Denver featured in McKnight Foundation's "A Tale of Three Cities"
Tom Clark is on vacation this week, so it's a perfect time to recognize him for his leadership efforts in regional cooperation. In fact, he's quoted extensively in "A Tale of Three Cities," an essay written by Jay Walljasper for The McKnight Foundation.
You see,
Denver is one of the cities highlighted in this essay, which is part of McKnight's Region and Communities program. The purpose: a look at cities that might either serve as "competitors or inspiration for Minneapolis-St. Paul."
The other two cities Walljasper put under the regional microscope were Seattle and Toronto. The impetus: to find urban centers with various similarities to Minneapolis-St. Paul for "fresh ideas and inspiration."
In the Denver profile, Tom says that Denver's regional nature came out of hard times from the 1980s economic downturn. "The urban center is the shop window for the whole region—even people in the suburbs see the advantage of making it strong."
Denver's 6 1/2 lessons:
- Invest Heavily Downtown
- Collaborate. Collaborate. Collaborate.
- Think Big About Rail
- Welcome Newcomers
- Create City Districts from Scratch
- Boost Public Education
- Vitalize Public Housing
Tom summarized the Metro Denver's business credo simply: "You can’t steal from other communities, and you can’t speak ill of your neighbors.”
