March 1, 2002

State's future demands regionalism,
argues new CICG publication

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California must promote regional initiatives and solutions if its citizens want to continue enjoying a high quality of life, argues Nick Bollman, chair of the Speaker's Commission on Regionalism, in the latest publication by the California Institute for County Government. The institute is affiliated with the Center for California Studies at California State University, Sacramento.

Bollman says regional approaches are needed if the state hopes to address economic competitiveness, fight poverty, reduce traffic congestion, provide affordable housing and preserve open space.

"No purely local solutions are at a large enough scale to be effective and sustainable," Bollman writes. He adds that current problems will become much worse as the state's population swells from about 34 million to 46 million over the next two decades.

"To regain and sustain the California dream in the years to come, we need a new 21st Century regionalism: better policies, practices, and governmental and civic institutions that are aligned to support essential, and promising, regional strategies to produce and sustain world-class communities," Bollman writes.

Bollman's recommendations are contained in a CICG Perspectives publication titled "The New California Dream: Regional Solutions for 21st Century Challenges." The publication summarizes a report from the Speaker's Commission on Regionalism, which was finalized in January.

The California Institute for County Government, which published the essay, studies county policy and fiscal issues and offers consulting to county government. In addition to publishing occasional CICG Perspectives and Research Briefs, the institute maintains extensive county statistical information.

Copies of the report or additional information are available by contacting the institute's director, Matthew Newman, at (916) 324-0796, sending an e-mail to info@cicg.org or visiting the institute's website at www.cicg.org.

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