Berkshire County's Blueprint Tuesday, March 13, 2007 I'm not sure I'd have spent two years and paid $1 million for these two studies, but Berkshire County, MA thinks now they have their blueprint for the future. You can read more about the Berkshire Blueprint here. Despite the heavy investment, not everyone is happy. The consulting team apparently forgot to interview one of the mayors in the county. Read more. You can download an overview here. The cluster study is here. The creative economy study is here. All this comes after the county invested time and money, three years ago, in a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy. Berkshire County is exhibiting the traits of weak civic leadership. They are relying too heavily on outside "experts", and they are not investing enough time in their own civic process. How else can you explain spending two years and $1 million in a county of 120,000 people and still not getting the politics right? posted by Ed Morrison |		This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. links Some Background on EDPro Weblog The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it. One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information. So, spread the word...Share the knowledge. Tell a friend about EDPro Weblog. If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site: Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber: Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking. Background on Ed Morrison Download some background information on me here.

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