The Citistates Group

The Citistates Report for Boston was unveiled May 26 at a major luncheon sponsored by the Boston College Citizens Seminar which celebrated its 50th anniversary. Boston’s Mayor Thomas Menino joined hosts — Boston Foundation president Paul Grogan and Boston College’s Father Donald Monan, to celebrate and mark the event.

Printed by the Boston Globe, the report — Boston Unbound: Tapping Greater Boston’s Assets and Talents to Create a World-Leading Citistate (PDF-24pgs) — hails the Boston region’s world-class intellectual assets but warns of complacency. It challenges the region to tackle major issues ranging from perils to its healthcare sector to emerging growth options, an expanded regional leadership role for universities to the idea of “smart energy” as a spark for the area’s future.

“This is a heads-up,” Speaker Finneran told the Boston Globe. “This is about the future of the whole state, from Boston to the Berkshires, and my greatest concern is complacency.”
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Water some dry ground and it should be no surprise if a few mornings or months hence you find more stuff growing there.

The same thing holds true for the manmade environment, except that the water that makes stuff grow is usually investments in transportation infrastructure. Build a big highway, and you get more shopping centers and subdivisions. Build a new subway, and you get more office towers. Build a new airport, and you get more warehouses and convention centers.
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Not long ago, I had a great interview with David Gunn, president of Amtrak. I liked him — he left me thinking that with him at the helm, we might be on our way to much better rail service, especially to our cities. He also prompted me to think about the dangers of the big idea, of having too much of “the vision thing,” as George Bush the Elder called it. Gunn’s line of thinking both troubled and excited me.
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