Lessons from Louisville Blog with Dan Edwards
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:39 am by Dan Edwards under News
I just returned from a daylong bus trip to Louisville with 58 of the most influential people in our region.
The participants included government leaders, educators and business leaders from Montgomery, Greene and Clark counties.
Our mission was to see what we could learn from Louisville about attracting new jobs and energizing our downtown.
Louisville has consolidated its city and county government, and we asked the mayor if that concept would be useful and productive for Dayton.
The people on the bus with me explored several areas of consolidation and its benefits, including public safety, schools and economic development.
Louisville has used the concept to save money, and attract new projects to its downtown, geared toward retaining the coveted 25 to 49 year old
resident.
Louisville wants to “grow” its own residents so that they stay in Louisville after they graduate from college.
Louisville is also using its arts and its amateur and professional sports teams to grow its downtown.
The mayor of Louisville believes Dayton and the cities and counties around it can use the same synergy to attract new jobs for years to come.
I hope you will tell me what you think and give me ideas about how Dayton and this region can better capitalize on its shared resources.
Dan Edwards
A few observations from the middle of the Louisville bus:
• Dayton does not have a built in national event like the Kentucky Derby that generates guaranteed visitors and tourists. The closest we come is the air show. Can that event have more of a national focus? Or is there another activity that can draw people here? Can we host a pre season NCAA tourney or something of that caliber?
• The chicken or egg issue- After our visit, I now think we need more people living downtown before we offer more retail, grocery and eateries. We need to attract the young singles to urban living first.
• A Task Force must fully explore a tax sharing plan and coordinated economic development strategies. It is now clear to me that you cannot have one without the other.
Dayton area metro government thoughts:
This idea will have business support if we can get our elected officials on board.The concept for us is not new and small projects have been tried with only limited success as seen my the most recent 911 dispatch scenario. Why the heck that didn’t get 100 % support is beyond me and many of our business leaders. That was a “no brainer” !
But for years ( twice since 1987 ) we even tried to do something simple like merge the County and City of Dayton’s Building, Inspection & Permitting departments. I know because I co-chaired it twice and finally got the two to agree to at least co-locate on the same floor… of the same building provided by the City. But because of leadership personality conflicts and the wars over water & sewer, the County never showed up. What a waste of time.
Today may be a different day. We have 3 new County Commissioners; we have some new City leaders, too…and both have severe financial constraints facing them in the future. Maybe a financial crisis is what we all need to wake up on this issue. This is possible, we just need need a crisis…..
I don’t expect the suburbs just to fall in line, but here is what I would expect from strong elected leaders: First, there must be some other small “wins” we could make as we take this journey…1, 2 or 3 a year over the next 5 years. That’s what Louisville did..; and Second, there must be half a dozen functions or departments that can co-locate; collaborate or merge between the City of Dayton and County over the next 2-3 years. Something like Louisville, Miami-Dade, jacksonville and others…even if the suburbs won’t play, the 2 big elephants in the room can make progress.
Lastly, we’ll need the full, 100%…no excuses…no whining..all in support from our media…print, radio, TV…everybody. We can’t raise enough money to buy the education process our publics need without their complete buy-in.
Then if serious, the business community will make this a higher priority. But government leaders know this will be a political “hot-potato” for them and could cost them their elected office unless the media and full community leadership supports their hand. Additionally, we will probably need help from the state legislature just to get through the bureaucracy.
I wanted to share with you those in attendance LOUISVILLE BUS TRIP
NAME / REPRESENTING
1 JOEY WILLIAMS / DAYTON CITY COMMISSIONER
2 RASHAD YOUNG / CITY OF DAYTON MANAGER
3 JUDY DODGE / MONTGOMERY COUNTY COMMISSIONER
4 DEBBIE LIEBERMAN / ”
5 DAN FOLEY / ”
6 SANDY MENDELSON / MENDELSON’S ELECTRONICS
7 JERRY HAUER / HAUER MUSIC
8 EDD WIMSATT / PRICE STORES
9 PAUL HUTCHINS / HUTCHINS REALTY
10 MARK DONAGHY / REGIONAL TRANSIT AUTHORITY
11 SANDY GUDORF / DOWNTOWN DAYTON PARTNERSHIP
12 DICK CHURCH / CITY OF MIAMISBURG MAYOR
13 RICK PERALES / GREENE CO COMMISSIONER
14 PHIL PARKER / PRESIDENT, DAYTON AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
15 PHYLLIS HOWARD / BEAVERCREEK COUNCILWOMAN
16 JEFF SCHMITT / JEFF SCHMITT AUTO GROUP
17 BOOTSIE NEAL / WRIGHT-DUNBAR HISTORICAL DISTRICT
18 BOB SHIFFLER / PRIVATE DEVELOPER
19 GENE KELLY / CLARK COUNTY SHERIFF
20 JIM BODENMILLER / CITY OF SPRINGFIELD
21 BILL REIGER / NOVA CREATIVE GROUP
22 BOB MURRAY / CITY OF RIVERSIDE
23 JEFF HOAGLAND / CITY OF VANDALIA MANAGER
24 GREG HORN / CITY OF CENTERVILLE MANAGER
25 NEAL ARTHUR / PUB. DAYTON BUSINESS JOURNAL
26 DBJ PHOTOGRAPHER
27 TIM ALBRO / BEERMAN FOUNDATION.
28 DON PATTERSON / CITY OF KETTERING MAYOR
29 BOB GABRINGER / MGR. TALBOTT TOWERS
30 PHIL PLUMMER/ MONTGOMERY COUNTY SHERRIFF
31 TONY TAYLOR / DAYTON HYDRAULIC
32 DERRICK FOWARD / PRES. DAYTON UNIT NAACP
33 JOHN LANDESS / TURNER FOUNDATION
34 JACQUIE POWELL / DTN CONV VIS BUR
35 TOM FODOR / DAYTON AREA RED CROSS
36 PETE LUONGO / PRIVATE BUSINESS
37 BRYAN HECK / CITY OF SPRINGFIELD
38 JIM LEFTWICH / DAYTON DEVELOPMENT COALITION
39 COLLEEN RYAN / DAYTON DEVELOPMENT COALITION
40 DR MIKE ERVIN/ OREGON DISTRICT BUSINESS ASSOCIATION
41 JOE SCIABICA / AIR FORCE RESEARCH LABORATORIES
42 GEORGE OBERER / OBERER REALTY AND DEVELOPMENT
43 KEVIN RILEY/ EDITOR / DAYTON DAILY NEWS
44 NORBERT KLOPSCH/ CITY OF OAKWOOD MAYOR
45 DR KURT STANIC / INTERIM SUPT. DAYTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS
46 DENISE REHG / PRES. CULTURE WORKS
47 MARK SCHWEITERMAN / CITY MGR KETTERING
48 GINNY STRAUSBURG / DPL FOUNDATION
49 PETER BENKENDORF / ADVOCACY GROUP
I’m a Dayton resident who admits to some skepticism about regionalism as a solution. I’m interested in learning more about the funding behind this initiative. What is WDTN’s stake in promoting this move, and did the station and its management underwrite the Louisville visit (not usually the role of a media outlet) or was there support from corporate/private/government donors? In the same vein, it would be good to hear more about the folks from whom Commissioner Foley hopes to raise the $1 million+ for the PR campaign. More transparency on the funding (which is always a good way to trace who expects to benefit) would be useful in evaluating the pros and cons of increased regionalism. Thanks.
Thanks Joanne for your interest in regional government. Your questions are fair ones. WDTN management was very supportive of my efforts to make this business bus trip to Louisville a reality. The trip itself was underwritten by three of our participants and through several in-kind donations of generous business owners. I do not know whom Commissioner Foley is soliciting for his efforts to establish the public promotion of regional government co-operation. You mentioned some skepticism about this form of government .. I’m curious as to what they are. Please feel free to use this forum to explain.
I appreciate your input.
Sandra Dalene VanAlstine – Wanted to introduce myself
Thanks
Sandra Dalene VanAlstine
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