Editorial pages key to urban revival.

BLIGHTED CENTRAL CITIES can be made new again -- and editorial pages can help make it happen. That has been the story of the past decade in Denver. It was also the message of the NCEW convention panel discussion "Reinvigorating America's Cities."

The panel assembled in Coors Field -- Denver's emblem of downtown renewal -- to describe a transformation brought about through a blend of public and private investment. Public participation is crucial to renewal efforts, the panel said, and editorial pages are very important interpreters of that role to the voters.

Central to the change in Denver was the approval by voters in a six-county referendum of a one-cent sales tax, dedicated to scientific and cultural facilities such as the new downtown ball park. That vote was an example of a trend syndicated columnist Neal Peirce called "democratized development" -- projects so large and so important to a region that citizen/stakeholders must participate in them.

That won't easily happen unless strong, visionary elected officials show the way, the panel said. Editorial pages can help create an opportune climate for public leaders.

"This is a time when leadership easily gets rejected, when the level of criticism runs high," Peirce said. Editorial pages can buffer that criticism by focusing on policies, not personalities, and providing a perspective of history and competitive posture that readers otherwise might not have.

"Is public support of urban development a subsidy for the rich? Yes," Peirce said. "But after a half-century of systematic subsidization of the suburbs, we have to be open to the subsidy of central cities, to create an opportunity scenario for an entire region."

Charlie Kendrick of Clarion Ventures, a Boston-based venture capital firm specializing in urban investments, said that cities built in an Industrial Age model have been dying since the end of World War II. The urban renewal begun in many American cities in the 1990s is "fundamentally creating a new kind of city, based on a new kind of economy." In the new model, downtowns are not just places to work and shop, but to live, learn, and play. They are both regional attractions and pleasant neighborhoods.

"A sense of community is fundamental" to building a new-style downtown, "and the press' role in creating community is unbelievably important," Kendrick said. "You are a forum of responsible leadership that no one else has."

Peirce said that when editorial writers weigh in on urban development, they should "be watchdogs and cheerleaders at the same time." He recommended measuring urban renewal projects against a goal of "building a society of shared gain. That ought to be at the heart of our journalistic enterprise."

Other panel participants included Jennifer Moulton, director of planning for the city of Denver; Joe Blake, CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce; and Dick Fleming, CEO of the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association.

NCEW member Lori Sturdevant is an editorial writer for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. Her e-mail address is [e-mail]