Luke Planning: December 2002 Newsletter

Henry Luke - Newsletter #36 - COMMUNITY VISIONING RESULTS
December 2002

LUKEVISION- Celebrating 20 years of building Community Vision, we now have links to Visions or Strategic Plans for 50 communities or regions on our web site. Visit at http://www.lukevision.com/communities.htm

HARRISBURG, PA-The Federal Transit Administration has awarded Capital Area Transit a $985,000 grant to finance the next phase of Central Pennsylvania’s Regional Rail System. The funding will pay for the preliminary engineering and environmental study phase of a 54-mile track from Carlisle through Harrisburg to Lancaster. http://www.harrisburgregionalchamber.org/display.aspx?pathId=envision

Central Penn Business Journal

CONYERS/ROCKDALE, GA-Rockdale County voters passed a 1% sales tax for the public schools in November 2002. The sales tax will run for five year, or until it generates $80 million for the 13,800- student system. A new career/technical high school is the centerpiece of the construction program. This is the county’s 2^nd five-year sales tax for the public schools. http://www.lukevision.com/rockdale/cover.htm

The Atlanta-Journal Constitution

UNION, NC- Union County voters approved a record $70 million bond package for the public school district by a 2- to –1 margin on December 10^th. The school system has asked voters to approve similar bond packages every two years. The bonds are repaid from property tax receipts.

The Charlotte Observer

The Union County telecommunications/internet project was approved for a grant of $260,000. The grant will be administered by the community college-SPCC and will include a coordinator/grantsman and small business incubators. http://www.unionvision2020.com/

SPOKANE, WA-On November 26, 2002, Avista Corporation and regional higher education leaders announced the creation of an ultra –high-bandwidth network that will be used for regional job creation. The system uses nearly 200 miles of fiber-optic network provided by Avista that operates at 500 megabits per second. The network will link more than 5,000 faculty members in regional colleges and universities and be known as the "Virtual Possibilities Network". Cooperation will be enhanced between North Idaho and Spokane and the network could create a "Virtual University".

The Boeing Company has entered an agreement to sell its Spokane parts plant to Triumph Group, Inc. Last year, Boeing had announced that they might close or sell the plant and laid-off about 150 workers during the past year.

Downtown Spokane continues its renaissance with the renovation of the Lorrain, originally built in 1909. In the last six years, there has been almost $1 billion in private and public investment downtown. http://www.lukevision.com/spokane/pg1.htm

The Spokesman Review

MEMPHIS, TN-The Memphis Chamber of Commerce credits the first five years of MEMPHIS 2005 with collaboratively impacting:

· A 14.5% drop in poverty rates (23,000 persons), a faster decline than the national average.

· Over $8.7 billion in private capital investments, of which $7.6 billion were in the metro area and $1.1 billion elsewhere in the region.

· Steady growth in per capita income, surpassing the national average for the first time.

The Chamber is now seeking funding to increase the impact in the 2^nd five-years of MEMPHIS 2005.

http://www.lukevision.com/memphis/cover.htm

YAKIMA, WA-The Post-Secondary Education Alliance is initially focusing on creating an entity to provide informed, coordinated, centralized counseling about all programs available in every post-secondary institution in the area-Seamless Student Services http://www.uppervalleyvision.net/

SAGINAW, MI-The Image Alliance of Saginaw County Vision 2020 rolled out a marketing campaign on December 5, 2002, "The Saginaw Valley, Strong Roots…Strong Future". The campaign will be featured on newspaper pages, billboards, and airwaves during the first quarter of 2003. The media will donate the ad space and broadcast time for the first quarter. http://www.scv2020.org/

The Saginaw News

T. Craig Chasseur, a student at the Saginaw Arts & Sciences Academy achieved the highest possible scores on the SAT…. a 1,600… and the ACT, a 36, when he was a high school sophomore. The 18-year old has narrowed his list of prospective colleges to eight. He plans to pursue a double major in physics and computer sciences.

The Saginaw News

LAKELAND, FL-In November 2002, Polk County voters approved changing from an elected school superintendent to an appointed school superintendent. http://www.lakelandvision.com/

SCHUYLKILL, PA-Schuylkill County received $200,000 in grant funds from the state to help develop comprehensive land use planning. http://pottsville.koz.com/servlet/randhsite_ProcServ/DBPAGE=cge&GID=00038000000961353781155409

The Pottsville REPUBLICAN

RALEIGH, NC-While office construction has stalled over most of the country, a new private sector 116,000 sq-ft office building is underway on the NC State University’s Centennial Campus. Private sector office space is mixed with university classrooms and labs at the campus. Private sector companies include:

· A Swiss power transmission technology company that has about 500 employees on the campus

· A software developer with 110 employees

· A Japanese company with 125 employees

· A software company….Red Hot… headquarters with 200 employees

The university is also building 200,000 ft of new space and the State Wildlife Resources Commission plans a 70,000 sq-ft office. This almost 400,000 sq-ft of new space will boost the numbers of workers coming to Centennial Campus daily from about 6,500 to 10,000. http://www.lukevision.com/raleigh/cover.htm

The News Observer

PENSACOLA, FL-The University of West Florida (UWF) received more than $20 million to fund research during the last fiscal year. This pace has been maintained for the past few years. http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/news/111802/Local/ST002.shtml

http://www.lukevision.com/escarosa/cover.htm

The Pensacola News-Journal

DALTON, GA-In November 2002, leaders from a cross Georgia and Mexico met to discuss the promises and challenges presented by the areas rapidly changing demographics. Whitfield County’s Hispanic population is almost 10 times larger today than it was in 1990. Dalton’s population is now almost 40% Hispanic. The city and county total Hispanic population is estimated to be more than 20,000 out of 87,000 total population. The Georgia Project and the Georgia Association of Educators sponsored the conference. http://www.targettomorrow.com/

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=6062446&BRD=1866&PAG=461&dept_id=138155&rfi=8

The Daily Citizen

ST. JOHNS, FL-The St. Johns River Water Management District and the State of Florida have an agreement with Rayonier to purchase 8,465 acres of land and timber for $39.9 million. The transaction remains contingent on ratification by the Florida Cabinet. The acreage will nearly triple the size of Faver-Dykes State Park in St, Johns County and create a large conservation area in St. Johns and Flagler Counties. http://www.stjohnsvision.com/

The First Tee, based at the World Golf Village, celebrated the opening of its 100^th facility in Richmond, Virginia. The First Tee of Richmond is adjacent to an elementary school and an urban housing project. First Tee introduces the game of golf to youth who otherwise would not have access to courses and lessons. First Tee is on target to have 250 golf-learning facilities by December 2005.

The Jacksonville Business Journal

RUTHERFORD, NC-Isothermal Community College’s Customized Training Center has been providing Fish! training for over two years. Two professors have reached about 500 people with the four simple principles of the philosophy: play; make their day; be there; and choose your attitude. Charthouse Learning gleaned those principles from the Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle. Charthouse is using the Isothermal program as a part of a video series explaining and marketing Fish! This will give Rutherford County exposure all over the world. http://www.charthouse.com/product_film_fp.asp http://www.thedigitalcourier.com/articles/2002/12/14/news/news01.txt

The Daily Courier

PENNSYLVANIA-The state of Pennsylvania has expanded its Keystone Opportunity Zone (KOZ) program for the 2^nd time. First in 1998- KOZ, then in 2000-KO Expansion Zones and now KO Improvement Zones. Municipalities, counties and school districts may elect to forgo property taxes for 15 years to encourage development. This is an opportunity for investment by local government to create new jobs to halt the out-migration of young people. By 2000, Pennsylvania’s working age-retirement age ratio was 3.7, compared to 4.7 for the United States. In 1970, Pennsylvania was 4.9 and the United States was 5.3.

Central Penn Business Journal

PAST COMMUNITY VISIONING REPORTS, the Community Strategic Planning Process, and client web sites can be reviewed from the menu below. Luke Planning, Inc. provides facilitation for Community Vision and Community Strategic Planning. Please forward this newsletter to anyone who may have an interest in these topics.

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Henry Luke