Today’s Focus, Tomorrow’s Solutions The 11th annual North Texas Housing Coalition Housing Summit, in conjunction with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, was a success. A recap of Carol Coletta's keynote speech is below. Successful Cities = Talented Cities According to keynote speaker Carol Coletta, CEO for CEOs for Cities “talent is the single most important aspect of a city.” Ms. Coletta spoke during the 2010 North Texas Housing Summit on March 8th at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Eighty percent of our nation’s employment is generated by strong, successful cities and the metro areas they anchor. Cities are where America works and where our productivity is generated. Successful cities generate 80+ percent of our Gross National Product (GNP) as well as produce 86 percent of our cities’ tax revenues. Ms. Coletta discussed several key elements that she called City Vitals - things each city needs in order to be strong and successful. - Talent
- Connections
- Distinctiveness
- Innovation
Talent is key to maintaining a successful city and one of the best ways to get talent is through college attainment. College graduates in any city’s population accounts for 58 percent of its success, based on per capita income. By increasing college attainment by one percentage point in each of the top 51 metro areas (areas with more than a million people), the nation would see a $124 billion in additional personal income each year. In DFW, that would mean $4.8 billion in additional person income each year. Cities naturally offer variety, convenience, a wider range of choices and more opportunities to its residents. Where and how housing is developed is an important factor in fostering connections. By building compact cities, residents can take advantage of a city’s natural advantages such as access to jobs, housing and education. Mixed-use neighborhoods that are compact, offer walkability to its residents as well as alternative means of transportation is essential for continued growth. By letting our communities sprawl across the landscape that is North Texas, we have dissipated all of the city’s natural advantages. Finding a community’s unique characteristics and capabilities as well as having the confidence to take advantage of them is what Ms. Coletta means by distinctiveness. Innovation is tapping into the creative potential of all a city’s assets, especially its residents. Creating cities that people love and want to live in is crucial for North Texas. Developing all of the advantages in North Texas and making them work together could make a better future for all of us. |