From a global perspective, the way we live and work permeates practically every dimension of our lives and consequently portends potential impact at every level of government. In this introspective look at how global technology affects our lives, Dr. Gary D. McCaleb, the mayor of Abilene, Texas, uses the United States as an example in discussing how communities need to pull together to solve problems that often transcend borders.

Two words frequently used to describe change in the way we live are "global" and "technology." As the issues change, government must also change in the way it responds. What must not change is the clear understanding that democratic local government is no less important in affecting the outcome of such change.

A New Era

The most discussed issue at a recent meeting of locally elected officials in Washington, D.C. was "electronic commerce," often known as "e-commerce." In 1998, American consumers made billions of dollars in purchases. Most of these electronic commerce transactions were done by e-mail. The total expenditures via this unique purchasing method are expected to continue to grow in 1999 and beyond.

Because these purchases were made without patronizing local businesses, no sales tax was collected for local or state government, and thus no revenue was garnered. Several sessions at the Washington meeting brought together local and U.S. government officials to discuss ways to resolve the potential problems created by this new challenge.

But in a larger sense, the issue of electronic commerce may well serve as a symbol of the new era and the changing nature of the issues impacting local government in the United States. If 1998 becomes the year remembered as the beginning of the "age of electronic commerce," it should also be recognized for sending the following message to all government officials: As technology changes the ways we live and work, it will also change the nature of the challenges for local government and therefore call for new ways to meet those challenges.

In this case, old solutions will not solve new problems. The framework currently in place worked rather well for the way the United States did business prior to 1998, but it offers no satisfactory solution to doing business in this new age.

Virtual Borders

The age of electronic mail and electronic commerce treats fundamental components of our thinking in different ways. City limits and county lines mean virtually nothing. State lines and national borders are of diminishing significance. Distance is measured in minutes rather than miles.

Until recently, a city might be defined as the area in which one would find home, work, school, church, shops, entertainment and recreation. It is becoming more and more likely that the location for some, if not most, of those parts of life are in different cities, sometimes in different states and occasionally in different countries. The lines of city, county and state have become blurred if not erased. Those same lines are therefore no longer as likely to contain complete problems or complete solutions.

A brief look at five different areas -- commerce, safety, health, education and community -- will demonstrate how the changing nature of problems calls for new ways of thinking about the role and response of local governments in the United States.

Commerce

Commerce has long been an issue with important local implications and it will continue to be so. The advent of electronic commerce means that local citizens will shop in new and different ways. It also means that people will work in different ways. The massive downsizing of traditional industrial jobs is occurring simultaneously with an explosion of employment opportunities in the high-tech information field. This has created both positive and negative consequences at the local level.

Some cities have seen the positive effects counterbalance the negative. Other cities have been impacted far more by one than the other. The same technology that allows people to purchase by electronic commerce can shift jobs from where people would have shopped to where they will shop.

Services also are being relocated electronically. Mail once sorted by hand can now be sorted electronically from some distant location. In my city of Abilene, several hundred jobs were recently created to electronically encode mail located in cities hundred of miles away.

The widespread use of cellular phones, fax machines and e-mail, now allows many people to work from a location of their choice. One entrepreneurial businessman recently remarked that he could operate his multi-state, transnational air-cargo business from anywhere as long as he had phone, fax and e-mail access.

Safety

Surveys of locally elected officials in the United States have found safety concerns consistently at the top of the list. Crime has become inseparably connected to drugs and, drug trafficking crosses all lines -- at city, county, state and national levels. Thus, it has become impossible and impractical to separate the local drug/crime issues from the international drug/crime issues.

Law enforcement officials know they can be more effective in their work if the problem is defined and approached at both the neighborhood and national levels. New technology is being used to develop programs which create new ways for neighbors to work with one another and for nations to work together.

But safety issues do not shape themselves neatly across city, state or national lines. Contemporary solutions call for new thinking. Many of the most successful new solutions to safety and other issues come from recognizing that a problem does not belong exclusively to a city, a state or a country. Issues defy the lines of these traditional lines of thinking, calling for yet-to-be-defined solutions. The attempt to solve these problems in the age of technology will call for the city, state and federal levels of government to find new ways of working together to shape successful solution strategies.

The drug traffic issue provides a helpful illustration. The area along both sides of the border between nations defines the problem and thus a corresponding solution strategy. It is not exclusively a national problem; all parts of the nation cannot equally contribute to the solution and neither can all states or all cities. Yet, it is a problem which suggests that some resources and involvement are needed from each of the three levels of government. For example, the federal government should work beyond its traditional position in both directions (transnational and sub-national) and the local government should reach beyond its area (in terms of regions and neighborhoods) and provide new and more promising solutions.

From the perspective of history, this approach represents a complete reversal for the role of a city. For hundreds of years, the city offered safety to its inhabitants through the security of its walls. But those ancient walls were removed much more easily than the "walled thinking" of both city and federal officials regarding the role of local government in solving today's problems.

Health

City health issues include, but are not limited to, adequate and safe drinking water, refuse disposal and control of contagious diseases. All three issues are examples of ways the nature of the problem or the shape of the best solution could lie outside the jurisdiction of the city, but remain in the community at large.

Yet, the federal government has become involved in all three of these areas in the United States. Much of its involvement recently took the form of congressional legislation known as "federal unfunded mandates." This legislation was resented at the local level for three reasons: the rules for solution were formulated at the federal level without input from the states; the solutions were unfunded, thus leaving the considerable cost of implementation to local budgets; and the solutions were mandated, leaving no freedom to local governments to shape their own solution, but instead, imposing stiff financial penalties for failure to comply.

Issues of safe water and refuse disposal are not entirely within traditional city limits. Innovative solutions are being found as groups of American cities sharing a common problem within their region work together. Ten years ago there were 31 land-fills in the Abilene area of West Texas. Today there are six. There were no mandates, total costs were reduced and regional cooperation was enhanced. Similar approaches have occurred among cities sharing the same water source or seeking to build a common reservoir.

Education

An old issue that is returning with new intensity to the forefront in the United States is education. Perhaps no issue better demonstrates the ability to encompass, at the same time, both personal and global implications.

American parents have become increasingly concerned about the quality of education. State and federal officials have spoken frequently about their concern for the ways that education in the public schools impacts the local work force. Studies have reported that the situation is not improving. Some city governments including Chicago and Boston, feel they must become more directly involved in the local schools. Failure to properly respond to the education issues will tend to permeate other issues such as work force and safety.

This personal and local perspective is counterbalanced by the global growth of what is called "distance-learning." Virtual schools are electronically enrolling thousands of students across state and national borders. Future implications of electronic education extend into other areas including commerce, jobs and travel.

Community

While this issue is perhaps less tangible and more difficult to define, it cannot be ignored. The degree to which people feel a sense of connectedness to others is important. The extent to which the dialogue within the city can be framed in terms of "we" rather than "they" makes a difference in the way problems are perceived and solutions are framed. The way that community issues are addressed and resolved has much to do with drawing us together or pulling us apart. Community issues in the United States include cultural and economic diversity, unemployment, hunger and homelessness. These issues are frequently listed by the federal government as top priorities for legislation and funding. Yet, some of the best work is being done at the local level, often by nongovernment organizations (NGOs) or other nonprofit organizations.

New Alliances, New Designs

If government at any level is to provide better service to its citizens and better solutions to their problems, the traditional levels that are usually associated with government cannot operate in isolation. Local government must be able to work in alliance with federal and state government as a partner rather than as an outside interest group. At the same time, local government must also create appropriate alliances with business, nonprofit and nongovernment organizations and agencies. Regions should cross city limits and county lines and, possibly even state lines.

This is already happening in Columbus, Ohio, which is addressing many issues with a six-county metropolitan area approach. In the Seattle, Washington, area a regional council of almost 30 mayors was recently formed to work cooperatively on issues of public safety, transportation, environment and tourism. The central valley of California is working on new ways to do regional planning for issues such as housing, transportation and water for a population of 5 million in an area projected to reach 15 million by 2040.

A regional approach may be the best hope of a new relationship with the federal government because both sides will have moved outside their traditional "walled thinking." As this occurs, the importance of "decentralization" and "devolution" at the federal level will take on new meaning. A truly decentralized federal government reaching down to the regionalized local government should result in the two levels finding new and effective ways of working together.

The new designs come when the new alliances embrace the new technology of the age. For city government, this means, first, a new alliance with the people on behalf of their neighborhood, and second, a new alliance with the federal government, on behalf of the regions. In doing so, the new solutions will better fit the new problems. And, as a result, new meaning is given to Abraham Lincoln's description of government "of the people, by the people and for the people."