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Dubuque a model for civic progress

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By MIKE McGRATH

Special to the Tribune

Published: May 31, 2009

In the middle of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, IBM recently announced it was opening a technology center in Dubuque, Iowa, a move that will bring 1,300 jobs to the region.

The announcement left observers in other communities scratching their heads and muttering about cow pastures and cornfields.

"We've been competing with Raleigh-Durham, Boston, Denver, the Silicon Valley," noted an editorialist on WISC-TV in Madison, Wis. "IBM could have located here, and chose Dubuque. That's just not right."

What seemed remarkable was the notion that this small river city in the Midwest would be selected instead of a more recognized technology "triangle" or "corridor," but it wasn't much of a surprise at the National Civic League. In 2007, Dubuque was named one of 10 All-America Cities, and the league knew it to be an impressive and progressive community with much to offer a prospective employer.

What Dubuque lacks in glitz and cachet, it more than makes up for in pluck, organization and civic spirit. When IBM representatives visited the city, members of the Greater Dubuque Development Corp. greeted them with the resumes of 600 prospective employees. Within the area are a number of fine colleges and a state university whose presidents are used to working together as part of a greater Dubuque, tri-state region.

Regional cooperation, public/private partnerships and citizen involvement - these are qualities the league looks for in an All-America City. To be selected a finalist, a community must submit an application that tells its story and describes three community-improvement projects.

Dubuque had a dramatic story. In 1985, it had one of the highest levels of unemployment in the country, upward of 23 percent. The city's largest employer, John Deere, recently had shut its doors, and residents were leaving in droves. Old-timers remember when a joker put up a billboard outside town that said: "Will the last person to leave Dubuque please turn out the lights?"

A few years later, the city undertook an ambitious public planning process called Vision 2000, in which citizens from across the region met to lay out a road map for economic recovery: The vision that emerged was a "diverse and balanced economic base that provides job security for all segments of the community ... secured through the support, retention, recruitment of retail, manufacturing, hi-tech, services, year-round tourism, recycling businesses and industries."

Focusing on bringing in new industry - insurance, technology, publishing, health care, education and tourism - Dubuque rose to No. 1 among Iowa's metro centers for job growth. A revitalized waterfront with hiking trails, restaurants, a museum and an aquarium reconnected the city with one of its great resources, the Mississippi River.

Vision 2000 was the first of four strategic planning processes that took place in Dubuque over about a dozen years, the latest being Envision 2010 in 2005, when thousands of residents convened to dream up 10 "big" ideas for the future.

The 'new Dubuque'

One of those ideas was for downtown Dubuque to be a "cool" place to live, where people surf the Internet and chat in cafes with original art hanging on exposed brick walls, a place that would draw young professionals away from Chicago and the Twin Cities because of its combination of livability, affordability and opportunity.

"It all started in the 1980s when people decided we had reached the bottom and collectively wanted to make it a better community," said Mayor Roy Buol. "The new Dubuque, that's what I call it. People really bought into the idea. There was a common desire to better the community and make it place where everybody has opportunities, a place people want to come, and when they do come, to stay."

Did Dubuque's winning the All-America City award have any sway with IBM? It is a chicken-and-egg question. Cities win the award for being proactive, forming collaborative partnerships and engaging residents in planning/problem-solving efforts. Similar qualities appeal to prospective employers.

"That designation carries a lot of respect in the business community," Buol said. "It gives you a leg up."

Tampa is host city

The All-America City award will celebrate its 60th birthday July 17 to 19. City officials, businesspeople, community-builders and problem-solvers from across the country will gather in Tampa to tell their communities' stories and vie to be one of 10 All-America Cities. Tampa is a finalist.

It is often said that if you could bottle the energy and enthusiasm generated by the annual event, you could mass-market the product. Participants come away with a renewed sense of optimism and a raft of good ideas on everything from housing creation, to crime fighting, health care delivery, education and, yes, economic development.

But the award is about more than good ideas. It's about linking civic energy and public will to local and regional leadership. Award winners engage residents from all walks of life in successful efforts to solve problems and forge a common vision for the future.

Dubuque is exceptional in many respects, but in this one respect, it was no exception.

Mike McGrath is editor of the National Civic Review.

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