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.