Judy Ackerman sent me this eyewitness summary of the first day of the Eco El Paso Symposium yesterday:
"I attended the first day of this of this high class, info packed (but pricey for the general public) conference with about 200 other participants. Impressive turnout, but preaching to the choir. Although I recognized many from city staff, EPWU and such public servants, I did not see more than one from the developer /builder/landlord communities.
"Mayor Oscar Leeser gave opening remarks and City Council Representative Cortney Niland gave a very brief pitch for walkable, sustainable downtown development, but did not stay for the presentations. I saw no other elected officials except Susie Byrd.
"Here’s just a few take-a-ways: Michele Reeves said that, nationwide, home prices in the cities are going up while in the suburbs they are going down, and we are overbuilt in retail. [No more malls, PLEASE!] Elizabeth & Brad Malsin related their 3 generations worth of experience in Historic Adaptive Reuse market. They take old, abandoned, dilapidated buildings and turn them into exciting, innovative, successful living and commerce centers. BTW, if you tear down an old building and build a new platinum LEEDS building, it will take 100 years to achieve the energy savings you’d achieve by rehabbing an old building, and that does not include the cost of the demolition of the old building.
"Richard Jackson, from UCLA was, by far, the most effective speaker. Check out his books: Making Healthy Places: Designing and Building for Health, Well-being and Sustainability (by Adnrew Dannenberg and edited by Jackson) and Designing Healthy Communities by Jackson."
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