10th Annual New Partners for Smart Growth

Building Safe, Healthy and Livable Communities The E-FORUM did not go off a cliff this past week. I was in Charlotte, North Carolina, from Wednesday through Sunday at the 10th Annual New Partners for Smart Growth Conference sponsored by the Local Government Commission. It was a long way to go but well worth it. The only other Richmond City Council member to make it this year was Corky Booze.

There were about 1,300 attendees from all over the United States, a mix of elected officials, local, state and federal officials, planners, public health professionals, developers and others concerned with healthy and livable communities. The conference is co-sponsored by 170 organizations with wide ranging interests, and the major funder this year was the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Environmental Justice. Speakers and presenters included high ranking government officials, including former cabinet secretaries and governors as well as people simply doing great work on the ground (or in the ground as in the case of one session I attended on local food and agriculture). As usual, I learned a lot and brought a lot of ideas back.