Earl Bishop, a long-time resident of the Richmond region with roots in Raleigh, Atlanta, Chicago and other cities, penned an insightful commentary for today's Times-Dispatch. Bishop's piece focused in on Raleigh, North Carolina, on the occasion of the Greater Richmond Chamber's annual intercity visit, which will ship about 100 local government officials and businesspeople two hours south of Richmond later this week.
Bishop not only does a good job of capturing some of the promise and the challenges of the Raleigh-Durham area (I spent much of my late childhood in the once-rural outskirts of Chapel Hill), but he nails one of the biggest challenges confronting any hopes for cooperation and growth in the Richmond region:
First is the undeniable effect of the annexation prohibition that affects Richmond. A review of the history of annexation in Raleigh shows its pattern of following major thoroughfares or developments and bringing them into the city, specifically the Capital Boulevard (U.S. Route 1 North) and Glenwood Avenue areas as well as the Cary area. Major subdivisions such Wakefield, Bedford, and Brier Creek have added significantly to the tax bases. Maybe it is time for a similar change here under the governor's new government reform task force.
But I particularly like how Bishop ended his piece:
I applaud the efforts of the Chamber to build Richmond into the city it can and should be, but I believe the current government structures and competition among local governments will continue to be an impediment. Perhaps rather than looking at the nice facilities and so forth on the trip to Raleigh/Durham, the focus should be on government structure -- including the state level -- that facilitates progress.
Perhaps next year, the Greater Richmond Chamber should send minivans of area businesspeople and community figures out across the state to sit down with members of the Virginia General Assembly and discuss the opportunities for meaningful change in the structure of and restrictions governing our cities and counties. That way, instead of sighing wistfully at signs of regional cooperation elsewhere around the country, we can begin to fundamentally address it in our own backyard.
