Leadership and Vision - Here's an Excellent View

Neil Pierce is a nationally syndicated columnist who writes about various issues. A recent column focuses on a major issue facing Sarasota - housing and our sense of place. An excerpt from Pierce’s column written while attending the Urban Land Institute's World Cities Forum in London last week:

"I can't think of one U.S. national politician who mentions cities or urban environment in any meaningful way," noted Urban Land Institute President Richard Rosan. "Not one of them is out there talking seriously about critical issues of transportation and housing, metropolitanwide planning, viability of communities — all ways that national government, even without dictating quite the way London does, could at least encourage a more secure and livable urban future."

Like the amazing run-up of housing costs that started around such U.S. hot spots as San Francisco and Boston and is now spreading nationwide, the London metro region escalation means fantastic wealth gain for some, but housing unaffordability for millions more.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott vows not to repeat the errors; he talks instead of "sustainable" communities that don't just incorporate good environmental standards but assure a sense of place, low crime, transportation choices, citizen participation, economic development and "life chances for all." Such places, he argues, "create superb buildings and open spaces — where people want to be together and feel real pride in their own community."

Prescott's premier test of a sustainable community: housing opportunities and a welcome mat for people of many income groups. He sees deep divisions of income and class as the scourge of our time, to be attacked aggressively with public power and the public purse.

It's a stunning vision, extraordinarily tough to execute, even by a determined national government. The tragedy is that we Americans aren't even dreaming it."

Quite the vision indeed. You’d think maybe our leaders would think in these terms instead of the more narrow "local entity" role they only consider. You’d also think that maybe our state and national representatives would get a clue about what the real domestic issues are, instead of listening only to the big time lobbyists about issues that will make them more money. You might even think our local leaders would be pushing for these solutions for these very issues: transportation, housing, viable communities - all connected on a regional basis.

Unless we have a vision that includes all of us, we will stay stuck in the quagmire. Many Floridians and even Sarasotans see themselves primarily as keepers of the tourism economy and profiteers in the land business. We need to see ourselves as a community of people from many backgrounds and economic levels that contribute to the community in a wide variety of ways. We can not afford to include only the wealthiest. We need to find a place for all the community contributors. We will all be richer because of it.

Where is our leadership? What does their vision include? Is it a vision for all of us or can only select groups buy into it?