AIMS Online, June 17, 2004
Urban Chic, Plugging Atlantica into the Emerging Global Network, Social Policy and the New Economy, David Zitner on Health Care Innovation and more.
DO CITIES CREATE WEALTH?
Along with healthcare and taxation, a "new deal for cities" has become a theme of the 2004 federal election. This restructuring of the relationship between Ottawa and Canada’s municipalities has moved to centre stage, but are the arguments being put forward for new senior government intervention in the life of the country’s cities sound?
New AIMS Paper Sheds Light on Relationship Between Ottawa, Cities
Conclusions run counter to big spending ideas by politicians of all stripes
Self-Governing Bands and Municipal Governments: Bridging the gap
Two of the hottest topics in Canadian public policy today are the future of local government and aboriginal self-government. AIMS, which has taken a growing interest in both, is delighted to make available this important new commentary on the relationship between these two issues.
AIMS Online March 25, 2004
Wendell Cox on HRM Development Freeze, Saint John as test case for urban reform, Charles Cirtwill asks: Are we getting results we should for our education dollar? and Where entrepreneurs rule-AIMS in Toronto Star.
Want to pull more people into city centres? Stop pushing them out to the suburbs.
While urban development freezes are clearly not the solution, many growing urban communities are wrestling with the issue of how to manage growth intelligently. It is not enough to say that anti-growth policies don't work. So what is the alternative? In this column from the Halifax Chronicle Herald, AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley lays out a programme for making city centres attractive places to live and do business, so that people live there because they want to, not because they've been forced to do so by bossy bureaucrats. To find out how other cities have revived their centres by positive incentives rather than attacks on suburban property owners and lifestyles,
Irrational rationing of home construction
Irrational rationing – Wendell Cox on HRM Development Freeze In the opinion of Urban development expert Wendell Cox, “the Halifax Regional Municipality freeze on new large-scale housing construction outside the serviced area could not be more inappropriate.” Cox, who was in Halifax in February to speak with developers, HRM officials and other interested parties says the proposed moratorium on development will hobble regional economic growth and the quality of life of households that do not yet own their own homes. In this opinion piece for the March 19 Chronicle-Herald, Cox says HRM appears to be “shooting itself in the foot.”
AIMS to use Greater Saint John as test case for urban reform
As part of its Urban Futures initiative, AIMS is studying how municipalities can become more efficient and provide better service. Using Saint John, New Brunswick as an illustration, AIMS will reflect on how small and medium size municipalities can improve the quality of services for residents and value for money for taxpayers. In this article in the Saint John Telegraph Journal, reporter Mac Trueman examines the AIMS project and objectives.
AIMS to use Greater Saint John as test case for urban reform
As part of its Urban Futures initiative, AIMS is studying how municipalities can become more efficient and provide better service. Using Saint John, New Brunswick as an illustration, AIMS will reflect on how small and medium size municipalities can improve the quality of services for residents and value for money for taxpayers. In this article in the Saint John Telegraph Journal, reporter Mac Trueman examines the AIMS project and objectives.
Parable of the Noon Gun: What’s urban planning really for?
There’s a famous story about a factory where, every day, a gun was fired from the main administrative building signalling that it was time for lunch. A management consultant asked the man who fired the gun how he knew when it was actually noontime. He said that he was guided by the town clock, visible out his window at the town hall across the road. The consultant went across the road and asked the town manager how he knew his clock gave the right time. “It’s always right by the noon gun” was the reply. In other words, none of the so-called “experts” actually knew what time it was at all. But they were convinced that because they only listened to each other’s unfounded prejudices they must be right. This parable is strangely applicable to the HRM and their current campaign against so-called “urban sprawl”.