by the RPA Staff
As Regional Plan Association's 2005 Regional Assembly faded to black last Friday afternoon, it was with the recognition that to compete our region must begin thinking not only as a region but as part of the growing Northeast mega region. And to do that, we will have to finally cross conventional political boundaries and build new bipartisan coalitions with similar mega regions developing across the country.
The starting point for this year's assembly, entitled "Beyond Red and Blue: The Tri-State Region in a Changing National Context," was the fact that the Northeast, at least at first glance, finds itself politically apart from the governing majorities in the nation's capital, and with different priorities. By the end of the day at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in midtown Manhattan, various speakers had said that this perceived divide was more nuanced and subtle than suggested by the red and blue electoral maps of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, and that many opportunities existed to bridge it.
Opening the conference as keynote speaker was Bruce Katz, director of the Metropolitan Institute at The Brookings Institution. Katz's central theme was that regions, coalitions of regions, and coalitions of states have opportunities to act on their own for common interests. These interests are larger than the divisions suggested by simple red/blue analysis. Regions, for example, can act more cohesively if they realize that issues like combating sprawl and funding mass transit, which often split along ideological fault lines, can be viewed through a different lens.
"How you grow physically affects how you grow economically," Katz said, according to a prepared copy of his remarks. "Density and compact development matter in the knowledge economy, because they enhance innovation and contribute to labor productivity."
As well as regions acting more cohesively, metropolitan areas can ally themselves with other metropolitan areas, Katz said.
"The Tri-State Area needs to find its common ground with other regions of the country in a way that confounds the popular perception of the political divide," Katz said, in areas like mass transit investment, immigration management, social policy and equity issues. "Listening to the political class, one would never get the notion that the constituents of Mississippi have as high a stake in the policies that make work pay--the Earned Income Tax Credit, child care, and health care coverage--as residents of New York City, Newark, and Bridgeport."
"We need, in short, to break out of a geographically confining notion of shared interest and define a new national map of regions. This speaks to the reality of demographic and market change. It also will speak to the inherent centrism of the American electorate."
Just as regions can work with regions, Katz said, states can work with states, particularly when they help compose the large corridors grouped around interstate highways that often make up a sort of linear city across multiple state lines.
"Imagine a regional, multi-state pool of capital that is dedicated to the preservation and modernization of the infrastructure--airports, ports, passenger rail, roads, bridges--that service this global metropolis," Katz said. "Or a new regional, multi-state pool of capital that is dedicated to the remediation and reclamation of polluted land along shared waterfronts. Or a new regional, multi-state pool of worker training funds to prepare workers for a knowledge economy that has no respect for political or administrative borders.
"Where do the new funds come from? Perhaps from a regional armistice on tax abatements and other government subsidies used to lure companies and firms from one side of the region to the other?"
Following the morning talk, panels in the break-out sessions often elaborated on themes Katz presented. The America 2050 panel went into considerable depth on the linear cities, or mega regions, that panelists said were emerging in the country.
Robert Lang, director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech University, identified ten huge growth corridors that usually had an interstate highway as their spine. These mega regions composed more than 70 percent of the country's population, Lang said, and planning for and from these new cities is a tremendous challenge.
In the transportation panel, Tom Downs of the Eno Transportation Foundation said that both federal and state spending on transportation was declining, even as non-essential projects, i.e. pork, consumed a greater share of the spending at the federal level. However, the impact of declining federal revenues for transportation pales in comparison to what the three states in the Region are doing themselves, piling on mountains of debt that consumes any funds for real improvements.
The panel on fiscal health noted the region's large imbalance of payments to Washington, but concluded that focusing on this excessively was unlikely to be very productive. Instead, panelists urged that cities and towns should focus on expanding the region's economy in areas like health care or logistics. These sectors provide higher-paying jobs that would make the region's economy sounder and more equitable.
Following the breakout sessions, which also included panels on environmental protection, managing sprawl and security issues, Mike Critelli, CEO of Pitney Bowes and the chairman of this year's assembly, talked from the stage in the hotel ballroom about how wise business leaders know that effective management of cities and regions was important. Even the new booming cities emerging in China and India, Critelli said, are recognizing that they must manage the challenges of growth, such as traffic congestion, if they are to stay competitive.
Following Critelli was Rep. Christopher Shays, the Republican congressman from Connecticut who has earned a reputation as a maverick. Similar to Katz in part, Shays said the red and blue divide in the nation was considerably more nuanced than suggested by the electoral map of the 2000 and 2004 national elections. As for the region, Shays said that he had never had trouble admitting that his state's fortunes depended in part on the fortunes of New York City.
As the day ended, there seemed to be a general consensus that the federal government was focused for the near future on fighting international terrorism and providing social security and health care for aging boomers. Given that, regions such as the Northeast need to work on their own and with other regions and states. These alliances have the potential for diminishing political polarization and moving the country "Beyond Red and Blue."
As Regional Plan Association's 2005 Regional Assembly faded to black last Friday afternoon, it was with the recognition that to compete our region must begin thinking not only as a region but as part of the growing Northeast mega region. And to do that, we will have to finally cross conventional political boundaries and build new bipartisan coalitions with similar mega regions developing across the country.
The starting point for this year's assembly, entitled "Beyond Red and Blue: The Tri-State Region in a Changing National Context," was the fact that the Northeast, at least at first glance, finds itself politically apart from the governing majorities in the nation's capital, and with different priorities. By the end of the day at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in midtown Manhattan, various speakers had said that this perceived divide was more nuanced and subtle than suggested by the red and blue electoral maps of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, and that many opportunities existed to bridge it.
Opening the conference as keynote speaker was Bruce Katz, director of the Metropolitan Institute at The Brookings Institution. Katz's central theme was that regions, coalitions of regions, and coalitions of states have opportunities to act on their own for common interests. These interests are larger than the divisions suggested by simple red/blue analysis. Regions, for example, can act more cohesively if they realize that issues like combating sprawl and funding mass transit, which often split along ideological fault lines, can be viewed through a different lens.
"How you grow physically affects how you grow economically," Katz said, according to a prepared copy of his remarks. "Density and compact development matter in the knowledge economy, because they enhance innovation and contribute to labor productivity."
As well as regions acting more cohesively, metropolitan areas can ally themselves with other metropolitan areas, Katz said.
"The Tri-State Area needs to find its common ground with other regions of the country in a way that confounds the popular perception of the political divide," Katz said, in areas like mass transit investment, immigration management, social policy and equity issues. "Listening to the political class, one would never get the notion that the constituents of Mississippi have as high a stake in the policies that make work pay--the Earned Income Tax Credit, child care, and health care coverage--as residents of New York City, Newark, and Bridgeport."
"We need, in short, to break out of a geographically confining notion of shared interest and define a new national map of regions. This speaks to the reality of demographic and market change. It also will speak to the inherent centrism of the American electorate."
Just as regions can work with regions, Katz said, states can work with states, particularly when they help compose the large corridors grouped around interstate highways that often make up a sort of linear city across multiple state lines.
"Imagine a regional, multi-state pool of capital that is dedicated to the preservation and modernization of the infrastructure--airports, ports, passenger rail, roads, bridges--that service this global metropolis," Katz said. "Or a new regional, multi-state pool of capital that is dedicated to the remediation and reclamation of polluted land along shared waterfronts. Or a new regional, multi-state pool of worker training funds to prepare workers for a knowledge economy that has no respect for political or administrative borders.
"Where do the new funds come from? Perhaps from a regional armistice on tax abatements and other government subsidies used to lure companies and firms from one side of the region to the other?"
Following the morning talk, panels in the break-out sessions often elaborated on themes Katz presented. The America 2050 panel went into considerable depth on the linear cities, or mega regions, that panelists said were emerging in the country.
Robert Lang, director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech University, identified ten huge growth corridors that usually had an interstate highway as their spine. These mega regions composed more than 70 percent of the country's population, Lang said, and planning for and from these new cities is a tremendous challenge.
In the transportation panel, Tom Downs of the Eno Transportation Foundation said that both federal and state spending on transportation was declining, even as non-essential projects, i.e. pork, consumed a greater share of the spending at the federal level. However, the impact of declining federal revenues for transportation pales in comparison to what the three states in the Region are doing themselves, piling on mountains of debt that consumes any funds for real improvements.
The panel on fiscal health noted the region's large imbalance of payments to Washington, but concluded that focusing on this excessively was unlikely to be very productive. Instead, panelists urged that cities and towns should focus on expanding the region's economy in areas like health care or logistics. These sectors provide higher-paying jobs that would make the region's economy sounder and more equitable.
Following the breakout sessions, which also included panels on environmental protection, managing sprawl and security issues, Mike Critelli, CEO of Pitney Bowes and the chairman of this year's assembly, talked from the stage in the hotel ballroom about how wise business leaders know that effective management of cities and regions was important. Even the new booming cities emerging in China and India, Critelli said, are recognizing that they must manage the challenges of growth, such as traffic congestion, if they are to stay competitive.
Following Critelli was Rep. Christopher Shays, the Republican congressman from Connecticut who has earned a reputation as a maverick. Similar to Katz in part, Shays said the red and blue divide in the nation was considerably more nuanced than suggested by the electoral map of the 2000 and 2004 national elections. As for the region, Shays said that he had never had trouble admitting that his state's fortunes depended in part on the fortunes of New York City.
As the day ended, there seemed to be a general consensus that the federal government was focused for the near future on fighting international terrorism and providing social security and health care for aging boomers. Given that, regions such as the Northeast need to work on their own and with other regions and states. These alliances have the potential for diminishing political polarization and moving the country "Beyond Red and Blue."
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