Coordinated regional economic development plan needed | The Rock River Times

And where is Boone County in this regional planning?

 

By Paul Gorski

My early New Year wish is for the local governments and business agencies to develop a truly coordinated economic development and community growth plan for the region in 2015. Excuse the plethora of web-based links that will follow.

Many business growth and community improvement plans have been developed for our region, but we do not have one single master plan. The politically independent Transform Rockford group has worked for more than a year to develop a community growth plan through a series of public forums and social media. View those results at: http://transformrockford.org/finalvision/. Many people and organizations were involved in developing this “final vision.”

The Rockford Area Economic Development Council (RAEDC) has a strategic plan for 2013-2015 listed at http://www.rockfordil.com/index.php/en/about-raedc/rockforward-strategic-plan. This plan focuses on job growth, business recruitment, and retaining existing businesses. Once again, many groups, individuals and business interests were involved in developing this plan.

The city of Rockford has its own 2020 Plan, and that plan is described in detail at: http://www.rockfordil.gov/community-economic-development/long-range-planning/2020-plan.aspx. This plan was adopted in 2004 and amended in 2009 and 2011. According to the city website: “The Plan describes our community’s goals and future shape. We use it when reviewing development proposals, designing infrastructure expansions, and planning new City facilities.” The city plan is comprehensive, but only covers the city.

The Winnebago County Board adopted a 2030 Land Resource Development Plan in 2009, but is only now getting prepared to vote on the zoning ordinances that will make the plan official. This plan lays out changes to local land use, smart land use policies, and tries to reduce or eliminate “spot” zoning. I call spot zoning “random acts of kindness zoning” where zoning laws are bent to accommodate special interests. The county 2030 plan is at: http://wincoil.us/departments/zoning-and-planning/2030-land-resource-management-plan/.

So many goals, so little time. No single organization is in charge, nor does one single unit of government or group have a plan that encompasses the elements contained in the plans listed here. My wish is to have a single entity oversee all these plans. Not dictate the terms, but rather a group that can objectively report on the status of the plans, the reforms. The group should be answerable to the public. That means the group would be a political entity, and I have always seen the county as the “glue” that binds all the communities and local units of government together.

Personally, I do not have a lot of faith in the county board administering such a plan, but I am not asking it to. I would expect the board to check the status of the existing plans on a quarterly basis and offer a summary report to the public. Again, the county board would not be “the decider,” but rather a special sort of recording secretary, taking notes, and reporting results to the public and the participating groups and units of government.

The review, the summary offered by the board, if crafted correctly, could look like a coordinated plan when no such plan actually exists. We do not have to reinvent the wheel, just review the existing “wheels,” and create a coordinated summary document. This would be a step forward.

Paul Gorski (paul@paulgorski.com) is a Cherry Valley Township resident who also authors the Tech-Friendly column seen in this newspaper.

Coordinated regional economic development plan needed | The Rock River Times

George Shultz Gone Solar. Now That's a Sign of Thawing in the U.S. Climate Debate - Bloomberg

 

Ronald Reagan’s secretary of state, George Shultz faced off against Muammar Qaddafi, the Soviet Union and Chinese communists.

His latest cause, though, is one few fellow Republicans support: fighting climate change.

Two years ago, Shultz was alarmed when a retired Navy admiral showed him a video of vanishing Arctic sea ice and explained the implications for global stability. Now, the former Cold Warrior drives an electric car, sports solar panels on his California roof and argues for government action against global warming at clean-energy conferences.

Living a life powered “on sunshine,” Shultz, at 93, has a message for the doubters who dominate his own party: “The potential results are catastrophic,” he said in an interview. “So let’s take out an insurance policy.”

A Global Push to Save the Planet

As the United Nations gathers almost 200 governments in Lima this week to discuss new carbon limits for the planet, the U.S., as with so many other issues, looks badly divided. While President Barack Obama has pledged to accelerate reductions to greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 and is using his executive powers to put policies in place, Republicans have retaken the Senate and stand firmly opposed.

When Obama announced an agreement on carbon controls with Chinese President Xi Jinping three weeks ago, incoming Senate leader Mitch McConnell dismissed it as an “unrealistic plan” that would boost electric rates and kill jobs. Yet, there are signs of growing acceptance to the idea that climate change spurred by human actions is a mounting problem.

Poll Support

Across the U.S., a series of weather anomalies -- from a record West Coast drought to Midwest flooding and Superstorm Sandy -- are gradually helping to shift public opinion on climate change, according to a string of recent polls. Two in three Americans now believe global warming is real, according to an October survey of 1,275 people by Yale and George Mason universities. That’s up from 57 percent in January 2010.

“There’s a great middle in this country that basically agrees that something needs to be done,” said James Brainard, the Republican mayor of Carmel, Indiana, who served on a climate preparedness task force organized by Obama. “They can see that weather patterns are changing drastically.”

Read the entire article by clicking on the following:  George Shultz Gone Solar. Now That's a Sign of Thawing in the U.S. Climate Debate - Bloomberg