Region's Mayors on Regionalism

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Last night Team NEO hosted three of the region's mayors to talk about their communities and the future of the region.

It was a fascinating discussion. Here are some of the highlights:

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson:

"We will sink or swim based on how we cooperate with each other." That is why Mayor Jackson is supporting the effort to implement regional planning and revenue sharing in Northeast Ohio.

"We can't continue talking anti-sprawl while investing in sprawl." Certainly not. Please join this conversation about what needs to happen to protect one of our region's  most  valuable assets: agricultural land.

Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic:

"Regionalism doesn't get us where we need to be if we don't make a  commitment to education."  Amen. Especially if one views regionalism very narrowly -- such as consolidating government. Regionalism is about much more than government. It's about making the needed changes to make our region globally competitive. And education is indeed at the forefront, as is made evident by economic research.

Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams:

"I've never seen a politician create a job." Instead, government needs to make it as easy as possible for businesses to create jobs. That's the perspective of the city of Youngstown. Northeast Ohio would be well served if all mayors adopted that view.

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Comments

# Submitted by npenny on Mon, 04/14/2008 - 00:19.

While the notion of the government creating jobs is a pleasant one, economic development organizations need to show what's the benefit. Government officials need to see that creating jobs for the community it controls will only benefit them in the long run. Otherwise, they will not care. The top reason would be more tax revenue from residents who will have more taxable income. Economic development organizations need to meet with government officials to talk about the initiatives and programs that will be executed to complement the new creation of jobs so that they will have a bigger motive to create those jobs. 







		

		

			#
			Submitted by Scott Walters (not verified) on Mon, 04/21/2008 - 00:27.		

		
"I've never seen a politician create a job." 


Really? How can that be, given the percentage of Americans who work for the government? As a college professor in a state school, it sure seems as if politicians created my job -- are at least fund my job. And surely that is a valuable thing to do. Surely you are not suggesting that businesses are the only job creators in society.