for a cross-functional, enterprise understanding of business performance, customer behavior and other key factors. ... service-oriented architecture (SOA) gets a qualified ...
m) Fakespace Systems Provides Collaboration Environment
HPCwire - San Diego, CA,USA
... University of Salford (UK). The sophisticated
visualization system is at the heart of the University's
$2.5 million Think Lab, which is a state-of the-art facility available to
university staff and the local community for collaborative data review sessions
and research projects. ... worldwide "Access Grid" network of
visualization environments. ...
n) Collaboration crucial in "today's
flat world"
Hindu - Chennai, India
"If customer is king, collaboration
is the only way to meet his aspirations in the flat world. ... bringing together strengths of regions,
like Chinese manufacturing, Indian software and European/US design to create
products and services, viz, creation of a "collaborative eco-system all
the way down the value chain" ...
o) 49ers work on developing passing
collaboration
San Francisco Chronicle - CA,
USA
It's still only summer practice, but
the San Francisco
49ers are developing the kind of passing collaboration
that hasn't been seen since
quarterback ...
p) Federation of American Scientists publishes 'improved version' of Ready.gov website
Continuity Briefing
The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) has launched ReallyReady.org, ... section was added to help Americans with disabilities prepare for and respond to emergencies. ... “The Department of Homeland Security has declared September National Preparedness Month. ...
q) The wiki faithful look
beyond encyclopedias to activism
Boston Globe - United States
... some Wikipedians, the wiki's grassroots culture of collaboration has become a way of life. ... speaker ... mapped out a way to provide all of the world's content currently in books, CDs, and film, for free. ... contents of the Library of Congress, about $750 million, would be less than the cost of maintaining all the libraries in the country. ...
r) Google Earth Reveals Chinese Military
Secret
Zaman Online - Istanbul, Turkey
Google Earth ... continues to disclose countries’ military secrets. ... KenGrok discovery as important as the previous discovery of a nuclear submarine tunnel and a nuclear facility, which was found in Pakistan’s Kushab region ... Some countries were worried about Google Earth, but the world has welcomed the service with open arms.
12. Sub-State Regions - Illinois - U.S. Census – Midwest Region; East North Central Division, FIPS Code 17
Following is a selection of links relating to regional arrangements in Illinois. This year each issue features a State with links to maps of regions and regional related resources. The Census Regions and Divisions of the United States map (PDF) is being used going, region by region from the Northeast to the South to the Midwest to the West.
a) IL Association of Regional Councils - Map
b) IL Dept. of Transportation Districts - IDOT
c) IL Economic Development Regions
d) IL K-12 State IT Plan Infrastructure Maps
e) IL Emergency Medical Services - Regions
f) IL Climate Monitoring Regions NOAA
g) Farm Bureau & Farm Management Assn
h) Ecological Region Specialty Farm Products
i) Human Capital Development Regions
j) Regional Urban & Community Forestry
k) Regions - Illinois EPA - Bureau of Land
l) IL Regional Archives Depository System
m) IL Newspaper Project Cataloging Regions
13. Announcements
a) Altered Oceans: A five part series on the crisis in the seas
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth R. Weiss, a Los Angeles Times staff member since 1990, has covered the California coast and the oceans for the past five years. Covering narrow policy disputes over such issues as catch limits on fish and permissible levels of ocean pollutants prompted him to think about the long-term health of the seas. He was further inspired by scientific lectures and papers describing a gradual but profound transformation of the world's oceans, marked by the decline of fish and marine mammals and the proliferation of primitive life forms — algae, bacteria, jellyfish. Weiss began reporting this series in 2005 and traveled widely — to Australia, Panama and Jamaica; to Midway, Palmyra Atoll and the Hawaiian Islands; and up and down the coasts of California, Washington, Florida and Georgia.
b) Thinking Regionally
Myrtle
Beach
Sun News - Myrtle Beach, SC,USA
The Grand Strand-Pee Dee region is one market economically. But that market encompasses
so many county and municipal governments - in two states - that regional
planning on transportation, growth, economic development and other challenges
has proven difficult. On Aug. 11, Coastal
Carolina University
and The Sun News again will host an event aimed at promoting regional thinking
across political boundaries, the fifth annual Growth Summit....
14. Density
Are we going to build a city, or just
talk about it?
The Grand
Rapids Press - Grand
Rapids, MI,USA
... This land has just become too valuable. That, and the normal growth of a city is increased density, not bigger lots with single homes. People who want those homes aren't going to look for them in the core city. This project will attract new urbanites who'd rather not have lawns or bushes to trim -- a different type of person from what neighborhood leader Peter Carlberg is used to, and I don't think he gets it. In fact, what most people in Grand Rapids, city staffers included, don't seem to know about real urban redevelopment would fill -- a city. ...
15. Google News for “Regional Community”
Other menu sections available from this link include: Regional Development; Regional Council; Regional Commission; Regional America; Regional Asia; Regional Europe; Regional Competition; Regionalism; Intergovernmental and other search terms. They can be sorted by date or relevance. These are among the 50 search terms I use to produce this newsletter.
My name is Tom Christoffel. I've worked in the field of intergovernmental cooperation since 1973. As a consequence, "I see regions." Regional Community Development News is published weekly based on news reports as of Wednesday. Making visible analysis and actions at multi-jurisdictional regional scales is its purpose. "Think globally, act locally" was innovative in its time. Today the local scale is often too small to address today's needs and opportunities. "Think local planet, act regionally," is my candidate paradigm. (No one said we're only allowed one paradigm.) We can see that “regional communities” are organized locally and now act both to avoid tragedy in the commons and gain benefits. An effective multi-jurisdictional regional community has DNA: it is geographically Defined; has a common Name and its Alignment is inclusive of smaller communities and participatory in larger communities. So, by scanning this compilation, reading articles and checking organizations - you too will be able to see the regional communities that already exist. News references are found using the Google News search service. Media article links are “fair use” to transform globally scattered reports to make regional approaches visible. Links go to the publisher and do not compete with it. Such publishers are likely to have related stories and thus be seen by new customers. “Regional” is an emerging news category. There is no charge for this service and no profit is made from its use, though any user can become more aware of the topic itself.
To read and search previous issues go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/regions_work/messages The term “Development” was added to the name in January, 2006.
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Thomas J. (Tom) Christoffel, AICP Making regions visible for Leaders and Problem-solvers. www.regionalintelligence.com or www.regions.ws
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