In conjunction with West Virginia Day, Jason Keeling has challenged bloggers to identify an obstacle that hinders West Virginia and discuss its solution.

The Obstacle 

West Virginia’s county and city governments have little in the way of financial resources to address community needs.  Unlike many other states, West Virginia strictly limits the methods and amounts of funds that counties, cities and towns can raise to support community initiatives.  Making the situation worse, many cities like Huntington and Charleston face overwhelming long-term public safety employee pension liabilities that have further limited their abilities to address community needs and have placed these cities on the verge of bankruptcy.

The Obvious Solution

Give counties, cities and towns state tax revenue or greater flexibility to generate local tax revenue so they can address community needs, and have the state assume responsibility for all or a significant part of city pension liabilities.  For reasons too numerous to address here, there are serious problems with these proposals and political reasons why they are unlikely to be implemented.

The Not-So-Obvious Solution

Is there a not-so-obvious solution?  The experience of Create Huntington suggests that there is.  

In law school, students learn about “the tragedy of the commons.”  If a person gets all or most of  the benefit of an improvement and the benefit outweighs the cost, she will make the improvement.  If, on the other hand, she gets only a small benefit from an improvement, she will not make that improvement even if the benefit to the larger community vastly outweighs its cost.  This is a basic justification for both private property rights and government and explains why a homeowner takes better care of property than does a renter.  The tragedy of the commons also provides a partial explanation for why many community initiatives struggle to sustain themselves over time.

Recognizing that the City of Huntington is unlikely to be able to address significant community needs effectively in light of it current budget situation, a group calling itself Create Huntington has stepped up to the plate to address those needs, bring about sustainable change and turn the theory of the tragedy of the commons on its head.  Create Huntington started in 2006 as an effort by a group of concerned citizens to discuss the best way to improve Huntington’s economic future.  Over the last three years, Create Huntington has developed a strategic plan that identifies a series of domains in which it wants to have a positive impact: health and well-being, community infrastructure, development resources, culture and quality of life, natural resources, social capital, image and attitude and system effectiveness.

But Create Huntington has done far more than plan.  It has inspired significant numbers of Huntingtonians to become involved in community projects.  Through the Adopt YOUR Block – Be a Litter-Gitter project, more than 1500 volunteers have promised to keep the block on which they live litter-free.  The Huntington Area Revitalization Coalition has planted flowers and removed graffiti and debris.  Various groups are working to promote the arts by creating a downtown art gallery, having more live music in the streets, holding a riverfront craft festival and promoting Huntington as a film destination.  The list goes on and on.

How has Create Huntington, which has no complex bureaucracy and almost no money, done this?

• By inspiring its citizens to imagine what Huntington can be and to take action to turn that vision into a reality.
• By soliciting the ideas of community members in meaningful ways through community meetings, surveys and summits.
• By bringing community members together weekly for “Chat ‘n Chews” where people can discuss ways to help improve Huntington.

Create Huntington offers a model for other West Virginia communities whose governments have little in the way of resources and whose citizens seek positive change.