ABSTRACT
Virtually all metropolitan regions have one or more formal organizations that have been created to address common problems and issues facing the region. Whether an organization will turn out to be the prototype for a fully functioning regional governing institution or forever be something that resembles such an institution, but without the ability to play a meaningful role in regional affairs remains to be seen. With that caveat, the chapter talks about regional governing organization (RGO), a term used to describe these institutions. Most observers point to the Metropolitan Council in Minneapolis and Metro in Portland, Oregon, as exemplars of the modern RGO and its potential to serve in a regional governance capacity. In contrast the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) in Kansas City and the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC) in Pittsburgh are RGOs composed of the region's local governments and, as such, have an active and direct relationship.
