NEAL PEIRCE – If collaboration across metro regions seems tough, just check out how tough it is to generate agreements across the borders of America’s “sovereign” states. Curt Johnson and I tackled the topic in our recent series “New Century — New Game” on 21st century challenges facing the six New England states. Our basic conclusion: A New England acting like one team, not six, could set strategies, embark on-proactive paths bolstering its economy, improving its its energy prospects, strengthening its transportation ties, and much more.
But unless the region’s governors are signed up, prospects aren’t bright. We made that case in pointed fashion for OpEd published in the Boston Globe. The piece contrasts New England’s thin levels of gubernatorial collaboration with seemingly far more impressive of efforts among chief executives in the South, Midwest and West.