Partners for a Livable Western New York
Interim Report of Current Activities and News Items

August 29, 2005

Quote of the Month:

“If we want our city to grow and prosper, we need to figure out ways to get more people here, not cars.”
– Jim Chappell, President of the San Francisco Planning and Urban Association.

Upcoming Events...Put them on your calander

• August 30 (Tuesday) – Mayoral Candidate Debate – 7:00 p.m. Temple Beth Zion, Delaware Avenue, Buffalo (see Current Activities below)

• September 13 (Tuesday) – the EPIC Building, 1000 Main Street (between North and Allen Streets) 6:00 p.m. – monthly meeting of Partners for a Livable Western New York.

• September 20 (Tuesday) – the Nichols School, 7:00 p.m. – the next “Smart Growth is Smart Business” series presentation, entitled “Creating New Suburban Neighborhoods of Lasting Value.” The presenter will be Craig Lewis, a planner from Charlotte, NC. The Charlotte area was recently cited as being perhaps America’s leader in new urbanist developments.

• September 30 (Friday) – Quality Hotel & Suites, Niagara Falls, US, 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. (followed by social hour) – “Niagara Falls, New York: A City in Transition” – seminar. Fee $70; for information and registration contact Susan Fretz, Executive Secretary, Appraisal Institute, 488 Voorhes Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14216, Phone: 837-8688; e-mail: bcc4007@adelphia.net.
  

• October 1 (Saturday) – Wick Center, Daemen College, 9:00 a.m. to noon – “Environmental Summit” to develop a collaboration of citizens and organizations concerned about environmental and sustainability issues. Register at sustainc@daemen.edu
  

• For more information on any of these events, contact George Grasser at 883-5070 or at ggrasser@irdprojectmanagers.com

• We are co-sponsoring the Tuesday, August 30 debate of City of Buffalo mayoral candidates at 7:00 p.m. at Temple Beth Zion on Delaware Avenue. The event is being organized by the League of Women Voters.

• We have had some delay in putting together our two educational sessions on land use and development for suburban town board and town supervisor candidates.These sessions are in response to numerous inquiries we have had from people running in these positions in both Erie and Niagara Counties.We will now wait until after the primary and then invite the candidates for a late September or early October program.

• A San Francisco State University study on parking in San Francisco recommended that, for new residential projects, the city should set maximum, not minimum, requirements for parking spaces, to encourage the use of public transportation

• Macleans magazine reports that Vancouver is “on the cutting edge” of the trend as developers capitalize on the popularity of smart growth, mixed-use projects

• Canada will be releasing the new National Building Code of Canada in September. It is touted as “offering . . . choices of innovative and more economical alternatives to satisfying its requirements.

• The New York Times reports that the City of New York is now selecting architects for public projects on the basis of quality of design and no longer on the competiveness of their bid, using peer archictects to review design submissions for all public buildings. The new policy is the initiative of Mayor Michael Bloomberg who believes the city’s public works program should embody the highest standards in architectural and engineering design while respecting the city’s historical context and its status as a world class city.

• The Wall Street Journal, reported on Rochester’s “battered real estate market” and the opinion of some national real estate investors that the Rochester real estate market is now underpriced.

• The Institute for Local Governance and Regional Growth, University at Buffalo, has named Katherine (“Kate”) Foster as its new director.

• The New York Times Magazine (August 21) featured a story titled “The Beginning of the End of Oil?” The report cites some serious concerns being raised by the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory about disappointing searches for new sources of oil, and little optimism for future discovery, that we are fast approaching a “peak” where we consume more than we are producing. The story included the following: “The consequences of an actual shortfall of [oil] supply would be immense. . . . The impact on the American way of life would be profound: cars cannot be propelled by roof-borne windmills. The suburban and exurban lifestyles, hinged to two-car families and constant trips to work, school and Wal-Mart, might become unaffordable or, if gas rationing is imposed, impossible.” [We encourage everyone, especially suburban elected officials to read two books: “The Long Emergency” by James Howard Kunstler and “Twilight in the Desert. The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy” by Matthew Simmons, a veteran of 31 years advising energy companies on mergers and acquisitions.

• ing at Chautauqua for Angela Glover Blackwell’s August 4 presentation that was one of the few presentations of the summer to receive a standing ovation. Many people were able to converse with Angela after her presentation.

• The important news out of Chautauqua is that next summer, week 4 of the 9-week season, will have the theme “Architecture, Place and Community” [new urbanism?]. Partners for a Livable Western New York will be recommending speakers for the week and we hope to present our power point program.

• There was an interesting presentation by Kenneth Dragreth, the Superintendent of Schools of Edina (a suburb of Minneapolis), MN and a former national School Superintendent of the Year. Although this does directly relate to land use and the built environment (our mission) some of his remarks should be of interest:

• The later high school students start class in the morning, the better their performance.

• St. Paul, MN has 45,000 students in its public school system, 15,000 of whom are Hmong and 7,000 of whom are Hispanic.

• Minnesota has voluntary integration in its schools – children can, if they wish, attend any public school, even a school in a different district.

• By 2050 only 10% of the world’s population will be white – “we must get our students out of the all-white comfort zone and interacting with people of other races and cultures.”

• Ethical values are not being taught in the public schools of other super powers, e.g. Russia and China.