He is creating a new model for connecting cool, smaller cities (those with less than 1.5 million population) across the world. Smaller Cities Unite! seeks to form mutually beneficial collaborations among partner cities on multiple levels: student engagement, economic development, arts and culture, policy, and entrepreneurship.
Andy is recently back from his trip to Copenhagen, the first partner city included in Smaller Cities Unite! While there, he met with 50-60 individuals over the course of about 11 days. Why Copenhagen? There are several reasons, namely:
But more importantly, Copenhagen does some things very well that Providence can learn from and Providence does things very well that it can teach Copenhagen.
I sat down with Andy on Wednesday to interview him about his experience. Watch the video here:
One of the most important themes from his trip is that Copenhagen is very receptive to this sort of partnering, especially because it would be a mutual learning experience. Smaller Cities Unite! is just as much about sharing information as it is collecting information. Says Andy, “we weren’t just asking, we wanted to give too.”
Establishing the initial connection was just the first step. Andy is now thinking about what structures are necessary to make Smaller Cities Unite! a sustainable network of interchanges between Providence and Copenhagen to actualize the transfer of knowledge and ideas on an ongoing basis. As the private sector was the initial source of the funding, they are likely to be necessary for future funding. Additionally, there may be opportunities for foundation grant funding, or even public sector funds to promote and expand the project. Anyone who is interested in donating time, resources, or ideas for the project should contact Andy Cutler at andy@cutlerandcompany.com or @andypvd.
Finally, Andy is grateful to his initial donors for this trip and wanted to identify them by name for their generous support.
It’s little wonder that the United States and Rhode Island so often side with the wealthy when it comes to politics … after all, by and large that is who we elect to office, says .
About the Rhode Island State House, he writes, “The trend toward meager political representation by former blue-collar workers holds mostly true in Rhode Island where the biggest General Assembly caucus is made of lawyers, not Democrats or Republicans.”
Donnis quotes a New York Times piece that says of this year’s presidential campaign, “If we want government for the people, weve got to start working toward government by the people. The 2012 election offers us a stark choice between two very different approaches to economic policy. But its still a choice between two Harvard-educated millionaires.”
Former Anthony Gemma spokesman Alex Morash says he’s supporting David Cicilline for Congress. So much for the nasty Democratic primary … amybe it was all just politics…
URI poly sci prof and pollster Victor Profughi has been taking issue with the methodology Brown’s Taubmann Center used in its recent poll. He took issue with another Brown Poll recently too … when we accused the Ivy League polling org with doing a push poll on pension politics. Here’s the comment he posted to RI Future.
Also in ProJo’s Political Scene column this morning, the Center for Free Market Anarchy and Punishing the Poor (or whatever it is Mike Stenhouse and Justin Katz call their kooky conservative “think” tank) said Rhode Island should do away with its sales tax and its still-being-created health care exchange as well as enact new laws to hurt organized labor … I don’t know Stenhouse but I know Katz and he is a good enough guy but he represents a kind of conservative that doesn’t really exist in this state to any significant degree, though he’d be in good company in southern Utah or northern Idaho. Stenhouse, for his part, is an ex-Red Sox … not really the best thing to have on your resume for why you can help RI’s economy…
But maybe I’m wrong … after all, another member of the Center pens a piece saying this state’s support for a voter ID law shows it’s not just for the ALEC crowd…
It’s worth watching Ted Nesi interview John Hazen-White Jr. … a local CEO who sticks up for the Occupy movement and holds a lot of other beliefs not always indicative of the 1 percent.
The scary future for charter schools: “Computer modules would replace the teacher in front of the classroom.”
On this day in Rhode Island history: Occupy Providence begins its occupation of Burnside Park.
We all know SNL does great (increasingly viral) political skits and you may have already seen its farce of the veep debate from Saturday night, which was super funny … but this one teasing spoiled American’s reliance on technology was my favorite:
]]>