Just back from Tampa where we held a particularly successful All-America-City event. About 900 people came from all over the country.
The Tampa host committee and volunteers were very gracious and helpful, as were our stalwart volunteers from Barnstable, Massachusetts. (Barnstable won in 2007 and people there were so jazzed by the event that they sent volunteer delegations to help in 2008 and 2009.
The 2009 All-America Cities (alphabetically by state) are:
Phoenix, Arizona Inglewood, California
Fort Wayne, Indiana Richmond, Indiana
Wichita, Kansas Somerville, Massachusetts
Albany, New York Kinston, North Carolina
Statesville, North Carolina Caroline County, Virginia
Here is the press release, and here is a link to NCL President Gloria Rubio-Cortés’s photo album of the Friday night award presentation. I’ll be posting more about the winners and their community projects in the near future.
According to the jurors, this was a particularly strong group of finalists and winnowing the 29 down to ten All-America Cities wasn’t easy. I hope some of these finlaists try again next year when we will be in Kansas City, Missouri.
Thank you so much for the Honor; I know that here in Albany, NY we have been working on doing things better, doing more with less and in an ethical manner. Thanks again for this great Honor.
Posted by: Colleen from Albany, NY | June 27, 2009 at 10:52 AM
I hate to rain on Albany's All America City award parade, but some rain may come from taking a look at how the award came about.
When an incumbent seeks a national award for his or her city in election years, it comes across as bread and circus, a way to distract attention from problems.
The award is from the National Civic League, a good government organization that I once was a member of. The organization (http://www.ncl.org) declares that it is "committed to community renewal and citizen participation in local governance."
The league promotes civic engagement and good municipal governance. It also calls for professional values like "basing policy and service delivery on need rather than demand, to stressing the long-term interests of the community as a whole, to promoting equity and fairness, to recognizing the interconnection among policies, and to advance citizen participation that is broad and inclusive."
The Albany I know, with its autocratic mayors and "patroon psychology," does not reflect the league's values, especially advancing citizen participation. It can't even get public access TV like our neighboring cities. So why is NCL celebrating a city like Albany?
The above is from a column in the Sunday Times Union, see ULR below, wondering why NCL didn't do its do diligence before giving the All American City to Albany,NY. I am disappointed in NCL.
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