My New Favorite Word: Resiliency...

It’s funny how perspectives change as your view of the world changes. 

Sometimes it’s you that’s changing –  you get married, have kids, grow old — all those are life changers that influence your perspective on things.  Other times the world changes around us and causes us to see things differently. Lately, the economy has done a lot of changing, mostly not for good, and out of necessity that’s forced us to look at things differently. 

I’ve always tended to describe the City organization with phrases like innovative, engaged, action-oriented, goal-directed, and any number of other adjectives that implied progress towards fulfilling the Kent community’s aspirations.   These words are all still true but as I’ve made done my speech-making tour at some of the local civic organizations I’ve noticed that I am tending to favor a slightly different set of words.  Words like resilient, dependable, and resourceful are coming up much more frequently than they used to.  I think it’s a sign of the times and an economy that has pushed us off center and into a less certain financial landscape.   

It turns out that resilience is indeed my new favorite word, and its the word I’m most proud of when it comes to describing Kent City employees and all the work they find ways to do under the duress of resource cuts. 

I find a strong resonance for what I see happening within the City organization with the way that Wikipedia defines resilience — “Resilience” is the positive capacity of people to cope with stress and adversity. This coping may result in the individual “bouncing back” to a previous state of normal functioning, or using the experience of exposure to adversity to produce a “steeling effect” and function better than expected.

With all the positive things happening in Kent you’d think we’d be feeling pretty good about where we’re at financially — and by comparison with many of our neighboring cities, we are estatic — but that doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods.  In the last 25 years, there’s only been 3 years when City income taxes (which is the basis of all the good work that City employees are able to do) has decreased in size — those years were 2008, 2009 and 2010.  Ouch. 

However, I am optimistic (based on numbers not just hope alone) that 2011 is off to a much better start and we should see a reversal of this troubling trend.  Plus, all the construction going on around town has definitely given us a nice shot in the arm in temporary income tax revenues which should help us bridge over and into the next period of economic growth that we expect to follow from the new jobs being created in the downtown revitalization project and all the ancilliary job growth that should spur.

That’s our plan and we’re sticking to it, but unfortunately we got a curveball from the State of Ohio.  The biennial State budget is cutting about $750,000 of our revenues.  That’s an unexpected and ill-timed hit that has definitely taken the steam out of whatever gains we’ve been able to achieve through the plan that I desribed above.  But to quote myself, we’re resilient, and we’re committed to finding a way through these times and come out the other side stronger than ever as a community. 

Here’s an excerpt from a letter I wrote that accompanies the submission of our comprehensive annual financial report for 2010 that gives you a sense of how our financial strategies worked in 2010.

FACTORS AFFECTING FINANCIAL CONDITION

The information presented in the financial statements is best understood when it is considered from the broader perspective of the specific economic environment within which the City of Kent operates.

Local Economy

Despite continued strain in the region’s economy, the City of Kent was able to maintain favorable reserve balances and sustain City services at existing levels without any new or increased taxes or fees in 2010.   The City’s aggressive cost cutting over the last 5 years, combined with the revenue stabilization provided by Kent State University, enabled the City to continue to hold the line on its budget in 2010 and weather the financial storm better than most of the neighboring communities in Northeast Ohio.    

Kent State University is the City’s largest employer, accounting for 40.8% of total municipal income tax revenues.  Consequently, the City’s financial condition is heavily influenced by the financial performance of the University. As a public institution of higher education Kent State tends to not experience dramatic revenue swings, which buffers the City’s tax base from the more volatile highs and lows of private business cycles. 

2010 marked Kent State University’s Centennial year and with it came the highest recorded enrollment in the university’s 100-year history, securing Kent State’s position as the second largest public university in Ohio.  Kent State reported an 11.6% increase in enrollment for Spring 2010 and a 7.56 percent increase in enrollment for the Fall 2010. These enrollment figures include record levels of international students (up 25%) and graduate school enrollment. Kent State’s research funding reached record highs in 2010 ($26.8 million) and the University also reported record-breaking fundraising results (securing $39.9 million).  The University’s net assets increased 7.4% in 2010 and are trending upwards. 

To commemorate the university’s 2010 Centennial, Kent State commissioned a study to quantify the economic contribution of the University to the local economy.  The report noted that in total, the average annual contribution of Kent State and its alumni in Northeast Ohio is $1.9 billion. The region benefits from $292.4 million in added income each year due to the payroll of Kent State faculty and staff, and the university’s spending for supplies and services. Student off campus spending also contributes an additional $45.3 million to the greater Kent economy. 

 The University’s achievements in 2010 enabled Kent State to continue to fund faculty and staff raises.  These income increases helped to offset the recessionary effects evident in other sectors of the greater Kent economy.  Despite the University derived gains, income tax receipts (not including the Franklin and Brimfield JEDD agreements explained below) in 2010 came in below the prior year by 0.28%.  That is only the third time in 25 years that the City experienced a net loss in income tax and while the City’s single digit income tax drop is less precipitous than state and national declines, it remains a City concern and illustrates the depth of the troubles in the non-university sectors of the economy that have crippled some of Kent’s neighboring communities. 

While the City has not been immune to the broader economic downturn, it has witnessed some positive early indicators of an emerging economic recovery.  2010 marked yet another record year for Kent State income tax contributions and total City revenues began to rebound in the second half of 2010 following back to back years of decline to post a net increase of 4.6% for the last six months of the year.  Real income growth was lead by University-based sectors in 2010 but it was tempered by sluggishness in the traditional manufacturing and transportation sectors. 

Investments in Kent

In 2010 Kent State University began the largest capital re-investment program ($250 million) in the history of the University, completing renovations of Risman Plaza (Phase I), main campus library, Roe Green Performance Center, and select residence halls.  This level of investment will transform the campus and generate significant income taxes ($250,000 to $500,000/year) during the 2-3 year construction period.   

Elsewhere in the Kent community new construction values were trending in opposite directions in 2010. 
Single family residential construction hit record lows but interest in new multi-family properties were at all time highs with over 3,000 new units in the pipeline for construction over the next 1-3 years.  The proposed multi-family units will produce $50-$75 million in new investments with corresponding new construction related income taxes. 

Likewise, the commercial construction rebound that began in 2009 continued in 2010, accelerating Kent’s economic recovery. Over a dozen new businesses opened or expanded in Kent in 2010, including the ground breaking  for Phase III of the Downtown Phoenix Project ($10 million), grand opening of a new Sheetz store, Klaben Quick Lane Car Repair opening, the new Buzz Barber Shop, announcement of the new Record Courier headquarters to be built in Kent, Lucky Penny Farm and Creamery, Kent Yoga Center, Crooked River Canoe/Kayak Rental, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, Montrose Mazda Auto Dealership and the Dancing Beta Sushi Restaurant. 

On the public side, the City continued to aggressively pursue Federal, State and Regional grant funds for infrastructure improvements with great success.   As a result, the City is repairing more bridges, streets and sidewalks than it has in decades.  Over the last 3 years the City was awarded (or was a partner in grant awards) amounting to over $40 million in stimulus/grant funds, which has enabled the City to leverage grant funds to City funds at an impressive 5:1 ratio. 

The Fairchild Avenue Bridge project construction was well underway by the end of 2010, with the new bridge superstructure constructed and the decking under construction.  The adjoining roadway approaches to the bridge had been realigned to match the location and elevation of the new bridge, and the hike and bike trail connections had been graded for paving in a later phase of the project.  The bulk of the remaining work relates to raising the adjacent railroad lines and building the new pedestrian/bike bridge.  The project remains on budget and on schedule for completion in 2012.

Investment was not limited to new construction in 2010; it also included the continued demolition of blighted and non-productive properties that will be replaced with new residential and commercial properties as appropriate.  For the residential properties, the City accessed Federal grant funds to take down three condemned structures and replace them affordable housing to help to stabilize distressed City neighborhoods.  The commercial properties were removed as part of the larger downtown revitalization effort and included City, University and privately funded site preparation efforts. 

Major Initiatives

Phases 1 and 2 of the Phoenix Project were completed and fully tenanted in downtown Kent by the end of 2009.  This popular project offers an eclectic mix of small, local retail and restaurants, and office space; including the first off campus University business enterprise, the Tannery, a professional marketing, advertising and media services company that is staffed by students.  Phase III, which includes the extension of Acorn Alley and the construction of another 50,000 square feet of office, retail and condominiums, began in late 2010 and is scheduled to be completed by Fall 2011. 

The success of the Phoenix Project reaffirmed the City and Kent State’s commitment to proceed with a mixed use redevelopment project that will include 56,000 square feet of new retail and restaurants, a 95 room hotel, a 15,000 square foot conference center, 75,000 square feet of office space, and 18 residential units strategically located at the edge of central business district and the expanded edge of the University campus in downtown Kent.  Two major corporate tenants, Davey Tree and Ametek Corporation, began lease negotiations in 2010 (finalized and signed in 2011) to occupy 60,000 square feet of office space and bring 100 to 150 professional jobs into downtown Kent in 2012 when the first phases of construction are expected to be complete.  During 2010 the City and University finalized land acquisition for the project, signed Development Agreements with the project partners, signed an Agreement with the Portage Area Regional Transit Agency (PARTA) for the new multi-modal facility, and completed the majority of the site demolition and mass grading.    

In 2010 the City continued to work with Franklin and Brimfield townships to recruit new businesses and expand business development opportunities within the JEDD boundaries. As a result of these partnerships, the City received $201,625 as its combined share of JEDD income taxes in 2010.

As part of the City’s neighborhood enrichment initiatives, the City and Kent State University agreed in 2010 to jointly fund a new Community-University Liaison position.  The purpose of the new position is to improve communications in the edge of campus neighborhoods and to facilitate new programs to improve the quality of life enjoyed by students and residents living in those neighborhoods. 

Long-term Financial Planning

During 2010, the City continued to update and implement the five-year capital improvement program that ensures the City’s ability to meet the infrastructure needs of the community in future years.  In addition to the capital plan, City Council continued to support strategic land acquisitions in 2010 that advanced critical economic development priorities.  City staff also continued to pursue efficiency and productivity improvements resulting in budget cuts and savings amounting to $400,000 in 2010. 

Cash Management Policies and Practices

The City’s investment policy is to manage and invest the public’s funds with regard to the following criteria:  Safety of principal is the foremost objective for the City. All investments are executed in a manner that seeks to ensure preservation of capital in the overall portfolio. Liquidity is the second objective, and the City’s investment portfolio maturities are structured in such a manner so as to meet all of its operating requirements that can be reasonably anticipated. Finally, the City’s investment portfolio is managed so as to achieve a competitive yield that is compatible with the risk and cash flow requirements of the portfolio. The Director of Budget and Finance is authorized by City Council to invest interim and active monies not in excess of $10 million.  Investments may be in certificates of deposit or repurchase agreements for a period not to exceed six months with an eligible institution designated as a depository in the State of Ohio.  While these are considered uncollateralized for financial reporting purposes, the institutions are required by state statute to maintain a collateral pool of assets whose carrying value exceeds their total public deposits by at least 5%.  Investments in excess of $10 million or beyond six months require the authorization of the City’s Treasury Investment Board.  The Treasury Investment Board is comprised of the City Manager, the Director of Budget and Finance and the Director of Law. The total interest earned during 2010 was $308,817.

Will The Real Local Business Please Stand Up...

In the world of product pitches savvy marketers are always ready to pounce on the next hot attribute and product buzzword.  New and Improved!   If everything is always new and improved what’s that say about yesterday’s product?  Or maybe that’s the point, it doesn’t really say all that much at all about the product, it’s just how it’s being packaged and sold to the consumer today.  After all, who wants to buy old and worse? 

The trouble comes from understanding what they’re telling and selling us.  Product labeling and advertising seems to be only loosely tied to the actual product and advertisers are so adept at stretching that following  product claims is like watching the rubberband man start to jam.  That’s the way the advertising world turns so I’m not here to throw stones or cast dispersions, just to say that it’s often more art than science and as consumers we need to occasionally think twice about what we’re buying and why. 

Why would a City Manager give a hoot about knowing what you’re buying?  Because the latest victim in the advertising gambit may be our local hometown shops and I think they’re worth fighting for.  For some folks buying local products from locally owned businesses has been a matter of  principle since their days on the commune but today the buy local ethic has caught on with mainstream consumers and the advertisers smell fresh meat so they’ve doubled their efforts to re-cast themselves as a local/global/national alternative. 

And if you’re confused then they’ve done their job because they’ve blended and diluted the issue so much that the local shops get lost in the muddy water — and there goes one of the few remaining genuine competitive advantages that real hometown shops actually enjoy in the battle for marketshare.   The big guys may be slow to react to emerging product trends but when they do, they do it with a vengence and I don’t want to Kent’s shops left in their corporate wake.  

The Kent brand promise is all about being real, being local, and being right sized (not oversized) and the good news has been that’s exactly where current consumer preferences lie.  For the first time in a long time, suburban malls are dying a quiet death and old style downtowns full of unique, eclectic and home grown products and services are hot.  There’s an emerging sense of local consciousness in buying habits and the traditional disadvantages of being the small shop on the block going up against the mighty national chains has been turned upside down so now everyone wants to be the small mom and pop store.  Some of the big chains are coming up with local sounding names to avoid the consumer cold shoulder that the mega-stores are facing in the current retail climate. 

If I was in the big guy shoes I’d be trying to do the same thing but since we’ve got a closet full of genuine leather small guy shoes in Kent I feel compelled to send out the call to arms to stand your ground as consumers and don’t fall victim to the slick media campaigns that try to dress the King in commoners clothes to pose as one of us. 

Here’s the news article that prompted this morning’s rambling narrative: 

Localwashing:  How Corporate America is Co-opting “Local”

by Stacy Mitchell, from Gambit Weekly

HSBC, one of the biggest banks on the planet, has taken to calling itself “the world’s local bank.” Starbucks is removing its name from at least three of its Seattle outlets, the first of which just reopened as “15th Avenue Coffee and Tea.” Winn-Dixie, a 500-outlet supermarket chain, recently launched a new ad campaign under the tagline “Local flavor since 1956.” The International Council of Shopping Centers, a consortium of mall owners and developers, has poured millions of dollars into television ads urging people to “Shop Local”—at their nearest mall.

This new variation on corporate greenwashing—localwashing—is, like the buy-local movement itself, most advanced in the context of food. Hellmann’s, the mayonnaise brand owned by the processed-food giant Unilever, is test-driving a new “Eat Real, Eat Local” initiative in Canada. Frito-Lay’s television commercials use farmers as pitchmen to position the company’s potato chips as local food, while the poultry giant Foster Farms is labeling its packages of chicken “locally grown.”

Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble has launched a video blog site under the banner “All bookselling is local.” The site, which features “local book news” and recommendations from employees of stores in such evocative-sounding locales as Surprise, Arizona, seems designed to disguise what Barnes & Noble is—a highly centralized corporation where decisions about what books to stock are made by a handful of buyers—and to present the chain instead as a collection of independent­-minded booksellers.

Shopping malls, chambers of commerce, and economic development agencies from Orlando to Spokane also are appropriating the phrase “buy local” to urge consumers to patronize nearby malls and chain stores. In March, leaders of a new Buy Local campaign in Fresno, California, assembled in front of the Fashion Fair Mall for a kickoff press conference. Flanked by stores like Anthropologie and The Cheesecake Factory, officials from the Economic Development Corporation of Fresno County explained that choosing to “buy local” helps the region’s economy and cited a study that found that for every $100 spent locally, $45 stays in the community.

But the study, conducted by the firm Civic Economics, found that to be true only if the money was spent at a locally owned business. Shop at a chain store, the analysis found, and only $13 of that $100 stays in the community. Nevertheless, the $45-stays-local statistic was repeated on a TV news story later that day, without clarification, while commercials for the new campaign explained, “buying local means any store in your community: mom-and-pop shops, national chains, big-box stores—you name it.”

In one way, all of this corporate localwashing is good news for local economy advocates: It represents the best empirical evidence yet that the grassroots movement for locally produced goods and independently owned businesses is having a measurable impact on the choices people make.

Locally grown food has soared in popularity. The United States is now home to 4,385 active farmers markets, one out of every three of them started since 2000, and food co-ops and neighborhood greengrocers are on the rise.

A growing number of independent businesses are trumpeting their local ownership and reporting a surge in customer traffic. In April, even as Virgin Megastores prepared to shutter its last U.S. music emporium, independent music stores across the country celebrated the second annual Record Store Day, an event that drew hundreds of thousands of music fans into stores, was one of the top search terms on Google, and triggered a 16-point upswing in album sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Meanwhile, local business alliances­—like Stay Local! in New Orleans and Arizona Local First in Phoenix—have now formed in over 130 cities, collectively count some 30,000 businesses as members, and are rallying public support for homegrown enterprise.

It seems that, amid the worst economic downturn since the Depression, buy-local sentiment is giving local businesses an edge over their chain competitors. While the U.S. Commerce Department reported that overall retail sales plunged almost 10 percent over the holidays, a survey conducted in January by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (where I work) found that independent retailers in cities with buy-local campaigns saw sales drop an average of just 3 percent from the previous year.

None of this has slipped the notice of corporate executives and the consumer research firms that advise them. Michelle Barry, senior vice president of the Hartman Group, explains, “Big companies have to be much more creative in how they articulate local. . . . It’s a different way of thinking about local that is not quite as literal.”

One way corporations can be “local” is to stock a token amount of locally grown produce, as Wal-Mart has done in some stores. The chain’s local food offerings are usually limited to a few of the main commodity crops of that state—peaches in Georgia, potatoes in Maine—and sit amid a sea of industrial food and other goods shipped from the far side of the planet. This modest gesture has won Wal-Mart glowing coverage in numerous newspapers, few of which have asked the salient question: Does Wal-Mart, which now captures more than one of every five dollars spent on groceries, create more and better opportunities for local farmers than the grocers it replaces?

“I would prefer that the county’s resources were not being spent promoting Wal-Mart and Home Depot,” says Scott Miller, owner of Fresno’s Gazebo Gardens, a plant nursery founded in 1922. “We have a great history of being involved in community events and donating to local causes. Our plants are grown locally. We believe that our kind of business is more valuable to a community than any big chain.”

Stacy Mitchell is a senior researcher with the New Rules Project and author of Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America’s Independent Businesses. Mitchell published a longer version of this article in several alt weeklies; we spotted it in New Orleans’ Gambit Weekly (July 14, 2009).

Communityship...

Whenever things take a turn for the worse frustrations mount and our anxiety barometers start to rise.  That’s when the old fight or flight reflexes start to kick in pumping us full of adreneline ready to pounce on something but with problems as big as the global economy there’s really nowhere to run and nothing to pound on.  I suppose the Sound Off column in the newspaper provides some community pounding opportunities but reading those feels like rubber-necking at an accident — the shock value may be entertaining but I’m not sure it’s actually helping people.  It’s usually not long before the call for more leadership emerges; someone who can fix our problems for us.  There’s certainly merit to leadership but you have to be careful what you ask for when you’re relying on someone else to fix your problems.  That’s why I’m drawn to the concept of communityship.

Admittedly people love great leaders, and we certainly need them, but I worry that obsessing over leaders flying solo can be disempowering.  By focusing on a single person and what he or she can do we run the risk of losing the sense of community in the mix.  I’ve never been a big fan of the mythic western hero that rides into town on the white horse to save the day.  I prefer the less glamorous Amish barn raising where everybody lends a hand to get the job done. 

Maybe we just need to divvy-up the big solo hero work into managable sized bites.  Maybe all we really need is ordinary, everyday leaders.  People who put their pants on one leg at a time but still find ways to contribute to progress every day.  Maybe it’s in shared leadership that we not only solve problems by working with one another but we also develop that rather elusive sense of community that seems like a relic of days gone by.

If you carry this proposition through to some sort of logical conclusion I guess I’d have to say that we indeed need more leadership but it looks less like the people with an entourage and more like you and me.  That’s the servant leader concept; it’s stewardship and communityship.

To me the whole communityship question started to echo in my head as I sat through numerous Council and citizen meetings listening to ways to compel people to shovel their sidewalks after the snow stopped falling.  It’s true, for whatever reason more and more property owners and their tenants are leaving their sidewalks unattended after it snows which means that their sidewalks are impassable, which in turn pushes walkers into the street where they race against automobile traffic.  175 pounds versus 2,000 pounds is never a good thing.  Something has to be done, but what exactly?

There tend to be two camps on the what to do issue:  Camp one says send out the cops and start writing tickets, issuing fines, and force those deadbeat shovelers into compliance using the threat of punishment as a deterrent.  

The other camp says good luck with that forcing thing.  Don’t waste time and money chasing the deadbeats — instead spend the money on actually getting the sidewalk cleared which is the whole point anyways.  Either hire a contractor, or part time City workers, or even take some City workers out of the plow trucks and put them on sidewalk duty.  They passionately suggest that sidewalks deserve equal treatment as streets – walkers of the world unite!  

Both options take money and people power, but there are numerous variations for how to bill the work back to the deadbeat shoveler or add it to the list of services that the City performs using tax dollars.  

The discouraging part of all this is not the lack of interest or the lack of ideas, it’s that we’re having the conversation in the first place.  How did the concept of being a good neighbor fall so far off the radar screen that we’re left trying to legislate or mandate common courtesy and pitching in to do your part? 

Honestly, if it was just a matter of people needing a couple of extra days to dig out their sidewalks this wouldn’t even be an issue.  The problem is increasing numbers of homeowners don’t ever get a shovel out.  The strategy seems to be to let Mother Nature eventually melt it all off and in the meantime keep a low profile and stay out of site.

And yes, there are special cases of people with handicaps and the elderly that have legitimate issues when it comes to shoveling but whatever happened to lending a helping hand?  Instead, it seems like people try to use these exceptions as the rule and suggest that shoveling sidewalks is untenable.  Come on, seriously? 

I didn’t start this litany to pick a side because the City is here to serve and we’re happy to add sidewalk clearing or sidewalk policing to our duty list but let’s keep it real; it’s going to cost all of us something to do that and I can’t help but wonder if a little civic duty could save a lot of money that neither the City nor the taxpayers have enough of these days. 

In my book sweat equity beats raising taxes every time.   

A Memory for Memorial Day...

Certain that I’d find Chambers empty at this time of day, I asked why they were looking for Council Chambers.  They explained that they had been on a bus tour up to Niagara Falls and the bus driver was from Kent so they struck up a conversation about the “good old days” in Kent. They all got to talking and when they shared their name, the bus driver recognized the name and told them that there’s a picture of one of their relatives hanging on the wall in Council Chambers. They didn’t know whether to believe the bus driver or not so they decided to take a trip to Kent to see if was true.

As we walked to the Chambers, they told me that it had been many years since they’d been back to Kent.  They don’t live far (Akron and Cleveland) but they just don’t get back this way all that often — so this was a special trip.

As I opened the Chamber door I was trying to remember what pictures were hanging on the wall.  I could recall the pictures of our sister City in Slovakia but I honestly couldn’t remember any portraits — which was bad because I couldn’t bear to disappoint my guests.

To my great relief, I saw the photo as soon as I opened the door.

It turns out that the picture is actually of the woman’s grandfather. She is Ruth Travis (Anderson) and at 95 years old she is the oldest living relative of Mr. Ben Anderson who was a Councilman in the late 1950′s and then again from 1970 to 1973. The man with her turned out to be her oldest son, William. They had lots of stories about Kent. She graduated from Roosevelt (which I think was Davey at the time) in 1932. The son said that his “grand-dad” had a 3rd grade education but was famous around town.

Ruth is amazingly sprite for 95 years young. I never would have guessed her age. She had never seen the picture before and she didn’t even know it existed. You could tell that it meant a lot to her to see the the photo still hanging today, some 35 years after his last term. She bragged that he was the first african-american to serve on Council in Kent. I ran over and got our digital camera, took a picture of the picture, and printed it out for them so they could have something to take with them.

They said they’ll be having a big family reunion this summer and they wondered if the Mayor and Council would be willing to write a little something about their grandfather in a letter that they could share with the rest of the family. I told them that I thought we could do that. After about 20 minutes, as they thanked me before leaving, they asked my name, and when I told them I was the city manager, they couldn’t believe it and kept apologizing for taking so much of my time. I told them there was nothing to apologize about, it was the best use of my time all week.

It was nice to share a little part of Kent history yesterday, and I can’t think of a better way to start the memorial day weekend than to share it with you too.

Have a great holiday.

The Guy Who Picks the Best Places to Live...

The Guy Who Picks the Best Places to Live

EVERY so often, a report comes out listing the best (or worst) cities to live in, the most romantic, the most child-friendly or the most affordable.

The cities at the top gloat; those at the bottom ignore the findings or dismiss them as skewed or irrelevant.

But in one part of the country, little changes. The man responsible for many of those rankings, Bert Sperling, continues to plug away, dividing his time between Portland and Depoe Bay, Ore., compiling yet more data for yet more lists, just as he has for the last 20 years.

On Monday, the second edition of “Cities Ranked & Rated: More Than 400 Metropolitan Areas Evaluated in the U.S. & Canada” (Wiley Publishing), 850 pages that Mr. Sperling wrote with Peter Sander, will thud onto bookstore shelves. Gainesville, Fla. (No. 1) will be cheering, and Modesto, Calif. (No. 373) will be fuming.

But who is Bert Sperling? And what gives him the right, as he has done in previous surveys, to put Flower Mound, Tex., on the map as one of the most affordable places to live with children? Or Wenatchee, Wash., as one of the greenest cities in America? Or St. George, Utah, as the safest place to live?

It is a lot of power for a man who started his career as an accountant and industrial engineer who just happens to enjoy writing computer software. One of his first programs was an early example of artificial intelligence that he wrote for the United States Tax Code for tax preparers.

“Before 1984, that sort of complex number-crunching was not available to the common person,” Mr. Sperling said.

Perhaps it was his early years as a Navy brat, moving from city to city, that got Mr. Sperling, 56, interested in the nature of where people live.

“I was born in Brooklyn, lived there for about a year, then in San Diego, then Oslo, Key West, Carmel,” he said. Once he graduated from Oregon State University, though, in 1974, he stayed put in the Portland area.

“I was tired of moving all over,” he said.

In 1984, he founded his own software company, Fast Forward, which he and his wife, Gretchen, still own. USA Today printed a piece about his research and data-collection methods; the editors of Money magazine liked what they saw, and a relationship was born in 1987 that continues to this day — with a few breaks — developing the magazine’s “best cities” lists.

This has blossomed into a virtual industry. There is Sperling’s Best Places (bestplaces.net), where you can plug in any city and get a wealth of information. The site gets about 20,000 hits a day, he says.

Then there are the specific projects, for which he charges an array of clients $5,000 to $20,000, depending on the scope. For seven years he performed an annual study for Ladies’ Home Journal on the best cities for women, and he still does a yearly study for Self magazine on the healthiest cities for women.

Then there are the companies, like Korbel, the California champagne maker, which commissioned Mr. Sperling to find the most romantic city (West Palm Beach, Fla.), or the Hartz Mountain Corporation, which makes pet supplies (and flea collars), and wanted to discover the most flea-ridden city (stay away from Hot Springs, Ark.).

Mr. Sperling also sells access to his database to companies like Yahoo, MSN and The Wall Street Journal.

He does all this with the help of his wife and five researchers.

The crux of his work is researching and ranking metropolitan statistical areas, and the first edition of “Cities Ranked & Rated,” written with Mr. Sander, was published in 2004.

The Census Bureau estimates that about 39 million Americans, or 14 percent of the population, change addresses every year, and Mr. Sperling wants to help them choose the right place to land.

He has developed a set of 10 broad categories into which he feeds an array of government statistics. The 10 are economy and jobs; cost of living; climate; education; health and health care; crime; transportation; leisure; arts and culture; and quality of life, which includes physical setting, downtown core, heritage and overall appearance.

Points are assigned to each category and weighted. So some areas, like New York-White Plains (No. 251, down from No. 40 in 2004) may do very well in arts and culture, education and leisure, but may fail miserably in the economy and cost of living. Same with the California towns that score high in climate, leisure, and arts and culture, only to bomb in cost of living and transportation.

The highest-ranked place in the New York City area is Bergen County, N.J. (No. 77), just below Pueblo, Colo., but just ahead of Madison, Wis.

The lists have shifted quite a bit over three years, and that, Mr. Sperling said, is because there have been changes in the information he uses and in the weight given to certain data.

For example, he said, three years ago people were much more focused on the state of the economy and the job base of particular cities. Now, housing affordability is of much greater concern, and Mr. Sperling has altered his rating system to reflect this.

That is partly why four California areas — Modesto, Visalia-Porterville, Yuba City and Merced — rank at the bottom of the latest list.

“California is a wonderful place to live, but housing is sky-high,” Mr. Sperling said. “What pushed them to the bottom was the high housing cost — and you don’t get great weather, no college towns, there’s not much else to offset it.”

Not that there is any family bias against California. The Sperlings’ two grown sons live in Los Angeles (No. 93).

Being No. 1 is not all it’s cracked up to be. Charlottesville, Va., hit the top spot in the 2004 rankings, but slipped to No. 17 this year. Why? The median house price jumped from $177,000 to $345,000, and the cost of living more than doubled, to the highest in the state, the book says.

What does Charlottesville think of the drop?

“Good!” said Kathy Uriss, the director of information services for the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Of course, she appreciated all the people who mentioned the No. 1 ranking when they called for relocation packages — especially those looking for places to retire. The president of the chamber was so proud, Ms. Uriss said, that she had bumper stickers made up that proclaimed, “We’re the No. 1 City in America.”

“We were proud and honored, but maybe things will come back to the ground,” Ms. Uriss said. “As housing prices have gotten out of hand, we’ve certainly seen a curtailing in the number of calls we’re getting.”

No. 17 suits her just fine, “though I guess we’ll have a lot of bumper stickers” left over,” she said.

Mr. Sperling feels the weight of his responsibility.

“The best places to live and retire are constantly evolving as we get feedback,” he said. “These studies are a snapshot, but some people take it as gospel. It’s very important that they do their own research — get local newspapers, stay in a place for at least a week.”

Surprisingly, he said, cities at the bottom of the list don’t send him hate mail. Oh, there was the time he did the survey on the cities that were the most fun for families, and New Orleans and Las Vegas took offense that they weren’t on it.

They didn’t seem to get the idea, Mr. Sperling said, that most families’ idea of fun is “not to lose money or take your top off.”

Another time, an official from a small Southern city, “which will remain nameless, said he had a problem with my crime statistics,” Mr. Sperling said, adding that after a brief discussion, it turned out “the numbers were right — he just did not want them published.”

But over all, he said, even the places at the bottom of the lists aren’t too disgruntled.

“Anytime a town appears at the bottom — like Tacoma was listed as one of the most stressful — we’re not telling them anything they don’t already know,” he said. “City administrators say: ‘This is how we’re perceived. Let’s use it as a learning tool.’ ”

Well, yes and no. Stockton, Calif., was relatively close to the bottom in the 2004 list of city rankings.

“Sometimes it’s giving us confirmation about what we already know,” said Connie Cochran, Stockton’s public information officer. “Sometimes we think it’s unfair.” For example, she said, not all cities and states categorize crime statistics in the same way, so there may not be a direct correlation when doing comparisons.

“We know we have the best weather in the U.S., we’re an earthquake-free zone and we’re on the water” — the San Joaquin River,” Ms. Cochran said. “We just need to be better at sharing it.”

Despite being somewhat dismissive of the list, she couldn’t help expressing some glee when told that her California neighbor to the south, Modesto, was at the bottom this year.

Although Mr. Sperling may grab headlines for the rankings, his Web site is what is really useful for people planning a move, said Richard Florida, the Hirst professor of public policy at George Mason University, in Fairfax, Va. It offers various cost-of-living calculations, as well as information about schools and amenities, and allows users to take a quiz to help find the best place to live.

“You need information based on life stage, job and a cluster and bundle of amenities, such as schools, health care, culture,” Professor Florida said, and Mr. Sperling “tends to be good at assessing most, if not all, of that.”

Thomas Wetzel, the president of the Retirement Living Information Center, a for-profit advisory service in Redding, Conn., says he sends people who are searching for places to retire to Mr. Sperling’s site. “I think it’s the only one that does the comparisons people are looking for,” he said. “It’s one tool to use.”

Ranking cities using census, crime and other government statistics has some scientific basis. But judging the most romantic city?

“Like the best piece of art, it’s very subjective,” Mr. Sperling said. “But using various surveys, we looked at what people think are romantic things to do such as a walk on the beach, or getting flowers. So we looked at sales figures for flowers given as gifts, at places with water nearby. Looking at a sunset is romantic, so you need non-overcast days. We looked at champagne sales.”

He is even prouder of the survey on the most flea-ridden city.

“We knocked that one out of the park,” he said. “We looked at the life cycle of fleas, and how over a certain time of year there has to be a certain moisture and temperature range,” he said. “We looked at the sale of flea controls and powders.”

Mr. Sperling travels quite a bit and has visited some of the cities that have ranked as the worst places to live. He said he was surprised that they did not seem very different from places much higher on the list.

“On the surface, you wouldn’t know they are troubled,” he said. “Every town is someone’s hometown.”

He says he’s always happy to go back to Portland (No. 3).

Kent in Top 2% of the State for Walking and Biking...

Facing Extinction…...

Scientists are now reporting that red heads (the real ones, not those born in a bottle) are facing extinction within the next 100 years.  If the scientists are right, Dan Smith (Chamber Director) and I are among the last of our kind.  Dan and I privately joke that us red heads are slowly taking over Kent, but now maybe we should start a campaign to save ourselves before we go the way of the Dodo bird.  As funny as this all sounds to you non-red heads, the science is real.  See how much more time Dan and I have.

The Life of a Red Head

For as long as I can remember, my red hair attracted attention — if I had a nickel for everytime someone called me “red” or “carrot top” I wouldn’t need to write this blog for a living.

In my early years I didn’t give my hair color too much thought, but I still remember the older ladies at the grocery store telling my mom how they loved my hair.  I’ve always done well with the “blue” hair crowd.

When I was about 8 years old, my hair struck again as a creative newspaper photographer asked me to take a break from our walk through the park to kneel down in a bed of red tulips.  I didn’t necessarily appreciate the aesthetic quality of the shot, but I do remember him asking my mom to keep a look out for cops because standing in the middle of the tulip beds was definitely off limits.  The photo made the front page of the Rochester newspaper, in color of course.  This was the first time when my hair color gave me a chance to do something I wasn’t supposed to do.  Thanks to Opie and Richie Cunningham, I had an image to live up to – the good kid.

Of course, during those teen years, when all you want to do is blend in with everyone else, I wished for anything but red hair.  I learned that bullies have a natural predisposition against red hair but fortunately, I was tall enough to keep most of them at a distance physically, but it definitely left an imprint on my psyche and gave me more reason to wish for boring brown hair.  I never did appreciate the fact that in my senior year in High School I was voted “best hair.”  To me, it was just another reminder of my burden.

It used to drive my wife crazy that women (unfortunately mostly members of the ”over the hill” gang, not the nice young supermodels) would just randomly walk up to me and tell me how much they liked my hair, ignoring the fact that my wife was standing right next to me.

I suspect every red head has similar stories to tell.  And now, according to the scientists, we have someone else in common…extinction.

A recent report by the Oxford Hair Foundation in the UK has caused shockwaves: redheads, it says, are dying out, and could become extinct as soon as 2060.

The two main factors involved in this demise are genetics and migration. The gene that gives rise to red hair-and often pale, freckled skin-is recessive, which means it is easily dominated by genes for other hair colours. So if, for example, you have a brown-haired mother and a red-haired father, you are most likely to have a brown-haired child.

Out of existence
In order to have a red-haired child, both parents must be carrying the gene. However, you can be a carrier without actually having red hair yourself, which is why a red-haired baby can sometimes come as a bit of a surprise. With only around one percent of the world’s population naturally blessed with titian locks, the theory is that the gene is simply being diluted out of existence.

Erik Sistermans is a molecular geneticist at Radboud University Medical Centre in Nijmegen:

“What’s happening now is that due to migration from other countries, there are less red-haired genes and more dark-haired genes coming in. But if you go to Ireland or England, and also some Scandinavian countries, you’ll see more people with red hair there than you will in China or Africa.”

Mostly found in Scotland
There are always exceptions to the rule of course, and it is possible to be a redhead and have darker skin that can cope with a hot climate. But it will come as no surprise to learn that rain-soaked Scotland has the highest proportion of redheads in the world-around 13 percent.

Dr Sistermans, like some other experts, believes that 55 years is much too soon for redheads to die out completely.

“I think it will take longer. It will depend on many factors, including the amount of migration and the exact mingling of the different groups-if they don’t mingle, then you’ll still have red hair.”

Finding models
While looking for redheads to interview for Dutch Horizons, I stumbled upon an unusual art project. Bart Rouwenhorst is an artist who paints models (that’s people, not tiny aeroplanes). He had the idea of doing a series of 15 paintings of naturally redheaded women, but at first had some difficulty finding them:

“When you start really looking for something, you find out how rare it is. And no one is half a redhead-you’re either a redhead or you’re not.”

However, word soon got around, and in the end almost 300 redheads contacted Bart through his website, expressing their interest in the project. Since there was no way he could paint them all, Bart decided to take a group photograph, and invited all the redheads to take part.

Redhead sisterhood

The venue was the small town of Asten in the southeast of the Netherlands. All around the town-on the bus, in the streets, in cafes-there was a real sense of fellowship and sisterhood as redheads, all wearing green, acknowledged each other with smiles and struck up conversations.

On the stroke of noon, the flame-haired participants-together with dozens of Dutch press-congregated in the town square, which the mayor of Asten had had specially cleaned for the occasion. In fact, the whole town entered into the spirit, with local shops offering deals on henna shampoo, red wine, tomato soup and buns with orange icing. As Bart was hoisted aloft in a crane to take his photos, directing the ginger group below (very politely) through a loudhailer, opera singer Annelie Brinkhof (a redhead of course) let rip with an aria. All in all, it was quite an experience.

But what about red-haired men? While evidently they are vital for the production of future redhead generations, they are by no means an automatic choice of mate for red-haired women. And even though the list of famous male redheads is impressive-Christopher Columbus, William Shakespeare, Vincent van Gogh-they can’t quite seem to shake their negative image, even with Robert Redford on their side.

Evolution
So if redheads carry on mingling with people with genetically stronger hair colours, could science intervene to help stop their extinction? And should it?

Dr Sistermans thinks that in, say, 80 to 100 years time it will be possible for genetic scientists to influence factors such as hair colour. But that doesn’t mean that they should:

“We are doing genetic research in order to cure people with genetic diseases. If you use it to change hair colour, in my opinion you are misusing the knowledge that you have. Then it gets very dangerous . what about big noses or small toes? Where’s the limit?”

Dr Sistermans believes nature should take its course:

“Things appears naturally and disappear naturally, that’s evolution. Of course it’s a pity, but we shouldn’t make a big problem out of it. There will always be people with red hair, they won’t disappear completely-every now and then, someone will emerge with red hair, so in the future it will perhaps be even more special and more beautiful.”

Listen to a radio interview on this topic.

Happy 2007...

Kent City Council...

I suppose it’s dangerous to write about your bosses, but since I’m about to tell you how hard their job is, I figure I should be ok (then again, if there’s no new blog posts next week, you’ll know I figured wrong).  Anyways, I realize that second guessing every decision a politician makes has become America’s favorite past time, but that doesn’t make it right.  The fact is, your City Council members are plain old citizen volunteers who take their turn at fulfilling what they consider a civic duty without any training or experience beyond being a citizen that cares about their community.  They have full time jobs, families, and a life outside of being a Council member — but they are willing to give something back to the place they call home because that’s important to them.

Sure, they campaigned to get on Council, so you could argue they knew what they were getting into, but I’d also argue that signing up for Council doesn’t come with a label of “fresh meat”, but sometimes that’s how they must feel.  And that’s probably why many talented people choose not to run for Council.

I honestly don’t think it’s the time commitment that keeps people away from participating in running their local government.  I think it’s the criticisms that they become subject to — and that it’s not just limited to Council Chambers.  It’s in the mall, at the grocery store, at the soccer game, at church, at work, over the fence in the back yard, at the birthday party… it’s everywhere, 24-7.

Somewhere along the way we seem to have come to view our elected officials as indebted to us, at our beckon call, like they owe us something.  And that’s too bad because I think by allowing that perspective to be the norm, we’ve diminished the ability of Council to lead.

We all know it, but when it comes to something in our back yard, we ignore the fact that leadership decisions aren’t a popularity contest — and sometimes politicians have to make unpopular decisions because it’s the right thing to do — and that’s what they were elected to do.

Of course Council has to be responsive to the community, but a Council that only responds, never leads, so we the “electorate” have to understand that democracy wasn’t intended to be “every man for himself” — it’s supposed to be electing people to look out for the public good, which isn’t the same as giving every voter what they want.

It takes a unique person to keep a sense of optimism in an environment when every word you say shows up on the front page of the paper and every decision you make is put out there for public debate.  Don’t get me wrong, public debate is the essence of our democratic system, but it seems to be getting more and more personal and less objective or based on facts.

This is not unique to Kent, this is a becoming an epidemic in cities all across America.  We live in an increasingly complex time and the issues are getting harder and harder to understand.  As a result, local politics falls victim to oversimplification, catch phrases and buzz words.

While reading your local newspaper, have you ever thought “Why did the city council make that decision?”

The local press only has so much room to cover an item being decided by Council.  I suppose we’re fortunate that we have both the Record Courier and the Stater covering Kent, but even with reporters at a meeting or workshop reporting on what they hear, the public cannot possibly get all the details, questions and passion that goes into every decision.

The point of all my rambling is that our elected officals are your neighbors. Normal people who come together at 3-4 times a month to attempt to make Kent the best place to live, work and raise a family. These people are volunteers who happen to have one thing in common. They all care about Kent.

So in the spirit of Christmas, thank your Councilmen and Councilwomen for doing what they do for Kent.  (And while you’re at it, throw in a good word about the City Manager too!)

Sources of Inspiration...

Sometimes I find inspiration from the written word of famous leaders and other times I get it straight from the “mouth’s of babes.”  Yesterday I got a couple of good doses of both thanks to Oliver Wendell Holmes, my daughter, and a 4 hour drive over the hills and through the woods from Grandma’s house coming back to Kent.

Maybe it’s because we’re nearing the end of the year but I found myself waxing philosophic lately about the possibilities of Kent.  Then again, I suppose I do that pretty much year round but I’d have to admit it’s been more pronounced recently.  And when I’m in that state of mind, quotes and comments will catch my eye and ear more readily, which is what happened this weekend and inspired this blog post.

First, unexpectedly in a newspaper I came across a quote from Oliver Wendell Holmes that seamed to speak directly to the matter of community building:

“Greatness is not in where we stand, but in what direction we are moving.  We must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it — but sail we must and not drift, nor lie at anchor.” Oliver Wendell Holmes

For anyone that is in a city, or follows the practice of democracy performed in city halls across this country every day – including in Kent – you know the wisdom inherent in this quote.  Every community wants to be great, first rate, world class, a premier place to live, work and play.  The challenge is in defining what exactly ”great” looks like and feels like for each community.

What’s great for NY City is not likely to be a great fit in Kent.  It’s important to keep an eye on what works in other places but cities have to be careful not to fall into the same trap that gets played out with neighbors all trying to “keep up with the Jones’.”

Short Sidebar

The “keeping up with the Jones’” syndrome reminds me a lot of the army ant death spiral.  Actually, it’s a circular mill, first described in army ants by Schneirla (1944). A circle of army ants, each one following the ant in front, becomes locked into a circular mill. They will continue to circle each other until they all die. Beebe (1921) described a circular mill he witnessed in Guyana. It measured 1200 feet in circumference and had a 2.5 hour circuit time per ant. The mill persisted for two days, “with ever increasing numbers of dead bodies littering the route as exhaustion took its toll, but eventually a few workers straggled from the trail thus breaking the cycle, and the raid marched off into the forest.” How crazy is that?

Good reason NOT to keep up with the Jones’ — either as a neighor or a city.

I know that may sound a bit odd coming from the guy that is always posting stories of things going on in other cities.  But I do that to inspire us to dream big in Kent, not copy for the sake of one-upping our city neighbors.  There’s some really good ideas out there and we need to stay in touch with what’s going on around us, but greatness comes when you use someone else’s good idea to inspire a great adaptation that becomes truly yours — or in our case, Kent’s.

With Justice Holmes’ quote ringing in my ears, I’d suggest that greatness is not an end, but a process that is our never-ending story.  Community building is the ultimate test of “what have you done for me lately.”  Greatness is less a static characteristic of a building or park that got built than it is a reflection of the spirt and effort invested that continually strives to make things better by building new buildings and new parks.

By the nature of democracy in action, we won’t always agree on whether the “end” result is great or not, but thanks to Justice Holmes we don’t have to.  We just have to agree to honor the spirit of democracy, admire the courage of people’s convictions and applaud the efforts of our fellow citizens that contribute their ideas and energy to make sure Kent doesn’t drift nor lie at anchor.

With that in mind, let me share an unsolicited comment my daughter offered regarding the Old Hotel in downtown Kent.  Keep in mind I’ve never had a conversation about the Old Hotel with my daughter but apparently she and her 9 year old friends have.

These budding fourth grade citizens at Longcoy were talking about wanting to do their part and pitch-in to the rehabilitation of the idle structure.  They didn’t over-complicate matters about this regulation or that, or who should do what, how or when, –  they saw an old building and wanted to make it useful again.

So what do fourth graders do?  Thanks to good teachers, parents and probably even the Disney Channel, they “imagineer” their way to possible solutions.  Even though winter is rapidly approaching they suggested holding a “really big” car wash to raise money to fix the building.  That led to the suggestion of a citywide bake sale.  After all, every fourth grader knows that when you have a tough problem, you hold a bake sale.

Will a bake sale fix the Old Hotel?  Probably not, but I’m sure Justice Holmes would be proud of the spirit and willingness of Kent’s kids to get in the boat and row.  I know I am.  And that feeling will keep me pushing to row as hard as I can because these kids reminded me that I’m not just rowing for me and you today, I’m rowing for all our kids and their kids tomorrow.

By the way, there’s room in the boat and plenty of oars to go around if the spirit moves you too.