ETOPIA: Statewide Broadband Expansion

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Problem

In our expanding digital world, broadband access has become a critical infrastructure for consumers and businesses alike to remain economically competitive.

Solution

Senator Unger is proposing to create an inventory and mapping of broadband availability around the state of West Virginia, to develop a framework for increasing and upgrading internet infrastructure across the state. His proposal also requires intergovernmental cooperation and coordination on finding the best ways to implement these technological improvements effectively. Through increased broadband access, Unger hopes to increase economic competitiveness by ensuring equal access to high-speed internet for all and by attracting more businesses to West Virginia.

West Coast Infrastructure Exchange

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Problem

The West Coast states face a $1 trillion infrastructure financing gap over the next 30 years. The Great Recession and slow economic recovery have strained the tax revenues of state and local governments, widening the already well-documented infrastructure investment gap.

Solution

The West Coast Infrastructure Exchange (WCX) was created by Oregon, Washington, California, and British Columbia to help redesign the way they plan, build, and finance public infrastructure. WCX works to attract private investment in public projects, share best practices, bundle smaller projects and incorporate climate resilience. This multi-state collaboration will help find innovative ways to fund necessary projects that may not otherwise get completed by relying only on traditional public funding. Through these infrastructure projects, the WCX aims to promote job creation and improve the region’s long-term economic competitiveness over time.

ROI on Tax Expenditures

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Problem

In most states and at the federal level tax expenditures (incentives, dedications, exemptions, loopholes etc.) that have not been recently analyzed and updated are draining resources from government budgets. In NM for example, these tax breaks have cost $1 billion of taxpayer money and have not significantly increased job creation.

Solution

Senator Keller is working to bring transparency and accountability to tax expenditures by requiring annual return on investment (ROI) and jobs created reporting. This information would make it easier for impactful programs to be enhanced and wasteful, redundant and out of date programs to be shifted to areas that are more effectively meeting citizen needs and creating jobs.

Innovation Vouchers

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Problem

Small businesses often do not have the resources to harness expertise in research and development. Meanwhile, scientific, technological and other research facilities are often looking for new projects. Funding the linkage between these two groups would lead to new opportunities for economic growth.

Solution

Assemblymember Buchwald is proposing to issue “Innovation Vouchers” to small businesses to acquire expertise from universities, national laboratories, or public research institutes. The goal of the program would be to connect research facilities to small businesses, helping create jobs and spur innovation.

Land Value Taxation

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Problem

As in most states, the current system for how land is taxed in Michigan does not encourage investment in unused properties. This lack of investment, especially in struggling urban and rural areas, hurts the economy by hindering opportunities for growth and property development.

Solution

Representative Townsend supports legislation to allow cities to implement land value taxation, which would place the property tax burden on the actual land and not the buildings or improvements. This incentivizes a property owner to develop property in order to balance the tax burden and encourages private investment through rewards for those who invest in their property. This method is a market-driven way to encourage investment in struggling communities and to reuse existing assets rather than promote urban sprawl.

Economic and Fiscal Impact Statement for All Road Capacity Expansions

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Problem

The general lack of public confidence in government’s ability to make wise investment decisions in transportation leads to underinvestment in such projects, reducing the city’s economic competitiveness and potential for growth.

Solution

Rep. Townsend has introduced legislation to create outcome measures for transportation infrastructure investments that require the Department of Transportation and local agencies to show that their spending plans will generate an economic and fiscal return for the taxpayer and the economy. This matters for everyone because one of America’s greatest deficits is our failure to invest in infrastructure and the only way we will create the political will to do so is to show citizens that government is making wise investments.

Recycling Brownfields

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Problem

Like many older industrial cities, Flint is left with contaminated and abandoned brownfield sites from old factories. These unused sites have been a major impediment to the redevelopment of Flint’s downtown area, negatively affecting the quality of life and economic value of surrounding communities. Unfortunately, the high costs of traditional remediation for such areas often prevent reuse.

Solution

Mayor Walling has proposed thinking about redevelopment in a new way — through the lens of recycling. In a pilot project utilizing this new paradigm, Flint is working to transform the site of a former Chevrolet plant, Chevy in the Hole, into Chevy Commons, a parkland along the Flint River with wetlands, woodlands, grasslands and other green areas. Thinking about “recycling” space means looking to reuse or renew, and requires making success out of failure and converting costs to revenues by finding alternative uses for waste products, working in alignment with natural processes, and serving the public in new ways.

Farmland Protection

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Problem

Across the country, counties are losing millions of acres of farmland to urban sprawl each year, resulting in limited crop production and diminished economic growth for these communities who depend on farmland as a primary economic source.

Solution

In 2000, Senator Unger sponsored legislation that created the Voluntary Farmland Protection Act, authorizing county commissions to adopt and implement a farmland protection program and appointing a farmland protection board in order to voluntarily protect agricultural lands from overdevelopment. This act provides a unique opportunity for each participating county to design, implement, fund and administer a Farmland Protection Program that aligns with their particular county’s needs and goals, while outlining state-level guidelines as a resource. The protection of farmland through conservation easements provides many benefits for local communities; the ability to provide a local source of agricultural products; the enhancement of tourism; the preservation of historical and cultural resources; and providing open space for rapidly developing areas while protecting natural resources.

Preservation First

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Problem

Michigan is struggling to find resources to fix its crumbling roads and public support for spending more money on transportation infrastructure is dwindling unless government can show that these projects are sustainable.

Solution

Rep. Townsend has proposed legislation this year to require that any jurisdiction seeking to use state or federal money to build new road capacity must show that its existing roads are in at least “good” or “fair” condition, as defined by state’s Asset Management Council. This policy forces state and local road agencies to be accountable for the condition of their roads before they seek to add to the system, rebuilding faith in government to improve economic outcomes for all.

Cook County Land Bank Authority

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Problem

Vacant housing hinders economic development, weakens the tax base and imposes significant costs on already-struggling municipalities and their taxpayers. These properties have a devastating effect on neighbors, local businesses and governments at all levels: increases in vacant housing bring increases in crime, reduction of property values and decline of the quality of life, even in previously stable communities.

Solution

The Cook County Land Bank, the largest geographic land bank in the country, was created in January 2013 as a public/private partnership to revitalize communities by redeveloping vacant land and finding new uses for abandoned buildings. The Land Bank’s goals are to reverse the cycle of neighborhood decline and promote economic development and neighborhood stabilization.

Recently, and on a national stage, the Cook County Land Bank partnered with the Federal Housing Finance Agency to launch the Neighborhood Stabilization Initiative (NSI), a pilot program that will allow Fannie Mae, as one of the largest holders of foreclosed property in the county, the ability to help the CCLBA aggressively pursue its geographic strategy by focusing on 13 Chicago and Cook County neighborhoods.

 

How to steal this idea:

The passage of the Cook County Land Bank Ordinance was the culmination of over three years of research and outreach to communities around Cook County and the country that had implemented innovative responses to foreclosure. The Land bank benefited from the expert guidance of over 100 stakeholders and has formed partnerships with Cook County, Metropolitan Planning Council, City of Chicago, South Suburban Land Bank Authority, Suburban Governments throughout Cook County, Local and National Banks, Realtors, For-profit and non-profit developers and affordable housing agencies.  

While the CCLBA continues to receive funding from third parties, including our largest influx of funds – $4.5 million from Illinois Attorney General Madigan’s share of the 2012 National Foreclosure Settlement – the CCLBA has made unprecedented milestones in its goal of becoming a completely self-sustaining organization.

Learn more about the Cook County Land Bank Authority here.

Across the country, land banks have become an effective tool to address these challenges, reversing the cycle of decline and decay, facilitating the transfer of vacant property, and promoting economic development and neighborhood stabilization.

– Center for Community Progress
– Congressman Dan Kildee
– Detroit Land Bank
– Cuyahoga Land Bank
– Greater Syracuse Land Bank
– Genesee County Land Bank
– Twin Cities Land Bank

 

Visit and share the gallery of NewDEAL Challenge winners at governing.com/newdeal. 

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