Recipe for Success

Everyone has their own take on what makes a great community and there are dozens of sites dedicated to listing the ingredients for success, but what attributes should rise to the top of the list?

Blogger BemidjiMike has a post about "Reshaping the Urban Centers . . ." that refers to three articles in Forbes magazine. One of the articles posits that

. . . for urban centers to grow and be successful, 3 inter related issues must be addressed: 1) Public Safety, 2) Business Climate and 3) Political Reform.

I'm not surprised at this list coming from a business magazine. These would not be my top three, but they probably would be in the top ten. When thinking about Bemidji, how do we fare according to this list?

Let's look at Public Safety. I agree that public safety is important--a low crime rate is important for attracting new businesses and residents. Unfortunately, the City's per capita crime rate is higher than the statewide rate for both violent crimes and property crimes. According to NeighborhoodScout, "One's chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime here is one in 11. Within Minnesota, more than 90% of the communities have a lower crime rate than Bemidji."

Violent Crimes (per 1,000 residents): Bemidji 5.63; MN 2.97
Property Cirmes (per 1,000 residents): Bemidji 86.47; MN 30.84

Hmmm. Room for improvement there. Do we do better on number 2, Business Climate? This refers to "being open to micro enterprises, small companies, and self employed high tech “artisans.” I think we score well on this one. We have business development sites in the Industrial Park, Technology Park, and Airport area that are all served by broadband, City utilities and eligible for JOBZ business subsidy.

Finally, number 3, Political Reform. I'm not sure we need political reform as the Forbes article suggest (addressing the high costs of public employee’s salaries and pensions), but I do think better governing occurs when the community has a role in decision making. Many communities provide opportunities for engaging citizens through an annual community visioning activity or by community surveys. These activities are often followed by community goal setting, which helps the elected officials reflect community values in their decision making.

How do you think the City of Bemidji scores on political climate and opportunities for citizen influence in decision making? Is our recipe working?