Tonight I had dinner with about 65 city council members from the Northeast Ohio City Council Association and roughly 5 suburban mayors, Cleveland’s Chief of Staff, a few government employees and some folks from the media. We sat down together for a family style dinner at a long-standing Cleveland restaurant and we made friends. It was the Northeast Ohio City Council Association’s quarterly meeting and their focus was regional economic development, specifically the Northeast Ohio Mayors and City Manager’s Regional Land Use Planning and Revenue Sharing initiative.
After the presentation the audience engaged in dialogue. Their comments and questions sounded like, “what can we do to support the idea – we need to do it” and “the data is undoubtedly compelling, how can we get involved” and “its time for us to act now, we cannot wait”. Their vote from the floor to support development of a regional a smart growth initiative passed unanimously.
