For GREAT CITIES

About the Book

GREAT CITIES ... a Bold Initiative is about the health and well-being of our cities which affect every American. Many books have been written about sick cities and their disadvantaged residents. This book is unique in that it proposes action programs. The synergism of our proposals will uplift left-behind resi­dents, build great cities and pay for all of it with the re­sulting surge of development, economic activity and in­creased tax base. This important message is intended for and must reach our country''s leaders-in business, fi­nance,   development,   retraining,   education,   religion, sports, transportation, healthcare, entertainment and most significantly in governments at all levels.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first book writ­ten on this subject by formally trained, experienced pro­fessionals in city planning, downtown revitalization and transportation.

There are two sections. The first describes the problems of sick cities and then outlines a vision of great cities, an action program and a bold initiative. A "Catch-Up Edu­cation" program is seen as the only way to provide the left-behind underclass with a way out of their despair with an illustration of an existing model. The importance of a strong private-public partnership is discussed. The ways to pay for Great Cities without the influx of a new federal grant-in-aid program and the benefits to be gained conclude the first section.

The second section provides insight into the community accomplishments of actual private-public partnerships. Successes and failures are described which can assist cities - large and small - in their struggles to meet the challenges of downtown development through the syner­gism generated by comprehensive programs.

Please visit our website http://forgreatcities.net/

About the Author

Robert’s experience has been primarily in organiz­ing and representing the private sector in aggres­sive, successful private-public partnerships. He or­ganized and headed the Uptown Association of At­lanta, Central Atlanta Progress, Inc., where he served as the first Executive Director. After that, he was President of Garden Cities Corporation heading the development of the 15,000-acre, privately fi­nanced, planned "new town" of Peachtree City, Georgia. He was President of the private sector downtown organization, Louisville Central Area, Inc., in Kentucky. He then was President of South­ern Tier Economic Growth, directing the incredible economic turnaround of New York State’s most se­verely depressed metro region, centered in Elmira, N.Y. He is an honorary Lifetime Member of the In­ternational Downtown Association.

About half of John’s experience has been working for metropolitan and state governments. The other half was in his own consulting firm and as Vice President of Magnetic Transit of America, Inc. John directed the initial study of rapid transit for Atlanta. The system was built essentially as first laid out. He served as the principal transportation consultant to the Institute of Public Administration in New York under contract with the federal government for the study of national transportation policy. He has con­sulted with numerous states, private clients and