Policies and Politics

1. Policies and Politics • Policies – rules, funding, other actions taken by government in pursuit of its goals • In this class, focus on smart growth and metro equity policies • Politics – in part, is the process of making policy decisions • Creating the “metropolitan majority” of residents in communities that are declining or at risk because of sprawl and polarization

2. Politics Interviews - Questions • What words come to mind when you hear the word “politics”? Why? • What has been your experience in politics? What have you done? Why? How did that feel? • How would you like politics to change? • What do you expect will be your participation in the future?

3. Politics Interviews - Findings • Feelings • Cynicism • [vs. skepticism] • Apathy • Disillusionment • Experiences • Elections - school, city, national, etc. • Community organizing

4. Alternative View of PoliticsFrom talk by Ernie Cortes – Rogers (Cold Anger) – pp. 16-17 • Currently, “politics” is limited for most people to elections in which they have no real power • Politics can be much more, involving everyday people in the key decisions of society • This kind of politics lifts up and empowers people, gives them a greater purpose and makes them more fully human • It takes hard work and skilled organizing to create this kind of politics

5. Holding Ground: the Rebirth of Dudley Street Tells the story of DSNI - the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative This story is about both policies (New Urbanist principles) and politics (community organizing) See also: Streets of Hope: the Fall and Rise of an Urban Neighborhood / Peter Medoff and Holly Sklar Boston, Ma: South End Press, C1994

6. Policies and Politics – Conclusions:Policies • Key policy areas • Smart growth: land-use policies to stop sprawl, direct investment back to the core • E.g. urban growth boundary • Metro-equity: policies to stop and reverse socioeconomic polarization and racial segregation • E.g. inclusionary zoning, tax-base sharing

7. Policies and Politics – Conclusions:Politics • The “metropolitan majority” coalition • Is the key to promoting smart growth and metropolitan equity policies • Is based on the short-term and long-term self-interest of: • Core cities • Inner-ring suburbs • Fiscally-stressed outer suburbs • Affluent outer suburbs where people want to limit growth

8. Metropolitan Majority, continued: The Process of Building the Coalition • Key players – elected officials, labor and business leaders, organized religious communities, neighborhood and civic organizations, community organizing groups • Process: relationship-building, education, action, reflection, organizing • Opportunities – self-interest of the great majority, increasing awareness of problems and opportunities • Challenges – fragmentation and history of competition, distrust (political, economic, racial) interests; top-down versions of regionalism; lack of leadership at the state level

9. Regional Economic Competitiveness – one basis for larger coalition of the ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ • Basis for the coalition: • Regions are the basic economic unit of the global economy • Regions that coordinate their economic development tend to be more competitive • Smart growth and metro-equity policies can be part of this regional cooperation • Recent stories • “Team NEO” – Lack of successful regional economic cooperation in NE Ohio • Successes in other regions