The Sound and the Fury Over the Millennials

“I suppose that people, using themselves and each other so much by words, are at least consistent in attributing wisdom to a still tongue...”- William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury

Over the last year, the media seems to have been collectively obsessed with the plight of young workers.  When I say, "collectively obsessed," I mean mostly gawking and pontificating about the merits of hard work.  Here's one particularly horrifying story about student loan debt. I had remembered reading that story a few months ago, but to find it again, when I searched, I had to use Fark.com, which is mostly a commentary website, to find it (and they didn't have good things to say).  The internet is simply littered with other examples.

However, for this past May (coincidentally around graduation), it came to a fever pitch.  Joel Stein (who I normally respect) wrote an article in Time the now in-famous, "Me Me Me Generation" article.  In it, he details in the very beginning about the incidence rate of narcissistic personality disorder among Millennials being three times higher than in adults age 65 or older.  This begins the long number of exhibits Stein pulls out to illustrate his ultimate point: Millennials are self-adsorbed, narcissistic and, perhaps most offensively to prior generations, entitled.  Granted, there is some discussion about how "we'll save everyone," but frankly, it's a systematic assault on the entire generation.

There have been some attempts among my cohorts (yes, I am a Millennial) to defend our generation.  The Nation posted one such response, which was just dripping with sarcasm.  A more measured one from PolicyMic can be found here, though it focuses on more of a defense of the things Stein points out.  Then, one of the publications I read somewhat regularly, Public Management, ran a commentary by Garin Giacomarro, an Economic Development Coordinator from Texas and fellow Millennial, on how to work with Millennials.  As the Whispers once sang, "And the Beat Goes On..."

I'm not here today to launch a polemic attack on Stein or the number of Baby Boomers and Gen Xers who believe what he has to say.  I'm here to suggest that this is all one great sound and fury over nothing.  Socrates famously said:

"Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers."

 To which Joel Stein responded:

"I am about to do what old people have done throughout history: call those younger than me lazy, entitled, selfish and shallow. But I have studies! I have statistics! I have quotes from respected academics! Unlike my parents, my grandparents and my great-grandparents, I have proof."

To which I now posit a great Homer Simpson quote:

"Aw, you can come up with statistics to prove anything, Kent. Forty percent of all people know that."

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am going to say it: you were once Millennials.  You once had no idea what you were going to do after college or what a reasonable starting salary was.  You once longed for flexibility in the work schedule to do what you wanted to do.  You once slept in until 11 a.m. on the weekends (I no longer do, but I remember back in the day).  Your "good, old days" are actually your, "bad, young days."  You can claim that you understand that productivity was the point of work and not pursuing your passions, but hindsight is always 20/20.

Now, to my fellow Millennials, I am going to say that the older generations are right.  The point of work is to be productive (you can pursue your passions on the side).  Yes, sleeping in until 11 a.m. is a bad thing (but can be done once in awhile like all things in moderation).  Yes, job hopping is bad, but if you feel that your job isn't secure, by all means, I'd encourage you to look for another.  Yes, do show up to work on time.  However, don't let anyone get you down by telling you you're too young.

So, I now ask everyone in this conversation - what are we fighting about?  This is artificial divide is all nothing but sound and fury over age old divisions, all of which repeats itself over and over.  And the beat goes on.

Detroit: Cautionary Tale

I doubt anybody missed the news this week about Detroit.  Or the subsequent protests from city employees and pensioners. Or how a Michigan state judge has since blocked the city's attempt to file for bankruptcy.  And, just for good measure, everybody and their mom's dog's opinion on why Detroit got into this mess in the first place.

In short, it was a bad week for Detroit and just about everybody there.

As Jared Bernstein said, "It’s obviously been a long way down for Detroit."  There's an understatement.  Detroit, in recent years, has been more of the proverbial snowball, rolling down a hill and rapidly collecting and compounding problems, than falling straight done to a hard landing.  The warning signs were there, and Detroit responded, but it was too little too late.

Detroit was a perfect storm of bad things.  With a largely homogenous industrial base, a rough reputation and housing stock that is particularly susceptible to price swings, it comes as no surprise that Detroit's tax base shrunk with gusto when the economy first started to shake.  Without that foundation, Detroit faced massive revenue shortfalls and with already substantial debt and pension costs. The whole house of cards came down pretty quickly as Detroit had few safeguards in place.  And here we are. 

Of course, that's only the local view.  Others can point to globalization, which hurt Detroit's major economic players.  As that occurred, the housing bubble compounded the problem.  Perhaps it's all a matter of perception about exactly whose fault it is.

However, I think this is a clearly cautionary tale to the rest of us and our communities.  Some clear lessons which we should take to heart:

1. Diversify: Detroit flew high when American autos corporations were kings.  When they fell, Detroit fell even harder.  Further damage came from the fact that Detroit wasn't just housing the auto corps but all their supply chains.  Once upon a time, keeping all the supply chains close was a smart philosophy for everybody, but those days are gone.
2. Manage Your Reputation: Detroit has long had a rough image.  Even native Detroit metro inhabitants admit this.  Of course, this has a subtle but still powerful impact on where businesses and individuals want to locate.  Detroit or Chicago? Detroit or Houston? These are generally not hard decisions.  Businesses can be incentivized, but individuals not as easily.  Keeping ahead of our reputations is an important part of keeping a vibrant community.
3. Plan Ahead: I'm not sure to what extent Detroit officials knew how bad this situation could become.  Nate Silver argues in his new book The Signal and the Noise that economists themselves had significant difficulty predicting the 2008 recession.  However, it's obvious to us now that we have to at least consider the worse case scenario and plan accordingly and install safeguards.
4. Obligations and Liabilities Need Proper Consideration by All Parties: Many are quick to blame pensions for Detroit's problems.  Pensions are one of many institutional factors that contributed to the situation.  To some extent, Detroit may have been able to control its pension liabilities - I'm not exactly an expert on pension law in Michigan.  However, in many states, it's up to the State Legislature to define pension benefits, which accordingly drive pension costs and contributions.  Communities must be vigilant in educating their elected representatives about pensions, how they function and their costs.
5. Federal Policy Matters: It's commonly said that local government has the most impact on the lives of residents.  That's true, but what's not as commonly understood is how federal law ultimately impacts local government.  In the case of Detroit, globalization is obviously a key factor in the problems which lead to the bankruptcy as major economic players struggled.  We often watch our State legislatures - we should be constantly watching Capital Hill as well and predicting its impact on us.

 So what say you, readers? What else can we learn from Detroit?

Letter to a Young PIO Handling his or her first Crisis

When I took over the role of PIO for my organization (one of many hats), I knew that one day a crisis would come.  And it finally happened.  This week, after flirting with entering a moderate flood stage for little over a week, the river running through a central portion of my community spilled over the banks and surrounded local structures.  Yesterday, the river crested in the major flood stage and is now, after thousands of sandbags, long days for staff and one shot of me on national news for which I owe everyone pizza, finally on the downward trend.

Whew.  Hallelujah, it's over - at least, as far as the critical stage.  Now, we get to move on to recovery, which while messy, is at least not life critical.  Yesterday was my first day of peace and quiet (the phone only rang four times!), and so, I wanted to capture my thoughts on what went well and what didn't for those newer PIOs out nervously watching their rivers or the skies and thinking about how best to prepare.

You're not in this alone: Whether you're writing press releases or talking to the press directly, always keep in mind that you're not alone and others want to help.  My strategy assumed I would be on my own entirely, but I had a great team around me who was willing to review press releases, automated messages and media talking points.  I didn't utilize all of them as much as I should have.  When thinking through response, keep in mind those who can help you keep on point and in the loop to help craft the messaging.

Substance then narrative: Obviously, the substantive points are important when handling a crisis.  However, capturing and broadcasting the narrative is as well.  A narrative helps others understand the crisis, what has been done, what will happen and the part everyone played in it.  A short memo with just facts is unlikely to promote confidence in the public that you are managing the crisis and also unlikely to gather much media interest in hearing what else you may have to say.

Journalists are looking for a story: Before journalists are even anywhere close to calling you, start thinking through your management of them.  Remember, they are looking for a story.  They'll want to talk to people involved in the crisis, personnel on the ground, etc.  Often, they'll even volunteer their angle before meeting with you.  Do you want to take them as they come?  Do you want to hold daily press briefings or press conferences?  Do you solely want to issue statements or press releases?  Remember, the more generalized an emergency (spread out over a large area or low important), the less likely they'll pay attention to you specifically unless you're either (1) ahead of the news cycle (issuing statements before or anyone else) or (2) you're acting as part of or representing a larger group.  My information ended up on national news, because I could give specific information at a press conference held in joint with a larger group.

This week, I issued regular statements, took reporters as they called and participated in press conferences if they were available.  Journalists seemed to appreciate this approach.  Plus, if they asked for tours of the impacted area, I took them.  It gave me plenty of time to give them information to control the narrative.  Plus, I also the rare kind of person who genuinely enjoys interacting with the press.

Don't Leave Your Constituents Out in the Cold: Ultimately, your purpose is to get information to the people impacted or those that are potentially impacted.  You want to inspire confidence and make sure that they have all the information necessary to make informed decisions.  Use every tool in your arsenal and think through a communications strategy.  When I issued press releases, everyone got them.  When we issued specific automated messages to the impacted area, everyone knew we had with the next press release.  Don't focus on the press to the detriment of the public.

Inspire Confidence: When you speak to the press or the public, speak confidently.  If you don't know, say you don't but that you'll get back to whoever asked.  I consistently added to all statements at the height of the crisis, "The organization is open and all core services are operational."  Confidence breeds trust, and again, your job is to get information out but it's also to inspire confidence and trust.

Practical Tips: Here are some practical tips I'd pass on for how to successfully handle various parts of the job during a crisis:

• Keep your suit coat on a hanger nearby at all times in case you need to go live for an interview.  For this crisis, it stayed in my car most of the time or I wore it if there was a chance of running into press somewhere nearby.
• When the press wants to get sound bytes or you're at a press conference, introduce yourself and spell your name.  Then give them your title.  They're used to this style and it helps them verify their information.
• If you're working outside of your office, forward all messages to your cell phone.  It's just easier for keeping track of your calls.  Plus, it helps guard your personal cell phone number (if you're using that).
• If you're making public statements at a press conference, making sure your font is large enough to be easily read and found if you're looking for a number.  I wrote mine is Times 12, and while I found the number fairly quick, I struggled a little bit.
• Social media is an excellent tool for keeping people updated during a crisis.  Make sure to advertise your accounts in your press releases and statements.
• Pay attention to what others are saying.  If another community or organization issues a good press release or has a good strategy, see what you can learn and apply from watching them.

As always, remain calm and if you're unsure, reach out to your colleagues.

A Quick Guide to Sustainability Resources for Local Government

If your organization is like mine, each spring the focus shifts toward some green initiatives and various local methods to help promote the environment.  Over the years, I have put together some reference materials for my use, but I thought I'd share them with my readers as well.  Keep in mind that some of these may be region specific and you may need to tailor for your needs:

1. Conservation:
1. Electricity.  Electricity conservation has made great strides in recent years, but nevertheless, it's not uncommon for there to still be a ton of waste.  Some ideas for your residents and your organization:
•  A great primer on household electricity saving tips for residents from WE Energies (Wisconsin).  I like this one in particular because it focuses on a variety of different appliances around the house.
• For local government use, I think the City of Berkeley, CA does a great job discussing your options and applicable methodologies for implementation.  This isn't practical for all of us, but I think its an excellent starting point. 
• As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, there were a few grants handed out to help retrofit American homes to be more energy efficient (including some instant rebates).  Here's an example program from Chicagoland. I believe most major metropolitan areas have something similar.  I advertise them as much as possible to residents since it's a win-win.  Hurry though - I understand these are drying up quickly.
• Many states (including Ohio, Illinois and Michigan) have deregulated the electricity market and allow for electricity aggregation.  This would let your government bid the cost of electricity on behalf of your residents.  As part of the deal (depending on the state), you could also purchase "green" power.  Depending on your community, this could be win-win.
2. Water. My guess is that your organization uses either the even/odd or red/yellow/green system to restrict water usage during the summer, but I try to promote water conservation year-round where possible.  Here are some great resources for discussing it with residents:
• Some interesting facts and ideas from National Geographic.  Part of the reason I like this list is the source - National Geographic is a well-respected and recognized name.
• Water efficiency grants run the gambit.  Each state normally has something to help out.  Check with your Department of Natural Resources or State Environmental Protection Agency.
3. Natural Gas. According to the Department of Energy, natural gas is the most common home heating fuel source in America - and with good reason.  Natural gas is wonderfully cheap (and somewhat more eco-friendly than other options).  Yet, conservation should still be encouraged where possible.
• Some good tips from Virginia Natural Gas aimed specifically at natural gas.
2. Recycling and Refuse Management.
1. Goal Setting and Measurement: One of the initial problems I had when looking at recycling and refuse management was how to measure how much people were actually throwing out versus recycling.  There's a few different methodologies out there, but for a short-hand reference, I like to use the ratio of recycled materials and refuse as compared to the total waste stream.  Higher recycling is preferable (and a good way to compare apples to apples).  This data should be relatively easy to get a hold of from your hauler.
2. Promoting Recycling Programs: Recycling programs are probably one of the easiest programs to find resources to promote on.  Some general tips to make sure you have a good reference:
• Make sure you have resources that accurately reflect what you can recycle in any given area.  It does vary considerably depending on the region.
• Normally, your hauler will have some good resources, but I typically borrow the information from it instead of using it directly.
• Make use of your print media.  I put a chart in our recent newsletter that can be put directly on someone's refrigerator.
3. Stormwater.
1. If you're in the Mississippi River basin (which I believe you have 40% chance of being in if you're in the continental US), stormwater is probably one of your many preoccupations, though I imagine it's a big deal just about anywhere there's a flood plain. Here are some excellent items I refer to from time to time for public education:
1. The definitive source is the Center for Watershed Protection (CWP) Stormwater Manager's Resource Center.  There's links to variety of resources from across the nation, and it's fairly comprehensive.
2. One of my favorite resources is Oregon State University's Rain Garden Guide.  It's a comprehensive, step-by-step guide and gives illustrated instructions that are simple to follow.  In northern Illinois, rain gardens continue to grow in popularity, and I expect that trend to continue.

If you have any favorite other resources, please sure to share them.

A History of Blight in Rockford, IL

This morning, the Rockford Register Star published a feature by reporter Chuck Sweeny on how the west side of Rockford was purposefully engineered to be the blighted side of town.  It's a short, interesting read that gives some prospective, if nothing else, from a long-time resident.  I can't speak to any points that he brings up or whether they are entirely factual or not - I live in a nearby metropolitan area but am rarely over there.  However, I think we all need a periodic "reality check" from our residents about what they perceive is going on, and here's an excellent opportunity.

On Detroit, Emergency Managers and Dillon's Law

This past week, the State of Michigan formally announced that it would be seeking to appoint an emergency financial manager to takeover the City of Detroit, the 18th largest city in the US.  According to the New York Times, Detroit has roughly $14 billion in existing long-term liabilities.  The City has terrible, self-admitted liquidity problems, and all the symptoms of insolvency are present including revenue shortfalls ($326.6 million in FY 11/12 according to the City's CAFR), rapidly downgraded credit ratings and ballooning short-term debt (as a result of the shortfalls). A full history of the City's agreements and activities related to managing its solvency over the last few years is available in the Management Discussion & Analysis portion of its previous CAFR.

So, in short, Detroit is in dire straights.  With all major credit agencies now rating Detroit below investment grade, the City's ability to issue any more debt is significantly compromised.  Their efforts to control costs including 10% wage cuts, freezing of benefits and pay increases and various actions to outsource certain functions and reorganize debt seem to have aided slightly, but they have not been dramatic enough to demonstrate solvency to either the State or the credit agencies.  Therefore, Michigan has proposed invoking its controversial ability to assign an emergency manager to take over the city's operations and unilaterally make decisions to improve the city's finances.  Detroit seems to be somewhat ambivalent toward the whole thing. Much of Detroit's community isn't but is begrudgingly accepting it.

Michigan's authority to assign an emergency manager falls under the broad category of "Dillon's Law," which establishes municipalities as "creatures" of the State.  In simpler terms, it means the State is the boss and municipalities only have the powers given to them.  In some respects, it's a logical arrangement and makes complete sense.  After all, the State is the superior government and has a responsibility to ensure accountability.  In some instances, however, the arrangement leads to unnecessary burdens or extremely unfavorable terms on both parties.  This is, always has been and always will be a delicate balancing act.

In Detroit's case, the emergency manager situation seems somewhat necessary.  The city no longer has the ability to independently get itself out of the situation, and without some sort of guarantee of solvency, default is the only option.  An emergency manager can help prevent that.

However, the Detroit Free Press, amongst others, does make some valid points including the fact that it ignores regional issues and drastically reduces the ability of residents to use their democratic rights.  However, I think Michael Stampfler, the former emergency manager of Pontiac, MI, says it best, ""For a community to actually succeed, the Legislature needs to do more than send someone to work to balance the books and leave as fast as possible."  Balancing the books is a core necessity, and I don't think anybody can dispute that.  The problem though is that in doing so, an emergency manager, whether or not intentionally, sidesteps civil engagement and, perhaps just as gravely, can entirely dismantle an organization without leaving any easy method of putting it back together.  Then, as soon as the books are balanced, they leave without necessarily giving the organization the tools to succeed.  That's simply not sustainable.

So, I don't disagree with the Free Press's points in their editorial today.  I think their calls for transparency and cooperation are excellent, but they have to realize that the manager won't be able to make services better and fix Detroit's problems overnight.  Long-term problems require long-term solutions, and the manager is really phase one of a restructuring that Detroit needs to do together, as a community. Anything else will likely fail.

Simultaneously, the State of Michigan needs to stop such heavy-handed interpretation of Dillon's Law.  While the state is technically correct and certainly has an overriding interest in the success of its urban communities (better communities mean a better Michigan in more ways than one), they need to take the old economist adage, "Who feeds Paris?" to heart.  Just as Paris is fed through an extremely complex series of transaction, Detroit and Michigan become successful through micro and macro transactions and exchanges beyond simple fiscal solvency.  An emergency manager must preserve as well as salvage.  I urge Lansing to reconsider their approach and help cities pull themselves up with the aid of and not the commands of an emergency manager.

A Great Study in Emergency Management and Social Media from the Hurricane Sandy Frontlines

courtesy of http://pzrservices.typepad.com

This week, I had the great opportunity to present to the Illinois City/County Management Association on municipal communication networks and the ways that their success and ROI can be measured (more on that in a future post).  In doing my research on the subject though, I ran across an awesome case study from Hootsuite on the uses of social media in managing a crisis situation.  I'm no stranger to the topic itself, so I wanted to share some of my experiences and the things I learned from sitting on the front line trying to manage communications in a town with no power.

To start, as you know, social media is a relatively new type of communications medium based around platforms allowing for publicly visible two-way interaction.  To this point, social media has been limited to what I've begun calling "platforms" or the designated spaces within which messaging can take place (almost always a website such as facebook, Twitter or YouTube).  Its beauty is its simplicity - all we have to do is craft a message and transmit.  Your "likers," "followers" or "subscribers" (different names all describing those users who are subscribed to your messages) then receive your message and decide what to do with it (whether ignore, read, interact or share).  This basic outline varies a little bit based on the platform but basically looks the same.

Now, understandably, the idea of publicly visible two-way interaction makes many organizations, both public and private, somewhat uneasy since they lose the ability to control their message once its sent.  Appleby's recently learned this the hard way.  However, for the public sector, the fears are often much greater - potential liability for inadvertently violating the First Amendment, transparency concerns, etc.  Therefore, I've heard more than one public sector manager say something like, "Oh no, with all those potential problems, we just won't participate."  I feel that's a mistake - the benefits of using social media can far outweigh the risks if you go about managing it in a strategic, thoughtful manner, especially in emergencies.

Sandy as a Case for the Use of Social Media:

As we all remember, Superstorm Sandy hit the east coast in October last year.  New York City, the Jersey Shore and any costal plain area in the area was seriously flooded, and power was knocked out for thousands (potentially millions) of customers in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.  One of the hardest hit areas was Morris County, NJ, a suburban county in the NYC metropolitan area with a population just under 500,000.  However, instead of doing traditional "spoke and hub" communications, the County turned to social media to help disseminate information to residents.

Using a Twitter account (@MCUrgent) and a sister facebook account, the County used social media as a way of transmitting emergency response information, taking in requests for aid and responding to those requests.  Obviously, there were two advantages to using social media: (i) it reduced confusion and the number of telephone calls coming in as information was readily available for consumption and (ii) it provides users with a sense of comfort that their concerns are being heard (the article does not elaborate on this but I think its an important point).  Overall, it makes an effective complement to traditional emergency management.

Additional Thoughts on Using Social Media in Crisis Situation:

As a complement to the case study, I wanted to briefly add the following points from my own experiences with social media:

1. Social Media Does Not Go Down: While a storm may cripple telephones, it will not bring down social media.  Since social media exists almost entirely "in the cloud," it can continue to be deployed at any point of a crisis.
2. It Reduces the "Whisper Down the Lane" Effect: Social media can actually be more effective than radio or telephone communications because the source of the information is tangible, posted and does not change (i.e. its less easy for people to distort or blow the message out of proportion since the actual message is posted and easily accessible).
3. It Has Its Own Special Brand of Reassurance: Those interacting with an emergency management agency's social media account and receiving a reply feel that they are being taken care of in a way comparable to a personal telephone call.  However, the exchange is much more efficient.
4. It Works Very Well In Conjunction With Other Communication Types: Social media has reached the point of integration where any type of other communication (a mass notification message, a website post, a listserv e-mail, etc.) can also be instantly and seamlessly posted to at least Twitter and Facebook.  Your social media team can continue focusing on personal interactions without having to worry about posting new messages.

Additional Things to Keep in Mind:

While social media is an excellent tool, as the case study points it, it is not an "all-in-one" solution.  It has some drawbacks that you must be aware of to effectively use it in an emergency:

1. Social media is relatively weak by itself: Depending on the platform, your social media posts may only reach about 5 - 20% of your total contacts depending on a few different factors.  Therefore, social media is based used as a supplemental form of communication to enhance your mass notification and website messaging.
2. There is no "Field of Dreams": Despite what that voice told Kevin Costner, just because you build a social media presence doesn't mean that anybody will come.  You have to notify people that it exists and how to access it before the emergency comes.  Actually, the best time to do so (from my experience) is immediately after a minor crisis where people figured out they needed easy information access but didn't have it.  They are likely to recognize the value and join at that point.
3. Messages may need to be reposted several times: On many platforms, the order in which a user sees messages depends on how users choose to see posts and the time that they log on. Particularly on Twitter, a message may be posted and be completely pushed off a user's immediately landing page in less than a minute depending on the frequency of posts from other users they are subscribed too.  I tend to post the same messages three to four times a day and update social media as soon as I have new information to maximize the audience seeing my posts.
4. You need to think strategically: Constantly improve your social media presence to attract more users and retain those you currently have.  If your crises are few and far between (and hopefully they are), users may lose interest in just seeing meeting agendas being posted.  Vary up your posts and learn about creative things you can do to keep your users attention.  I will have a post in the new few months on that very subject you can look forward to.

Again, thanks to Hootsuite for issuing that case study.   I hope to see some cool things from them in the future.  Remember, social media is a powerful tool and can be used to great affect - however, you can't do it haphazardly.  Think through what you're doing!

SOTU Recap: Some Encouraging Ideas for Communities

As a local government person, I watch the State of the Union (SOTU) with the same amount of dedication as any federal or state worker.  The reason is simple - I want to know what's potentially coming down the road in three to five years.  That's right - it can take up to five years (and more in some cases) for federal spending to actually reach its intended target.  It's not really the federal government's fault - there are several procedures used to determine how funding shall be split between different projects which then go through a separate set of policy decisions before reaching their target.  It's federalism at work, which is neither a good thing or a bad thing - it's just the way the system works.

But anyway, each year, I like to review the State of the Union and pull out the initiatives which may (or may not) be coming next.  Some highlights from this year:


Having Direct Impact on Local Government and Communities:

Economic Development:

The President made jobs (and economic development) one of the centerpieces of the SOTU.  His first call to action was tax and entitlement reform, a commonly cited solution.  However, given the current partisan temperament of Washington, even the President admits that this may be a long shot.  We can be hopeful that his overtures will be well-received by Congress, though I am not overly optimistic about its prospects.  Tax reform, much like deficit reduction, will continue to be a spot of undying interest but little legislative action.

The President then stated that the American Dream, and specifically, the well-being of the middle class must be the "north star" of our goals.   He pointed to job creation and training and good wages as the foundation and moved quickly to one of his Administration's new initiatives: the Youngstown Manufacturing Hub, the first of several proposed centers designed to accelerate manufacturing innovation.

The Youngstown Org Structure. http://namii.org

Essentially, these programs work under a public-private partnership (including manufacturers, universities and government) to drive growth in the region.  In the Youngstown case, the goal is to transition the entire region from an older manufacturing hub to a tech belt. It's a progressive approach to economic development and minimizes the zero sum game that critics often point to as a problem of modern economic development.  The project is encouraging and may help revitalize much of the region, restore some wage equity to the manufacturing community and hopefully, increase the quality of the life in the region.  I live just outside a former manufacturing hub which has since fallen on hard times.  A center like this may be just the thing needed to spur regional cooperation and growth.

Infrastructure Management:

The President was particularly aggressive on the question of infrastructure, perhaps the most refreshing take on the subject in the past five and a half years since the collapse of the I-35 bridge in Minnesota.  He was very specific about linking strong infrastructure to economic development (citing the CEO of Siemens who claimed that better infrastructure would help produce more jobs in North Carolina) and proposed a "Fix It First" program focusing on urgent repairs to structurally deficient bridges.  He also promised to attract private capital to aid this program.

Of course, bridges are a concern.   However, they are one subset of the larger infrastructure problems.  Municipalities are issuing multi-million dollar bonds for simple street resurfacing and water main replacement.  It would be prudent for Washington to not only promise aid for bridges but to ensure that our water, sewer, stormwater, electricity, natural gas and oil conveyance systems will continue to stand the test of time.  For the last five years, many municipalities and have pushed capital improvements back - we're going to need assistance in catching up.

Housing:

Housing has seen a fortunate upturn recently, and the President was quick to acknowledge it.  He continues to propose programs designed to aid in refinancing and ease the restrictions placed on loan issuance.  These would be welcome developments for many communities where occupied homes increase existing home values and therefore, aid in maintaining the stability of the property tax.

Having an Important but Somewhat Indirect Impact:

Immigration Reform:

The President called on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform but was quick to leave the subject.  Commentators speculated that it was due to the fact that Congress already had bipartisan discussions in the works, and the President knew that they may stall if he became involved.  Either way, immigration seems to be on both parties' agendas and hopefully, they will be able to reach some sort of agreement.  Immigration is not technically a local issue, but it does have impacts on all types of local government.  A clarified federal approach would better direct us at the local level.

Gun Rights and Control:

The President gave particular attention to gun control in light of the recent tragedies in Newtown, Oak Creek and Aurora.  As expected, he called for tighter gun control measures.  The International Association of Chiefs of Police has advocated for similar measures for a number of years.  I suspect this discussion will continue throughout this calendar year.

Predictions:

I'm thinking of all of these, comprehensive immigration reform will be the most likely to gain traction and move from a legislation standpoint.  Both sides will also openly discuss measures for economic development, though I don't see much movement except for on areas of broad agreement (these manufacturing centers, for example, may crop up elsewhere).  I'd be very curious to see a Youngstown center in somewhere like Rockford, IL to compare results.  I'd think Rockford would be an even better position to benefit than Youngstown due to its strategic location between Chicago and Madison, WI.

Unfortunately, I don't think we will see much substantial movement on infrastructure, which will just kick the can further down the road (no pun intended).  The "bridge to nowhere" is the rallying point against pork and infrastructure spending in general, but I think what the President is calling for, and what most of us really need, is a comprehensive solution to fixing existing infrastructure or, at the very least, a methodology to reduce its rate of deterioration.