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3 Responses to “How consolidation and regional planning saved a Rust Belt city”

1. Bill Callahan Says:
   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.

2. Judy C Says:
   June 9th, 2008 at 1:07 pm

   Definitely worth the read – thanks for the link Ed.

3. Ed Morrison Says:
   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.