Whole cities in Korea and China have invested in IP-based networks that wire their cities' respective buildings, infrastructure, and transportation systems in an attempt to improve and extend education and healthcare, optimize traffic patterns, and simplify government service delivery.

With smarter systems, our government can improve the effectiveness of its schools, better monitor criminal hot spots, reduce pollution, and generate a compounding network effect or virtuous cycle that leads to development and a wide range of public and private benefits. So how can our government reposition itself to be a net value creator for the region? Here is one possible path for consideration:

1) Start with the underlying technology infrastructure. Cincinnati already has a lot of "dark fiber" that was installed during the dot com era. The region can lead in "turning on" and establishing an infrastructure that connects our buildings, parking meters, cameras, roadways, garbage cans, etc. and minimizes the silos of government agencies so they have a shared (i.e., cheaper unit cost) platform by which to collaborate and deliver services.

2) Standardize services and paperwork (e.g., cut the bureaucracy around company licensing and certifications, building redevelopment, etc. and the variations existing from one township or village to the next). If you hope to attract businesses, make it easy for them to do business.

3) Incentivize departments and retrain staff to operate in a data-infused, connected service delivery mode. Without the skilled and motivated labor, you lose the potential for improvement.

4) Move to a metropolitan government and economic development model that will help pool and better allocate our resources, stimulate sustainable development, and improve overall service quality within our public services.

So what are your thoughts on how our government can best allocate our tax monies in a way that not only is cost-effective and maintains basic services, but also positions our region for greater prosperity and a higher quality of life? 

As a resident of the Mt. Auburn area, just north of perhaps our region's fastest-changing neighborhood (Over-The-Rhine), I see two worlds coexisting within blocks of each other.

On one hand, I have seen new corridors of development in OTR being spearheaded by YPs, urbanists, and empty nesters, leading to some of the fastest selling condo projects in the region, a projected 49% drop in crime in OTR, and new openings of a casino, restaurants, bars, and retail outlets. These developments are fundamentally and (perhaps) forever changing the dynamic of Over-The-Rhine and the region.

On the other hand, there are pockets of poverty containing an increasingly important constituent of hard-working but often under-educated poor that have resided in this and adjacent neighborhoods for many years, many of whom will become critical for accelerating the change of OTR into a more diverse, vibrant, and family-friendly community. How do we ensure that there is an opportunity for everyone to be a part of the positive changes going on in this neighborhood and many other neighborhoods in Greater Cincinnati?

Well, there is at least one group that is trying to give our fellow neighbors a step up to achieve financial self-sufficiency: SmartMoney Community Services.  For over twenty years SmartMoney has been helping students, veterans, the working poor, and middle class in OTR and throughout all of Greater Cincinnati to become literate about financial and economic matters -- debt, budgeting, credit reporting, banking, entrepreneurship, and homeownership.

As a Board member of SmartMoney, I can tell you that we rely on a network of partners in the private, public, and non-profit sectors to deliver a compelling cocktail of services that reward rapid achievement of goals by our clients:

• For instance, our partnership with the United Way of Greater Cincinnati allows us to provide a 2-for-1 matching savings program that lets an income-qualified client receive two additional dollars for every dollar they save for investment in homeownership.

• Our relationship with a workforce development non-profit, Cincinnati Works , gives us the opportunity to teach newly employed workers how to wisely spend their disposable income and establish financial goals that increase their chances of staying employed and pursuing further education.

• Support we receive from the City of Cincinnati and local commercial banks and credit unions will help us deliver more financial education classes and workshops to our clients, while also identifying ways for the unbanked to open accounts with credible financial institutions. 

Each of our partners provides a critical complementary element to how we serve our clients -  and to powerful effect. Last year SmartMoney served over 1500 clients with only a small number of dedicated full-time staff people, contractors, volunteers and donors.

Have you or your organization contributed to a network that is leading change in our region? And how would you create opportunities for individuals struggling to become or stay self sufficient?

It is Census season, and this survey will raise the important question of, "How well is our region doing?" The only problem is that the Census can't completely help answer this question for us. So here are additional questions I would ask if we could create a census not just for individuals, but also for the Cincinnati Metro region:

Q1: What is the level of intellectual, social, and cultural talent represented by your citizens and institutions?

Q2: What is the status of your current infrastructure (education, healthcare, transportation, public services and utilities)?

Q3: What is the overall quality of life reflected by your natural surroundings, crime and safety, cost of living, access to employment?

The answers to these three questions will not only determine our future competitiveness, but also highlight real assets that distinguish us from other notable metropolitan regions. We have truly world-class medical hospitals and research facilities, renowned and well supported cultural institutions, and a stable and diverse set of corporations and higher education institutions that has attracted and developed our region's talent.

But these questions would also identify improvement areas that must be pursued, such as the following:

• Unleashing the potential and creativity of a large segment of our population by retooling our educational system and by encouraging micro-entrepreneurship.

• Highlighting and connecting our riverfront, parks, and trails to promote our unique and beautiful landscapes while fostering a healthier and happier lifestyle.

• Investing in a strategic multi-mode transportation network between the hubs of where we travel, work, learn, and play to minimize unnecessary carbon-based emissions contributing to the haze hovering over our interstates, airports, factories, and power plants.

We are becoming increasingly inter-dependent and we must find ways to strategically invest in and support our people, infrastructure, and environment - in a more collaborative and unified way.

So what ideas do you have that would help to further develop our people, infrastructure, and environment?