Founder's Note: January
From January 2006
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Cerebral Exercise
By Warren Smith
January is the perfect time to get back in shape. I’m not talking about returning to the gym (although I need to); I’m talking about a cerebral workout. That is what this month’s Prosper, with its bombardment of ideas to use, muse or outright reject, is challenging you to do. In that context, the Prosper Big Idea Conference convened a few months back for its own mental exercise (“What’s the Big Idea?” page 34).
Prosper gathered a group of community leaders to brainstorm ideas that would act as an economic lightning rod for our community. The Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce, the Sacramento Area Commerce and Trade Organization and many other civic groups have embarked on a mission to develop an economic business plan for the region aptly titled the Project for Prosperity. In the spirit of that effort, Prosper’s conference came together.
For me, the take-away from the
Prosper Conference is that there are business leaders willing to work, and there are electeds here with vision. Chris Cabaldon, the mayor of West Sacramento, Sacramento County Supervisors Susan Peters and Roger Dickinson, and Supervisor Ted Gaines from Placer County are to name just a few. With or without a big postage-stamp image of what Sacramento can be, they are revitalizing the port, developing the riverfront, creating mixed-use infill and, most importantly, involving the community. Citizen buy-in is essential to any regional push, and we have the folks to lead the way.
What we don’t have is a financial mechanism to build the next Arco, Mondavi or American River Parkway. So, I am going to say it: We need a regional sales tax and additional funding by our local business community for special projects. These funds would be committed to public investments that provide an ROI and bring great pride to each of us. To accomplish this, I say we consolidate and form a regional government that shares big-picture concerns.
Continued...
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