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Events

Register now! 11th Annual SWPA Smart Growth Conference

“Smart Growth is Smart Business”

Keynote:
- Henry Cisneros, Executive Chairman, CityView "Smart capital for Smart growth"

Tuesday, December 13
8:00 am - 4:00 pm (Registration begins at 7:30 am)
David L. Lawrence Convention Center, downtown Pittsburgh
Lunch provided.
Early registration: $35; After 11/21: $45

Presented by: Allegheny Conference on Community Development; Green Building Alliance; NAIOP Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh Technology Council; Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission; Sustainable Pittsburgh; ULI Pittsburgh

Business leaders increasingly recognize regional growth and development patterns -- guided by principles of smart growth and sustainability -- improve quality of life, lessen the cost of doing business, increase profitability, help reduce tax and infrastructure costs, and contribute to talent recruitment and retention. With the business case of smart growth apparent, the conference will galvanize a 'businesses for smart growth' initiative for southwestern Pennsylvania to spur economic prosperity and extend our region's signature livability to more persons.

The conference will focus on three interrelated smart growth imperatives:
"Business opportunity while building community and regional economy"
- Innovative Finance for smart growth solutions for urban real estate, housing, and metropolitan infrastructure
- Blight and Abandonment - business and economic stakes
- Green Infrastructure - savings for businesses, dividends for developers and communities

Speakers include:
• Henry Cisneros, Executive Chairman, CityView
• Laura Ellsworth, Partner-in-Charge, Jones Day; Chair Pennsylvania Economy League of Southwestern Pennsylvania
• Bill Flanagan, Executive Vice President, Corporate Relations, Allegheny Conference on Community Relations
• Liz Hersh, Executive Director, Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania
• Lee Huang is Director of Econsult Corporation, author Vacant Land Management in Philadelphia
• Robert Lang, Professor of Sociology and the Director of the Brookings Mountain West at the University of Nevada and Fellow of the Urban Land Institute
• Audrey Murrell, Associate Professor of Business Administration, Psychology, Public and International Affairs, Director of the David Berg Center for Ethics and Leadership
• John Schombert, Executive Director, 3 Rivers Wet Weather

Who should attend:
- Those invested in the region's business, economic development, and community prosperity
- Business owners and leaders
- Economic development professionals
- Developers
- Bankers
- Real estate leaders
- Investors, policy leaders, community developers, planners, and federal, state, and local officials.

REGISTER TODAY FOR THE SWPA SMART GROWTH CONFERENCE!

Events Continued

Resources

Save the date! Sustainable Product and Service Procurement for Healthcare 11/3/11

Thursday, November 3
8:00 am

Learn about the latest strategies for engaging supply chains in the healthcare industry from the perspective of sustainability.

Confirmed keynote speaker:
Gary Cohen, CEO, Healthcare Without Harm, "Embedding Sustainability in Healthcare's DNA through Purchasing and Acquisition"

Sustainable Pittsburgh’s sustainable business network, Champions for Sustainability (C4S) has launched a series of workshops that advance the mutually reinforcing agendas of sustainability and healthcare. Each event spotlights how sustainability improves health outcomes, healthcare benefits, business performance and provides best practices, resources, examples, and how to get started. Sustainable Product and Service Procurement for Healthcare is the fourth workshop of this five-part series.

Click here to learn more about the series and to view materials from past programs.

Creating Sustainable Communities Conference

Thursday, November 3
7:30 am — 4:00 pm
Point Park University
Registration: $30
Questions? Contact Hannah Hardy at (412) 481–9400 or hhardy@pecpa.org Registration information and conference schedule will be available in late August at:
www.dcnr.state.pa.us/conservationscience/sustainablelands/conferences/index.htm
This conference qualifies for 5 recertification credits for the PLNA Pennsylvania Certified Horticulturist and the PLANET Landscape Industry Certified Technician, as well as 5 continuing education credits through ASLA.

Join conference organizers at Point Park University in downtown Pittsburgh for a conference that promotes green infrastructure, healthy communities and low-cost land management practices for government officials, park managers, landscape architects, planners and anyone else interested in balancing human needs with natural resource protection.

EVENT ORGANIZERS: Allegheny County, Allegheny County Conservation District, City of Pittsburgh, Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources, Friends of the Riverfront, Pa. Environmental Council, Penn State Cooperative Extension, Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, Sustainable Pittsburgh, Western Pa. Conservancy

REGISTER NOW! 11th Annual SWPA Smart Growth Conference “Smart Growth is Smart Business”

Keynote:
- Henry Cisneros, Executive Chairman, CityView "Smart capital for Smart growth"

Tuesday, December 13
8:00 am - 4:00 pm (Registration begins at 7:30 am)
David L. Lawrence Convention Center, downtown Pittsburgh
Lunch provided.
Early registration: $35; After 11/21: $45
More information and registration

Presented by: Allegheny Conference on Community Development; Green Building Alliance; NAIOP Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh Technology Council; Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission; Sustainable Pittsburgh; ULI Pittsburgh

Business leaders increasingly recognize regional growth and development patterns -- guided by principles of smart growth and sustainability -- improve quality of life, lessen the cost of doing business, increase profitability, help reduce tax and infrastructure costs, and contribute to talent recruitment and retention. With the business case of smart growth apparent, the conference will galvanize a 'businesses for smart growth' initiative for southwestern Pennsylvania to spur economic prosperity and extend our region's signature livability to more persons.

The conference will focus on three interrelated smart growth imperatives:
"Business opportunity while building community and regional economy"
- Innovative Finance for smart growth solutions for urban real estate, housing, and metropolitan infrastructure
- Blight and Abandonment - business and economic stakes
- Green Infrastructure - savings for businesses, dividends for developers and communities

Be sure to visit the conference website for more information, including a speakers' list.

"Shrinking Cities: What Can be Done?”

Urban and Regional Analysis Brown Bag Seminar
Friday, October 7
Noon - 1:30 pm
University Center for Social and Urban Research, University of Pittsburgh, 3343 Forbes Ave, Oakland, 15260
RSVP to pncis@pitt.edu.
More information

Bring your lunch and join the University Center for Social and Urban Research for presentations and lectures that highlight neighborhood, community, economic, and other social research by its esteemed colleagues. Presenters include local, national, and international social research experts. The brown bag on October 7 features Alan Mallach, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution, National Housing Institute, and Visiting Scholar, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia in discussing "Shrinking Cities: What Can be Done?”

Save the date for the next brown bag on Friday, November 18th: "Do Local Anti-predatory Lending Laws Work? Evidence from Cleveland," featuring Yilan Xu, Doctoral Candidate, Department of Economics, University of Pittsburgh.

The Pittsburgh Playback Theater Presents:
"Sorry, It's Already Been Rented"

Monday, October 10
Homewood-Brushton YMCA
Multipurpose Room, 7140 Bennett Street

Wednesday, October 12
The Pittsburgh Project
Sanctuary Room, 2801 North Charles Street

Monday, October 17
Center of Life
161 Hazelwood Avenue

Doors open at 7:00 pm; performance 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Free and open to the public
Light refreshments will be served
For comments, questions, reservations or information regarding accessibility, please call (412) 255-2600.

Join the Fair Housing Partnership of Greater Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations for a community play about everyday Americans as they confront housing discrimination in their search for a place to call home. Discuss and share your story.

Building Change Film Festival

October 12-16, 2011
Times vary
Films will be screened at:
- CAPA (Creative and Performing Arts School)
- The Point Park University GRW Theater
- The Hampton Inn (downtown)
- Building Change Film Festival Schedule - Kelly-Strayhorn
- The Andy Warhol Museum
Cost: Suggested donation of $5 per screening.
All films are open to the general public.
More information

The Festival will screen full length, mid, and short films (25 minutes or less) and videos themed around social justice issues with a focus on the Southwestern Pennsylvania region. Films cover a broad range of issues including; the environment, poverty, LGBTQ issues, racial and gender equality, prison/police reform, food justice, peace and human rights issues. Films demonstrate the power and value of filmmaking as a vehicle for exploration of social justice issues and aim to motivate viewers to seek solutions and promote change.

Upcoming films include: Pittsburgh Welcomes (2010; 30 min.), The Inconvenient Truth About Waiting for Superman (2011; 83 min.), YERT (2010; 102 min.), and Writing on the Berlin Wall: Remembering the Berlin Wall (2009; 54 min.)

The Building Change Film Festival is one of the major components of Building Change: a Convergence for Social Justice that will be held October 13-15, 2011 at the Sen. John Heinz Regional History Center. The Convergence is a grassroots, movement building conference with participatory workshops at which participants will learn about current issues and share their skills to make real impact.

Register Now! Building Change Conference

A convergence for social justice
October 13-15, 2011
Senator John Heinz Regional History Center
More information

Building Change will gather grassroots organizations and citizens from across Southwestern Pennsylvania to address a wide range of social, economic, and environmental issues through a series of forums, workshops, and panel and roundtable discussions. Other activities include the multi-venue Building Change Film Festival; the 7 Pathways of Change Social Justice Arts Show; a Youth Leadership track for 350 high school students; and the Pathways to Change: Performances and Awards which will highlight local Champions of Change.

The featured keynote speaker for Building Change is world-renowned Native American activist and environmentalist Winona LaDuke. Ms. LaDuke is a distinguished author and founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project in Minnesota and the Indigenous Women's Network. She has appeared in numerous documentaries, has been the recipient of the Reebok Human Rights Award, and was named Woman of Year by Ms. Magazine. Ms. LaDuke was also the Green Party vice presidential running mate to Ralph Nader in the 2000 presidential election.

Wild Resource Festival

Saturday, October 15
10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Point State Park, Downtown Pittsburgh
Free
No registration is necessary. The event will be held rain or shine.
More information

DCNR's Wild Resource Conservation Program is holding a Wild Resource Festival at Point State Park on October 15. The festival is designed to bring the state’s leading scientists and conservation organizations together with the people that support DCNR's work, the citizens of Pennsylvania. The festival provides children, families, and wildlife enthusiasts, young and old, with a front-row seat to view PA’s non-game animals and plants. There will be many interactive, hands on activities to engage the children as well!

Electric Grid-Lock? Germany Powers up for a Carbon-Free Future without Nuclear Energy

Monday, October 17
12:00 pm - 1:45 pm
Duquesne Club, 325 Sixth Avenue, Downtown Pittsburgh
Program Costs: $45 -World Affairs Council Members; $60 -Non-Member; $360 -Table of Eight (8)
Participants must register to attend. No-shows and cancellations after October 13, 2011 will be charged. Please advise in advance of any dietary restrictions.
Questions? Call (412) 281-7970 or email welcome@worldpittsburgh.org.
More information and registration

During the summer of 2011 the German government announced a groundbreaking plan to phase out nuclear energy over the next decade, ushering in a carbon-free future for one of the world’s most sustainable nations. Mixing strategic planning for future fuel needs and a sound approach to strengthening the German economy, the state now favors renewable resources, higher efficiency standards, and changing both law and transportation practices to support the alternative energy supply. The government has established tax incentives to ease the transition for citizens and businesses, making carbon-free as cost-effective as possible. Does this pioneering German model provide lessons for America about how to politically and economically commit to a greener future? Join Matthias Kurthis for a lively discussion regarding Germany’s changing energy policy, focusing on how the model could ease America’s own fuel frustrations.

Matthias Kurthis, President of the German Federal Network Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Post and Railway (Bundesnetzagentur)
Since 2000, he has worked with the Regulatory for Telecommunications and Posts in the post of Vice-President, and President since 2005. From 1994 to 1999 he served as Hessian State Secretary in the Ministry of Economics, also representing Hesse in a number of other political forums, such as to the Regulatory Council for Posts and Telecommunications, shaping the Telecommunications Act, and the Committee for the Region of the European Union. As a member of the Social Democratic Party for nearly 45 years, he has worked as a lawyer, judge, and member of the state legislature of Hesse on the Executive, Budget, and Internal Affairs committees from 1978-1994. He studied law and economics at Frankfurt am Main University, and trained at the Hesse Justice Administration.

cityLIVE! 38 - Looking forward to Immigration (with Rich and Raja)

October 18
6:30 pm
New Hazlett Theater, North Side
Click to RSVP

Pittsburgh is less diverse than 98 out of 100 of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States, according to the 2010 census - "whiter even than the Amish country around Lancaster, the Mormon population center of Salt Lake City, Midwest agrarian capitals such as Des Moines, Iowa, and far more isolated places like Boise, Idaho," says Gary Rotstein of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "How does a region built on immigration, albeit from previous centuries, come to have in 2011 such a small share of people of color?"

On October 18, cityLIVE! and Vibrant Pittsburgh will host a conversation between candidates D. Raja, Rich Fitzgerald and you, the audience, on the status of foreign born talent and diversity in the region. Economic development is at the heart of this discussion. For instance, 25 percent of U.S. business owners in the technology and engineering sector are foreign born, as are the owners of 24 percent of patent applications filed. Moderated by Melanie Harrington, CEO of Vibrant Pittsburgh, hear how Allegheny County's future leaders plan to tackle these issues in their future role as Allegheny County Executive.

Allegheny County Executive Candidate Forum

Thursday, October 20
8:00 am (Networking and Light breakfast)
8:30 am - 10:00 am (Candidates Forum)
31st Floor, Regional Enterprise Tower, 425 Sixth Avenue, Downtown Pittsburgh
Free and open to the public (you will need to present a photo ID to access the 31st floor)
RSVP by October 14 to Claire at (412) 361-2099 ext. 5 or c.miziolek@gtechstrategies.org.
Limited day-of registration will be available.
More information and parking details at www.GJAB.org

The Green Jobs Advisory Board of Southwest PA presents the Allegheny County Executive Candidate Forum. Come to discuss issues such as Energy, Manufacturing, Water, Green Infrastructure, Transit, and how they relate to jobs in this region with Candidates D. Raja and Rich Fitzgerald. Moderated by Larkin Page-Jacobs, Essential Public Radio.

Rachel Carson Forum: Creating Healthy Places to Live, Learn and Play

Saturday, October 22
8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Eddy Theater, Chatham University Shadyside Campus
General Admission: $40.00; Scholarship Admission: $10.00; Student Admission: $5.00
Register now
Act 48 and PQAS credits available. (6 ceu)

Young children are the most vulnerable to environmental contaminants. One can take many steps to make their early learning environment interesting, safe and fun. One can also practice environmentally sound procedures while saving money and building better foundations for this region's children. Participate in four workshops for providers of early childhood learning. Receive a Green Practices Workbook and continuing education credits. Keynote speakers include Phil Boise author of The Go Green Rating Scale and Jane Houlihan, Sr. Vice President for Research of The Environmental Working Group.

This event is presented by: Rachel Carson Institute at Chatham University; Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children; Sense of Place Learning, and Women for a Healthy Environment. For sponsorship opportunities contact Patricia DeMarco at (412) 708-9277.

Fifteenth Annual Good Government Awards Dinner: Honoring Civic Leadership in Allegheny County

Thursday, October 27
6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Sheraton Hotel, Station Square
Tickets: $70 from the League of Women Voters
Contact: (412) 261-4284 or info@pgh.lwv.org
View invitation and order form

Join the League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh for a strolling dinner followed by the awards presentation and delicious desserts. This project is designed to honor civic engagement and the many ways in which citizens, businesses, etc., contribute toward making democracy work.

2011 Honorees Are:
Bonnie & Tom VanKirk
Hon. Dan Onorato
A+ Schools
Univ. of Pittsburgh Graduate & Professional Student Assembly

Resources

Can Bicycle and Pedestrian Infrastructure Save the U.S.?

I'd like to bring to your attention a study by Heidi Garrett-Peltier from the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Released in June 2011, it's titled, "Pedestrian and Bicycle Infrastructure: A National Study of Employment Impacts."

Heidi took data from eleven cities and fifty-eight separate projects. She found that for the same amount spent on roadway-exclusive projects, those that included additional bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure (bike lanes, sidewalks, bike/ped paths, etc) created more jobs -- typically an additional three jobs per $1 million spent. Plus these jobs tend to employ people from the local communities.

E.P.A. Panel Issues Plan for Gulf Coast Restoration

A year after its creation, a federal-state working group on Wednesday released a preliminary strategy for addressing long-term environmental problems along the Gulf Coast, including the disappearance of wetlands and a seasonal dead zone caused by runoff from the Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico.

More

Tysons Corner: The building of an American city

Imagine, it’s a shivery January morning in 2014 and you are riding one of the first of Metro’s Silver Line cars to Tysons Corner. As you step onto the platform five stories above Leesburg Pike, you look out over an area that Fairfax County officials imagine as a modern American city — a “walkable, sustainable, urban center.” In other words, nothing like Tysons Corner circa 2011. Tysons Corner today is unincorporated. It has no government of its own, and it didn’t even have an associated Zip code until April. And yet, there is much to make it the envy of major American cities. Tysons has 26.7 million square feet of office space, more than the metropolitan areas of San Antonio or Jacksonville, Fla. Five Fortune 500 firms call it home. But as the tiny rural crossroads has grown into one of the country’s top corporate destinations, in one sense it’s also become a monstrosity: It is teeming — just absolutely bursting — with traffic. Traffic that carries people from cookie-cutter strip malls to sprawling office parks and past acres of parking lots in between. For each of the 19,627 people who live in Tysons, more than four others drive there each day, which explains all those parking lots.

Citzens vs. consumers: Educators have a central role to play in teaching us how to live in environmentally sustainable ways

The participants in next week's academic gathering in Pittsburgh face nothing less than the challenge to bring about a sea change in contemporary attitudes toward consumption. Faculty and administrators at a minimum need to advance the understanding of environmentally sensitive development on their campuses beyond green buildings and green lifestyles to curriculum-wide explorations of a larger ecosystem: how good health, economic growth, social justice and secure livelihoods can be promoted in environmentally sustainable ways.

Of course, carrying the message within institutions of higher learning must go beyond being a short-term goal with short-lived effects. More important is the need to demonstrate to the wider world the true costs of doing business on a planet with shrinking resources where exploitation of other countries' wealth to feed our appetites will wreak havoc not only among anonymous foreigners but right in our own back yard.

New MIT Data Analysis Tool Aims To Rationalize Planning

Andres Sevstuk, lecturer at MIT and head of the City Form Research Group describes how the new Urban Network Analysis toolbox is "taking a much more rigorous approach to look at the work of urban design." Sevstuk claims that his new data analysis package examines how the form of a city affects the life that goes on in it. The software analyzes attributes of various locations to measure their "reach," how many jobs, or residences are accessible when traveling by the street network; or "betweeness," a measure that can estimate the volume of foot traffic an area receives. The program has already provided some counter intuitive insights. In a restaurant-dense area like Inman Square, the presence of competitors works to businesses’ advantage: “The idea there is by forming a cluster, they manage to attract a much larger clientele than the sum of each one alone,’’ he said. Such tools can also give planners a better handle on how to rationally fix cities.

For information on becoming a Member of Sustainable Pittsburgh, please visit our website.

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Click here to access the 3E Links Archive. Use "Search" on SP's homepage for a great resource.

Sustainable Pittsburgh affects decision-making in the Pittsburgh Region to integrate economic prosperity, social equity and environmental quality bringing sustainable solutions to communities and businesses.

Sustainable Pittsburgh benefits from support ($1,000 and up) in 2011 from:

Allegheny County - Dan Onorato, County Executive
Bayer Corporation
Bayer USA Foundation
Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation
BNY Mellon
Dollar Bank
FedEx Ground
The Heinz Endowments
Highmark
Elsie H. Hillman Foundation
Richard King Mellon Foundation
Pashek Associates LTD
Pittsburgh Quarterly
PNC Financial Services Group
Port Authority of Allegheny County
UPMC


Special thanks to the SP Members

Sustainable Pittsburgh
425 Sixth Avenue, Suite 1335
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
(412) 258-6642
fax (412) 258-6645
E-mail SP