Toledo Talk - Meta-Plan workshop spotlights regionalism

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Meta-Plan workshop spotlights regionalism

Sort of. Half the picture was filled in. This Nov 30, 2007 summit meeting was a nice first step, but it appears no representatives from Michigan attended. Why was that? Was Michigan invited?

Maybe the next one of these will include groups from across the line and the Lt. Gov. of Michigan. Then some day, it will be the Governors from both states attending a Lake Erie West meeting. We need a "Tear down this wall" moment that removes the invisible barrier called a state border.

Excerpts from a Dec 7, 2007 Toledo Free Press story :

A who's who of Northwest Ohio's economic development community met Nov. 30 at the Dana Conference Center to identify opportunities for coordination and collaboration among their organizations. Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher [born in Ann Arbor] delivered the workshop's keynote address.

Attendees included :

More from the TFP story :

Dan Johnson, UT president emeritus and one of the event's organizers, said the session was “historic” because it was the first time leaders from Northwest Ohio's main economic development agencies met under one roof to share their organizations' missions and goals and identify unifying themes to advance regional economic development.

Fisher lauded the joint economic development district agreed to by the City of Toledo and Perrysburg Township for FedEx's relocation of its ground hub on Reynolds Road to Wood County.

Neil Reid, director of the UT Urban Affairs Center and an associate professor of geography and planning, presented his analysis of possible local industry clusters [pdf file] — businesses that are linked through buyer-seller relationships or share a common market, labor-force skills or natural resources.

He cited the Maumee Valley Growers, an association of regional greenhouse growers, as a successful example of a cluster. Other Northwest Ohio industries that could benefit from a cluster model include information technology, advanced engineering and alternative energy, Reid said.

Ideally, the "plan" would think larger than the immediate Toledo area.

created by jr on Dec 07, 2007 at 12:50:06 am
updated by jr on Dec 07, 2007 at 01:44:28 am Comments: 4

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tags: LakeErieWest

Comments ... #

RGP represents a multi-county area, but I'm surprised Perrysburg/Wood County wasn't also included, along with southern Michigan.

posted by MaggieThurber on Dec 07, 2007 at 10:26:22 am     #

So am I!

posted by lew on Dec 07, 2007 at 08:40:08 pm     #

RGP covers 11 counties, 2 of which are in Michigan.

posted by lew on Dec 08, 2007 at 06:30:05 am     #

Excerpts from a Jan 25, 2008 Toledo Free Press article by Dan Johnson titled Meta-Planning: Taking Toledo and Lake Erie West to a new level :

The initial Meta-Plan workshop produced a long list of potential areas of collaborative strategies. The resulting task was to identify and focus on two or three strategies from the list that would advance the economic development of the city, region and the work of all the participants. In a follow-up meeting, our economic development leaders agreed upon the following three strategic proposals:

Aligning regional goals and strategies with the economic goals and strategies of the State of Ohio;

Developing a “community scorecard” to enable our leaders and citizens to know if we are making progress toward our economic goals; and

Forging strategic relationships and partnerships with our economic development counterparts in Southeast Michigan.

These three strategies constitute the initial components of the Toledo/Lake Erie West Meta-Plan. It is a small but important beginning to a process that, if continued, will pay huge dividends on our economic development investment.

posted by jr on Jan 27, 2008 at 10:11:21 pm     #