The New York-New Jersey-Connecticut metropolitan region is once again at a critical juncture. In 1996, RPA's third regional plan, A Region At Risk, warned that slowing growth, underinvestment in infrastructure and negative environmental trends might lead the region into permanent decline. A period of great prosperity followed, but the Region's leaders continued to under-invest in our future. Now that the region is mired in an economic downturn, it is more difficult to find funding needed for major projects. Time and again the Region sacrifices long term financing to short term political expediency, and we fall further behind our global competitors.
This crisis shouldn't be an excuse to delay long-term investments. Clear signals are needed from the public and the civic community to begin the debate on how best to invest for sustainable long term growth. The region needs to respond to a broad set of questions about its changing role in world markets. Thus, this year, the Regional Assembly will focus on how the region can grow in the new 21st Century context.
The Assembly will bring together leaders from the public, private and academic sectors to discuss how the region can act now to address long-range concerns. They will present the latest thinking on mobility, the economy, public participation and the environment. Participants will discuss how the region can make critical investments for future growth, such as adding transit capacity, preserving open space, creating healthy living environments, sustaining economic strength in its central business districts - including Lower Manhattan - and promoting the kinds of economic, technological and financial innovation that have been the basis of the region's greatness.
WORKSHOPS
The Future of Transportation Infrastructure
The New York Metropolitan Region was the first place in the world to develop a modern 20th Century transportation system. But as we enter the 21st Century, the region faces overcrowding, poor or nonexistent connections, and disintegrating infrastructure - - all resulting in increasing congestion. The region needs to improve mobility by expanding its capacity for growth, increasing transit connections (especially to airports and unreachable markets), and adding transit travel options. This panel will discuss which major projects would best reach these goals for the region; how regional transit, which spans three states, can be rationalized and made more efficient; and how best to finance future transportation investments.
Panelists include:
Lew Eisenberg, Granite Capital International
Oz Griebel, Connecticut Transportation Strategy Board
Robert Paaswell, City University of New York
Richard Ravitch, Ravitch Rice & Coid
The Changing Face of Public Participation
Public expectations for participation in planning decisions and policy-making have risen steadily as the region has grown. The most successful public projects have taught us that meaningful stakeholder participation and collective goal setting from the earliest stages eliminates delay and expands support for and satisfaction with the end result. This workshop will address issues such as cross-jurisdictional decision making, the developing role the nonprofit organizations as independent arbitrators, and how technology can facilitate new forums for public expression and education. How can we build on lessons learned from public participation in the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan? How can high-tech town hall forums, such as ³Listening to the City,² best be used to address public concerns in the future?
Panelists include:Sustaining Park and Open Space Initiatives during the Fiscal Downturn
Ed Blakely, New School University
John Fregonese, Fregonese Calthorpe Associates
Carolyn Lukensmeyer, America Speaks
Joe Maraziti, Maraziti, Falcon & Healey
Myron Orfield, Amerigis Corporation
The boom years of the late 1990's saw all three states, and dozens of local communities, make unprecedented political and financial commitments to open space and natural habitat preservation. These investments have established new parks in places in the Appalachian Highlands, Long Island Pine Barrens, and Hudson River that will shape the region for generations to come. But how can this momentum be sustained in the current climate of fiscal cutbacks and economic downturn? What level of long term funding is needed and what should be the Region's strategy for generating adequate capital and operating funding for open space and natural habitat preservation?
Panelists include:Beyond 16 Acres: Rebuilding Lower Manhattan
Dick Amper, Long Island Pine Barrens Society
Al Appleton Regional Plan Association
Brad Campbell, Commissioner , Department of Environmental Protection, New Jersey
Ernst Cook, Trust for Public Land
As plans for Ground Zero move closer to being finalized, there's still much rebuilding to be done in Lower Manhattan. This panel will discuss the implications of the WTC site master plan on the revitalization of the entire district, as well as strategies for utilizing rebuilding funds throughout Downtown. How can we implement some of the innovative ideas from the Civic Alliance Planning and Design Workshop? How will the City work toward realizing the Mayor's vision? Is there a way to ensure that Chinatown and the Lower East Side receive the benefits of rebuilding? How can Lower Manhattan take full advantage of its unique waterfront assets?
Panelists include:Economic Geography
Alex Garvin, Lower Manhattan Development Corporation
Christopher Kui, Executive Director, Asian Americans for Equality
Nikki Stern, victims' families
Madelyn Wils, Community Board 1
Arthur Imperatore, New York Waterway
In the wake of September 11, the region's primacy in financial services is threatened by heightened concerns for the security of the financial system. Firms are re-evaluating their facility locations to balance new security priorities with the needs of operational efficiencies and the costs of competing office markets. The outcome of these decisions could have a profound effect on the economy of the region, and on the distribution of employment within the region. Will the region lose a large share of its leading income generator, or will it retain its advantage through a renewed network of global office centers connected by even more efficient transportation and telecommunications networks? How are the concentrations of financial services and other office industries likely to change within the region?
Panelists include:Leveraging Health for Smart Growth
Alice Rivlin, Brookings Institutition
Paul Crotty, Verizon
Paul Honey, Merrill Lynch
Mitch Pally, Long Island Association
Traditional funding sources for town planning are shrinking. At the same time, however, concern is rising over heart disease, obesity and other chronic ailments that may be helped by promoting active lifestyles through compact, transit-friendly, pedestrian-oriented community design. This panel will consider the potential of this rediscovered partnership between town planning and health sciences to advance a shared "smart growth-healthy growth" agenda at a time of dwindling resources. With this approach, how can new funding sources be tapped? How can educational reform be integrated into a healthy community and sustainable development agenda? How does assessment of the community's health and education on public health issues shape the role of civic engagement? What does this relationship between public health, urban design, and overall sustainability mean for the future of the region?
Dr. Anthony Iton, Stamford Health Department Roy Strickland,TaubmanCollegeofArchitectureand Urban Planning,UniversityofMichigan William Dietz, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Jonathan Rose,Jonathan Rose & Companies
