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Regional Plan Association's 7th Annual Regional Assembly April 8, 1997 at The Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers Featuring Luncheon Speaker ALAN G. HEVESI, New York City Comptroller |
''The Road to Recovery''
will focus on the progress we have made in implementing the Third
Regional Plan one year after its release. Over the past year there
have been considerable success in improvements in infrastructure,
preservation of critical open spaces and efforts to revitalize
our downtowns. But much remains to be done.
Workshops & Discussion Papers
Brownfield Redevelopment Strategies
An estimated 400,000
sites nationwide are classified as brownfields, properties damaged
by legal and illegal discharges of contaminants. As government
officials have recognized that there will never be enough public
funds to clean up all of the sites, numerous state and federal
laws are being passed to stimulate private sector investment to
return those properties to productive use. The participants on
this panel will offer an overview of progress to date in this
emerging field and describe specific initiatives to redevelop
derelict brownfield sites in NJ/NY/CT.
Moderator: Christopher Daggett
Panelists: Susan Boyle, Larry D'Andrea,
Ted Pugh, Bruce Reshen
The Centennial of Greater New York--Assessing
Successes and Failures of 100 Years of Regional Government
Greater New York
City was formed 100 years ago, creating the nation's first true
regional government. This panel will assess the successes and
failures of our present system as it has evolved over the past
100 years and will discuss some of the new approaches that are
being proposed.
Moderator: Edward T. Rogowsky
Panelists: Gerald Benjamin, Barbara J.
Fife, Raymond D. Horton, Philip Thompson
Improving Education, Land Use and the
Environment Through Property Tax Reform: Should Local Property
Taxes be Replaced with Statewide or Regional Taxes?
Communities throughout
the region bear the principal responsibility for financing public
education. This reliance on local revenue sources, primarily property
taxes, limits the resources available to less affluent school
districts where the education needs are greatest. In separate
panels held sequentially focusing on NJ and NY, this workshop
will address the potential for the region to replace local property
taxes with statewide or regional taxes.
Moderator: Roscoe C. Brown, Jr.
Panelists: Session I, NJ: Henry A. Coleman
, Lou Goetting Session II, NY: MarySue Barrett, Frank Mauro, Joan
Scheuer
Reinventing the Harbor as an Open Space
Resource
The encompassing
approximately 1,500 square miles of open waters and 800 miles
of urban waterfronts, the NY-NJ harbor is rapidly becoming one
of the region's great attractions. Improving water quality and
habitat restoration initiatives are bringing back the fish, the
birds and the fishermen. A growing number of ferries and pleasure
boats are using its waters. This panel will discuss the current
status of the harbor and explore what new initiatives are needed
for the harbor to reach its open space potential.
Moderator:: Tony Hiss
Panelists: Thomas Dyer, John J. Huston,
Roberta Weisbrod, Andrew J. Willner
Rebuilding Communities: A Case Study of
How a Revived 125th Street Can be a Catalyst for Rebuilding Harlem
This workshop will
spotlight efforts to revitalize Harlem's 125th Street retail district.
Panelists will discuss ways that local and national retailers,
city and state governments and the new Upper Manhattan Empowerment
Zone can collaborate to promote new retail, civic and tourism
activities. They will also examine ways that these improvements
can benefit surrounding communities and Harlem residents.
Moderator: Robert Geddes
Panelists: Max Bond, Andrew Greenwald,
Roy Swann, Deborah Wright
Federal Transportation Funding: The Reauthorization
of ISTEA
The 1991 Intermodal
Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), the federal law
that sets policy guidance and provides funding for highways and
transit programs for fiscal years 1992-1997, expires in October.
Early this year, Congress will consider proposals to reauthorize
ISTEA for another five years. ISTEA will determine the amount
of transportation money that the Tri-State Region receives from
the federal government and how it can be spent. This panel will
discuss options for reauthorizing ISTEA, including "devolution"
of the federal gasoline tax to increasing funds for major projects
by using the additional 4.3-cent tax now devoted to deficit reduction. Moderator: Robert D. Yaro
Panelists: Janine Bauer, Emil H. Frankel,
Esq.
Urban Tunneling: From Gowanus to Everywhere--21st
Century Infrastructure for a 21st Century City
Beginning with its
Gowanus tunnel project, RPA has been actively working to revive
tunneling as an infrastructure strategy in the New York Region.
This panel will explore how combining new, lower cost tunneling
technologies with the transportation, environmental and community
benefits of replacing surface and elevated roads with new tunnels
will create the city's first 21st century infrastructure.
Moderator: Hon. Kenneth K. Fisher
Panelists: Albert Appleton, Alan Sverdlowe,
Dr. Harald Wagner
Transcript of Alan Hevesi's Luncheon Speech.
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