Federal agency coordination

Having arrived at the annual NLC Congress of Cities and reading the news from back home that our state is now one of the ten poorest in the country and will be for some time, I'm staying focused on finding opportunities for communities during these most challenging of times.  Yesteday, I attended the NLC Transportation, Infrastructure and Services Policy committee meeting which featured a presentation from representatives of HUD, DOT and EPA on the new Sustainable Community Partnership.  To a person, each agency rep talked about how the initiative is about removing barriers in federal policy and understanding how federal programs impact state and local goals and plans in each of the areas they cover.  While there is $150 million in the FY 2010 budget for technical assistance and planning grants it was noted that the bigger transformation is changing the way the three agencies do business through coordination, collaboration and regulatory relief. As the EPA representative noted, coordination and collaboration between government agencies is the least taxpayers can expect.  Now there's a breath of fresh air and a skeptical audience will demand results.