Support for the Concept of Regionalism
June 11, 2008
Another goal of mine and probably for most council members is to strongly support the concept of regionalism. I believe the concept is supported by those in government in the county and in Salem. The rub has always been which project, how and why. A recent article in the times made it appear that the city was not being regionally minded in its decision to review the shared fire and EMS services with the county at Clearbrook. This is a review of need, quality and cost effectiveness that should at any rate be undertaken as often as needed, especially when couched as a shared service.
The goal of shared services/regionalism should be that by combining resources we get better quality and cost efficiencies for that particular service or project. Within the city, we have shown great progress over the last two years with shared services with our school system. The same should be possible with surrounding localities. The Water Authority is one great example. There are others that recently were on the verge of occurring: shared police academy, shared library services and shared recreation centers. The city has pursued these but for various reasons others have backed out. There are many other possibilities for regionalism and my goal is to encourage a few easy ones and get them done to show the potential of regional success.
This can include non-sexy items such as workforce development initiatives and a regional approach to storm water management. The latter is one in particular that I feel requires a regional response and will ultimately have to include a regional approach to a storm water taxing ability to update the infrastructure for storm water runoff to protect our water shed and create a healthy river and a more effective sewer system. I have helped the Alleghany Regional Commission create a regional task force to study this issue which may also allow for a mechanism to maintain our greenways and am hopeful that a regional approach to this issue can occur soon.
Dave,
Your blog can be a great communications device. Bravo for going high-tech! Interestingly, David Bowers and Bev Fitzpatrick were among the very first modern-day, out-spoken proponents of Regionalism. I have boxes full of past studies, committee reports, citizen feedback, etc. if you are ever interested.
Best,
Rob.
Thanks Rob- I have certainly tried to get updated on all this over the last few years with Bev and his extensive knowledge as well as with the Roanoke Valley Alleghany Regional Commission (currently I am vice-chair). I have several projects that I will be pushing - we need to get a few wins in the arena of regionalism. I will be posting them here over time but they include a regional approach to storm water management, a strong regional fight for passenger rail and a regional approach to park and rec ammenities. Regionalism in my mind also goes beyond SW Virginia as there are opportunities on the tourism front to partner with other like sized cities in marketing and promotion strategies.
[...] Roanoke and pulled our yaks into the park beneath the enormous Jesus Saves sign overlooking Wasena. On his blog, Council member Dave Trinkle has asked the Star City to consider a regional approach to solving problems that affect a broad [...]
Nice website, Dave. This is great “old fashioned” democracy and a town meeting with a 2.0 technology twist.
Along efficiency and regionalism…is this article (http://www.roanoke.com/columnists/angleberger/wb/167676) true that bus service doesn’t run from the City to Tanglewood because the County does not share in the costs?
If so, this is a good place where shared services could benefit everyone.
Keep up the good work.
Sam
I know this is an old topic but I just found your site. In terms of regionalism, what are your thoughts on a regional park authority? It would seem the Water Authority has been quite the success and perhaps the same could happen for recreational opportunities in the Valley. With the constant addition of new greenways as well as the County’s new center coming online and with a City counterpart in just a few years, it would seem the timing could be perfect for pursuing such an endeavor. Your thoughts?
This is never an old topic- regionalism should be alive and well and is needed to show our valley off and attract people to visit and live here. In reality, however there are always road blocks. I believe the city has shown strong commitment to regional efforts over the years and has often run into “no” from neighboring communities. We now have a joint services task force with the school system to share as many services as make sense- this is working because there is a team behind it with the sole purpose of making it work. Perhaps this is what we need on the regional front. I am vice chair of the Roanoke Valley Alleghany Regional Commission and will dedicate myself to regionalism wherever it makes sense. Park and Rec probably needs to be separate but we do have strong relationships as seen in our athletic programming. In terms of greenways and the river- many on council have long supported a regional focus on these important assets. Councilwomen Gwen Mason has often requested a regional river authority be formed. In terms of the Rec Center in the county- we had plans to share that center and build a second shared center in Southeast Roanoke- the county decided at the last minute to not share this concept. So we will keep trying- other options are the library system, storm water management, improved marketing, and many others. Thanks for the comment.
Dave
Amen to Mason’s idea for a regional approach to improving the water quality of the important Roanoke River watershed . . .