If PTP went away, who would miss it?

I don’t always agree with former Guilford County planning director Rob Bencini —– you can imagine my reaction to his op-ed on ‘green initiatives’—- but he nails it in yesterday’s N&R with a brutally honest assessment of the Piedmont Triad Partnership and its ‘regionalism’ mantra:

Regionalism is happy talk and feels nice; adding local jobs and expanding the tax base is real. Real gets the nod.

…..(T)his is the question I have asked boards when they seemed to be straying from their mission or spending more time reorganizing and doing strategic plans than making an impact:

If the Piedmont Triad Partnership went away, who would miss it?

Putting it another way, if PTP ran through a $15 million WIRED grant to “transform the regional economy,” who would notice?