Register Today for the 2007 Smart Growth Summit

Join Vision Long Island for the 6th Annual Smart Growth Summit to be held on Friday, November 16th from 8:00am to 3:00pm at the Melville Marriott.

This comprehensive land-use conference brings Long Island's leaders and experts together to address issues of Smart Growth and Livability. Workshop topics include: Transportation & Congestion Pricing, Clean Energy & Green Building, Sewers & Infrastructure, Codes & Regulations, Commercial Corridor Redevelopment, Community Planning & Public Process, Regional Planning, Housing & Gentrification, Downtown Revitalization, and Projects of Regional Significance.

Sponsorships are available. Register today! Click here for the full brochure about the event or here for the registration form.

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Rocky Point Visioning Starts October 10th

Vision Long Island will be holding a visioning in Rocky Point from October 10th through 17th to help the community improve their downtown business district.

The opening session will be held on Wednesday, October 10th at 7:30pm at the Rocky Point VFW Hall. A day-long design workshop will follow on Saturday, October 13th, from 9:30am to 3:00pm at the Joseph A. Edgar Middle School, with the closing presentation set to be held on October 17th at 7:30, again at the middle school.

The Rocky Point Civic Association, along with the Town of Brookhaven, has brought VISION in to their community to help revitalize their downtown business district. All community members are welcome to attend. Click here for the flyer.

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Scott Rechler Meets with Nassau Leaders on Coliseum Redevelopment Plan

Scott Rechler of RexCorp spoke to The Nassau Business and Community Planning Coalition on Tuesday, September 12, 2007. He shared an overview of the Lighthouse Project, their recent advances, and took questions and comments from the group. Earlier this month, the Lighthouse Project conducted the RFP process and formed a Master Plan Design Team. The team of experts come from a broad spectrum of disciplines such as the Spector Group, Freudenthal & Elkowitz Consulting Group, Nelson Pope & Voorhis, Eschbacher VHB, Barrett, Bonacci & Van Weele P.C., Stadium Consultants International, and Walker Parking Consultants. The team is evaluating the current conceptual plan, related studies, and preparing a comprehensive plan to be presented to the community, government, and business leaders in the fall.

While Mr. Rechler could not share the finite details of that revised plan, he was eager to hear feedback from representatives from local Chambers of Commerce, elected officials and civic organizations. The larger questions and concerns addressed the issues of transportation, economic impact on the surrounding communities, and the necessity for affordable Next Generation and workforce housing in the project. Faced with the question of changing the Long Island automobile oriented mentality, Mr. Rechler stated that the design team was focusing on walkability and providing transportation alternatives and regional connections. The issue of congestion and traffic mitigation is paramount to surrounding communities and Legislator Gonsalves suggested that current suggestions, such as the trolley and light-rail, be shared with the communities to assuage traffic anxieties. Mr. Rechler also stated that out of the 2,000 proposed residential units, 10% will be affordable and that they are looking into providing a variety of housing options. Affordable housing is another key issue that many members of the Coalition voiced along with concerns on the “brain drain” of young professionals on Long Island.

Lighthouse Development Group seeks to introduce the revised plan to the public later this fall, to continue the public dialogue and begin the official process to submit a formal application to the Town of Hempstead.

For more information, read the Long Island Business News article.

In other news, the Lighthouse Group formed a steering committee to help guide the development process. For more information, see today's Newsday.

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Helping Buffalo Avoid Repeating a Mistake by the Lake

Derek Gee/Buffalo News
John Norquist, the former mayor of Milwaukee, advocates
the removal of the Skyway on Buffalo's waterfront.

Even though Buffalo officials, including US Representative Brian Higgins, are getting serious about bringing down the Skyway freeway bridge that dominates the city's downtown waterfront, the NYSDOT is forging ahead with an ill-conceived plan to maintain an embanked waterfront freeway that extends from the Skyway and to expand an adjacent frontage road into a larger boulevard. The DOT considered but rejected a plan to combine these two side-by-side roads into a single urban boulevard.

A small team from Congress for the New Urbanism's Highways to Boulevards project, led by John Norquist, President of the CNU, and transportation planner Norm Marshall, spent a whirlwind few days in Buffalo, speaking before the Common Council, releasing a report saying the boulevard plan would ably handle traffic and lay the groundwork for a revitalized Outer harbor, and generating some serious buzz.

The Buffalo News coverage of the issue ran on the front page of the Metro section and was the most-read story of the weekend. Click here for the article.

Public TV was one of several broadcast outlets that covered the story, along with top Buffalo blogs.

Higgins has asked the DOT to evaluate the CNU report and city council members taking the lead in pushing for a DOT switch to its boulevard plan.

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Upcoming Events

Forum on Transportation Solutions for Long Island Announced For September 20th

The Hofstra Center for Suburban Studies, Long Island Community Foundation, Long Island Regional Planning Board, New York Community Trust, One Region Funders' Group, Rauch Foundation, Sustainable Long Island, Tri-State Transportation Campaign, and Vision Long Island are coming together to hold a forum, Transportation Solutions for Long Island: Towards Transit-Centered Community Development, on September 20th, 2007 from 9:00am to 11:30am at the Hofstra University Business Development Center, Axinn Library.

Transportation is a major challenge for Long Island employers and their employees, and congestion a huge and growing problem for residents and workers alike. New leadership at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is looking at transportation solutions in fresh and creative ways, exploring opportunities to enhance service and improve stations, but also to invest in strategies that bring jobs and housing closer together, and reduce vehicle miles traveled. Long Island offers a laboratory for testing new ideas – such as transit-centered community development – borrowing a page from New Jersey’s highly successful Transit Village playbook. As community leaders look toward transit centers for development and congestion relief, it is essential that we develop solutions that serve people of all income levels, not just the most fortunate among us. Please join civic, nonprofit, and government leaders in a community forum for a discussion about the connections between job mobility, housing, economic development, congestion relief, and transportation investments, and the opportunities that new approaches and strategies could bring to Long Island.

Elliot Sander, Executive Director and CEO, MTA	Mark Stout,Assisant Comm, NJ DOT	Hon. Jack Martins, Mayor, Village of Mineola	Hon. Connie Kepert, Councilwoman, Town of Brookhaven

Speakers for the event include: Mark Stout, Assistant Commissioner, New Jersey Department of Transportation; Elliot G. Sander, Executive Director & CEO, Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Respondents include: Connie Kepert, Councilwoman, Town of Brookhaven and Jack Martins, Mayor, Village of Mineola. The moderator is Joye Brown, Columnist, Newsday.

Please RSVP to this invitation to the Long Island Community Foundation by leaving a phone message at 516-348-0575 x601, or by sending an email to responses@licf.org.

For directions to the campus by car or public transportation, please click here.

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Tri-State Transportation Campaign

The Tri-State Transportation Campaign will be holding their 2007 Gala on Wednesday, October 24th from 6-9pm in New York City. It will honor Jon Orcutt. The guest speaker for the evening will be New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. For more information, call the Tri-State Transportation Campaign at 212-268-7474.

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Long Island's Real Estate Next Conference to be Held September 27th

Real Estate Next will hold a conference, "How to Thrive in a Changing Market," on September 27th from 9:30am to 5:00pm at the Long Island Marriott Hotel & Conference Center in Uniondale. The 2nd annual conference will feature top real estate experts addressing the latest housing issues and opportunities for networking with industry decision-makers. Attendees can earn 5 continuing education credits. Speakers include Dottie Herman, president and chief executive officer of Prudential Douglas Elliman; appraiser Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel Inc.; Tim Knight, publisher and chief executive officer of Newsday; David Peskin, president and chief executive officer, Mortgage Warehouse; Shawn Elliott, president of Shawn Elliott Luxury Homes & Estates; Denis Coleman, senior vice president of Optimum Homes; Ryan Slack, chief executive officer of Property Shark; Marc Spector, principal of The Spector Group; Joe Mottola, chief executive officer of the Long Island Board of Realtors.; Dr. Pearl Kamer, chief economist with the Long Island Association; Jim Morgo, Suffolk County Commissioner on Economic Development and Workforce Housing, Ron Stein, Vision Long Island, and many more.

For the full conference line-up and instructions for registering online, visit www.realestatenext.net For more information, contact Ron Roel at roel@optonline.net or Laura Koss-Feder at kosfeder@optonline.net, or call the Real Estate Institute at 212-967-7508 to register by phone. The $95 registration fee includes all panels, breakfast, lunch, and a networking hour.

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US Green Building Council To Hold Seminar on Engineering & Design Principles for the Development of a Sustainable Village

The US Green Building Council will be holding a seminar, Engineering & Design Principles for the Development of a Sustainable Village, on September 19th, 2007 at 8am at the Sheraton Long Island Hotel at 110 Motor Parkway in Hauppauge.

The Development of Smart Growth projects lends itself to the creation of sustainable communities by incorporating various design principles including New Urbanism and Green Design techniques. Based upon an actual Smart Growth project in the midst of a long term policy amendment and entitlement phase, the presentation will walk through the conceptual development of a 1600-home planned village community with a pedestrian-oriented town center and several villages comprised of a variety of housing types, with a mix of civic, office, and retail spaces. The project, known as Repaupo Village Center, is located in Logan Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey. The seminar offers 1.5 continuing education credits. Registration information is available here.

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It Takes a Village: Intergenerational Programs That Work Conference

Whether in the workplace or the communty in general, relationships among different generations are more important today than ever before. As life expenctancies continue to rise dramatically, generations depend on one another for much longer periods of time. Not only are middle-aged individuals providing shelter, food, clothing and education for those under 25, many of these same families are also caring for and providing support for relatives over age 75.

While many young people are leaving Long Island in pursuit of affordable housing elsewhere, many older people are leaving for southern retirement communities or choosing to remain on the island, but moving into age-restricted communities. The unfortunate result is a separation of the generations. These circumstances pose real challenges to the normal balance, and urgently call for new and creative ways to encourage generational groups to communicate with one another, care for one another, and support public policies that don't divide them by age.

It Takes a Village: Intergenerational Strategies That Work is designed to bring together Long Island's community organizations and its business community to create effective intergenerational programs and promote public policy that meets the needs of all generations. The conference takes place on Monday, November 12, 2007 from 9:00am to 4:00pm at the Charles B. Wang Center at Stony Brook University. Click here for a registration form, or visit Intergenerational Strategies' website here.

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