Reinventing a metropolitan area isn't a task that can be performed with insular thinking. As the organizers of Dream City: Vision 2020 plan for a massive community summit on July 18 at Coronado High School, they're looking for inspirational ideas to move the city forward.

Here are 10 lessons other communities have learned that have potential implications for the Pikes Peak region.

1. Define the city's vision
Austin, Texas, decided it was the live music capital of the world before it really was. Such bold visions have a way of coming true when a city gets behind them, says Bettina Swigger, executive director of the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region. She recently visited Austin with a group led by the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce and saw firsthand the effects that kind of vision had on Austin.

Whatever Colorado Springs decides to become, we have to look at what we already have. Judging from the input Dream City has received so far, open space and quality of life top that list. As Mark Muro, fellow and policy director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, pointed out at this spring's State of the Rockies Symposium at Colorado College, Colorado Springs is in the top 3 percent for natural amenity values, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

To push an identity, it will take determined leadership. It was Austin's mayor, Max Nifzger, who lost four times before finally becoming mayor in 1985 and boldly declared Austin the Live Music Capital of the World.

As Swigger recounted: "Max ‘Max for Mayor' Nifzger suggested calling Austin the Live Music Capital of the World — not the live music capital of Texas, or the Southwest, or even the United States. The world! That, folks, takes guts. And leadership."

2. Build it and they will come
Angelos Angelou, founder of Angelou Economics, ran Austin's economic development efforts for 11 years before starting his own consulting business. Aside from the many development successes he oversaw in Austin, one of the most creative economic development projects he's seen in recent years is Oklahoma City's (Okla.) MAPS, or Metropolitan Area Projects, program.

The program raised $309 million, plus $54 million in interest, over six years using a 1-cent sales tax increase approved by voters. The revenues collected helped fund nine projects, including a new ballpark, trolleys, rebuilding of their civic center and a new convention center.

"This was a program where the voters taxed themselves an additional sales tax to fund specific projects for the improvement of Oklahoma City," Angelou said. "Initially, there were some downtown redevelopment projects. There were some school projects. ... They raised over $300 million to undertake the capital investments that needed to be done to get them up to speed on the economic development front, and they have accomplished that."

Angelou says such creatively financed projects, like convention centers, are important to cities even when they don't, at first glance, pay for themselves. The amount of business and tourism something like a large convention center can bring to a city creates large amounts of convention-related business and, thus, sales tax revenue, both of which help to grow the overall economy.

"You finance it with revenue bonds based on the bedroom (hotel) tax that you may be able to generate as a result of the convention center," Angelou said. "In Austin, it was purely the bedroom tax."

Angelou pointed out that even in the down economy, the Austin Chamber of Commerce is raising $25 million for economic development over the next five years.

"It's a tough time, but it's time to invest in the future," he said.

His company has been working with the Colorado Springs Regional Economic Development Corporation on Operation 60 Thirty-Five. The report from that economic strategy project will be published later this summer, outlining ways for the city to become solidly competitive among other cities its size.

3. Construct high-speed rail service
"Denver is a region worth connecting to because it's the most affluent place between San Francisco and Chicago," said Robert Lang, senior fellow of the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, who also spoke at the State of the Rockies Symposium.

As it stands, "Only 4 percent of Pikes Peak area workers commute beyond the metro," he said.

The Front Range is 80 percent of the state's population and generates 86 percent of the state's gross domestic product. But right now, the Pikes Peak region is increasingly disconnected from the highest-earning areas to the north.

We have "four lanes of Eisenhower-grade interstate," Lang said.

But how do we tap into the wealth from which we now only peripherally benefit?

The Brookings Institution's answer: a high-speed commuter rail. We only need to study the New Mexico Rail Runner service now being built between Albuquerque and Santa Fe for a model that could have tremendous benefits for the entire Front Range.

This railway was accomplished through strong state leadership and commitment from New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, as well as operating subsidies from a regional transit district composed of nearby cities and counties.

Although a price tag near $500 million may be a shocker to many, the rail is seen as part of New Mexico's commitment to green industry and transportation that's helping to lure dozens of new technology and energy companies to the state.

From reducing traffic on the highway to making Colorado Springs a more attractive place to live for people who need to commute to Denver for work, a high-speed rail would open up a whole new level of Front Range interconnectivity, Blaine said.

"Linking to Denver is going to be very advantageous for the Springs," said Liz Kolbe, director of the State of the Rockies Symposium. "If it's cheaper to live in Colorado Springs, people will live here, take the train up to Denver and work, come back and live here, have their families, spend their money here, pay taxes here."

4. Harness pedal power
Jeff Mapes, author of the recently published book "Pedal Revolution," said making a city more bike friendly can be achieved almost entirely through public awareness marketing and a lot of paint.

Mapes, a journalist who lives in Portland, Ore., points out that making bikeways a priority was the hardest part.

"It's a very cheap form of transportation — very cheap compared to the cost of new roads," he said.

Mapes figured out the one fairly complicated freeway interchange, priced at $127 million, cost more than Portland's entire bikeway network.

"Frankly, for the most part, (it) is paint sprayed on pavement," he said. "It really just takes the desire and the political will to do it."

About 8 percent of those living in Portland regularly commute by bike, the highest proportion of any major U.S. city and about 10 times the national average, according to Boulder-based bike advocacy group Bikes Belong. A Wall Street Journal article in May cited that statistic as one of the factors that has drawn such a young, vibrant workforce to the city.

Mapes cites another study that showed that Portland residents drive 20 miles less per week than the national average for other metropolitan cities of similar size, which adds up to roughly $1 billion in savings.

Fortunately for Colorado Springs, we already have a network of more than 100 miles of urban trails and many more miles of park and mountain trails. We also have a strong racing and mountain biking culture that revolves around the Olympic Training Center and its close proximity to the mountains.

We were also recently awarded a silver-level Bicycle Friendly Community Award from the League of American Bicyclists and have an active Pikes Peak Area Bikeways Coalition, which advocates cyclists on many fronts.

Making the leap to seeing even more commuters and cyclists on the streets could be only be a matter of more paint, leadership and some marketing.

5. Consider reviving the trolley
Mark Muro of the Brookings Institution points out that not only do we need to think about connecting to the Denver metro area, but that we need to improve connections within the city.

The way Colorado Springs has been developed has left it dense but poorly linked, Muro said in his report at the symposium. Though we may not see a light rail anytime soon, many in Colorado Springs have pointed to Tucson, Ariz., as a model for bringing back a historic downtown trolley as a potential way to connect north and south downtown with the west side and, possibly, Manitou.

There's already an impressive fleet of trolleys being restored at the local Trolley Museum.

Dick Guthrie, the man who spearheaded Tucson's successful volunteer effort to revive Tucson's historic trolley, a process that began in 1983, says it required immense commitment. After much glad-handing, political maneuvering and several bond election losses, the group decided to become all-volunteer.

Ten years and several million privately raised dollars later, The Old Pueblo Trolley began operation on just over a mile of track. Because of the proximity to the University of Arizona and its service from the University of Arizona down the popular 4th Avenue in Tucson, the Old Pueblo Trolley manages to pay for itself by operating on weekends with a volunteer staff.

The trolley has since become an icon, and one third of riders come from an average of 100 miles away, Guthrie says. On top of that, the trolley has improved property values, pedestrian traffic and business in the district it serves.

To get the trolley running again in Colorado Springs will be a challenge, Guthrie says. At roughly $5 million per mile for track and infrastructure, just putting the trolley back in from Colorado College to the Pioneers Museum would take at least $6 million. The Pikes Peak Historical Street Railway Foundation has been around since 1982, with little forward progress toward reestablishing the trolley on the street.

Having such a trolley does not yield large amounts of direct practical transportation benefits, Guthrie noted, but it could certainly bring much needed novelty and history back to our downtown and give people from near and far a reason to shop and visit there.

6. Expand higher education
The Brookings Institution points out that though Colorado Springs has plenty of higher education institutions (Colorado College, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak Community College, the University of the Rockies and the U.S. Air Force Academy), we don't have a top-100 research university.

Expanding the offerings of our local universities is cited by Angelou as one of the most important factors for our future.

"I think you have an emerging university," he said. "I think Colorado Springs should focus quite a bit of its economic development effort in really making this university more of an asset for economic development in the future by growing it and growing it in the areas of Colorado's economic development attraction goals.

"The University of Texas in Austin many years ago found donors to give money to create endowed chairs. One of the greatest ways a community can help a university is to create endowed chairs. That brings some of the best and brightest people around the world to do specific research and raise the name and credibility and awareness of the university in some of those fields. And when that level of awareness then it becomes more of a relevant asset for economic development."

7. Expand and intensify the arts scene
In order to cultivate a creative economy, we must think creatively about the ways we attract and keep artists, says Susan Edmondson, executive director of the Bee Vradenburg Foundation.

"Paducah, Ky., has this artist relocation program they started almost a decade ago, and they've had artists relocate there from all over the country and really branded themselves as an arts community," Edmondson said. "And they make it possible for artists to have an affordable living and working space. And it's very much about ownership; they want artists to commit to living there and working there and making it their community."

Given the amount of real estate and the strong culture of nonprofit philanthropy in Colorado Springs, it isn't hard to imagine how the Colorado Springs could band together to make a program like this to draw talented artists from expensive and hard-to-live cities around the country, Edmondson says.

"It's nothing super fancy, but it was certainly creative and unusual at the time they started it," she said. "And I think that's part of what it takes: leadership that's willing to say, ‘Well, let's give it a try,' and to see the value of doing something a little different."

8. Diversify with technology, science and renewable energy
Though Colorado Springs has experienced excellent job creation and high growth in recent years, Angelou says Colorado Springs now needs to diversify its economy to position itself competitively in the new economy of life sciences and renewable energy.

We have a healthy business climate, a high quality of life and excellent institutions of higher education. One of the reasons Albuquerque is thriving in this down economy, he said, is its commitment to renewable energy.

"Albuquerque, along with the State of New Mexico, (has) been attracting a lot of renewable energy projects," he said. "So has Oregon and so has the state of Iowa."

Angelou says they've been able to attract these businesses because New Mexico has a significant fund from which Albuquerque has been able to draw, as well as a high-wage tax credit program to help them close deals with renewable energy companies.

One problem for many emerging technology companies, he says, is the culture of religious conservatism in Colorado Springs.

"It's perceived out there as negative," he said. "A lot of the technology companies are considered fairly liberal companies."

However, high quality of life in Colorado Springs could make the difference, if the city were to act.

We can also look to Pueblo, which recently announced it successfully attracted Vestas, a Danish wind-tower manufacturer, to open what will be the world's large wind-tower plant. Some 550 jobs and a $240 million initial capital investment will be greeted there, potentially transforming Pueblo's past as a steel town into a future of green-economy manufacturing.

9. Reconsider tax limitations
In this case, learning from other communities could be learning from a negative example. Angelou argues that tax limitations are hurting California and will do the same to Colorado.

"It's hard to be making significant adjustments as you go along when you have TABOR in place. And the voters obviously feel the way they feel about TABOR," Angelou said. "We just have to begin to educate that populace that something has to give in. A city cannot reinvest in itself adequately by just using the pay-as-you-go approach, particularly in difficult economic times.

"I think some risk-reward scenario has to be recognized. If you risk investing more in economic development, which somehow means raising additional funds for economic development and becoming more competitive, then I think Colorado Springs needs to find a way to do that. I have not yet seen a city with similar constraints that has come out of this situation unscathed.

"California has had this for some time, and they are digging themselves deeper and deeper in the hole. I think the window of opportunity is about two to three years. The renewable energy sector has a lot of promise for your state and particularly for Colorado Springs. Unfortunately, it is a sector for which there is fierce competition. TABOR is a negative because the city must be able to invest in itself and be able to take risks at times, particularly at the time of a significant economic recession like we're in today."

10. Build political will
To see any of these goals to fruition will surely take tremendous levels of political will and leadership — levels some fear we simply may not have.

"I think we have to trust urban planners and commit to the plan," said Edmondson, who points out that we were once going to put artist spaces and a farmers market in the utilities building next to America the Beautiful Park, but that the master plan was changed to help keep the Olympic Training Center here. "I think we often struggle in our community because we have this great outdoors and athletic community. ... But, again, the cities that really succeed are well-rounded in every sense of the word."

"You've got to be in it for the long haul," Angelou said.

And inaction isn't an option.

"Over time there will be a slow death," he said. "Communities that refuse to invest in economic development are always communities that are left behind."

Austin, Portland, San Antonio, Albuquerque and Oklahoma City, he noted, all got ahead because of their willingness to make major public investments.

For Edmondson, long-term commitment will require Colorado Springs to see beyond the limited role of government it has embraced for the past 50 years into its forward-looking beginnings.

"When have you ever visited any city in the country and come back to say, ‘Wow, they're roads are so smooth.' Or, ‘Wow, they have the best Applebees restaurant'? You have to have the basics, but that alone won't make your community vibrant," he said. "What makes our community so amazing is the people in our founding decades who committed to doing things way beyond their lifetimes.

"Palmer planted trees that he knew he'd never see become the big, beautiful trees they are today. Alice Bemis Taylor had her museum. Spencer and Julie Penrose created the El Pomar Foundation. And I worry that we're not doing the investment on the public and private side for what it's going to take to be a well-functioning community 10 to 20 years (from) now. Public transportation projects take decades, so if we're not committing to some of those things now it's going to take even longer. Other cities are making more of an effort at that. We haven't done a very good job of exciting and educating our citizens. We're losing that sense of civic engagement that our city used to have to have more of."

TO CONNECT TO DREAM CITY:
Go to www.dreamcity2020.com.

The Dream City Community Summit, open to all people in the region, is planned for 8 a.m-noon July 18 at Coronado High School, 1590 W. Fillmore St. It will be a culmination of months of brainstorming and transformation from vision to action for this community-owned initiative. A free breakfast will be served.

WHAT DID WE LEAVE OUT?

Are there lessons from other cities that you think would be pertinent to the future of the Pikes Peak region? Please e-mail your suggestions to warren.epstein@gazette.com, and your comments will be included in the Dream City process.