By Kay Scrimger
December 19, 2011

Conference of Mayors Past President Akron Mayor Donald L. Plusquellic addressed a major global conference, held in Barcelona, Spain, November 29 through December 2.

The Smart Cities World Congress and Expo brought together 6,160 professionals, 118 companies, and 290 speakers to discuss cities of the future. The meeting drew representatives of 51 cities on five continents.

Policy areas covered during the Congress included energy and sustainability, mobility and transport, the environment and recycling, urban planning, research, governance and funding, city case studies, and others.

In the Governance and Funding part of the agenda, Plusquellic spoke at a session entitled "Local Policies in Times of Crisis."

"Akron has been engaged in using Smart City strategies for a long time," he said. "We are proud of the ways in which we have developed innovative initiatives to do things the smart way. Innovation is key to growing and surviving."

He described some of the many initiatives in Akron that demonstrate innovation and creativity and result in improved services to citizens. These include:

• Innovative pact'sharing between the city and nine contiguous areas to build regionalism, a sense of mutual investment and benefit, and community. In the early 1990s, the city proposed an innovation designed to benefit, rather than antagonize, suburban interests. Called JEDDS for ""Joint Economic Development Districts," these are relationships designed to protect nearby townships' sovereignty while expanding their business property tax base. Of utmost importance to the city, JEDDS provide land or business expansions and new enterprise and expand Akron's income tax base for the redevelopment of older areas. Agreements with adjacent townships were negotiated in which Akron provides water and sewerage infrastructure for new or expanding economic enterprises locating on developable land in the townships. The townships benefit from the expanding tax base and the city through municipal tax revenues from the provision of water and sewerage.

• Investment in an incubator in Netanya, Israel: Netanya is located in northern Israel and is about the same size as Akron. The cooperative agreement between the two cities stipulates that businesses developed there have to come to Akron. This much'studied and acclaimed undertaking won Plusquellic the U.S.-International Chamber of Commerce Award in 2010.

• A bio-digestive system developed in Switzerland, which Plusquellic brought to his city after learning of it and studying its record and level of efficiency. Akron owns part of the company.

• Passage of an income tax in Akron that provides funds for local schools to rebuild. The city has one-half ownership and thus can use the schools for community learning centers after school hours.

"Creative thinking, observing innovation in other nations, imagination, and a can-do attitude are essential qualities for a mayor to cultivate, especially now," Plusquellic emphasized.