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Régionalisation Représentative : Vers Un Gouvernement Local Plus Équitable, Démocratique, Réactif Et Efficace Au Nouveau-Brunswick, Zack Taylor, Jon Taylor

Centre for Urban Policy and Local Governance – Publications

En réponse au Livre vert sur la réforme de la gouvernance locale du gouvernement du Nouveau- Brunswick publié en avril 2021, le présent rapport fait le diagnostic des problèmes du système de gouvernance locale existant de la province et propose une solution qui tire parti des actifs existants pour créer un système de gouvernance locale plus équitable, démocratique, réactif et efficace. Un système de gouvernance locale remanié aidera les Néo-Brunswickois à faire face aux difficiles défis économiques et démographiques actuels et futurs.

Le présent rapport recommande de renforcer les commissions de services régionaux en s’inspirant des districts régionaux de la …

Representative Regionalization: Toward More Equitable, Democratic, Responsive, And Efficient Local Government In New Brunswick, Zack Taylor, Jon Taylor

Centre for Urban Policy and Local Governance – Publications

Responding to the Government of New Brunswick’s Green Paper on Local Governance Reform released in April 2021, this report diagnoses the problems of the province’s existing system of local governance and proposes a solution that leverages existing assets to create a more equitable, democratic, responsive, and efficient local governance system. A reformed local governance system will help New Brunswickers confront difficult present and future economic and demographic challenges.

This report recommends strengthening New Brunswick’s 12 Regional Service Commissions along the lines of British Columbia’s regional districts—multi-purpose bodies that have coordinated service delivery and land-use planning in that province since the …

Municipal Resource Guide To Leading Practices In Cost Savings, Martin Horak, Andrew Sancton, Rachna Goswami, Umera Ali

Centre for Urban Policy and Local Governance – Publications

Ontario municipalities of all sizes face pressure to “do more with less.” Commissioned by the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs, this Resource Guide provides municipal officials with single-source information about a range of current leading practices in cost savings in small and mid-sized Ontario municipalities. Municipalities across the province are continually developing innovative practices that save costs without incurring service level reductions. Most of these practices involve small-scale initiatives that result in modest savings. Yet even modest savings add up over time, and multiple small initiatives in a single municipality can make a big difference. In addition, by providing an …

The Global Financial Crisis And Local Government, Robert Andrew Nickson

Robert Andrew Nickson

This short paper examines the impact of the global financial crisis (GFC) on local government. It first proposes a framework to explore the possible transmission mechanisms through which the GFC impacts on local government income and expenditure, and then assesses the strength of these effects. The second section addresses the wider question of the potential impact of the GFC on decentralisation, which has been a notable feature of the development strategy of many Commonwealth countries in recent decades. The final section suggests that the GFC provides an opportunity for addressing three longstanding structural concerns affecting local government.

Land Values As A Source Of Local Government Finance, Tom Dunne

Books/Book Chapters

Funding local government has been a permanent feature of debates about public policy in Ireland and Many feel that the balance of power between local and central government is weighted too much in

This paper suggests that the concept of economic rent, on which the justification for property taxes rests and its relevance to the property market in a modern, economically successful and urbanised Ireland, needs to be vented, discussed and debated.

The proposition is that if a greater understanding was created about the economic characteristics of landed property both value capture and local property taxes would achieve greater public …

For Providence, Another Era Of Greatness?, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"Providence has come a long way from just 20 years ago when a visitor coming into the city by rail would find sprayed across the walls of the nearly empty Union Station such epithets as 'Providence is the pits' and 'Welcome to dead city.' And it was. I know because I lived there."

Revised Census Gives Mayors Worry And Hope, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"The numbers are in. They were a surprise for the Census Bureau, the nation and the state of Rhode Island. They year 2000 22nd decennial census whose numbers were first revealed to the President by the December 31, 2000 deadline and then to the public, fooled many observers by coming in considerably higher than that previously estimated. this was true for both the nation and the state of Rhode Island."

A Proposal To The Governor: 'Let's Get Together', Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"Americans have always had a dislike of cities. From the time Thomas Jefferson who felt that the good life was to be found in rural areas to that of Frank Lloyd Wright who claimed that cities were for banking and prostitution and little else, the American city has received little sympathy on the part of most Americans."

Where Are We Going? Tv Show Seeks Answers, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"How will the future Rhode Island look, and will it be better than today? Where will new development take place? How will this development affect cities and towns? Will there be adequate and affordable housing, and where will it be built? Will there be enough land available for future growth, as well as water, sewers, roads and other infrastructure to accommodate this additional population? And will communities try to prevent growth or work to accommodate it? The future is in our hands, and how we address such issues will determine how well our children will live in the not too …

After The Count Is Over, It's Time To Reapportion The House, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"In a few weeks more than 100 million households in the country will be receiving an invitation from the U.S. Census Bureau to tell something about themselves. And it is important that all respond to this invitation because it means federal money to be distributed for improvements to your state and local community, based upon the numbers counted."

U.S. Census Nears; Results To Be Questioned, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"It is the largest peacetime activity of the United States government, and since its inception in 190 takes place every 10 years. It will employ, at its peak, 860,000 workers who will receive a major portion of the $4.5 billion that Congress recently appropriated for the task. And the total population will be recorded for one day, a far cry from the 18 months that were necessary for U.S. Marshals who tried to find everyone in 1790."

Retaining The Charm Of Rhode Island, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"The town of Exeter in Washington County is an unusual place--it is classified as one of the few remaining rural communities in the state. With 86 percent of Rhode Island considered urban by the Census Bureau, rural designation is something special in this second most densely settled state in the union."

In R.I. Bad Driving Is A Way Of Life, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"A transplanted Rhode Islander, now living in Portland, Oregon tells an amusing story about Rhode Island drivers. Having lived in Oregon's major city for two years and driving there every day, she became accustomed to the good driving habits of the residents of that city and its suburbs, containing a population about 50 percent greater than that of the Providence metropolitan area. She claims that in those two years of driving she was never once frightened by someone cutting into the traffic lane in which she was driving, until recently. And then it happened, the car to her left cut …

Preservation Society Is A National Leader, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"In the summer of 1977, I was impressed to hear of the good works performed by the Providence Preservation Society at a meeting of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, which preserves and restores historic buildings and sites of that world city."

Which Is 2nd Safest? City Or Area?, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"Buried in a recent two-column story in the national Parade Magazine section of the Sunday newspapers and obscured by the advertisements that took up most of the two pages, John Tepper Marlin's headlined story, 'The Safest Places To Live,' was designed to grab one's attention. And that it did, especially if your city ranked second in the nation."

Providence's Unending Quest For Cash, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"The mayor of Providence has a big problem. How can he balance a budget that addresses the needs of an increasingly large number of people, yet deal with a declining tax base that is less able to pay for theses extra services?"

Planning Brings A Town To Life, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"When the founders of the Ryland Group built their first houses in the new town of Columbia, Md., 25 years ago, they had no idea how far this venture into Howard County would take them. After all, they were just one of the 33 builders operating in Columbia who offered new homes to buyers who came to experience a different style of living in the suburbs of Washington."

The Fortune Cookie Was Right, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"It was a typical night in Room 203 at the Rhode Island State House in March. The Land Use Commission meeting was set up for 6 p.m. but the House of Representatives was still in session, so commission members from the House would be delayed. At 6?L:30, the meeting got under way."

Cooperating For Economic Development, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"This small state has an advantage over larger states because its size allows it to share ideas more easily. With only 39 cities and towns, and no county governments, it is possible to have a meeting in Providence, attended by representatives of these communities within less than a one-hour drive."

What Downtown Needs To Get Going, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"They mayor of Providence wasted little time in responding to the ideas presented by Andres Duany and his team of experts i the recent Providence charrette. he appointed a task force consisting of nine subcommittees which have bee studying the ideas suggested in Dunay's preliminary report."

That Precious 'Ambience', Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"Colette Peters, former Rhode Island School of Design student, renowned cake baker and author of Colette's Cakes, was recently asked about her food memories of Providence. This current resident of New York said, 'Haven Brothers! We'd go to Haven Brothers for hot dogs when I was a student at RISD. It was what we could afford.'"

Keeping The Pols Honest With Regionalization, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"The New England Governor's Conference will hold a meeting in Hartford on December 6 to address regional economic issues that are common to the six states located in the northeast corner of the country. During that same week, the towns of Warren and Bristol in Rhode Island will hold public sentiment for the sharing of schools in the two towns. As disparate as these two meetings appear to be, there is a commonality of purpose that marks both: regionalism."

Redistricting Law And Minority Rights, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"It has been referred to as "probably the most important civil rights law on the books," and the results of that legislation are most impressive. But more importantly, the Voting Rights Act promises to have an even greater influence in the coming decade."

Watch The Process, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"The reason for the 1990 census is now at hand: The Reapportionment Commission is in place, and the process has just begun. The redrawing of local state and congressional boundary lines that define districts by populations to be represented at these three levels of government is upon us, and bears close watching."

The Benefits Of Regionalization, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"Bristol County is unusual among Rhode Island's five counties. Not only is it contiguous with a county of the same name in an adjoining state, but it also consists of only three towns--Barrington, Warren and Bristol--and is one of the smallest of the 3,141 counties in this country."

Census Numbers May Mean Money To Cities, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"It looks like we're nearly there. The results of America's most costly census have been announced and many cities and states are not happy with them. A possible adjustment of figures will likely do little to placate them."

A Note To Candidates: Look At Housing, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"The 1980s will be remembered as the time of the federal government's decimation of housing policies and programs that previous administrations had sought so diligently to design and implement. Candidates for federal and state offices need to be aware of current housing problems and possible measures that will improve housing in the state. The following are major concerns and suggested action proposals to help alleviate the housing plight of state residents.

Now We Are Counted, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"There is an unusual clock in the Department of Commerce building in Washington. Looking like an auto's mileage odometer, it records the nation's population. Another single number is added to the total every 14 seconds. On March 6, the population odometer reached 250 million, which should be the number reported from this year's tally by the U.S. Census Bureau, the 21st decennial census in our country's history."

Spruce Up The Plan Reports To Gain Some Notice, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"It was just a decade ago that the comprehensive plan for the city of Springfield, Mass. was published, and almost immediately, the national news media picked it up and publicized it throughout the country. What was it about this plan for the future of a middle-sized city that would generate this type of attention? After all, most cities produce similar plans, but these usually go unnoticed and unread, even in the communities for which these plans are made.

The imaginative approach used in the Springfield plan was to publish it in the Time magazine format, even to a title that …

Who Are Nation's Poor? Census Pores Over Stats, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"A wise old Englishman once said, 'The governments are keen on gathering statistics; they collect them, add them and raise them to the nth power, but you must never forget that in the first instance they are given by the village watchman who just puts down what he damn well pleases.'"