Brewed Fresh Daily

How Many Fingers Am I Holding Up? Regionalism is like the United Nations: great idea in theory that rarely works in reality. Reason: There's no powerful, committed constituency demanding greater cooperation among neighboring cities and counties. But maybe one is developing. The clearest sign of "creeping regionalism" is in the Miami area where business and political leaders from Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties have teamed up recently on several high-level economic development projects. The counties worked together, for instance, in lobbying for an international trade office in Miami (called the secretariat of the Free Trade Area of the Americas) and for state aid for a biotech research center in Palm Beach County. This doesn't come naturally to politicians in these places. "We grew up thinking of ourselves as three separate counties or three separate cities," said an economic development official in Broward County. "Today we're more like Los Angeles. We're one big megalopolis." More interesting than the cooperation itself is the small but growing constituency for cooperation, not only among business leaders (who have traditionally favored regionalism) but among good-government types as well. Example: The community leadership programs in South Florida have banded together to create a regional group called the Tri-County Leadership Council. Politicians are taking note. Said one Dade County commissioner of his county's increasing friendliness with its neighbors, "I like to tell people that when we wave at each other now, we actually use all of our fingers." Footnote: Miami isn't the only place where regionalism is developing a fan base. In Cleveland, 14 of the city's largest law firms banded together recently with the League of Women Voters and Cleveland Civic League to underwrite a study of regional government options. Said one attorney, "It's about time that, as a much larger group, with a much strong voice, we got involved in helping turn this place around, because God knows our political leadership isn't doing it."