In the finale of the Next Mayor TV's summer season, we discuss the issue that kicked off this project back in December 2005: Regionalism.
Throughout the country, policymakers are realizing that "the region" has replaced "the city" as the key organizing structure in the global competition for jobs and residents. Elected officials in and around Philadelphia, not surprisingly, have been a little slower on the uptake. In fact, to make it clear that this isn't just a problem on the Philly side of the line, I remind you of this post that was written about responses to the regionalism question by suburban candidates for state legislature.
Some of the attitudes reflected in those answers are about as wrong-headed as can be and fit into a pattern of exploiting suburban distrust of the city for political gain, rather than correcting it so that the whole region can work together.
Our panelists, with expertise in business and community development, talk about what the next mayor can do to foster better relations with the city's suburban neighbors. I encourage you to check it out, either by watching it as streaming video on our website (Quick Time required), subscribing to our podcast by iTunes or using your RSS reader to download it or check it out via Youtube, right here:
Regional cooperation is perhaps one of the most important issues that will come up in this election, at the very least because we have candidates - both in the city and the suburbs - who are willing to work together. (Michael Nutter's visit to Delaware County, is a perfect example.) To get an idea of the emphasis that The Next Mayor has put on this issue, check out search results for the work "regionalism" on the blog to see how often the issue has been brought up.
Effective leaders can shape public opinion but at the same time (as Abraham Lincoln knew) they can't force public opinion to go somewhere it's not ready to go. Residents of Philadelphia and the Greater Philadelphia region need to demonstrate that we are, in fact, ready to work together and demand that our elected officials do the same.
So what do you think? If you live in the city or the suburbs, feel free to comment about whether you think public opinion is coming around on regional cooperation or if we're still a generation or two away from truly becoming "Greater" Philadelphia.