Chad Adams hosted the Center for Local Innovation’s three-city tour
this week, which offered elected officials and administrators ideas for
improving the efficiency and effectiveness of public services and
public dollars. The tour began in Hickory, then stopped in Fayetteville
and ended in New Bern. Attendees included city councilmen, county
managers, chamber of commerce officials, and city and county
staffers. The tour generated front-page coverage in The Daily News of Jacksonville.
Panelists and speakers ranged from Geoffrey Segal of the Reason
Foundation and former Raleigh Mayor Tom Fetzer, to Heywood Sanders, who
recently authored a Brookings Institution report on
the declining market for convention centers. While in Raleigh following
the tour, Sanders appeared on WPTF’s “Bill LuMaye Show” with substitute
host Rick Martinez to discuss Raleigh’s $200+ million convention center project.
Joining the debate was Roger Krupa, the director of Raleigh’s center.
Sanders and Krupa were also on hand Friday morning at JLF for a
briefing on Sanders’ data.