Need to Build Constituency
As many politicians have noted, there is no natural constituency for regional development. While regional development benefits all, the focus of most individuals is on their immediately local concerns. And, those concerns get the ear of the politicians who are elected by those voters.
A perfect example occurred this weekend. In the first joint “City-County Citizen Meeting“, Monica Vernon, Cedar Rapids Mayor Pro Tem, and Lu Barron, Linn County Supervisor, answered over two hours of questions from over fifty participants.
When asked about regional economic promotion, they focused on existing activities, not what needs to be done:
In response to a question from this blogger, Chuck Peters, about how the City and County were working together on regional economic promotion, Barron noted the cooperation of the Metropolitan Planning Organization, East Central Iowa Council of Governments and political lobbying coordination. Vernon noted that the appointment of Josh Schamberger of the Iowa City/Coralville Convention and Visitors Bureau to the Eastern Iowa Airport Commission was a step in the right direction. Vernon also said that what “Iowa City needs is a stronger Cedar Rapids.”
Both Monica and Lu are promoters of regional economic development, but they cannot focus on it with their constituents. So, we have to develop that constituency.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=2fcd6931-9235-4b06-a98c-f2c47f7ee8ee)
May 10th, 2010 at 8:45 am
The municipal and county officials have to be focused and involved if success is to be achieved. I concede regional development is not inherent to any public servant’s role, however it is myopic of any of them to ignore the symbiotic nature of such development. Individual/voter-level pressure can certainly create a groundswell of interest amongst elected officials, but they ultimately must be strongly and publicly out front on the issue.