MEMORANDUM
To: Students in Public Affairs 511c
From: J. Patrick Dobel and Amy Beck Harris
Re: Strategic Memo 1 – Due November October 25 at the start of class
Please write a two-page memo that follows the guidance below. Add to the end of the memo a one-paragraph analysis of what readings and class insights you used to write the memo
The memo may have 1 or 2 related appendices. You will be graded on both content (effective and persuasive use of analytic discussion) and style (how well you present your analysis in a memo format and writing).
Metro Memo
February 2, 2011
From: Larry Phillips
To: Lauren Firestone, Senior Policy Advisor
Subject: Now What?
We barely dodged a bullet. The recession and continuing budget crisis revealed all the geographic equity and political tensions underpinning support for mass transit in the region. I believe that these will continue to vex us for the next decade. I want you to think about how we can build a wider and deeper level of support for the system across the counties, cities and state buttressed by federal funds. Everything is fragile and the mass transit system will need several major voter funding request over the next decade to expand the system down to Tacoma and north to Everett.
I believe as the region continues to grow, we must have a strong mass transit system for equity and environmental and quality of life reasons. Yet given current politics and disparity of impact, we have to build a stronger consensus.
Review the last four years and our strategies. I want tight report that analyzes:
All the major actors in future deliberations
An assessment of where they are politically and power wise
What issues must we address to move the relevant political actors to support a sustained budgetary commitment to an efficient and equitable mass transit system.
Whatever we do will require building relations and demanding serious budget discipline and cuts; we also need to protect and deepen the long term political support for the system across the county, the region and in state government. I see our goals for the next 3-5 years as:
Keep the core transit system intact and solvent
Develop processes to ensure everyone has a voice at the table
Ideas to ensure everyone believe they are treated equitably
Build strong long term support across region for processes and system
I would like to protect Seattle’s major stake intact, but this may not be possible It should be a major side goal for us. If I am seen as too pro Seattle, it will undermine my ability to be an honest broker.
I need a very clear sense of where the political and economic fault lines are and how we might approach them. Outline some ideas about where everyone is politically and issue wise and how we can move them into a more stable configuration of support. Connect the politics with some initial policy ideas. We can adapt the ideas as we find out how people react to our initiatives. We need to remember that this will play out not just in the county but in different venues such as state and cross county.
This will not be easy and consider this the beginning of a long term approach to frame the debates and challenges that we will revise as we go along.
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