No, this is not about Czarty. Not yet, anyway. Strong mayor today, super-mayor tomorrow? Doubt it.
Excerpts from a Mar 6, 2008 story in The Economist subtitled How mayors of American cities are coping with suburban growth
Until recently Louisville seemed to be following the path of many industrial cities. Its factories were shedding workers. Middle-class whites were drifting to the suburbs and beyond. Between 1960 and 2000 the city's population dropped from 391,000 to 256,000. For the city to prosper, Mr Abramson realised, it must work with its neighbours. Ever since he took office the relationship has become closer.
In 2003 Louisville joined forces with surrounding Jefferson county in the biggest such merger since the 1970s (Indianapolis and Nashville, for example, also have consolidated city-county governments). Mr Abramson, who had served his three terms as city mayor, easily won the top job in the new “Louisville Metro”. Since then he has streamlined public services and accelerated the redevelopment of downtown Louisville.
Greater Louisville Inc, the metropolitan chamber of commerce, has helped companies like Geek Squad, a computer-service outfit, move beyond the city's borders. “It's better that a company locate in the next county over,” Mr Abramson says, “than we lose it to Chicago or Atlanta, Nashville or Cincinnati.”| July 2007 : | Toledo mayor accuses Wood County of poaching |
| September 2007 : | FedEx Ground remains in the LEW, moves to Perrysburg |
Louisville's mayor has a different outlook on regionalism than Toledo's mayor.
More from The Economist story :
Tucson is one of the sunbelt's rustiest cities. Its population is growing much more slowly than that of Phoenix, to the north, or Albuquerque to the east. It is poorer and more Hispanic than its surroundings. Tucson accounts for just over half the population of 9,000-square-mile Pima county. But probably not for long: between 2000 and 2006 some 71% of the county's population growth and more than half of its job growth took place outside the city. “We get all the negative externalities and none of the positive ones, except for sales taxes,” complains Mike Hein, the city manager.
Bob Walkup, Tucson's mayor, has helped end a long struggle between the city and county governments. They now work closely to attract new businesses and write transport policy. Like Mr Abramson, Mr Walkup is now focused on downtown.
Tucson's core is singularly bleak and unimpressive. But the city has extracted tax concessions from the state that will help it to build a hotel and an arena, and expand its convention centre. City mayors have proved they can work with suburbanites to solve common problems. Their next challenge is to convince them that both will be stronger with a beating heart.Locally, December 2007 : Meta-Plan workshop spotlights regionalism
Old geographical concepts don't apply. With technological developments and a new found appreciation of green campuses over vertical centralization, the subs are the obvious place to grow.
Who wants to build on a used and abused potential superfund site? It's potential chemical and legal quicksand, and it's all a result of short-term planning and poorly thought out development.
People who live in cities like Chicago or LA are more likely to live in the burbs and visit the city once a month or so.
posted by charlatan on Mar 11, 2008 at 03:29:52 am #