June 18th, 2010
PBS NEWSHOUR
Dubuque Smart City
Video: Dubuque Smart City

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/blueprintamerica/reports/dubuque-smart-city/web-video-from-gambling-to-green-lab/1040/

Blueprint America — with PBS NewsHour —looks at a small city in the midwest that is getting a lot of attention for the unique approach its leaders and citizens are using to revitalize an old factory town.

Dubuque, Iowa — a city of sixty thousand people on the banks of the Mississippi River — recently received a grant for $5.6 million dollars from the federal government’s stimulus program known as TIGER to rebuild streets in the city’s abandoned warehouse district. This funding is the latest in a series of accomplishments that Dubuque’s Mayor Roy Buol says are part of his vision for a sustainable, livable community. The city just topped Forbes Magazine’s list for job growth in a small city, and was named as the “Most Livable City in America” by the US Council of Mayors. Not only did the federal government award the city a stimulus grant, but last fall, three cabinet secretaries came to visit the city and Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood proclaimed Dubuque the “definition of livability.”

Most recently, IBM decided to locate a new services facility with 1,300 jobs in the city– because, according to the company, Dubuque had the right mix of talent, labor costs, and dedication to sustainability. Though some critics are concerned that the city paid too high a price to woo IBM — $50 million dollars in incentives — IBM’s V.P. of Services Research Robert Morris says IBM is committed to staying in Dubuque. Further, Morris says that Dubuque’s focus on sustainability makes it the perfect place for IBM to test drive new ideas in leveraging data analysis to make the city even more energy efficient — a venture dubbed “Smarter Planet.”

So what makes Dubuque so special? The Mayor, the city council, and the citizens of Dubuque have worked together to define a long-term vision for sustainability, and they developed a coordinated effort to go after funding and support to turn that vision into a reality. By turning over every stone looking for federal, state, and private money, and involving the citizens in defining and then implementing sustainability projects, they have managed to take what could have been a classic tale of rust-belt decline and turned it into a modern green success story.

Correspondent Miles O’Brien Reports.