The Observation Deck

Sam O'Leary and Mayor Summers are big fans of regionalization but I've never heard them explain why they think it is a good idea.

Their biggest regionalization project was the regionalization of Lakewood Hospital.

What else will be regionalized? Why is it important? Who benefits? What will Westlake regionalize? What will Avon regionalize?

Is regionalization just code for: Give us what you have and we will relocate it to the exurbs or downtown and then everything will be better.

Mr. Call, in the future, I intend to address the topic of regionalism and regional economic development with, I hope, some thoughtful and cogent commentary along with a few tables and charts.

However, you have nailed the fundamental point by noting that the rubble at Detroit and Belle is the front-edge of the bulldozer blade of regionalism.

Mark Kindt wrote:Mr. Call, in the future, I intend to address the topic of regionalism and regional economic development ...

Go for it. The Plain Dealer has just completed a series of articles on regionalism. I had some short email exchanges with the reporter. I mentioned that:

the Cities he cited were capital cities and that he needed to determine how much the success of those cities was due to the fact that they were the state capitals

the articles offered no details about how things would improve with a regional government beyond the standard "more efficient" without any evidence that a regional approach would be more efficient.

the articles failed to mention taxation and tax rates and revenue sharing and funding.

the articles mentioned a regional approach to development without any mention of what a regional approach actually meant.

My last email mentioned the regionalization of Lakewood Hospital. That ended our exchange. If you ever want to end an email chain with a PD reporter just mention Lakewood Hospital. They won't touch the issue. I can usually get a letter printed in the Plain Dealer. On one occasion I received a request to shorten the letter to 150 words so they could print it. I shortened it and added a mention about Lakewood Hospital. It was never printed.

Other articles on regionalization mention that things like schools, police, fire, trash collection and street maintenance would remain under local control. What would be regionalized? Development decisions. It seems to me Lakewood Hospital would be a perfect example of the affect of regionalization.

Here is one approach to thinking about regionalization:

If Columbus was NEVER the capital of Ohio it would never have been the home of The Ohio State University.

So, if Columbus was NEVER the capital of Ohio and never the home of Ohio State University would Columbus still be a cow town?

If I had a PHD in urban planning

Where the various affects are defined as:

P = population attributable to State government
T = tax expenditures attributable to State government
C = Corruption factor - best estimate of affects of State officials seeking benefits to the home town (Columbus)
TA = Positive affect of tax dollars taken from other communities to benefit the state capital
S = Synergies available, the big and strong eat the weak
R = positive affects of regionalization

R=100% if all of the success is do to regionalization

What percent of the success of a capital city is the result of regionalization?

R = 100- ((P+T+C+TA+S)/100) )

Where
P=+66
T= +10
C=+3
TA =+5
S = +12

Therefore: R = 4%