Participate in Envision Central Texas - compact, walkable, sustainable, transit, etc!

[ATXboom]

From Boom to BEST? The Future of Central Texas
Friday, October 19, 2007 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Four Seasons Hotel Austin
98 San Jacinto Boulevard
Austin, TX 78701
$45 a person or $600 for a table of 10

Details:

http://envisioncentraltexas.org/even...All&v=g&id=169


From Boom to BEST? The Future of Central Texas
Start Date: Friday, October 19, 2007
Start Time: 11:30 a.m.
End Date: Friday, October 19, 2007
End Time: 1:00 p.m.
Location: Four Seasons Hotel Austin
98 San Jacinto Boulevard
Austin, TX 78701
View Map
Register Now!


Andrés Duany, Principal, Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company and Hank Dittmar, Chief Executive, The Prince Charles Foundation for the Built Environment, will come together in an event moderated by Austin Mayor Will Wynn to discuss:

* How can the region foster development in compact, walkable communities -- both downtown and in the suburbs?

* How ready is the region for additional transit options?

* How can Central Texas boom economically and grow sustainably at the same time?

* What is the impact of successful mixed-use, urban development on housing prices and affordability?

This luncheon event is being co-sponsored by The Congress for the New Urbanism, Envision Central Texas, The Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce and The Real Estate Council of Austin.

More about our presenters:

Andrés Duany is an award-winning architect and town planner and co-founder of the Congress for the New Urbanism. Since the design of Seaside twenty-five years ago, he and his wife and partner Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk have prepared over two hundred greenfield and infill urban plans, including those for Providence, Baton Rouge and West Palm Beach. Duany has been one of the most active and influential planners of the post-Katrina Gulf Coast reconstruction. He and Plater-Zyberk are co-authors of Suburban Nation and The New Civic Art.

Hank Dittmar is Chief Executive of the Prince Charles foundation for the Built Environment, a leading British proponent of timeless and ecological ways of planning, designing and building. He is board chairman of the Congress for the New Urbanism which will hold its annual Congress in Austin from April 3-6, 2008. Dittmar was formerly the President & CEO of Reconnecting America and was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the White House Advisory Committee on Transportation and Greenhouse Gas Emissions and the President's Council on Sustainable Development's Metropolitan Working Group, which he chaired.

[ATXboom]

Supposedly have to register by today!

[M1EK]

ECT is a waste of time - they have no power and zero influence - it's basically a way for people who have the right idea to get together and talk about what we should be doing instead of pressuring those who DO have the power (TXDOT, state lege).

[ATXboom]

M1... agree in the context of transit. I'd be interested to know what influence they have on zoning [VMU, etc], poor neighborhood association management and some other things not tied to transit.

[M1EK]

They have no influence there either. They're sometimes cited by people hopeful that their endorsement will do something, but it never does.

[ATXboom]

So why couldn' that very topic be discussed at this function... more reason to participate! ...make a change... brainstorm ways to have more influence, etc.

[M1EK]

You don't understand - the people that have the power and influence cannot be influenced by those with no power. The only folks who matter are TXDOT, the state legislature, and the city council; and the city council is a distant third (could be better if we sacked up and started pulling our weight at CAMPO).

The state lege doesn't want things to change; neither does TXDOT.