“…because of the aging of the population, the federal government is about to shift an enormous amount of resources towards health care of the elderly. I think over time, that’s going to put a lid on things like investment in infrastructure and education. And that’s why you see cities and metros stepping up.”
“Cities are not governments.”
“Our book tell stories where what you see are networks working together to organize themselves in more strategic ways. That’s what cities and metros do so differently from the state and federal level, which are really just governments.”
“One thing that’s really interesting about cities is this is where elected leaders use their informal power as much as their formal power, like when you see Bloomberg after the recession pulling together leaders to say ‘what’s our game changer?’ That’s how they came up with the Applied Science District. They have a new role now. It’s not just running their governments but also helping to convene disparate stakeholders.”
“The message is ‘you have power.’ The power, to some extent, starts with using the local government to convene stakeholders. You form a network, and whatever the problem is, find the right government, civic, corporate, university and labor leaders to start cracking the code.
“The economic structures of the metros are really different from each other. So the last part is find out what’s your game changer. In New York, it was the Applied Sciences Initiative. In L.A. and Denver, it was transit. This is the Dolly Parton line, “find out who you are, and do it on purpose.” What’s going to make your metropolis stand out among the crowd?
“In some ways, this should be liberating. It’s the quintessential American value. We’re basically saying, ‘roll up your sleeves and solve problems.’ Who else do you think will? You’re on your own. We’re not celebrating a moment here. It’s the harsh reality.”
— Bruce Katz, The Metropolitan Revolution
http://www.governing.com/blogs/fedwatch/gov-examining-the-ongoing-metropolitan-revolution-power-of-cities-bruce-katz.html