'Plain Talk on Quality Growth' was the name of the conference held yesterday at the Convention Center. Councilman Joe Hultquist was the co-Chair of the day-long event that attracted over 600 people from all over East Tennessee.

The goals of the conference were to:
* Cultivate a regional voice through local dialogue
* Build a regional understanding of quality growth and desired actions
* Explore opportunities for regional collaboration and action

An introduction by Councilman Hultquist and Congressman John J. Duncan, Jr. was followed by a regional overview by John Lamb, the other co-Chair of the event. An excellent video was shown (dvds of the video were given out) that "painted a picture" of how the East Tennessee region has changed and grown. Professor Bruce Wheeler gave an overview of the culture of the region. His comments received some chuckles when he noted that our historical culture included an attitude of anarchy and distrust of government, which we might do well to hang onto just a bit.

Daniel Williams, FAIA, APA gave the keynote address which gave some more detail to the discussion he'd given the evening before at the UT University Center. Very briefly, the main points that he made were:
* if we want better, smarter, more quality growth and development, we must PLAN for it now
* we must design for the next three generations (taking into consideration the lessons we have learned from the previous four generations)
* we must "design the connections" for the overlapping area between community, economy and the environment (decisions must be economic-based, environmentally-based and based on community values)
* environmental protection and economic development are not mutually exclusive

Conference participants broke down into small groups facilitated by volunteers to discuss and prioritize some of the growth/development issues identified through the Nine Counties, One Vision. process from a few years back. From this process these were the top vote-getters: Managing Growth, Environmental Protection, Infrastructure (roads, schools, water/sewer, public services, utilities), Long Term Sustainability, Economic and Business Development, Community Design and Urban Patters, Transportation and Mobility, Preservation of Community Character, Sprawl, Preservation of Open Spaces, and Infill and Redevelopment.

Panels were offered in the afternoon - Markets, Economy and Development; Community, Environment and Health; Transportation and Land Use; and Sustainability and Healthy Buildings. Afterward a brief report from each panel was given. We then broke again into small groups and voted/prioritized of the strategies we heard, which ones show the most promise for our region? These results will be released as a follow-up to the conference.

Although the speakers were extremely well-informed and interesting, for me, the most effective part of the conference was the networking. The region was amazingly well-represented and diverse. At my small group table, we had four counties represented - one mayor, two county planners, a TDOT transportation planner, a historic preservationist and a community development representative.

What I left with was this:
* We must involve all stakeholders, plan before we do, develop and seize partnerships and build economic incentives
* We must be the 'squeaky wheel"
* Green is not more expensive if we calculate the "true" costs of traditional development when comparing costs of smart development and growth
* We can not get discouraged by the magnitude of the challenge in front of us (Dave Hill said Thursday evening, "We must look for pockets of progress" and expand upon them.) and
* I really need to change over all my light bulbs to compact fluorescents!!!

I'd say the least effective speaker was the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Mary E. Peters. Although it was a huge honor to have her there, the only creative and progressive transportation ideas she offered involved the benefits of foreign-owned and tolled roadways and using alternative fuel vehicles. I guess I was naively hoping we'd hear more about mass transit. Daniel Williams had talked about it the evening before.

The day ended with Congressman Duncan's staff person (can't recall his name) who summed up very nicely the day. Councilman Hultquist also assured us that there would be follow-up activities.

"The future is dependent upon on the degree to which we make intelligent choices and take personal responsibility for long-term consequences."