National Committee Meetings

COUNCILMEMBER RUSHTON
COUNCIL REPORT
JUNE 15, 2010
NATIONAL NLC COMMITTEE CONFERENCE
SUMMARY
From June 9-12 I attended and represented West Valley City at my National League of Cities Committee Meeting held throughout the Dallas, Texas region. The conference major speakers and presenters included a variety of municipal officials, developers, and academics that investigated important issues identified by the committee. The meetings were very intense and took place from breakfast through dinner meetings. Clinical Professor and Real Estate advisor Michael Buckley, was given keynote status as he laid out technical information regarding transitions in real estate waves. The presentation impacts towards future development was explored by a firsthand bus tour of recent redevelopment and transit-oriented development through the region. The convening of this committee featured ten PowerPoint presentations with over 450 slides of information. I acquired electronic copies of these presentations in case of expressed interest or application to our City. Additionally, I gathered materials and discussed numerous best practice solutions and innovations in order to share them with executive staff for informational purposes.
PRIORITY ISSUES
1. Regionalism: Karen Walz, Project Manager for Vision North Texas, discussed the efforts of public-private partnerships in addressing the future quality of life, economic desirability and long term sustainability or regions using North Texas as an example.
2. Retail Revitalization: Anne Ricker, Leland Consulting Group, shared retail revitalization strategies and implementation tools.
3. Transit Oriented Development: Art Lomenick, managing Director, Trammell Crow Company discussed elements of successful transit oriented developments.
4. Neighborhood Vitality: Garland Planning and Neighborhood vitality department described the efforts of the City of Garland, Texas neighborhood vitality innovations.
5. Federal Agenda: Council discussed the shift in Department of Housing and Urban Development philosophy and programs toward more 'sustainable' development.