Strategies for the Future
Kentucky must take a new approach to building communities

It’s a funny thing how the pendulum swings. We have heard over and over that government should be run like a business. These days, our response is, “Like what?” We should rethink such assertions. Business isn’t always the best example of moral leadership and efficiency.

But before we get too carried away with that kind of game, it would be worthwhile to take a look at whether it is time for a new paradigm – one that takes the best of business and the best of government and creates a new kind of city.

In particular, we can take a look at one of the grandest of urban experiments – the uniting of the governments of Louisville and Jefferson County into what is being billed as a new kind of regional city. The move will catapult the city and county ahead to become the nation’s 16th largest metro area.

Great care must be taken as this new government is created to involve more people and to craft a system that can be flexible without losing its structure and be able to respond to the community’s needs.

Unfortunately, however, current Kentucky laws don’t always guarantee such flexibility for smaller places, should they decide to pursue a vote on merger.

Most great communities are beginning to realize – irrespective of their form of government – that taking a new approach to community building will be necessary to thrive in the 21st century. The foundational requirement is, of course, citizenship exercised responsibly by people who truly care what happens to their community as a whole.

Just as the NewCities Foundation principles call for a new emphasis on involving people in the process, so, too, does a new report by the Brookings Institute entitled “Beyond Merger.”

In short, the Brookings Institute calls for and the NewCities Foundation concurs that the following must serve as strategies for the future:

• Fix the basics. Great schools, good services and superior workers will drive the decisions of businesses and families to move to a particular community. The school systems at all levels, from K-12 through higher education and lifelong learning systems, must be tended and nurtured. In the view of the NewCities Foundation, education serves a purpose that goes beyond workforce development. It is at the core of meaningful citizenship development, an essential ingredient to creating a high quality of living.

• Build on assets. To compete, Louisville, as well as other cities, must leverage its strengths and the quality of life it offers. Those assets will include higher education opportunities and vibrant downtown areas that are unique and proven to attract well-educated, highly productive workers. NewCities would add that all communities have assets and must take a long look at those that they wish to preserve and enhance to ensure their long-term success. If a downtown center isn’t on the list, another unique feature must be.

• Create quality neighborhoods. Community begins at the family and neighborhood level, with individuals caring about each other. This is where great cities, large and small, are built. Tending to the needs of neighborhoods provides a foundation of strength for other developments that will ensure the continued vitality of communities.

• Invest in Working Families. The family unit is the most fundamental. Cities must invest in families as a pre-condition for being cooperative in the 21st century. To this the NewCities Foundation adds that diversity and youth must be taken into account as we seek connections for all residents.

• Influence Metropolitan growth. A recent New York Times article concerning the decline of Hartford, Connecticut illustrates well how central cities become neglected and die to the detriment ultimately of all regional residents. The prescription for success is that cities and their communities of tomorrow must operate as hubs and spokes. In some instances, the center city is the hub and other surrounding communities the spokes. While this is a dynamic situation, with “regional” areas changing depending upon the context, the fact is that we must all begin to think and act regionally.
  
  

Sylvia L. Lovely is executive director and CEO of the Kentucky League of Cities.
editorial@lanereport.com

Back to Perspective Index

Back to October Issue

Copyright 1996-2002, by Kentucky Business Online.  All rights reserved.

Editorial content is copyright 2002, Lane Communications Group
All editorial material is fully protected and must not be reproduced in any manner without prior permission.

The Lane Report is a trademark of Lane Communications Group.  All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.