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 On March 28, 2003, more than 175 people from 14 counties surrounding Charlotte, N.C. gathered to prioritize the regions most pressing challenges and ponder how they might best be addressed. The day-long civic forum was convened by the Lee Institute, whose mission is to build collaborative leadership capacity throughout the greater Charlotte region to solve various community issues.
The Lee Institute, together with the Duke Mansion, constitute the Lynwood Foundation. The Institute was founded in 1997 to honor the late Bill Lee, noted community leader and chairman and CEO of Duke Power Company.
Unlike conventional town hall meetings, the Charlotte regional summit employed cutting-edge technology including wireless computers and touchpad polling devices to collect and synthesize participants views and recommendations. Additionally, participants were grouped into tables of ten people, with a professional volunteer facilitator assigned to each group.
The meeting model was designed by America Speaks, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that specializes in harnessing 21st-century technology to improve group-process dynamics and expedite the generation and reporting of reliable results.
The regional forum in Charlotte was held in connection with at week-long series on growth, carried by the Charlotte Observer, entitled Boomtown Burdens. The newspaper series was paralleled with newscasts on the local NBC-TV affiliate, and both media organizations covered the seven-hour Region Speaks meeting.
Participants first identified a set of values widely shared among residents of the region, such as commitment to the natural environment and preservation of open space, the heritage and culture of the region, economic vitality, and access to health care.
After summarizing the common ground shared by the participants, the meeting process turned to identifying (1) salient developments of the regions recent past, and (2) likely patterns of regional change during the near future. The Charlotte regions past 20 years, participants agreed, were characterized by the emergence of Charlotte as a major financial hub and center of population, an increase in sprawl and traffic accompanied by a loss of open space, and a diversification of cultural, educational and recreational opportunities, among other factors. Further, the participants projected that the regions next 20 years would be characterized by greater influence of the City of Charlotte, acceleration of growth and loss of rural farmland, increased diversity (ethnic, lingual and age, with implications for public services), and a shift toward interdependence among the regions units of local government.
Looking at the regions emerging challenges, the forum prioritized eight issues that could be addressed jointly by communities in the Charlotte area. These include (1) lack of attention to and understanding of the relationships among transportation, economic development, environment, and land use; (2) air- and water-quality protection; (3) uniform quality and accessibility of education; (4) transportation and mobility; (5) management of growth and land use; (6) public safety and security; (7) equity in economic development; and (8) workforce employability and competitiveness.
The Region Speaks concluded with an examination of the prospects of forming a Regional Planning Alliance, polling participants on their preference of three models: high authority, medium authority and low authority. The medium-authority model was preferred by a large plurality (48%) of participants, with a strong recommendation that its structure provide for citizen access and standing, while assuring both accountability and compliance through incentives.
For more information on The Region Speaks, visit www.dukemansion.com/leeinstitute. For a complete overview of the meeting model and more information on America Speaks, go to www.americaspeaks.org.
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