The city we could be

Dave Beal: Vision for DMC must go beyond buildings and jobs

Post-Bulletin | Posted: Saturday, October 12, 2013 8:49 am | http://bit.ly/GUhOHj

At its recent meeting, the Destination Medical Center Corporation governing board reviewed a slide deck containing the current plan for planning the plan for a destination medical center in Rochester. In the plan’s "Statement of Public Purpose", the first DMC goal is: “Create a comprehensive strategic plan with a compelling vision that harnesses the energy and creativity of the entire community.”

There was much discussion among the board members about this compelling vision. It is no small task to craft a vision sufficiently compelling to harness "the energy and creativity of the entire community". One suspects it will require more than streetscapes and Gantt charts. More even than the promise of jobs.

The promise of jobs by itself falls short of "compelling” not because jobs are not important or necessary. On the contrary, it is because jobs are necessary that they are not sufficiently compelling to ignite of aspirations of an entire community. A job is so important an expectation, so necessary, that it rests at the base of our needs like food and shelter. As such, jobs alone do not offer a community the sort of far horizon that calls us toward it with a long desire and a high heart.

Instead, in addition to the promise of jobs, we require a vision for Rochester that encompasses the connections between social and economic progress. A path for development that understands that markets are defined by human needs other than, and in addition to, economic ones.

The economic case for the DMC and city/county planning now being planned is pretty clear and well-rehearsed. But more is required. We require a vision that will raise our eyes from the work in front of us toward a full and better life that inspires all of us to see the "shining city on the hill" that has captured the American imagination for nearly 400 years.

At the DMCC meeting, board member Bill George suggested that health and wellness might serve as the basis for this compelling vision. He is not alone in thinking so. Health and wellness do hold the kernel of a vision fitting for a city that is the home of Mayo Clinic and intends to become a world destination for medicine. Others are concluding that aspiring to be "the healthiest city in the world" provides the vision that can join the economic potential of DMC, and the prosperity it forecasts, with the social promise of a full and better life for all of us who reside here. This vision of a better life in the world’s healthiest city possesses the breadth of purpose, scope, and scale that can enlist the entire community in its pursuit.

According to Healthy People 2020, “Health starts in our homes, schools, workplaces, neighborhoods, and communities.” Health requires that we take care of ourselves, eat right, keep active, avoid bad habits like smoking, and get regular check-ups. But: “Our health is also determined in part by access to social and economic opportunities; the resources and supports available in our homes, neighborhoods, and communities; the quality of our schooling; the safety of our workplaces; the cleanliness of our water, food, and air; and the nature of our social interactions and relationships”

A recent report from the Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation observes, “An individual’s health is affected by much more than medical care.” Social interaction, education, safety, shelter, food, transportation, and financial stability all play determinative roles. In other words, becoming the world’s healthiest city requires more than building a world center of health care. It requires a community that places health at its center and cares about it like no other city in the world.

Consider this vision: the world's destination medical center residing in the world's healthiest city. It conceives an achievement well within the reach of this city poised as we are for an even greater abundance of talent, resources, assets, and a habit of concerted effort. It anticipates a future few other cities could dare even to contemplate. It calls to all sectors of our economy and public life. It requires attention to all our communities and neighborhoods for all will be required. This vision brings to the next two decades of development a shared horizon toward which all of us can journey for it requires all of us to get there.

This vision is a compelling one of Rochester as a destination worthy of all our destinies. Common destinies that embrace all who live or will come to live here, harnessing our energy and creativity to build and sustain a better life in a city committed to becoming the healthiest in the world.

We are not that city yet, but we could be.