Blog Release: GLUEsletter

From GLUE, of course:

Sticky Cities Alert
Sticky City Round Ups are taking place across the region on Tuesday, April 8 and Thursday, April 10 at 7 pm EST/6 pm CST. You'll find the city schedule on the sidebar to your left. For location details on your local meeting, visit GLUEspace's Local Page. We'll be using this first meeting to identify, with the aid of local citizen-experts (that means you), what our cities need, what they share, how they compare, and how GLUE's regional networks can be deployed to move them forward together. In other words, in your wildest dreams - what could the Great Lakes region's urban future look like? What should it look like? What must it not look like?

Local meetings will allow you to drive this conversation by connecting with regionalists in your city and its peers via Sticky City idea swaps. You will brainstorm with fellow locals around a series of targeted questions, and trade ideas and feedback with like-minded folks in other GLUE cities. Who knows? Maybe you'll find a pen pal.

If your city does not have an April Round Up and you would like to make sure you schedule one for May, please email glueteam@gluespace.org. We're looking for organizers in Cincinnati, Erie, Dayton, Lansing, Fort Wayne, and other cities.

Sticky Cities Schedule

Tuesday, April 8
at 7 pm EST, 6 pm CST:

Buffalo, NY
Chicago, IL
Columbus, OH
Flint, MI
Indianapolis, IN
Milwaukee, WI
Rochester, NY

Thursday, April 10
at 7 pm EST, 6 pm CST:

Cleveland, Akron, and Youngstown, OH
Detroit, MI
Duluth, MN
Pittsburgh, PA
St. Louis, MO
Toledo, OH
Flint, MI
Indianapolis, IN

Special Report from Canada: "Lakes great for us, too."
In case you've been looking at a map and realizing that based just on geography, we can't do this all alone - you might be wondering, "Is anyone working on some sort of bi-national strategy for the region that includes our dear neighbors to the north?" Look no further.

Last week, the Brookings Institution's and Great Lakes Economic Initiative released The Vital Connection: Reclaiming Great Lakes Economic Leadership in the Bi-National US-Canadian Region.

And if that's not enough, GLUE HQ in Pittsburgh was popping with excitment around a recent op-ed in the Post-Gazette, calling for cross-border Great Lakes regional cooperation. Author Jim Marczak urges, "Let's face it, Pittsburgh is not really competing with Cleveland and Buffalo and Toronto. The entire Great Lakes region is competing for the next international investment dollar with Shanghai and Mumbai and Dubai, and we must work together to make it more attractive to investors."

GLUEsters Wanted
In addition to organizing or attending one of GLUE's Sticky City Round Ups, you can get involved this spring or summer by:

• Giving voice to the professional event planner in you. Help us plan a large public art event to coincide with and announce the launch of our new website. Events will be taking place in Buffalo, Detroit, St. Louis, and Duluth in late July or early August. We need a team of people in each city, and nearby, to help with logistics, media, fundraising, etc.
• Joining a GLUE Issue Committee. Keep us current and build our web content on a variety of issues that our cities face. If you have time, energy, and expertise to make this commitment, we welcome your involvement in our: Environmental Justice & Sustainability, Responsible Economic Development, Quality of Place, Empowerment of Communities & Individuals, or Civic Participation & Government Transparency committee
• Sharing photos with us! If you are a member of Flickr, join the "GLUE" group and add city photos to our rapidly growing image pool. Not only will these images be featured in GLUEsletters in the future, they will populate GLUEspace in anticipation of our summer launches.

Presidential Politics Update
Competitive and significant "Great Lakes" primaries in Indiana (May 6) and Pennsylvania (April 22) mean GLUE city residents just might get some face time with the front runners.

If we had them at a dinner table (or a Presidential debate at the end of September...), GLUE would like each candidate to commit to developing and implementing an urban agenda for our region.

What specifically should we hold front runners accountable for in the region? Comment on GLUEspace or email us: glueteam@gluespace.org.

Hot off the Presses:

A recent Akron Beacon Journal column observed that there is a movement afoot in the Great Lakes region, and GLUE is at the forefront.

Thanks for reading. Onward, friends!

Great Lakes Urban Exchange
www.gluespace.org
glueteam@gluespace.org