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	<title>Policy Wonk</title>
	<link>http://www.policy-wonk.org</link>
	<description>Let&#039;s talk about where we&#039;re headed...</description>
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		<title>Two Cities, Two States and a Bruising Battle for Control</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Welcome to the main event! In this corner, leaders of cities, long accustomed to controlling their destinies! And in the other corner, state governments, anxious to protect the rest of the state from the city’s crisis! It’s a battle playing out in two major communities – Michigan’s largest city and the capital of Pennsylvania – [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.policy-wonk.org/joe/two-cities-two-states-and-a-bruising-battle-for-control/</link>
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		<title>UR-RIT Corridor: Rochester&#8217;s New Economic Center of Gravity</title>
		<description><![CDATA[In Triumph of the City, Harvard economist Ed Glaeser attempts to explain why some cities—think New York or London or Bangalore—have prospered, even as the cost of communication has plummeted. The “death of distance” suggests the death of cities. Why do some defy the prognosis? Glaeser reminds us that cities are “density, proximity, closeness. . [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.policy-wonk.org/kent-gardner/ur-rit-corridor-rochesters-new-economic-center-of-gravity/</link>
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		<title>Reinventing High School for Regions</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Ontario County’s discussion of regionalizing high schools has made a few headlines of late, and dovetails with potential policy moves at the state level. Part of the Rochester metro area, Ontario encompasses urban, suburban and rural communities. Its 760 square miles are home to nine school districts each with its own high school. In aggregate, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.policy-wonk.org/kirstin/reinventing-high-school-for-regions/</link>
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		<title>Empower Your Data in 2012</title>
		<description><![CDATA[To compete for scarce dollars, telling your story with effective use of data is critical. Tough times require a razor sharp focus on your processes, procedures, and above all – your bottom line impact. At CGR, we are often brought in many months (or years!) after a program has been started and asked “well, how’d [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.policy-wonk.org/jaime/empower-your-data-in-2012/</link>
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		<title>Rochester Economy: Optimism for 2012</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Despite issues weighing down the US economy –fiscal stress in Europe, continued high unemployment, and gridlock over federal fiscal policy – the Rochester, NY economy is a bit of a success story. As summarized in a recent Wall Street Journal article, Rochester, “ticks many of the standard Rust Belt boxes” yet has held relatively steady [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.policy-wonk.org/kent-gardner/rochester-economy-optimism-for-2012/</link>
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		<title>Capitalism: Worst of Possible Systems (except for the alternatives)</title>
		<description><![CDATA[“What (or whom) should we occupy?” has become shorthand for a bit of communal soul searching. We know that our economy fails to measure up. For some the pain is very personal, “Why can’t I find a job?” or “Must I work so hard for so little?” or “Why can’t employers see what I see [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.policy-wonk.org/kent-gardner/capitalism-worst-of-possible-systems-except-for-the-alternatives/</link>
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		<title>From Two to One: Redrawing the Boundaries of Batavia, NY</title>
		<description><![CDATA[If we could redraw the map, we would never create the patchwork quilt of local governments we have now.  That’s a familiar refrain among people who observe local government—and not just in NYS.   But the opportunity for a complete overhaul of the current – inefficient – system in many states rarely comes along.  Usually, the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.policy-wonk.org/scott/from-two-to-one-redrawing-the-boundaries-of-batavia-ny/</link>
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		<title>Rankings: What they can — and can&#8217;t — tell you</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last week, we issued a report through Govistics – a project of CGR – ranking U.S. states by average 2010 state worker salaries. New Jersey and New York topped the list, followed by California, Alaska, Maryland and Connecticut. All had average state worker earnings of over $50,000. Indiana, Missouri, West Virginia and the Dakotas rounded [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.policy-wonk.org/kent-gardner/rankings-what-they-can-and-cant-tell-you/</link>
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		<title>What Options are Open to Counties with Nursing Facilities?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[How’d you like to be a county executive, legislator or member of a board of supervisors and have to decide the future of a financially-troubled county-owned nursing home? Often one of the area’s major institutions and employers, it provides an important community service, even though typically costing the county taxpayers significant amounts of money.  No [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.policy-wonk.org/don/what%e2%80%99s-a-county-to-do/</link>
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		<title>What to do with Failing Schools</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Closing failing schools and replacing them with new&#8211;hopefully better&#8211;schools is at the heart of the Portfolio Plan strategy in place in the Rochester City School District. It sure sounds appealing, especially to those who have long felt that education is a world shielded from the consequences of failure. But does it work? The answer is [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.policy-wonk.org/erika-rosenberg/to-rehab-or-rebuild-failing-schools/</link>
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