Go Lean…Caribbean

Go Lean Commentary

Previously … we said:

“Build it and they will come”.

Now … we are saying:

Get out of the way and ‘they’ will come and build it.

It could be that simple – there are players who want the opportunity to test their theories, manifest their visions and explore their ideas. They will come to you and build High-Tech neighborhoods, but only if you let them, not trample on their sensibilities and not block their progress.

Are you willing to cooperate in a climate like that? Can you “live and let live”?

The answer is not so obvious. A lot of people treasure their independence. They are willing to endure whatever disposition in life as long as they “do it their way”. This is why Self-Governing Entities are so critical in this plan for a new Caribbean.

Self-Governing Entities (SGE), as defined in the book Go Lean … Caribbean, allows communities to apply changes to a limited geographic area. (Truth be told, it is hard to change whole countries; it is easier to change just a small area at a time).

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states, bottoms-up neighborhood by neighborhood. The book defines SGE’s as follows (Page 30):

Self-Governing Entities
The CU will promote and administer all Self-Governing Entities (SGE) throughout the region. This refers to scientific labs, industrial parks, commercial campuses, experimental hospitals, and even foreign bases. These facilities will not be subject to the laws of the local states of their address, rather CU, international, foreign sovereignty, or maritime laws, thus spurring [Research & Development or] R&D.

Who will be the owners/investors of the Self-Governing Entities that embark in the new Caribbean?

Many candidates abound! Here is one example. Here is Google – and their subsidiary Sidewalk Labs – as they engage their test-plan and manifest their vision for a limited urban area … in Toronto, Canada. See the full story here:

Title: Google’s parent company just reached an agreement with Toronto to plan a $50 million high-tech neighborhood
By: Leanna Garfield

• On Tuesday (07/31/2018) morning, Waterfront Toronto’s board unanimously agreed to work with Sidewalk Labs to develop a 12-acre swath of the city into a high-tech neighborhood.
• Sidewalk Labs, the urban-innovation arm of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, had committed $10 million for the planning process, and an additional $40 million in investment has now been unlocked. The entire development is expected to cost at least $1 billion.
• The company has been quiet about the exact plans for the neighborhood, but its CEO, Dan Doctoroff, has spoken about how urban environments could be improved through self-driving cars, machine learning, high-speed internet, and embedded sensors that track energy usage.

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Sidewalk Labs — the urban-innovation arm of Google’s parent company, Alphabet — just got the green light to plan a high-tech neighborhood on Toronto’s waterfront.

On Tuesday morning, the board of Waterfront Toronto, the organization administering revitalization projects along the Canadian city’s waterfront, unanimously agreed to work with the company to design the neighborhood. Final approval to physically develop the plans is likely to happen next year.

Called Quayside, the neighborhood will be designed to prioritize “sustainability, affordability, mobility, and economic opportunity,” according to Sidewalk Labs. The city of Toronto and Sidewalk Labs call the larger project “Sidewalk Toronto.”

Sidewalk had already committed $10 million for the planning process, and an additional $40 million in investment was unlocked with the board’s approval. The entire 12-acre development, however, is expected to cost at least $1 billion, The Wall Street Journal estimated.

The agreement “lays out a path towards a transparent, collaborative partnership with Waterfront Toronto and the people of Toronto,” Josh Sirefman, Sidewalk Labs’ head of development, told Business Insider in a statement. “We look forward to working together to develop a groundbreaking plan to improve the lives of people living in Toronto and cities like it around the world.”

The company has been quiet about the exact plans for the neighborhood, but Sidewalk Labs’ CEO, Dan Doctoroff, has spoken about how urban environments could be improved through self-driving cars, machine learning, high-speed internet, and embedded sensors that track energy usage.

“We are excited to take this next step with Sidewalk Labs to set the stage for a transformational project on the waterfront that addresses many critical urban issues faced by Toronto and other cities around the world,” Waterfront Toronto tweeted Tuesday.

Based on 2017 renderings, it looks as if Sidewalk Labs wants Quayside to be a mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly neighborhood. The preliminary illustrations include bike-share systems, apartment housing, bus lines, and parks.

The project has been in the works for more than a year. In March 2017, Sidewalk Labs responded to Toronto’s request for proposals to redevelop the waterfront parcel. The planning process kicked off with a community town-hall meeting in November where residents discussed their thoughts and concerns about the project.

Business Insider previously reported that locals had expressed worries that Quayside could become a “new Silicon Valley,” bringing issues like gentrification, higher housing prices, and income inequality.

The plan-development agreement became public on Tuesday afternoon after Waterfront Toronto and Sidewalk Labs signed the deal.
Source: Business Insider Magazine – posted July 31, 2018; retrieved September 6, 2018 from: https://www.businessinsider.com/google-sidewalk-labs-toronto-neighborhood-2018-7?utm_content=buffer2ecae

From the Caribbean to Google: “We want some of that!”

It is our hope that with the appropriate governmental structure in place, Google (Alphabet) may bring some of those investment dollars – see related Appendix VIDEO – to our Caribbean shores. This type of investor was an early motivation for this roadmap for regional cooperation and confederation, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 13):

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

Following and studying the machinations of the Google company/enterprise is a good idea. This company “puts its money where its mouth is”. We have previously identified these Research & Development efforts that have manifested over the years:

In a previous Go Lean blog-commentary, it was related how it is much easier to reform and transform a country by focusing on families, neighborhoods and cities. Do this again and again, and the whole nation, even the region is transformed.

Imagine Caribbean islands and coastal states with SGE’s peppered throughout the region. This is the new Caribbean that is being presented: reforming and transforming the full region, one neighborhood at a time. Imagine too, if the transformations are technological: electric street cars, self-driving vehicles, high-speed internet, and smart energy systems.

The Art & Science of cities is very important for this Go Lean roadmap to elevate Caribbean society. The Go Lean book applied detailed analyses of a number of cities (Caribbean city: Freeport, Bahamas; American cities: New York City; Omaha, Nebraska; Detroit, Michigan; Los Angeles City-County), then proceeded to detail the needed strategies, tactics and implementation to reform Caribbean urban areas. In fact, the CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

• Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs. This roadmap calls for Self-Governing Entities, even in urban area, so as to optimize industrial policy.
• Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines. Urban areas always have additional protections compared to rural areas.
• Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies. SGE’s are managed only at the federal level, but there must be negotiations with local/municipal governments.

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society … including the urban communities. There is even one advocacy that relates specifically to urban optimization; consider the specific plans, excerpts and headlines from the book on Page 234 entitled:

10 Ways to Impact Urban Living

In addition to the book, previous Go Lean commentaries related details of urban life and how best-practices can be applied so as to make the Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play. Here is a sample of previous blogs:

The Go Lean book and these accompanying blogs posit that economic success can be forged by doubling-down on R&D in Caribbean cities. We can improve one urban neighborhood at a time. Before we know it, we have changed the whole region.

We can do better, than our Status Quo.

There are many role models to follow.

The foregoing example – Google-Sidewalk Labs in Toronto, Canada – is a manifestation that the change we seek is conceivable, believable and achievable. Yes, we can … make our homelands better places to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the free e-book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

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Appendix VIDEO – Inside the construction project promising to transform Toronto’s waterfront – https://youtu.be/PAgTA6tQdZs

CityNews Toronto
Published on Jun 27, 2018 – It’s a $1.25 billion multi-year project that promises to transform how Torontonians live, work and play along the waterfront. Tina Yazdani checks in on the creation of a new shoreline and flood protection system in the Portlands.

• Category: News & Politics