Regionalism is HOT

A few months ago, we started asking local leaders for their insight regarding road blocks to regionalism. We continue this month by sharing these sound bites with you.

Our inability to compete well behind bigger regions and more competent communities is becoming painfully clear. Does our region have insurmountable shortcomings that will always hinder our progress? I say, “No!” The problem is of our own making; with the right leadership and will, we can fix it.

We are a top metropolitan area with three separate communities, with different cultures and heritages – and we don’t co-operate much. However, a company could move here, have a large customer base, great transportation options, short drive times and live in a smaller family oriented community. We do have some structures that will be difficult to overcome – like multiple governmental jurisdictions (police, fire, education) – each with their own bureaucracies.

Like Indianapolis, those are difficult to fix but “oh” the benefits. I agree with Jeff Horney, “When Tom Devault came to the High Point Chamber, he started talking to his friend David Jameson, and now they are talking to Gayle Anderson, Chamber president of Winston-Salem.”
If leaders could convince their boards that a consolidated chamber could be the most important catalyst of change, then we would see progress at all levels, including economic development. Now that David is stepping down as Greensboro’s chamber president, will there be any thought or movement to consolidate at this time, when top leadership obstacles are eased?

The business community must drive the vehicle of change. Government officials have too many constituencies to please. It will be business owners, on chamber and similar boards, who need to raise the clarion call. They have the most to gain and lose.
Maybe a “HOT” idea will spark the debate. Hopefully you have heard of the Heart of the Triad initiative? Airports, FedEx, Dell and baseball have all added to the divide. Maybe a multi-use park, between Dell and FedEx, could be the springboard – our own Research Triangle Park.

What would it take? City leaders must be willing to:

1. Give up control to an important piece of real estate for the common good.

2. Give up the tax revenue related to this real estate for a deferred unknown gain down the road.

3. Provide services to the park without creating a whole new jurisdiction (and bureaucracy).

4. Give up the area that is not currently developed due to watershed issues. This will take delicate state negotiations and Guilford County can’t be seen as stealing Forsyth County water or worse, contaminating their supply.

5. Listen and consider the factions who will oppose development for environmental and 100 other reasons. These are stakeholders too.

6. Be patient.
Thanks to each of you working behind the scenes to seed and fertilize this idea. I challenge our media and naysayers to relax, let the ideas percolate without a million eyes of scrutiny and let capital flow in, without the risk of public disclosure.