Outside Erie

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo today outlined a plan that would encourage municipalities in New York State to consolidate.
According to a news release:

Simply put, our system of local government is broken. It has been outpaced by globalization, regionalization, and an ever changing marketplace. The density of local government in New York is astounding. There […]

Many Rust Belt cities are becoming more aggressive in making sure their communities are open to immigrant groups — with the hopes that new-to-America inventors will use their communities as the homes for their new businesses.
Immigrant entrepreneurs, after all, were responsible for much of Erie’s early growth.
And first- and second-generation immigrants continue to fuel considerable […]

Sure, Erie cannot compare with Pittsburgh in terms of scale.
But a story today in the Cleveland Pain Dealer explores why Pittsburgh is seemingly more ready to weather the recession than other cities in the Rust Belt.
The keys, according to the story:

Regionalize
Develop and use the waterfront
Develop educational leadership
Cooperate (by this, the piece means that corporations and […]

An anonymous commenter has floated a pretty grandiose idea as a potential new development at the vacant GAF site on the bayfront.
Here’s what he had to say about it:
I made a proposal about a year and a half ago to build a indoor white sand beach with palm trees, aquarium and restaurant complex on the […]

In neighboring Ohio — a state that faces almost all of the economic challenges that are facing Pennsylvania — the state’s Department of Education has set out to create a strategy for educating its youth for the modern work force.
The effort is worth following, for sure, since Ohio is both competing and working with Pennsylvania […]

GlobalErie reader Richard Herman pointed me to an interesting column from Elizabeth Sullivan, the foreign affairs columnist and associate of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
There are many who believe that America needs to adopt a protectionist mindset to hold on to what is left of its manufacturing might — and to grow in the future.
Sullivan offers […]

In 1969, Chattanooga, Tenn., was known for having the worst air quality in the United States.
Today — with much cleaner air — the city is celebrating the arrival of a $1-billion Volkswagen plant that will bring 2,000 jobs.
For those who argue that those who are against the Erie Renewable Energy plant are against economic development, […]

This week’s top comment comes from Christopher Borgia, who offered a detailed tax-sharing plan for municipalities in Erie County.
Because of its length, I’m including only the first portion of Borgia’s comment.
You can find the whole comment here.
Erie County Government should adopt Regional Tax-Base Sharing in order to:
• Allow for better land use planning and development
• […]

We’ve touched in the past on the idea that Erie has a poorly conceived land-use plan.
Zoning is haphazard. Development has sprawled beyond what would be a healthy footprint for a city of Erie’s size. And many of the region’s best resources are poorly utilized.
I’m even more convinced that Erie needs to become more aggressive in […]

This video is getting circulated among the Rust Belt Bloggers network this weekend.
It’s a short piece about John Fetterman, the mayor of Braddock, a small borough near Pittsburgh that is trying to rebound after losing most of its population.
It shows the changes that can happen in even the most downtrodden of communities if they get […]