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9 Responses to “BFD Learning Moment: Milwaukee”

1. Diane DiPiero Says:
   January 30th, 2009 at 8:05 am

   Very interesting. So how do we change this long-standing situation in Cleveland of developers and bankers running things? How do we put power in the hands of the universities, hospitals, etc?

2. Frank Z. Revy Says:
   January 30th, 2009 at 8:21 am

   Cleveland is still operating with the old metric. Which is fine, but in order to progress- the new metric needs to be implemented.
   Our political leaders need to be progressive visionaries with the ability to accept new paradigms in thinking and action.
   So – the power starts with us. Elect the officials that represent the new paradigm. The budding progressive leaders in our community cannot be afraid. They, We, need to stand up and be willing to take the heat to make the change.
   I mean come on – Milwaukee is making more progress than Cleveland? As a lifelong Clevelander, that drives me crazy because I know this city has the visionaries and mettle to do the same as Milwaukee. Mad props to Milwaukee and it’s people, Cleveland let’s follow suit and be an example of progress too.

3. Ed Morrison Says:
   January 30th, 2009 at 8:41 pm

   Diane: Frank is right. The dynamic will change when enough people stand up and move in another direction. When that happens, the mirrors will shift (They are starting to shift already.)

   Here’s what can accelerate the change in Cleveland:

   1. If you are a member of the Greater Cleveland partnership, start putting pressure on the board. The GCP is the typical example of a staff-run organization where most of the members of the board are either too passive or simply clueless.

   2. If you are a member of COSE, start examining the role that COSE can play in building in doing more than selling insurance (a thirty year old model of small business association). Start asking why COSE does not support more aggressive and open networks.

   3. If you have an interest in technology, start asking NortTech what they are doing. I’ve been a close observer for over five years, and, frankly, I still cannot figure out what they do.

   4. If you are interested in local politics, start asking for more transparency with the city’s investment in CDCs.

   5. If you are interested in Green Jobs opportunities, connect with E4S. As far as I can see, Cleveland has no green jobs strategy, despite the fact that the Obama administration will be pushing this strategy.

   Head over the Defend Cleveland and give us your thoughts:
   http://snurl.com/b17gg

   If you want to connect, I’ll give you some suggestions and resources that will enable you to connect with groups outside Cleveland who can help us change the inbred, dysfunctional dynamic that Forest City has been pushing on this city for over a decade.

4. Rick Bohan Says:
   January 31st, 2009 at 9:00 am

   One small example of what Ed is talking about is starting to happen and Ed is helping with it.

   Work In Northeast Ohio (WINOC) has a thirty year history of working with unions and unionized organizations, especially in manufacturing. We conducted a recent study that found that the external impression of NEO is that of old school, old style, outdated, heavily union and generally low performance, rust belt, dying industry. We see an opportunity to bring unions and unionized companies and organizations to the table when the issue of attracting investment to the area is discussed. We see an opportunity to get these same organizations to the table when education and work force skills development is discussed. We see an opportunity to learn from other regions, similar to our own, regarding effective economic development tactics.

   An early objective is to identify examples of high performance unionized companies and organizations. Agencies active in atracting investment have told us that these sorts of data will be useful in dispelling outdated impressions of the region. Another, once again, is to bring parties into the discussion that haven’t been there before.

   I hope this doesn’t go over the bounds of self-promotion, but we’re holding a conference at CSU on April 24 to get ideas and input from unions, unionized manufacturers, health care, education and public sector organizations, and anyone else interested in this idea. The Lt. Gov has agreed to speak as has our resident blogger, Ed Morrison.

   Check the WINOC website (winoc.org) if you’re interested in getting more information

5. John Ettorre Says:
   January 31st, 2009 at 2:38 pm

   Sorry to be so skeptical, but I’d be quite surprised if Milwaukee is doing better than Cleveland on any objective scale. It’s natural to think the grass is always greener elsewhere, and healthy to benchmark your own region against others. But everything I know, have heard about and/or read about the two regions tells me we’re doing just fine by comparison. There is one difference, of course: the effervescent Ed Morrison is spending most of his time working in one place and not the other, and thus directly experiences many of the glasses half full there, but perhaps not as many of them here.

6. Ed Morrison Says:
   January 31st, 2009 at 3:34 pm

   Rick:

   Last week I presented a workshop on developing re-employment networks at the Re-employment Summit in Baltimore.

   Purdue, The University of Akron, I-Open and the Center for Education Innovation and Regional Economic Development are all engaged in developing this new approach to re-employment.

   You can learn more at http://re-employment.net

7. Ed Morrison Says:
   January 31st, 2009 at 3:59 pm

   John:

   Some objective measures:

   The Cleveland metro’s current unemployment rate was 8.0% in 4Q 2008 and is projected to increase to 10.3% in 4Q 2009, according to estmates by Global Insight for the US Conference of Mayors. (Data released two weeks ago.)

   Milwaukee metro was 5.7% in 4Q 2008 and is projected to increase to 7.7% in 4Q 2009.

   Between 2000 and 2007 the Cleveland metro lost 2.4% of its population. The Milwaukee metro gained 2.9%.

   Milwaukee’s economy is also generating more income per capita. In 2007, Milwaukee generated $41,358 per capita. The Cleveland metro generated $39,259.

   Your perceptions are outdated.

8. John Ettorre Says:
   February 1st, 2009 at 9:24 am

   I stand corrected, Ed.

9. Ed Morrison Says:
   February 1st, 2009 at 10:13 am

   John:

   Your skepticism is understandable. Before I visited Milwaukee, I thought the city was another version of Cleveland, only worse.

   How mistaken I was. There are serious challenges in Milwaukee. Racial isolation and complex problems with the central city school system stand at the tomp pf the list.

   But you immediately sense a different dynamic. The business leadership is open to new ideas. Experimentation. Collaboration.

   The newspaper plays a positive role, continuously linking events to larger trends. These insights help build alignment within the region.

   Julia Taylor, the head of Milwaukee 7 (the equivalent of the Greater Cleveland Partnership) actively reaches out to new voices and aggressively pushes innovative solutions. They have adopted the “link and leverage” strategies and tools developed by I-Open and Purdue.

   You see the same commitment to this approach from Greg Northrup in West Michigan, Ron Kitchens in Kalamazoo, Tom Clark in Denver, Ronnie Bryant in Charlotte, Mark Miles in Indianapolis, Joe Reagan in Louisville.

   We do not have that type of leadership from the GCP…yet.