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Events

Community Revitalization Transcends Pennsylvania Boundaries

Kudos to Mayor Ravenstahl (Pittsburgh) and Mayor Nutter (Philadelphia) for leadership in striking up collaborations based on common interests of the two cities. As we near the Governor's February budget address it is anticipated the Commonwealth's finances, like that of so many other states, will be constrained. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, we're in the company of 24 states that have said they will have deficits to be closed in the coming fiscal year. Surely this spells hardships also for our smaller cities and towns whose ability to cope is arguably going to be based on emulating Mayor Ravenstahl and Nutter's resolve to cooperate. For Southwestern Pennsylvania's communities, meeting future challenges requires making the most of profound opportunities presently at hand including:
- transcending boundaries and building on the trend of increasing intermunicipal cooperation
- capitalizing on market forces now shifting in favor of a return to downtown and traditional neighborhood living
- benefiting from our region's new transportation and development plan whose policies set expectations of how the region will reinforce existing places, economic activities and the connections among them
- understanding and taking advantage of the myriad of Commonwealth programs and assistance available for redevelopment
- collaborating more closely with the developers and investors to create sustainable business/community win-wins.

The 2008 SWPA Smart Growth Conference is being developed to contribute to fostering collaborations around these windows of opportunity. Please mark your calendar to save the date, May 16, 2008. For more on the Smart Growth Conference click here.

Events Continued

Resources

10th Annual Summit Against Racism

"The Power of One: A Commitment to Individual and Collective Action"
Saturday, January 26
8:00 am - 4:00 pm
E. Liberty Presbyterian Church, 116 S. Highland Ave., East Liberty, 15206
http://www.blackandwhitereunion.org/

Don’t miss this exciting day of workshops, art, music, food, and networking. It is a wonderful opportunity to see what impact individuals can have on ending racism in Pittsburgh. Too often individuals feel powerless, with no ability to affect the conditions around them. This is a “victimization mentality” which offers no access to power and brings about no change. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., around whose birthday this annual event is planned, demonstrated the event's theme, “the power of one.”

2008 Municipal Intern Program

Q & A Session
Monday, January 28th
1:30 pm
Local Government Academy, 800 Allegheny Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15233
Please call 412-237-3171 to register or email Anita Lengvarsky, Director of Programs, at alengvarsky@localgovernmentacademy.org
More information

The Municipal Intern Program (MIP) facilitates a match between graduate & undergraduate students with an interest in local government and public administration with local municipalities, Councils of Governments or authorities that would like to have professional level assistance. Students work full-time for a twelve-week period during the summer focused on a particular municipal project. The MIP is a competitive grant application. If you would like to attend a session that will teach you how to make your intern project application more competitive, attend the meeting on January 28. Please note that the MIP application is due February 4, 2008.

“Convention on the Global Commons”

Tuesday, January 29
5:00 pm - 6:30 pm
Location: Connan Auditorium in the University Center
Carnegie Mellon University, Oakland
Admission is free

Carnegie Mellon University, along with its sponsors, is hosting a series of four public lectures on themes that explore connections between the food that is grown and eaten, local markets, the potential for thriving local economies and global social equity. The first lecture features Dr. James Quilligan, U.S. Coordinator for the Global Marshall Plan; Managing Director, Centre for Global Negotiations, Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Quilligan has been an analyst and administrator in the field of international development since 1975. The Centre for Global Negotiations and the Marshall Plan Initiative have launched a multi-stakeholder consultation process focusing on a broad range of global development issues including food security, sustainable agriculture, and fair trade. They maintain that bi-lateral policies based on domestic security interests such as agricultural subsidies and trade protectionism are on a collision course with the interests of the global community for multinational cooperation, justice, sustainability, and peace. Mr. Quilligan is presently involved in the planning of the 2010 international conference, Convention on the Global Commons.

Post-lecture Breakfast with Dr. James Quilligan

Wednesday, January 30
9:00 am to 10:30 am
Location: Rangos 2, University Center
Carnegie Mellon University, Oakland
Admission: Businesses- $25, Non-profits/Non-Carnegie Mellon students, faculty and professionals- $15, Carnegie Mellon members- Free
RSVP by Friday, January 25, 2008 at (412) 268-1125

Free Complete Streets Web Seminar

Wednesday, January 30
3:45 pm - 6:00 pm
Room 301, City County Building
414 Grant Street, Downtown Pittsburgh
RSVP to Jackie Crail at Jacklyn.Crail@city.pittsburgh.pa.us if you plan on attending.

This web Seminar is being conducted by the American Planning Association, funded by Pittsburgh Partnership for Neighborhood Development (PPND), and hosted by the City of Pittsburgh’s Bureau of Transportation and Engineering. COMPLETE STREETS are designed and operated to enable safe access for all users. States, cities and towns are asking their planners, engineers and designers to build road networks that welcome all citizens. The American Planning Association (APA) will be providing speakers familiar with the implementation of Complete Street policies and projects accompanied by a power point slide presentation. Following the presentation there will be an opportunity for Q and A and a discussion of Complete Streets potential in Pittsburgh. (For AICP members, 1.5 CM are available.)

Climate Change 101 Keynote Address and "2% Solution" Screening

Wednesday, January 30
7:30 pm
Carnegie Mellon University, Doherty Hall 2210 (Oakland)
Call 412-268-2107 for more information.

Carnegie Mellon climate research director and professor Granger Morgan introduces the "2% Solution" web cast co-produced by the National Wildlife Federation and aired by the Earth Day Network, kicking off a discussion about global warming solutions for America. Panelists will include celebrity and clean energy advocate Edward Norton; Stanford climate scientist Steve Schneider; Hunter Lovins, CEO of Natural Capitalism; and environmental justice leader Van Jones, executive director of the Ella Baker Center in Oakland, California.

Why the "2% Solution"? To hold global warming to the low end of 3-4 degrees F will require cuts in global warming pollution in the developed countries by more than 80% below current levels by 2050. Put another way, we need to cut roughly 2% a year for the next forty years. The web cast will revolve around the question: Can we as a nation get on to this path? If so, what would it take? Discussion to follow. Granger Morgan's keynote address begins at 7:30 PM. The 2% Solution screening begins at 8:00 PM. Discussion will commence at 9:00 PM. Refreshments provided.

As the largest teach-in in U.S. history, Focus The Nation is preparing millions of students to become leaders in the largest civilizational challenge any generation has faced. For more information about the national initiative, please visit www.focusthenation.org.

FHLBank Pittsburgh to hold Affordable Housing Program Workshop in Monroeville

Thursday, January 31
Radisson Hotel, Monroeville, PA
9:00 am - Noon
Register: http://www.fhlb-pgh.com/ahp_workshop.html

FHLBank Pittsburgh is holding eight workshops within its district to provide an overview of the Affordable Housing Program (AHP). All potential applicants are encouraged to attend one of the workshops as important changes have been made to AHP for 2008. Most notably, the maximum grant amount has been increased from $500,000 to $650,000, hopefully making it easier for sponsors to cover any gaps in their project financing. Continental breakfast will be served.

For more information about the Affordable Housing Program and the 2008 AHP funding rounds or any other community investment product, please visit www.fhlb-pgh.com and go to the “Housing & Community” link. FHLBank Pittsburgh can also be reached at (800) 288-3400.

Teach-in at Carnegie Mellon

Thursday, January 31
9:00 am - 5:30 pm
Carnegie Mellon University, University Center (Oakland)

Carnegie Mellon will host a day of events focusing the community on solutions to global warming for America, including panel presentations by dozens of faculty and local sustainability leaders. Session topics include, "All Your Climate Science Questions Answered," practical tips for a "Low Carbon" lifestyle, the latest developments in solar technology, what a changing climate will mean for Pennsylvania, and much more. The closing session at 4:30 PM will include statements from Carnegie Mellon students who are at the forefront of the youth climate movement. Parallel sessions are 80 minutes long with a 10-minute break. Sessions begin at 9:00 AM. The final session begins at 4:30 PM. See http://www.cmu.edu/steinbrenner for a link to the developing agenda.

As the largest teach-in in U.S. history, Focus The Nation is preparing millions of students to become leaders in the largest civilizational challenge any generation has faced. For more information about the national initiative, please visit www.focusthenation.org.

Green Democracy Political Forum at the University of Pittsburgh

Friday, February 1
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
University of Pittsburgh, David Lawrence Hall, Room 120 (Oakland)
For more information call 412-268-2125.

The University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, La Roche College, Duquesne University, and Chatham University have invited city, county, state, and national civic leaders to engage in a Green Democracy political forum. Student representatives will open the forum with statements about what each campus is doing to address climate change. Civic leaders will then speak about their commitments to combat climate change. Representative Mike Doyle and Councilman Bill Peduto are among the attendees. Questions and comments will be entertained from the audience.

Architect’s Lecture: Martin Haas, Partner, Behnisch Architekten

Friday, February 22
6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
CMA Theater, 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland
Free admission
Reception follows
Heinz Architectural Center Galleries open until 8:30 p.m.

Martin Haas presents recent work by Behnisch Architekten. The lecture marks the opening of Ecology.Design.Synergy, a collaborative exhibition between Behnisch Architekten and Transsolar ClimateEngineering that includes the competition-winning RiverParc proposal for downtown Pittsburgh. The RiverParc project locates public spaces and recreational areas on the southern, sunny sides of residential streets and provides a wide range of opportunities for people to linger, meet, and interact. In accordance with Behnisch and Transsolar’s collaborative ethic, the plans are not only environmentally responsible but aim to produce a new architectural aesthetic and aid in Pittsburgh’s desire to be a leader in the development of “green architecture.” Ecology.Design.Synergy will be on view at Carnegie Museum of Art’s Heinz Architectural Center February 23–May 25, 2008. For more information about Carnegie Museum of Art, call 412-622-3131 or visit our web site at www.cmoa.org.

Green$ense Conference

Wednesday, March 5
7:30 am - 3:45 pm; Green building tour at 4pm
David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown Pittsburgh
Registration fees vary
Visit the conference website for more details.

Green$ense, hosted by the Green Building Alliance, is a one-day conference highlighting strategies in green building featuring breakout sessions and case studies with nationally recognized experts. Exhibit booths displaying green building products and an afternoon tour of Bakery Square is also available. The event features the Shades of Green Leadership awards recognizing Western Pennsylvanians who have contributed to the environmental transformation of the region.

Lunch and Learn: Ecology.Design.Synergy and Pittsburgh’s RiverParc project

Thursday, March 20
10:30 am - 2:00 pm Lunch included in the Carnegie Cafe
CMA Theater, $36 members/$45 non-members, including lunch
Call 412-622-3288 to register.

Heinz Architectural Center curator Raymund Ryan puts Pittsburgh’s RiverParc project in the context of green design by these two internationally renowned firms. Following lunch, Ryan gives a tour of the exhibition. For more information about Carnegie Museum of Art, call 412-622-3131 or visit our web site at www.cmoa.org.

Climate Change Uncertainties: Opportunities for Business Innovation?

Thursday, March 27
Four Points by Sheraton Pittsburgh North, 910 Sheraton Drive, Mars, Pennsylvania 16046
Contact Jerry Swart at 412-262-6291 - jerry.swart@fedex.com or John Quinlisk at 412-503-4537 - John_Quinlisk@URSCorp.com with any questions.

Three of Pittsburgh’s business, engineering and environmental professional organizations are coming together to convene a regional conversation about climate change, its impacts and responses. Climate change, global warming, greenhouse gases, carbon footprint--all of these terms and issues continue to appear in conversations in the media. Many of these conversations are heated and controversial. One thing is clear about this situation: these issues will present challenges to businesses and individuals, simply because of the degree of interest people have in the topics and resulting worldwide concern and debate. Interest in climate change topics has already prompted foreign, federal, and state governmental considerations and actions.

To meet these challenges, the Pittsburgh section of the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE), and the Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI), in association with the Allegheny Mountain section of the Air & Waste Management Association (AWMA), and Sustainable Pittsburgh’s Champions for Sustainability (C4S) network invite the region’s business, engineering, and environmental professionals to a one-day seminar focusing on climate change.

SAVE THE DATE - 8th Annual SWPA Smart Growth Conference

"Rebuilding Sustainable Downtown and Suburban Centers"
Friday, May 16
Downtown Pittsburgh
Presented by Sustainable Pittsburgh and Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission
Keynote speaker: Christopher Leinberger
(More details to follow)

Christopher B. Leinberger is a metropolitan land use strategist, developer, teacher, consultant and author helping to make progressive development profitable. He is a founding partner of Arcadia Land Company, a real estate development firm serving to create walkable communities in harmony with nature.

Leinberger is a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution focusing on research and practices to help transform traditional and suburban downtowns to places that provide “walkable urbanism." He is also a professor and director of the Graduate Real Estate Program at the University of Michigan which focuses on downtown and suburban town center revitalization, transit-oriented development, new urbanism, and conservation development.

In his recently released book, The Option of Urbanism, Leinberger reviews how Americans are voting with their feet to abandon strip malls and suburban sprawl, embracing instead a new type of community where they can live, work, shop, and play within easy walking distance. He explains why government policies have tilted the playing field toward one form of development over the last sixty years: the drivable suburb. Conversely, Leinberger shows how the American Dream is now shifting to include cities as well as suburbs and how the financial and real estate communities need to respond by building communities that are more environmentally, socially, and financially sustainable.

Leinberger has written award-winning articles for publications such as The Atlantic Monthly, The Wall Street Journal and Urban Land magazine. He has been profiled by CNN, the Today Show, and National Public Radio.

From Leinberger's website: Over the past 15 years, many consumers have been demanding different options to the “one-size-fits-all” drivable sub-urbanism. While single-family homes on large lots and strip commercial will be a significant part of the market for decades to come, there are many segments of the population that want something different; what can be broadly called “walkable urbanism”. These alternatives include downtown and suburban downtown revitalization, New Urbanism, transit-oriented development, green field mixed-use development (“lifestyle centers”), regional mall redevelopment, among others. Progressive public policy responses that allow for and promote this kind of development include smart growth, strategy and management of walkable urban places, impact fees that “level the planning field”, affordable & workforce housing development and strategy and management of metropolitan areas.

There is pent-up market demand for the alternative to drivable sub-urbanism that is readily apparent and we in real estate are re-tooling how we design, plan, regulate and finance to serve these markets. There has been much accomplished in this regard over the past decade, led by real estate developers, political and civic leaders, and organizations.

Working with many like-minded people and institutions, we are all formulating and implementing the next American Dream.

SAVE THE DATES - 2008 Great Outdoors Week

May 16-25, 2008

The seventh annual Great Outdoors Week runs from Friday, May 16 through Sunday, May 25, 2008! Great Outdoors Week highlights the amazing outdoor recreation opportunities Southwestern Pennsylvania provides. Various events are scheduled around the region during this week. Stay tuned for more details.

Resources

Diversity numbers may not be enough, study says

. . ."Numbers alone are an inadequate measure of diversity," said Jeff Marquis, the study's lead author and a political scientist at RAND, the Santa Monica, Calif.-based nonprofit research organization with an office in Pittsburgh. "To reap the true benefits of diversity -- like enhanced productivity, profitability and overall job satisfaction -- a company has to accept and integrate an inclusive diversity program into its social and business fabric.". . .The report compares the actual practices of eight companies ranked among Fortune magazine's "50 Best Companies for Minorities" against what existing diversity literature says about motivations and effective strategies for achieving diversity.

Phipps strives to be America’s greenest garden, receives national award

Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens received the coveted 2007 Beyond Green High Performance Building Award, one of only eight organizations in the country to be so honored by the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council.

More

EU sets emissions targets to fight climate change

"Responding to the challenge of climate change is the ultimate political test for our generation," Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said. "Our package not only responds to this challenge, but holds the right answer to the challenge of energy security and is an opportunity that should create thousands of new businesses and millions of jobs," he added. While the measures would cost consumers three euros (4.37 dollars) a week on average, Barroso said: "The cost of inaction is up to 10 times more than what we are proposing."

Green-tech investment topped $5 billion in 2007

Investments in environmentally friendly "clean-tech" companies rose 44 percent to more than $5 billion last year as soaring oil prices, climate change concerns and government incentives boosted interest in renewable energy, an industry group said. The Cleantech Group LLC, whose members include venture capital firms, investment banks, and other investors, on Thursday said 2007 venture investment in the alternative energy market in North America and Europe was $5.18 billion, compared with $3.6 billion the previous year.

David Cay Johnston on How the Rich Get Richer

Investigative reporter David Cay Johnston explores in his new book how in recent years, government subsidies and new regulations have quietly funneled money from the poor and the middle class to the rich and politically connected.

Vision Dixie: Foresight, not hindsight, 20-20

When you travel in a straight line through the Salt Lake Valley, it's like driving in circles. You pass look-alike strip malls, identical bigbox stores and cookie-cutter housing developments nearly everywhere you go. Walkable, livable neighborhoods, where a trip to the market or drug store or park doesn't require driving a car, are precious and few. And despite the gradual acceptance of basic smart-growth principles, change is slow in coming and difficult to achieve. . .They're also lucky to have a blueprint, a comprehensive regional plan for doing things right, called Vision Dixie. The plan is neither pro-growth nor anti-growth. It promotes smart growth.

Sustainable Pittsburgh comments on LRP amendments for Mon Fayette and Southern Beltway

The remarkable level of effort and civic engagement invested in creating The Plan deserves to be complemented with a robust project evaluation and prioritization process to ensure that infrastructure programming and funding decisions are in step with the spirit and intent of The Plan. Such actions by SPC will ensure The Plan comes to fruition in meeting the will of the thousands of citizens and community leaders who exercised their voices in the extensive public engagement process. This will also serve to put our region on a path to sustainable growth and development.

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

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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 in 2008 from:

Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation
Dollar Bank
The Heinz Endowments
Elsie H. Hillman Foundation
Roy A. Hunt Foundation
Richard King Mellon Foundation

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