PARTNERS FOR A LIVABLE WESTERN NEW YORK

NEWS -  January 11, 2006



      Quote:  “Parking is important where the place isn’t important. If the streets are great, it’s amazing how far people are willing to walk. 

In a dull place, you want to find a parking space right in front of where you’re going.” – Fred Kent, Partners for Public Spaces




      This is a short notice.  We are taking a hiatus to review our agenda and the ways that we can be most effective after our well-received “Smart Growth is Smart Business” series that concluded with William Fulton’s presentation in December. Your suggestions are important – we are planning (i) an “Iintroduction to Smart Growth” for elected officials (public will be welcome) and (ii) meetings in suburban communities.  If you have some ideas on how we can be more effective, please let us know by e-mail to ggrasser@irdprojectmanagers.com or by mail to Partners for a Livable Western New York, 11 Summer Street, Buffalo, NY 14209. 

If you are interested in reading a summary of Bill Fulton’s presentation as well as a summary of all eight programs in the “Smart Growth is Smart Business” series, go to www.BeActivenys.org.  You are encouraged to print out copies and give them to your local elected officials.  

    CURRENT ACTIVITIES, ISSUES, AND PRESENTATIONS 

  1. George Grasser made a presentation to an Urban Studies class at the Nichols School on January 5th and will be giving presentations to a business persons’ group at The Buffalo Club on January 24th and to the New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Condominiums and Cooperatives in New York City on January 26th.
  2. Several people active in Partners for a Livable Western New York participated in a “brainstorming” session in Buffalo with representatives of the Brookings Institution on Nov. 28th.  The Brookings Institution is preparing a report on what New York State government can do to improve upstate areas.  Sessions were also held in Syracuse and Corning.

UPCOMING EVENTS YOU MIGHT WANT TO ATTEND– PUT THEM ON YOUR CALENDAR!

 
  1. January 11 (Wednesday) – Rochester Urban Design Lecture Series – Charleston, S.C.

Mayor Joseph Riley – Harro East Ballroom, 155 N. Chestnut Street 

  1. January 26-28 (Thursday to Saturday) annual Smart Growth conference in Denver, CO.

This is a well-attended conference, usually 1200 or more people, from all over the US and many informative concurrent sessions, including several for elected officials.  Several people from the Buffalo-Niagara region have already registered for this conference. For more information go to www.NewPartners.org.

  1. February 1 (Wednesday) – Rochester Urban Design Lecture Series – former Honolulu, HI Mayor Jeremy Harris – Memorial Art Gallery, 500 University Avenue
  2. March 8, 2006 (Wednesday) – Rochester Urban Design Lecture Series – Robert Gibbs – retail consultant from Michigan, the Little Theatre, 240 East Avenue (venue pending)
  3. March 22, 2006, (Wednesday) – Rochester Urban Design Lecture Series – John Norquist, former Mayor of Milwaukee and head of the Congress for the New Urbanism, Christ Church, 141 East Avenue

  f..  April 5-7 (Wednesday to Friday) – “Reinventing Older Communities – People, Places, Markets” , Philadelphia, PA, sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, The Brookings Institution and others, for more information call (215) 574-6458.

  1. April 11, 2006 (Tuesday) – Rochester Urban Design Lecture Series – James Howard Kunstler, author “The Geography of Nowhere”, “Home from Nowhere” and “The Long Emergency”, the German House, 315 Gregory Street
  2. May 17 (Wednesday) – Rochester Urban Design Lecture Series – Norman Mintz, author “Cities Back from the Edge”, First Universalist Church, 150 S. Clinton Ave.
  3. June 1-4 (Thursday to Sunday) annual Congress for the New Urbanism conference in

Providence, RI.  This is another conference that often has an attendance of 1,000 to 1,500 people from almost all states and many foreign countries.

  1. July 17-21 (Monday to Friday) Chautauqua Institution theme week “Landscape      Architecture and Community Design”
 

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

RECENT NEWS STORIES AND PUBLICATIONS

 

The following is a selective sampling of news stories about smart growth and livable communities reported in the mass media over the last several weeks

A. The New York Times, reports that one in eight residents of the City of New York has diabetes and that this is causing a strain on the health care system. This percentage is one-third higher than the national average.  (The National Institute of Health has predicted that one in three children born in the year 2000 will contract diabetes in their lifetime and that it is worse for Latinos – one in every two children.)  The article said the crisis is worsening and has gone largely unnoticed outside public health circles.  The reason: “a food supply spiked with sugars and fats, and a culture that promotes overeating and discourages exercise.” 

For more information on any these references contact George Grasser at (716) 883-5070, ggrasser@irdprojectmanagers.com