Recent Comments
- Ed Morrison said “Carla: You are welcome. I hope we can all benefit from this powerful line of ...” on Food and cancer prevention
- Brian Cummins said “The following was posted as a comment on the Plain Dealer blog -- http://blog.clev~ ----------------~ ...” on Cuyahoga Board of Elections to enter agreement with US Dept of Justice to accommodate Puerto Rican Voters
- Carla said “Ed, thank you so much for posting this very important video. I will be passing ...” on Food and cancer prevention
- JS said “Since Seth Priebatsch and his ilk look to be rediscovering captology and serious gaming, the ...” on More on the video gaming software cluster
- John Polk said “We took a couple small stabs at a gaming strategy a few years ago with ...” on More on the video gaming software cluster
- About BDP Comments
Meta
An interesting commentary from New York, in light of the emerging collaborations in Northeast Ohio: How consolidation and regional planning saved a Rust Belt city
Last 5 posts by Ed Morrison
- Food and cancer prevention - August 31st, 2010
- BFD Learning Moment: Detroit moves on design as a strategy - August 30th, 2010
- More on the video gaming software cluster - August 30th, 2010
- Building NEO's clean energy economy - August 29th, 2010
- Mentor Technology Greenhouse - August 29th, 2010
June 9th, 2008 at 8:03 am
Ed,
Please note that the assertion that Hamilton has been “saved” by creating a consolidated municipality is completely unsupported by evidence (or even links to evidence) in Fisher’s article. In fact, the meaning of “salvation” is not even defined.
And make sure you read the comments.
June 9th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Definitely worth the read – thanks for the link Ed.
June 10th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Bill:
I think the commentary is interesting. I did not say I “endorsed” it.
Northeast Ohio — indeed the Great Lakes region generally — has to deal with the challenge of operating with a relatively high “public overhead”.
You can measure this in a variety of ways, included government employees per capita or government payroll as a percent of income.
The upward pressure on taxes in this region will only respond to reforming the cost structure of government.
Now, I happen to believe that government consolidation is a fool’s errand.
I do, however, believe that it is time to rethink public services and how they are delivered. A promising approach: Creating public value through networks.
The region has started down a positive path with revenue sharing discussions. The more challenging (and in the long run more important) discussion centers on streamlining the cost structure of local government.
We explored this issue while I was at REI.