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Welcome and Introductions The Speaker's Commission on Regionalism (SCOR) held its fourth meeting on March 23rd at the Doyle Conference Facilities at The James Irvine Foundation in San Francisco. SCOR Chairperson Nick Bollman gave welcoming remarks and discussed upcoming commission dates and locations.
New Governance: Addressing the Issues that Extend Beyond the Boundaries of Any Single Local Agency Robert Waste, Professor and Chair of the Department of Public Policy and Administration at California State University, Sacramento, gave the first presentation. Professor Waste summarized the findings of his report, "Drawing Lessons From Regional Success: 'New Regionalism,' and the Prospects for Regional Cooperation in California," and presented six recommendations for the Commission's work on New Regionalism. His six recommendations to the Commission were to:
Michael Teitz, Director of Research at the Public Policy Institute of California gave the second presentation, which was on New Regional Governance. He illustrated the perceived inadequacies of government problem as stemming from scale, government agencies are either too large or too small to deal with regional problems. For example, central city governments are too small to deal with the issue of urban decentralization. Mr. Teitz gave four possible solutions to the scale problem. These were:
Mr. Teitz then gave an in depth analysis of COGs. He walked through their history, highlighting that they were originally created by federal intervention in transportation, and reached their peak of power when they had money. He stressed that they are voluntary organizations, and therefore do not have the power that would be found in an ideal regional agency with mandated participation. Mr. Teitz posed the question of what the potential role of COGs could be. He speculated that COGs could play a state agency role in housing, for example, or a collaborative or coordinative role. Finally, Mr. Teitz speculated that the incentive to enhance COGs power lacks since they have no money. Karen Bluestone, Consultant to the Economic Strategy Group, ICF Incorporated, gave the last New Regional Governance presentation of the morning. She spoke of two actions that could have a positive impact on the concept of regionalism. The first is a greater focus on solutions, rather than issues. Ms. Bluestone felt that more research and promotion of collaborative solutions, best practices, and market driven solutions would help develop this focus. The second action is to recognize the role of intermediaries. Ms. Bluestone believed that a well-developed intermediary organization needed to be developed.
Angela Blackwell, President of PolicyLink, began the presentation of equity issues in New Governmental Regionalism. She stressed that the Commission must focus on equity to reach their other "E" goals of environmental protection and economic prosperity. By including all Californians in the dialogue, we develop better-rounded solutions. However, Ms. Blackwell also stressed that participation is expensive and time consuming. She believes the voices of the disadvantaged need to be heard but that they struggle to participate. Ms. Blackwell would like to see a dialogue formed around the issues important to the Commission and to disadvantaged communities expressed in terms that both communities can understand. Bill Kennedy, Managing Attorney for Legal Services of Northern California, finished the presentations on equity issues. He asserted that the most important regional issue is not sprawl but a tax structure that causes an all-consuming race for dollars in local communities. Housing, better education, access to capital, and health care are issues that are important to his clients, and directly affected by the inequitable tax structure. Mr. Kennedy also asserted that there is a race to exclude all people who might cost tax dollars, as well, from local communities. He also believes that Bay Area cities are engaged in an active pursuit of gentrification. He quoted a local official as saying, "the only way to prevent homelessness is not to allow them anywhere to go." Mr. Kennedy also asserted that race is at the heart of gentrification. He claimed that accommodation of racial animus is preventing the expansion of low-income services. Mr. Kennedy stated in the final section of his presentation that regionalism creates promise for his clients, since he believes that it eliminates the arbitrary power of local governments. However, he reiterated Ms. Blackwell's assertion that people from low-income communities cannot come to a forum like the Speaker's Commission and speak the language. Mr. Kennedy stressed the importance of long-term investment in organizing in these communities so they can better participate. He closed by reminding the Commission that equity is equity for us all.
The Commissioners discussed the issues of equity and New Regional Governance with the presenters. Questions were raised regarding the right balance between ground up community empowerment and strong governmental intervention. The Commissioners also asked how they could speak to those in disadvantaged areas in a way to organize them around the issue of regionalism. It was concluded that organization is key, and agencies cannot simply throw money at equity issues as that seems to hurt and isolate communities even further.
Sunne McPeak, President and CEO of the Bay Area Council, began the discussion of the BAASD collaborative regional initiative process. BAASD came from the President's Council on Sustainable Development. Its definition of sustainability is meeting the needs of the present without sacrificing the needs of the future. BAASD has tried to integrate five major challenges in their compact. The challenges are growth, education, environmental quality, transportation, housing, and economic development. BAASD plans to engage in a collaborative effort to reach the required critical mass of stakeholder organizations buying into the compact. Ms. McPeak spoke specifically of the challenge to provide sufficient housing to match the area's population increase and job generation. She believes that this challenge is the most difficult to articulate in the compact. Marguerite Wilbur, Executive Director of the Silicon Valley Civic Action Network, gave the next presentation on the CRI process. She asserted that those engaged in collaborative processes must focus on their successes to determine where they are meeting goals, or sliding away from them. Ms. Wilbur also asserted that housing should come first, then education, and then community dialogue. Tom O'Malley, President of the Tri-Valley Business Council, gave the final presentation on the CRI process. The Council became very concerned about the economic vitality of their region leading to a lower quality of life, and set out to create a regional compact. The compact was a bottoms-up process. Mr. O'Malley outlined eight goals of the process. They were continued economic vitality, preservation of open space, preservation of agricultural lands, environmental quality, create on vital centers and connected neighborhoods, affordable housing, educational opportunity, and regional transportation. He believes that regional collaboration is important to meet the overall goals of all stakeholders.
The Commission discussed briefly with Mr. O'Malley what concrete changes the Tri-Valley Business Council has produced in regional planning. Mr. O'Malley and the other presenters all answered that none of the CRI processes taking place have gotten past the dialogue stage. However, it was pointed out that collaborative decision-making is a long and involved process that must first lay a solid foundation prior to the beginning of real work.
Becky Morgan, former State Senator and Commission member, gave the first presentation. She spoke of the legislation enabling the formation of regional governmental entities she introduced in the late 1980's and the lessons she learned from the experience. Senator Morgan believes that the legislation creating a Bay Area regional government failed because of fear. She characterized the bill as simple. However, she believes that people read into it everything from creation of another layer of government, to loss of city autonomy, to encouragement of growth. Senator Morgan also asserted that a nine county regional organization, such as the one she sought to implement, was too big to be practical. She believes that those seeking to create a regional organization should work through common interests and the right scope of focus. Senator Morgan also recommended that while the state should be given power to facilitate regional development, actual development should come from local communities. Eugene Leong, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, gave the second presentation. He is concerned about the long-term growth patterns in the Bay Area, and sees them as endemic of "dumb growth." Mr. Leong presented the Commission with evidence that San Francisco will completely gentrify in twenty years, resulting in a "Los Angelesation" of the Bay Area. He believes that regional governmental entities are useful entities to combat current Bay Area growth patterns. Steve Heminger, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, gave the last presentation of the afternoon. He chose to elaborate on the smart growth concerns raised by Mr. Leong. Mr. Heminger presented the Commission with a conceptual framework on Bay Area building pressures, or "the donut." San Francisco, the donut hole, is the already developed area with little to no in-fill potential. The first set of outlying communities surrounding the San Francisco Bay, the donut, are dense, but still have infill potential. Finally, the second set of outlying communities, the frosting, has the most and cheapest in-fill potential. That's why everyone goes for the frosting first. Mr. Heminger felt that NIMBY (not in my back yard) sentiments were also less in outlying communities. If the Commission is interested in promoting infill, they must advocate the preservation of support infrastructure, provide incentives, and experiment with new designs. Mr. Heminger concluded his presentation by stating that improvement of schools and racial relations are the keys to stopping sprawl, because those issues are the catalysts for much urban flight. |
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