by Chris Hoene
NLC?s CityFutures Panels met recently in Denver to advance their 2005 work that started in March at the Congressional City Conference.
The four CityFutures Panels include the Public Finance Panel, Community and Regional Development Panel, Democratic Governance Panel, and Equity and Opportunity Panel.
Members of the panels were also in Denver to participate in NLC?s Forum on Economic Vitality.
Community and Regional Development Panel
Loveland, Colo., councilmember Walt Skowron, chair of the panel, led a lively meeting on three topics ? economic vitality, affordable housing and the future work of the panel.
The panel?s discussion of economic vitality narrowed to a number of key themes, including the need for a broadly shared community vision, focusing on community development as an economic development strategy, thinking regionally and making investments in infrastructure, people and quality of life.
The panel?s discussion of affordable housing revolved around dissatisfaction with one-size-fits-all definitions of affordable housing that shape national policy, but fail to take into account regional and local differences in terms of need, housing costs and distribution of burdens.
The panel also set a strategic direction for future work, focused on collecting examples, stories and case studies from cities in five topic areas ? affordable housing, redevelopment, transportation and transit, regional collaboration and fiscal health.
Public Finance Panel
Members of the Public Finance Panel discussed two pieces of work underway in 2005. Led by Panel Vice-Chair Brian Murphy, councilmember from Cambridge, Mass., the Panel made revisions to a draft of its original report, Toward a System of Public Finance for the 21st Century, with a focus on addressing current tax policy debates.
Panel members also laid out plans for the development of training sessions and materials on the basics of public finance, including an upcoming workshop at the Congress of Cities in Charlotte, N.C., in December.
Panel Vice-Chair Jackie Nytes, councilmember from Indianapolis, will lead a subcommittee to develop these materials.
Democratic Governance Panel
The Democratic Governance Panel, chaired by Denver, Colo., Mayor John Hickenlooper, provided feedback on economic vitality, reinforcing the importance of connecting the neighborhood level to the regional economy. Panel members suggested that citizen engagement is vital to economic growth because community networks need to be in place to support and attract economic activities.
The panel also reviewed and made suggestions for improvements to a multi-media presentation called ?The Power of Democratic Governance: Engaging Citizens as Partners.?
In addition to the presentation, a workshop for the Congress of Cities was discussed, with an emphasis on skill building with elected officials, city staff, and community members that have experiences to share in an interactive learning environment.
Equity and Opportunity Panel
Selma, Ala., Mayor James Perkins, Vice-Chair of the panel, led a series of discussions targeted at developing an ?equity and opportunity? statement about economic vitality. The statement will be drafted and delivered to the NLC Advisory Council for inclusion in its deliberations and forthcoming publications.
Panel members also discussed ways to help advance the Advisory Council?s and Clarksburg, West Virginia and NLC First Vice President James Hunt?s agenda on Inclusive Communities.
Building on the panel?s work over the past two years, panel members also discussed the development of a workshop for the Congress of Cities, focusing on equity and inequality issues.
Next Meetings
Leadership and members of the four CityFutures Panels will meet again in Charlotte, N.C., during the Congress of Cities and Exposition, December 6-10. For more information about the CityFutures Panels, contact 202-626-3030 or hoene@nlc.org.