In Focus for Councilmembers and
Commissioners
MRSC's bi-weekly In Focus
e-newsletter is an excellent way for your elected officials to stay informed
about the latest news, research, events and trends affecting Washington city and
county governments. Forward a copy of this newsletter to your elected officials
or sign them up today!
Seven Big Lessons for Local Governments
Otis White shares his list of "seven big lessons for local
governments" based on some 1200 "Urban Notebook" columns he has written for
Governing Magazine.
Washington Sustainability Strategies
The National Trust Main Street Center profiles community
sustainability strategies from Seattle and other Washington State communities in
the November 2006 edition of Main
Street News (
881KB).
Ten Noteworthy Trends of 2006
The Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program reviews the ten
most noteworthy trends affecting urban America in 2006. More from
Brookings.
FCC Order will Preempt Local Video Franchising
Authority
Despite opposition from the National League
of Cities and other local government groups, the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) adopted an order last week that would federally mandate how
video franchising would occur in the United States. More
from Nation's Cities Weekly.
Who Is the Most Influential Mayor in
America?
When we look back on this period in American
urban history, two things will stand out: the amazing turnabout in the center
cities and the surprising quality of big-city mayors. More from
Civic Strategies.
Puget Sound Regional Competitiveness
Indicators
The Prosperity Partnership recently
published their 2006-2007 Puget Sound Regional Competitiveness
Indicators report evaluating our region's comptetitiveness using a set of
20 economic and social indicators. More from the
Prosperity Partnership.
Evacuation Report Card 2006
The American Highway Users Alliance has released a first-of-its-kind
study evaluating the emergency evacuation capacity of the 37 largest US urban
areas - with at least 1,000,000 population. More from the
American Highway Users Alliance.
Web Sightings - Innovative and Affordable Housing
With the high cost of housing in the Puget Sound area, many jurisdictions are looking for innovative ways of providing affordable housing. This month
we've selected sites on innovative and affordable
housing.
IRS Sets 2007 Standard Mileage Rate at 48.5 Cents
per Mile
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently
set the 2007 standard mileage rate for business use of private vehicles at 48.5
cents per mile, up from the rate of 44.5 cents that was set for 2006. Local
governments may (but need not) reimburse employees at 48.5 cents per mile
without having to report the reimbursement as taxable income. More from the
IRS.
