Coastal Recovery Commission of Alabama | Shaping a Regional Vision: Finding the Right Models

Shaping a Regional Vision:
Finding the Right Models

Oct 15, 2010

“If we get nothing else out of this effort, we will have begun an historic conversation about South Alabama as a region.”

That’s been a common theme in many of the committee and subcommittee meetings held since the Coastal Recovery Commission’s launch-day “brain dump” on September 28. (To see notes from some of those sessions, check out the documents under “Committees and Subcommittee Meetings” in our Resources section.)

But here’s the issue: How do you get from what seem like location-specific concerns and projects to a broad regional perspective?

One way is to look at ways in which other communities have tackled similar issues. One of the most obvious for CRC members is how Mississippi approached regionalism in the recovery and renewal period after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The report (6.4mb .pdf) from that post-Katrina Commission is getting passed around the CRC committees.

Michael Gallis (right) pictured with Sandy Stimpson, cochair of the Healthy Society committee.

Professional planning groups have built business plans around Big Picture efforts. One such group, Michael Gallis & Associates, worked on a preliminary analysis of Mobile Bay issues in 2007 and 2008 for the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce and its partners. The company’s overview lays out a systematic approach that integrates multiple sectors – environment, economy, society, etc. – just as the CRC proposes.

Even better, the Gallis analysis demonstrates how each of the sectors relates to long-term regional resilience strategies. Download the Gallis executive summary here.

One of the best models is home grown – the post oil spill “War Room” in Baldwin County. Organized soon after the spill, the War Room pulled together local leaders and began identifying ways to, first of all, provide immediate support for those most directly impacted by the spill, then to systematically expand and refine those ideas into permanent, long-range strategies and programs.

You can see the War Room timeline and read about its programs and strategies in Resources under the “Baldwin County War Room” header. And you can see Bob Higgins, vice president of the Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance, explain how the process works in this video.

Got comments to share? Do so below. And stay in touch.

FILED UNDER: News and InformationTAGS: Alabama Gulf coast, Baldwin County, Bob Higgins, Coastal Recovery Commission, Michael Gallis, Mississippi Renewal Forum, oil spill, south Alabama

| More

One Response to “Shaping a Regional Vision:
Finding the Right Models”

Kim McCuiston says:

October 21, 2010 at 6:44 pm

This is a one time opportunity indeed. Please be mindfull, as long as Al. allows offshore drilling this will happen again.

1. Green energy and its uses are the new black bottom line. The Island in Baldwin Co. is small. It would easily adapt to green energy. It would make the GS/ OB area a model for renewable clean energy. I have some ideas for that model.

2. Alabama needs to set up a Trust Fund for Coastal Disaster. No diverting the fund. It cannot be used without the Governers order. The submerged oil in the Gulf will continue to plague us for years. We need to release money right away to the local municipalities for immediate response.

3. Alabama needs to promote an noncorporate sponsored Ecological Science program regarding the Gulf in all Alabama Counties. Beginning in K – 6 We are border keepers of the Gulf

4 Bon Secour Wildlife Refuge- Hold the Feds accountable. Never was there enough enforcement of the rules. Dogs on the beach, Kids spearing spotted rays on polls. People fishing with no license Garbage on the beach. This beach was one of the 10 wonders of Alabama.

5 Wetlands affected by oil. They must be cleared, resoiled, and planted. Using scientific guidlines.

Thank you
Kimberly McCuiston

Reply

Share Your Own Thoughts and Ideas

We invite questions and suggestions about our process and goals. The online rules are the same as they'd be if we were meeting in person. We'll respect one another and keep on topic. And we'll work together to shape strategies that will make for a better, safer, more resilient South Alabama.

If you have comments or research suggestions you want to direct to one of our committees, you can also send email directly to the appropriate group by going to PARTICIPATE in the toolbar above and using one of the topic-specific email addresses.

A once-in-a generation opportunity is upon us. A transformational moment in Alabama history.

That’s how Gov. Bob Riley described hopes for the Coastal Recovery Commission (CRC) of Alabama, created by his executive order on September 27, 2010.

The CRC’s mission: To shape, in the wake of BP’s Deep Water Horizon oil spill, “a roadmap to resilience” for South Alabama.

“We must do everything we can to restore what’s been lost because of this disaster,” said Gov. Riley. “But we should also use this moment to strengthen the resilience of our state and coastal communities. The commission will recommend ways that improve our ability to respond to future challenges and examine strategies that will mean far less suffering the next time a catastrophe threatens us.”

The CRC’s work is funded entirely with BP money already contributed to the state. No tax dollars will be used. What’s more, Gov. Riley took pains to insulate the Commission as much as possible from politics as usual. Since he leaves office in January, he’s acutely aware that the recommendations of the Commission will be in another governor’s hands. So he’s reached out to the political camps of both men vying to replace him, inviting them to appoint their own representatives to the Commission to participate in shaping a report that should inspire the new governor no matter who wins in the November elections.

What’s more, Gov. Riley is asking local elected officials to give the Commission a little room to work. “We’ll bring politicians in,” said the governor. “But this will be a citizen-led – not a politician-led – effort. If we do that, I promise you it will be successful.”

The CRC is made up of citizen leaders with broad ranges of experience in civic life in Alabama’s coastal region. It’s headed by Mobile Press-Register publisher Ricky Mathews, who brings to this effort the experience of a similar commission in the post-Hurricane Katrina environment of coastal Mississippi. For a complete list of CRC members, go here.

“What we learned after Katrina on the Mississippi Coast,” said Mathews, “is that a crisis of even enormous proportions provides opportunities to re-imagine a whole region.

“If we do our work on this commission right,” Mathews said, “we can position South Alabama for not only bouncing back more effectively from future catastrophes like oil spills and hurricanes but also for providing greater security and more opportunity for all of our citizens, even when there are no emergencies. That’s the essence of resiliency.”

Forging consensus on what the oil spill’s impacts were and how to make the coast safer for citizens and visitors and more secure for long-term investment is tough enough. Implementing the Commission’s recommendations next year and in the years after will be harder – if the Commission is not able to begin building coalitions of support during this process. “If we’re to make the most of this opportunity,” said Mathews, “we have to begin thinking bigger and broader than we ever have.

“Oil spills and hurricanes don’t just threaten isolated spots on a map,” said Mathews. “Their effects reverberate through an entire state, through a region even. So our chances for coping with future threats depend upon us building a regional vision, an awareness of how we’re connected with one another and how we can work with one another to do more than any of us as individual citizens or individual communities ever imagined.”

This is a project on a fast track. At some point – no one knows exactly when – there is the potential for billions of dollars to flow to the coastal states from BP and from other energy-related sources. To assure that Alabama is positioned to make the most of this potential investment, “we need a plan,” said Gov. Riley. And it has to come quickly.

So the Commission is committed to delivering its report by Dec. 15, initially as a downloadable pdf from this website. Printed books will be available soon thereafter.

The Commission is organizing its work under three broad topics, each connected with the other and each representing a key component of regional adaptability and sustainability:

A Healthy Environment
A Healthy Society
A Healthy Economy

Commission members are assigned to each of the topics and will break the broader categories into sub-committees as they see fit. We’ll report on the activities of those committees and sub-committees on this website regularly.

This is a very public process. Participation of regional experts, elected and appointed officials from all the towns and counties affected by the oil spill, regional business folks, and residents will have plenty of opportunities to review CRC work in progress and contribute their ideas and comments. They’ll be able to do that in person at community meetings, by mail or phone, and online via this website.

Here’s how to make the best use of this site:

If you want to know who’s on the Commission and who’s staffing it, click on the WHO tab in the toolbar above.

If you want to understand the CRC’s mission, get answers to frequently asked questions, and see background data committees are gathering, click on the WHAT & WHY tab.

If you want to know the schedule of public events and locations for meetings, click on the WHEN & WHERE tab.

If you want to contact us directly, you’ll find information under CONTACT US, and at the bottom of each news post in the column to the left, is space for comments and questions.

If you want to read or see what others are saying about the CRC effort, we’ll post links and documens under IN THE NEWS.

This is going to move fast. So keep in touch. We need your participation.