Southwestern Pennsylvania Forum on Regional Opportunity, Sustainability, and Economic Growth

Friday, May 16th, 2014, 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (registration opens at 8:30 a.m.)

Penn State Fayette Eberly Campus - Community Center

Registration fee includes lunch: $15 in advance; $20 at the door (Register by May 12th to guarantee your boxed lunch)

Building One Pennsylvania’s Southwestern Pennsylvania Forum on Regional Opportunity, Sustainability and Economic Growth will involve local leaders and federal and state policy makers to seek bipartisan solutions to the unique but common challenges around transportation and water infrastructure, schools and housing facing so many of the region’s communities. Participants will include local elected and civic leaders, scholars and policy experts, as well as state and federal policy makers.

BACKGROUND

Pennsylvania’s industrial towns and older, suburban communities were once thriving, diverse and desirable places. But for many decades they have been neglected by federal and state policies that have frequently favored new suburban development at the expense of established communities. Pennsylvania’s aging communities are now experiencing crumbling infrastructure, abandoned Main Streets, job loss, struggling schools and excessive tax burdens. 

The forum will begin to identify comprehensive solutions and build bipartisan support for meaningful action to stabilize and support inclusive communities and promote sustainable, economically competitive regions. 

TOPICS

TRANSPORTATION FOR ALL AMERICANS – A broadly-supported national transportation agenda has yet to be realized in part because of ideological divides that pit roads against transit, and urban against suburban.  Americans and American industries want and use all modes of transportation. As Congress considers reauthorization of the federal transportation bill, the forum will explore opportunities for a comprehensive approach to transportation investments to promote sustainability, reduce social disparities, and drive regional economic growth.

WATER INFRASTRUCTURE –The forum will highlight the largely hidden yet enormous pressures – fiscal, physical, and regulatory – on municipalities and residents to maintain and upgrade waste and storm water systems and explore opportunities to promote jobs and economic growth, social equity and environmental sustainability through investments in water infrastructure.

SCHOOLS AND HOUSING – As regional poverty grows, it’s often the most diverse communities – including suburbs – that absorb a disproportionate share of low-income and affordable housing, contributing to widening social disparities and neighborhood and school instability. The forum will present best practices and strategies for addressing regional stability and social mobility through housing and school policies that promote stable and inclusive middle class communities.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

David Rusk, founding president of Building One America, combines strong analytical skills with practical political experience. He is a former federal Labor Department official, New Mexico legislator, and mayor of Albuquerque. Now a consultant on regional policy, Rusk has worked in over 120 US communities as well as in Canada, England, Germany, South Africa, and The Netherlands. His writings have been endorsed by the Government Finance Review and the Congressional Quarterly as must reads for all practicing local government officials.

Gregory (Greg) F. Scott, P.E.,  most recently served two terms as a Region 2 Governor of the Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) from 2006 until 2012, representing civil engineers from Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and the District of Columbia. Greg served on the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Report Card Committee for its 2006 release of the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Report Card, was Chairman of the Committee for its 2010 update of the Report Card and was on the executive organizing committee for the 2008 ASCE Annual Conference held in Pittsburgh.  A senior project manager in the firm of Buchart Horn, he is the lead author of the 2014 Pennsylvania Infrastructure Report Card Wastewater Grade Report.

Additional Speakers to Include:

Andrew J. Boni, Township Supervisor, Perry Township; Member, Executive Committee, Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors

Deborah Brown, Braddock Borough Council

Marcia Goisse, Fairchance Borough Council

Joe Kirk, Executive Director, Mon Valley Progress Council

Allen Kukovich, former State Senator; President, Smart Growth Partnership of Westmoreland County

Jeff Landy, Borough Manager, Borough of Mt. Pleasant

Mayor Richard Lattanzi, City of Clairton

Jack Lawver, Brownsville Borough Council

Marilyn Messina, Woodland Hills School Board

Muriel J. Nuttall, Executive Director, Fayette Chamber of Commerce and the Redstone Foundation

Matt Pavlosky, Transportation Planner, Public Participation, Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission

Greg Primm, Township Manager, Allegheny Township; President, Westmoreland Economic Development Initiative for Growth (WEDIG PA)

George Rattay, Retired Business Manager Financial Secretary/Treasurer,

Plumbers & Pipe Fitters Local #354

Shirley Rosenberger, Manager, Greater Connellsville Chamber of Commerce

Joseph F. Segilia, Director of Outreach and Continuing Education, Penn State Fayette

Mayor Lester Ward, Brownsville Borough

Tom Yarnell, South Greensburg Borough Council