Hi,
Has anyone run across any successful programs that engage absentee owners of downtown buildings in building improvements? Has anyone experienced a community that got people on board with a municipal design standards ordinance that could share some best practices that ease backlash to this type of proposal?
Andy Lewis – could you post this to your blog to facilitate and log responses? Anyone can go there once its posted with responses: http://ablewis.blogspot.com/.
Thanks everyone!
Amy
Amy R. Schanhofer
Community Resource Development Educator
UW-Extension, Monroe County
Phone: 608-269-8722/608-372-8722
TDD 800-947-3529
FAX 608-269-8767/608-372-8767
14345 CTH B, Room 1
Sparta, WI 54656
http://monroe.uwex.edu/cnred
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
Inventory skills/Interests from potential volunteers
Hello Colleagues:
Does anyone have an example of a one page inventory skills sheet that can be completed by potential community volunteers? We are conducting a volunteer "job fair" type event and would like to help match potential volunteers with the opportunities that interest them the most. Thanks in advance for any information you provide.
Regards,
Art
Art Lersch Associate Professor CNRED Educator UW-Extension, Lincoln County Phone: 715-539-1072 Fax: 715-539-8323 Hearing impaired relay: 711
Does anyone have an example of a one page inventory skills sheet that can be completed by potential community volunteers? We are conducting a volunteer "job fair" type event and would like to help match potential volunteers with the opportunities that interest them the most. Thanks in advance for any information you provide.
Regards,
Art
Art Lersch Associate Professor CNRED Educator UW-Extension, Lincoln County Phone: 715-539-1072 Fax: 715-539-8323 Hearing impaired relay: 711
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
The State of the State
Greetings,
Most of you know that I am not an economist. Most of you know that economists are people that didn’t have the personality to become CPA’s. U.W. faculty excluded.
While it’s frustrating trying to figure out which economist is right, I thought it might be insightful to share the thoughts of the Chief Economist for the Wisconsin Department of Revenue. Obviously, the projections from John Koskinen at D.O.R. will have an impact on the budget decisions that lie ahead. John was a presenter at last week’s Governor’s Conference on Economic Development. You can find his presentation on the WEDA web site at: http://www.weda.org/calendar/conferences/2009-gov-conf/ppt/koskinen-pfaff.ppt
As a non-economist, here is what I heard in the presentation:
-Decline in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), three to 5 months after the start of the recession is much worse than our previous two recessions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis is projecting slight growth in the GDP starting in the third quarter of 2009 (slide 11).
- The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Coincident Index (noted as FRB Phil coincident Index in the slides) combines four state-level indicators to summarize current economic conditions in a single statistic. The four state-level variables in each coincident index are nonfarm payroll employment, average hours worked in manufacturing, the unemployment rate, and wage and salary disbursements deflated by the consumer price index (U.S. city average). As you look at the maps on slides 5-10, you will see that Wisconsin has fared better than most of the Midwest states but the trend is certainly downward and rapid since June of 2008. If you look at the slides pertaining to Wisconsin (beginning slide 16), you will see that Wisconsin has been outperforming the other Great Lake States but not the national average.
-Retail sales and industrial production are in steep decline
- Wisconsin exports have been relatively strong.
- Home prices in Wisconsin have not appreciated as rapidly as the nation and will not likely decline as rapidly. Housing starts in Wisconsin are not projected to reach the 2005 levels until late 2011.
- Wisconsin housing starts have tanked, but the bottom is projected to occur in the third quarter of 2009.
-Despite all of the recent unemployment announcements, Wisconsin’s unemployment rates have been better then the nation. However our employment numbers in Wisconsin are back to 2000 levels (“the lost decade”). On the other hand, the other great lake states have employment levels lower than 2000-2001. Job losses in Wisconsin so far are not as bad as what we experienced in our last bad recession in the early 80’s. Janesville is the only metro area in Wisconsin with an employment rate above the national level (see slide 38). The Madison metro area has historically had some of the lowest unemployment rates during recessionary times and had an unemployment rate of 4.2% this month.
- When looking at employment numbers for December 2008 compared to December 2007, the only sectors to grow in employment at the state and national level were Education & Health and Government. In 2009, education is the only sector projected to grow in the U.S. while the hospitality industry in Wisconsin shows modest increases as well.
-Employment recovery is projected to be a little quicker in Wisconsin with a recovery beginning in mid 2010. Employment growth tends to follow economic growth as businesses are hesitant to add back employees and will likely be reliant on temporary staffing agencies in the interim.
-Wisconsin income is projected to outpace national income in 2010 as a result of a slightly quicker recovery in employment.
- Personal interest payments, and decreasing prices in consumer goods (gas!) has resulted in a rise in consumer spending power. However, as mentioned before retail sales are plummeting and savings are going up.
What's your take on these projections?
Most of you know that I am not an economist. Most of you know that economists are people that didn’t have the personality to become CPA’s. U.W. faculty excluded.
While it’s frustrating trying to figure out which economist is right, I thought it might be insightful to share the thoughts of the Chief Economist for the Wisconsin Department of Revenue. Obviously, the projections from John Koskinen at D.O.R. will have an impact on the budget decisions that lie ahead. John was a presenter at last week’s Governor’s Conference on Economic Development. You can find his presentation on the WEDA web site at: http://www.weda.org/calendar/conferences/2009-gov-conf/ppt/koskinen-pfaff.ppt
As a non-economist, here is what I heard in the presentation:
-Decline in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), three to 5 months after the start of the recession is much worse than our previous two recessions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis is projecting slight growth in the GDP starting in the third quarter of 2009 (slide 11).
- The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Coincident Index (noted as FRB Phil coincident Index in the slides) combines four state-level indicators to summarize current economic conditions in a single statistic. The four state-level variables in each coincident index are nonfarm payroll employment, average hours worked in manufacturing, the unemployment rate, and wage and salary disbursements deflated by the consumer price index (U.S. city average). As you look at the maps on slides 5-10, you will see that Wisconsin has fared better than most of the Midwest states but the trend is certainly downward and rapid since June of 2008. If you look at the slides pertaining to Wisconsin (beginning slide 16), you will see that Wisconsin has been outperforming the other Great Lake States but not the national average.
-Retail sales and industrial production are in steep decline
- Wisconsin exports have been relatively strong.
- Home prices in Wisconsin have not appreciated as rapidly as the nation and will not likely decline as rapidly. Housing starts in Wisconsin are not projected to reach the 2005 levels until late 2011.
- Wisconsin housing starts have tanked, but the bottom is projected to occur in the third quarter of 2009.
-Despite all of the recent unemployment announcements, Wisconsin’s unemployment rates have been better then the nation. However our employment numbers in Wisconsin are back to 2000 levels (“the lost decade”). On the other hand, the other great lake states have employment levels lower than 2000-2001. Job losses in Wisconsin so far are not as bad as what we experienced in our last bad recession in the early 80’s. Janesville is the only metro area in Wisconsin with an employment rate above the national level (see slide 38). The Madison metro area has historically had some of the lowest unemployment rates during recessionary times and had an unemployment rate of 4.2% this month.
- When looking at employment numbers for December 2008 compared to December 2007, the only sectors to grow in employment at the state and national level were Education & Health and Government. In 2009, education is the only sector projected to grow in the U.S. while the hospitality industry in Wisconsin shows modest increases as well.
-Employment recovery is projected to be a little quicker in Wisconsin with a recovery beginning in mid 2010. Employment growth tends to follow economic growth as businesses are hesitant to add back employees and will likely be reliant on temporary staffing agencies in the interim.
-Wisconsin income is projected to outpace national income in 2010 as a result of a slightly quicker recovery in employment.
- Personal interest payments, and decreasing prices in consumer goods (gas!) has resulted in a rise in consumer spending power. However, as mentioned before retail sales are plummeting and savings are going up.
What's your take on these projections?
Friday, January 23, 2009
Instructions for posting to this blog
If you are a University of Wisconsin Extension CNRED educator and would like to be added as an "author" to this blog, please just send a request to: andy.lewis@uwex.edu As an author you would have the ability to post and to comment without my approval. If you would like to simply respond anonymously, you can do that as well, but I have to reveiw these posts before they are visible. Here is the simple steps for posting anonymously. In the following example, you see a post by Bob Kazmierski on the topic of the "Stimulus Package". After clicking on the link titled "7 comments"....
After clicking on "Publish your comment", you will receive a note saying, "comment moderation has been enabled. All comments must be approved by the blog author". In other words the comments will not be visible on the site until I approve them. It's that simple. And again, if you would like to be an author, just drop me an e-mail. You have to set up a google account to be an author (takes less then 5 minutes) but you can then post and comment without the approval process. If you request to be an author, you will receive an e-mail inviting you to join as an author and providing you instructions on how to set up a google account.
When you are done entering your comments in the text box titled, "Leave your comment", just click on the anonymous box at the bottom of the post and then click on "publish your comment". If you include your name and contact infomormation in the comments, that would be helpful to others.
After clicking on "Publish your comment", you will receive a note saying, "comment moderation has been enabled. All comments must be approved by the blog author". In other words the comments will not be visible on the site until I approve them. It's that simple. And again, if you would like to be an author, just drop me an e-mail. You have to set up a google account to be an author (takes less then 5 minutes) but you can then post and comment without the approval process. If you request to be an author, you will receive an e-mail inviting you to join as an author and providing you instructions on how to set up a google account.Thursday, January 22, 2009
Stimulus Package
Has anyone been asked to assist their county or local communities in compiling a list of ‘shovel ready’ projects for the new stimulus package? The bulk of the package – about 60% of $550 billion – is to be used to assist State and Local Governments in building new schools and highways, and invest in energy and health-care projects. The rest would provide tax relief for businesses and individuals.
Supposedly, these funds are not earmarked and are to fund projects that could start within 90-120 days.
Question: What do these requests look like? Are they simply a list of priority projects that have preliminary planning done? If so, do they need plans attached?
Alternatively, are they simply a one-page ‘wish list’?
Supposedly, these funds are not earmarked and are to fund projects that could start within 90-120 days.
Question: What do these requests look like? Are they simply a list of priority projects that have preliminary planning done? If so, do they need plans attached?
Alternatively, are they simply a one-page ‘wish list’?
Quality of Life
Anyone involved in community and economic development in Wisconsin has surely experienced the surge of interest in "sustainable development". U.W. Extension has a team that focuses on this specific issue. For those that are interested in this specific topic, I would start with:
http://www.uwsuper.edu/cee/bed/ncced/current_projects.cfm
While the tools and processes for getting decision makers to think more strategically about sustainability have gotten a lot more sophisticated, Ron Shaffer, the founder of the Center for Community and Economic Development, had this to say about the difference between "economic development" and "economic growth"...
"How do we distinguish between the concepts of economic development and economic growth? Maybe an analogy will help: You are 12 years old, and you meet an uncle who has not seen you for 3 years. The uncle says, "My, but how you have grown." Now you are 28 years old, you meet an uncle whom you have not seen for 3 years, and he again says, "My how you've grown." in the second instance, you might take umbrage with this long-lost relative because the implication is that your waistline is increasing. As humans, we tend to stop growing sometime before the age of 20 but continue to develop our understanding, insights, and maturity. Growth and development are very similar; they tend to be related to time and the point from which we started."
Source: Community Economics: Linking Theory and Practice (second edition), Shaffer, Deller, Marcouiller
Said another way, I believe economic development is:
“The process of retaining, expanding, and attracting jobs, income and wealth in a manner that improves individual economic opportunities and the quality of human life.”
Here's a challenge. How many communities are taking the time to identify metrics for the measurement of quality of life? Have our communities even taken the time to identify what contributes to their "sense of place" within the community? Do our residents take for granted the amenities that might have value to prospective residents and businesses?
This last year I accepted the challenge of assisting the Thrive economic region with the task of identifying priority quality of life issues and metrics for measuring quality of life (on a contract basis with the CCED). That report is available on-line at:
http://www.thrivehere.org/articlemanager/rsrchqoflsurvey.aspx
That project, helped contribute to the compilation of data sources that might be useful to other communities interested in measuring and monitoring quality of life. See:
http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cced/communities/QualityofLifeDataIndicatorsDataSources.cfm
This is a "work in progress" and I would like to hear from you on potential additions to this list!
http://www.uwsuper.edu/cee/bed/ncced/current_projects.cfm
While the tools and processes for getting decision makers to think more strategically about sustainability have gotten a lot more sophisticated, Ron Shaffer, the founder of the Center for Community and Economic Development, had this to say about the difference between "economic development" and "economic growth"...
"How do we distinguish between the concepts of economic development and economic growth? Maybe an analogy will help: You are 12 years old, and you meet an uncle who has not seen you for 3 years. The uncle says, "My, but how you have grown." Now you are 28 years old, you meet an uncle whom you have not seen for 3 years, and he again says, "My how you've grown." in the second instance, you might take umbrage with this long-lost relative because the implication is that your waistline is increasing. As humans, we tend to stop growing sometime before the age of 20 but continue to develop our understanding, insights, and maturity. Growth and development are very similar; they tend to be related to time and the point from which we started."
Source: Community Economics: Linking Theory and Practice (second edition), Shaffer, Deller, Marcouiller
Said another way, I believe economic development is:
“The process of retaining, expanding, and attracting jobs, income and wealth in a manner that improves individual economic opportunities and the quality of human life.”
Here's a challenge. How many communities are taking the time to identify metrics for the measurement of quality of life? Have our communities even taken the time to identify what contributes to their "sense of place" within the community? Do our residents take for granted the amenities that might have value to prospective residents and businesses?
This last year I accepted the challenge of assisting the Thrive economic region with the task of identifying priority quality of life issues and metrics for measuring quality of life (on a contract basis with the CCED). That report is available on-line at:
http://www.thrivehere.org/articlemanager/rsrchqoflsurvey.aspx
That project, helped contribute to the compilation of data sources that might be useful to other communities interested in measuring and monitoring quality of life. See:
http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cced/communities/QualityofLifeDataIndicatorsDataSources.cfm
This is a "work in progress" and I would like to hear from you on potential additions to this list!
New Jails
Hi everyone,
Our county would like to know which others have built new courthouse and/or jails in the last 10-15 years.
If you have, could you please provide the following, if you know off-hand:
Approx. year built
Courthouse? Jail? Both?
# of beds in jail
# of courtrooms
sq ft
county contact for more info
Thanks so much!
Amy
Amy R. Schanhofer
Community Resource Development Educator
UW-Extension, Monroe County
Phone: 608-269-8722/608-372-8722
TDD 800-947-3529
FAX 608-269-8767/608-372-8767
14345 CTH B, Room 1
Sparta, WI 54656
http://monroe.uwex.edu/cnred
Our county would like to know which others have built new courthouse and/or jails in the last 10-15 years.
If you have, could you please provide the following, if you know off-hand:
Approx. year built
Courthouse? Jail? Both?
# of beds in jail
# of courtrooms
sq ft
county contact for more info
Thanks so much!
Amy
Amy R. Schanhofer
Community Resource Development Educator
UW-Extension, Monroe County
Phone: 608-269-8722/608-372-8722
TDD 800-947-3529
FAX 608-269-8767/608-372-8767
14345 CTH B, Room 1
Sparta, WI 54656
http://monroe.uwex.edu/cnred
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Purchase of Development Rights
Jim Goldsmith (Juneau County UWEX) recently asked about information on the Purchase of Development Rights (PDR). I believe the Town of Dunn was the first municipality to start a PDR program in Wisconsin. More information is available at:
http://town.dunn.wi.us/PurchaseofDevelopmentRights.aspx
Bill Rizzo or Mindy Habecker (Dane County UWEX) might have some additional information. Brian Ohm in URPL would be another good contact.
The Gathering Waters Conservancy also has a list of Wisconsin Counties that have, or are thinking about starting a PDR program. See:
http://www.gatheringwaters.org/policy_pdr_local.php
http://town.dunn.wi.us/PurchaseofDevelopmentRights.aspx
Bill Rizzo or Mindy Habecker (Dane County UWEX) might have some additional information. Brian Ohm in URPL would be another good contact.
The Gathering Waters Conservancy also has a list of Wisconsin Counties that have, or are thinking about starting a PDR program. See:
http://www.gatheringwaters.org/policy_pdr_local.php
Sunday, January 11, 2009
First Post: Warning, this is just a test and has nothing to do with community development!
One of these days I will actually post something related to community development, but for now....something completely different. My love for fishing. Does it get any better than Vermilion Bay Lodge on Eagle Lake?
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