Communities that Want Them --- Should Care About Governance - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Why Young Professionals --- and the

Communities that Want Them --- Should Care

About Governance

Presentation to the

iForum on “Connecticut’s Young Professionals: Can Communities Develop to Keep and Attract Them?”

Partnership for Strong Communities Hartford, Connecticut April 13, 2012

Kathryn A. (Kate) Foster, Ph.D. Visiting Fellow, Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program Senior Fellow, University at Buffalo Regional Institute

Presentation

• I. A Personal Prelude
• II. What Young Professionals

Seek in a Community

• III. How Governance Connects
• IV. Taking it to Connecticut
• V. Now What?

Conetikit

A Personal Prelude

A Personal Prelude

Kate’s Habitations, Age 20-34 Kate’s Habitations, Age 35-present

6 base moves, 1 temporary move 0 base moves, 2 temporary moves

Young adults (ages 20-34) move a lot. Reasons vary across these years.

Age 20-24: migrate for

college

Age 25-29: migrate for

career

Age 30-34: migrate to

settle

A Personal Prelude

Interstate Migration Rate by Age, United States, 2000-01 and 2008-09

Young adults (20-34) are twice as likely to move as those who are at least 35 years old.

A Personal Prelude

A Personal Prelude

More Than College Grad and College Grad Interstate Migration Rates by Demographic/Economic Attributes, 2000-2009

Footloose, college-educated adults are most mobile.

A Personal Prelude

Never Married and Divorced or Separated Interstate Migration Rates by Demographic/Economic Attributes, 2000-2009

Footloose, college-educated adults are most mobile.

A Personal Prelude

Point 1: Although less mobile than in the recent past, the most mobile cohort in the U.S. is educated, single, twenty-somethings.

• Q. Are you prepared for thirty-

somethings who are ready to settle?

What Young Professionals Seek in a Community

• 1. Job/Economic Opportunity
• 2. Affordable/Decent/Safe Housing
• 3. Transportation Choice/Mobility
• 4. Coolness/Aesthetics

Most relevant after satisfying #1, #2 and #3

What Young Professionals Seek in a Community

Net Domestic Migration (avg. annual) by Metro Area for Persons Aged 25-34

Pre-Recession:

• Riverside, Phoenix, and

Atlanta had plentiful jobs and relatively affordable housing

• Los Angeles, NYC, Miami and

Chicago did not

Indeed, Young adults follow economic opportunity.

What Young Professionals Seek in a Community

Net Domestic Migration (avg. annual) by Metro Area for Persons Aged 25-34

Indeed, Young adults follow economic opportunity.

Recession:

• Mortgage meltdown and

unemployment disfavor former magnets

• Top Gainers did relatively

well economically and offer “strong youth cachet”

What Young Professionals Seek in a Community

• 1. Job/Economic Opportunity
• 2. Affordable/Decent/Safe Housing
• 3. Transportation Choice/Mobility
• 4. Coolness/Aesthetics

Operative after satisfying #1, #2 and #3

Point 2: Jobs matter most. Support a robust regional economy and entrepreneurial impulses.

• Q. How helpful are you to those

with a new idea and willingness to work (and how good are your public schools)?

What Young Professionals Seek in a Community Notably not on the list….

• 5. Good Governance (national,

state, regional, local) And yet, might governance matter? If so, how?

Governance: how groups organize

and act to do something

 Establish a vision, set priorities  Understand and address issues  Provide goods and services  Resolve conflicts, thwart crises  Seize opportunities  Plan for the long haul

How Governance Connects

Good Governance: performing

governance sufficiently well to achieve group goals:  citizen participation

 economic development

 fiscal sustainability

 environmental sustainability

 efficiency

 fairness, equal opportunity  accountability

How Governance Connects

Sounds pretty simple, right?

• 1. Multiple, overlapping

issue scales

• 2. No single entity has

authority to address issue

• 4. Lack of consensus on

priorities

• 3. Many autonomous

players with varied interests and powers

accountability

How Governance Connects

At least four challenges complicate governance.

Issue

Oh, and there’s a fifth challenge.

Dividing Lines…

• race
• ethnicity
• religion
• age
• gender
• income
• political ideology
• geography
• lifestyle

How Governance Connects

How can we be “different, together”?

Region Classification

Time for a Joke. How many local governments does it take to change a light bulb?

How Governance Connects

Region Classification

Change is motivated by push and pull factors.

Push: Crisis

How Governance Connects

Region Classification

Change is motivated by push and pull factors.

Push: Crisis

How Governance Connects

Pull: Opportunity

There is a perfect storm for Big Change in Local Governance.

Economic: national recession; Wall Street to Main Street implications Demographic: older, poorer populations, with newcomers aplenty Fiscal: structural deficits, tsunami of legacy costs; declining revenues,

increasing needs

Political: anti-government, anti-tax, anti-spending sentiment

How Governance Connects

Small is Beautiful

Promotes political participation Promotes accountability Promotes cost-braking competition Promotes equity Promotes economic & environmental coordination Promotes economies of scale

Bigger is Better

Vs.

How Governance Connects

Issues

Public Private Academic Nonprofit/ Civic

Scales

N’borhood Town/City County Metro Region Global How Governance Connects

“Boundary Crossing” offers a working solution.

Sectors

Point 3: Achieving good governance is hard.

• Q. At what scale do key issues
• perate? How readily do you cross

boundaries of scale, issue and sector?

Taking it to Connecticut

A New American Dream

for Connecticutians in their 20s and 30s

• 1. Affordable, decent, convenient, neighborly housing
• 2. Neighborhoods with cohesion and sense of identity
• 3. Quality of life basics, well done
• 4. Aesthetics -- attractive and interesting
• 5. Non-auto transportation options
• 6. City/town-centered employment; mixed live/work spaces
• 7. Ways to be involved and make a difference

Let’s combine young adults and governance and take it to Connecticut.

Taking it to Connecticut

A New American Dream for Connecticutians in their 20s and 30s

1. Affordable, decent, convenient, neighborly housing 2. Neighborhoods with cohesion and sense of identity 3. Quality of life basics, well done 4. Aesthetics -- attractive and interesting 5. Non-auto transportation options 6. City/town-centered employment; mixed live/work spaces

• 7. Ways to be involved and make a difference

That seventh point deserves emphasis.

Great location… …but not fully capitalizing on it Nation’s third-highest drop in 25-34 cohort, 1990-2010 Highest per capita income in nation High tax rates, especially property taxes High wealth and race/ethnicity disparities Highly competitive local government environment Modest regional cooperation and identity Widely varied city fortunes Plenty of lovely housing… …but not so plenty affordable rentals Towns control planning authority; some lack professional capacity Activist governor and ready-to-contribute young professionals Taking it to Connecticut

If we held up a mirror to the state, what would we see?

169 towns,

some including

• r merged with

cities (21) or boroughs (9)

Now let’s enrich the picture with a governance assessment.

Whole state incorporated by

1779; last town

“taking” 1921 (West Haven) Towns and town- cities have

broad home rule powers

Taking it to Connecticut

Counties Taking it to Connecticut

Planning Regions A Connecticut Story

14 state- designated regions, dating

to 1948

Advisory authority for

inter-governmental affairs, incl. transportation & regional growth Member municipalities constitute

voluntary

regional planning

• rganization

State

Tri-branch govt. delegates

considerable powers to

municipalities State plan in place (and under revision) for

conservation and development

Agencies can use

mandates, incentives, other tools to attract

growth, sustain quality of life

Taking it to Connecticut

Initial Draft of the 2013-2018 Conservation and Development Policies Plan for Connecticut

http://www.ct.gov/opm/lib/opm/igp/cdplan/ 2013/2013-2018_initial_draft.pdf

Taking it to Connecticut

• 1. Redevelop Regional Centers
• 2. Expand Housing Opportunities
• 3. Concentrate Development

around Transportation Nodes

• 4. Conserve and Restore Natural

and Cultural Environment

• 5. Protect and Ensure Public

Health and Safety

• 6. Promote Integrated Planning

Across Govt. Levels

Taking it to Connecticut

Bi- and Tri-State Regions

Among the many shaping Connecticut communities:

Partnership for Strong Communities

• Conn. Main Street Center
• Conn. Business Industry Association

Regional Business Councils

• Conn. United Ways

1000 Friends of Conn.

• Conn. Chapter of the Amer. Planning Assoc.
• Conn. Chapter of the Amer. Inst. of Architects
• Conn. Conference of Municipalities
• Conn. Council of Small Towns
• Conn. Economic Development Association
• Conn. Economic Resource Center
• Conn. Housing Coalition
• Conn. Preservation Action
• Conn. Trust for Historic Preservation

Local Initiatives Support Corporation

Taking it to Connecticut

Non-Public Entities

Point 4: Connecticut has ample governance.

• Q1. To achieve goals, which entities

should be empowered and how?

• Q2. What opportunities exist for

young professionals to participate effectively in local, regional and state governance?

Agenda Item Municipal Regional Planning State Non-Public

• 1. Affordable,

decent housing

  

• 2. Cohesive

neighborhoods

 

• 3. Quality of life

   

• 4. Attractive

aesthetics

 

• 5. Non-auto

transportation

• ptions

   

• 6. City/town-

centered employment

   

• 7. Ways to be

involved

   

Now What?

Consider a preliminary rendering to start the conversation.

• 1. What do you want most? Efficiency? Economic Development? Equity?

Environmental Sustainability? Participation?

• 2. How will you manage difference? By race, ethnicity, income, age,

political perspective, religion, urban-suburban-rural, etc.

• 3. How will your cities and towns develop? Direction, pace, type?
• 4. How aligned are your strategies for action? Economic

development plan, conservation and development plan, budgets, policy priorities?

• 5. Who is “you” and how will you decide the answers to

questions 1-4?

Now What?

Consider five key questions.

Why Young Professionals --- and the

Communities that Want Them --- Should Care

About Governance

Presentation to the

iForum on “Connecticut’s Young Professionals: Can Communities Develop to Keep and Attract Them?”

Partnership for Strong Communities Hartford, Connecticut April 13, 2012

Kathryn A. (Kate) Foster, Ph.D. Visiting Fellow, Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program Senior Fellow, University at Buffalo Regional Institute