City Thinking is Stuck in the 90s

[finehoe]

Aaron Renn, "The Urbanophile," writes that cities are still using outdated thinking when looking to generate economic recovery and development. Pointing out massive job-losses in cities during the last decade Renn says cities need to think more about job creation and less about real estate development, green initiatives and the like.

http://www.newgeography.com/content/001726-city-thinking-stuck-90s

[CS Foltz]

I assume we are discussing the "1890's" right?

[stjr]

What's the best way to assure job creation?  Invest in education.  Unfortunately, Florida and Jacksonville are mostly going the other way.  Maybe there is a correlation of sorts here with our higher than average unemployment.

Instead of spending $114 million for JTA/I-95 improvements and another tens of millions for 9B and possibly $1.8 billion for the Outer Beltway, how about spending a fraction of those sums on investing in our educational institutions.  I would gladly give up some of my transit convenience and urban sprawl for better education of our citizens.

[CS Foltz]

stjr +2!

[stjr]

Duval County schools Superintendent Ed Pratt-Dannals,  whose district faces a potential shortfall of almost $125 million next year, said he was “excited” about the new funding.

http://jacksonville.com/news/florida/2010-08-24/story/florida-makes-cut-race-top-money

Above quote from today's article on Florida obtaining "Race to the Top" Federal funding.  Money for roads but not for education.  Hmmmm....

[CS Foltz]

I guess Paul Harden must be on retainer for JTA!

[longhaul]

Couldn't agree more with an increased emphasis on education.  Economic volatility is less predominant in "knowledge-based" economies.  As many have noted, we are transitioning from a brick-and-mortar economic foundation to one driven, instead, by information and technology.  Take any admirable city in the U.S. (or internationally) and you will find this common thread.  Knowledge-based economies not only continually feed highly educated employees into the local workforce, but also support research, teaching hospitals, technology, etc.  As you could imagine, such graduates of the knowledge-based contingent go on to outperform their peers in less forward-minded locales.  Such KB activity is a growth loop whereby more bright individuals/groups/ideas are attracted to like minded people and opportunities.  Further, substantially more funds (both public and private) flow to such economies as their research, technology, and teachings benefit not only the local economy but also the greater good. 

Unfortunately for Jacksonville, not taking a step in this direction only buries their seeds of progress further underground.

Just consider the economic viability of markets such as Boston, NYC, Chicago, LA, Houston, etc.  Each city has multiple top tier institutions, technological centers, and research powers.  The areas that are moving in this direction, again, use the same formula (e.g., Seattle, Research Triangle, NoCal). 

These more stable, intelligent, and nimble economies rely not on reactionary terms where folks wait for leading indicators to buttress advancement (e.g., housing yields development, which yields construction, which yields materials, etc), but instead they diversify and invent. 

If Jacksonville wants to move, it needs to leverage its medical research, medical teaching, higher education, logistics, transportation, and IT.  Don't get me wrong, brick and mortar businesses are what supports America and every economy needs it as their largest employment base.  But to advance, Jacksonville must diversify its resources and heavily support those local institutions capable of expanding the city's knowledge-based footprint.

[cityimrov]

What's the best way to assure job creation?  Invest in education.  Unfortunately, Florida and Jacksonville are mostly going the other way.  Maybe there is a correlation of sorts here with our higher than average unemployment.

Instead of spending $114 million for JTA/I-95 improvements and another tens of millions for 9B and possibly $1.8 billion for the Outer Beltway, how about spending a fraction of those sums on investing in our educational institutions.  I would gladly give up some of my transit convenience and urban sprawl for better education of our citizens.

There's a few major hurdles to overcome to meet this goal.  First one, moving money from transportation pot to the education pot.  People in the transportation pot will do anything they can to prevent money from being moved.  They also are helped by the fact we have taxes on specific areas (i.e. gas) which are set by law so that money there must be spent on roads.  So to change that, we need the legislature to vote and who knows what kind of backlash that will produce. 

Second one, retirees.  Especially retiree voters.  Florida is the retiree capital of the United States.  For the most part, these retirees don't want to spend money on education because it's supposedly useless to them.  Since these are THE major voting block in this state, you need to change their idea of education to improve the education of the state.  Though to their credit, I think they are slowly changing their ways but I don't think it's fast enough.  Well, the other choice is to get younger people to vote more but........... I think only Obama managed to do that. 

Of course education isn't a cure all but in the case of Florida, we just plain need it. 

[spuwho]

Moving money from the transportation pot to the education pot?

In this culture of "me first"?

People can get richer, faster by greasing the skids of transportation, then they ever will trying to revive a listless school district.

The Congress just passed another "stimulus" to provide additional funding to school districts so they won't lay off any teachers. It was a farce. Surveys showed that the majority of school districts were just going to 'bank' the money as they already had laid off their teachers.

OK, so the money came and went to education and did........nothing.

It's that dog gone me first thing again.

[JeffreyS]

The truth is we had made some big in roads to improving Florida's education system but the budget cuts of the last two years are about to send us spiraling backwards again.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/qc/2009/17src.h28.html?r=571861074

[NotNow]

More money is not the answer to our education problem.  Perhaps more subsidy to college education, but primary education is a broken system, not a broken budget.

[thelakelander]

Our entire social and cultural structure is screwed up and that directly impacts our schools.  Imo, the ultimate answer to the education problem revolves around revitalizing the communities around our struggling schools.  Unfortunately, this isn't a fix that will occur overnight.  However, once we start rebuilding our neighborhoods, change come rapidly.

[thelakelander]

This will help, but so will direct improvements to the schools.

Of course. 

[buckethead]

The new Robert F Kennedy (K-12) school in LA. I'm thinking someone made some money building this structure...

With an eye-popping price tag of $578 million, it will mark the inauguration of the nation's most expensive public school ever.

The K-12 complex to house 4,200 students has raised eyebrows across the country as the creme de la creme of "Taj Mahal" schools, $100 million-plus campuses boasting both architectural panache and deluxe amenities.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100822/ap_on_re_us/us_taj_mahal_schools

[Dog Walker]

More money is not the answer to our education problem.  Perhaps more subsidy to college education, but primary education is a broken system, not a broken budget.

Darn right!

Can you think of any other institution or business that is operating with the same structure as it was in 1890?  Our school systems are.

Age segregated classes, lock-step curricula, a schedule that is geared to an agrarian society, a "lowest common denominator" approach to teaching....is it any wonder that home schooled kids are doing much better than those in regular schools?

The whole thing needs to be torn up and redesigned.