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23rd Annual Building Livable Communities Conference for Local Elected Officials – Agenda

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Conference Details | Agenda

Conference Agenda

Thursday, March 13 — Tudor Lounge, Ahwahnee Hotel
6:00 – 7:45 PM Conference Registration (Entrance to the Solarium in the Ahwahnee Hotel)
7:30 PM Pre-conference Session: A New Era of Community Health
  • Lynne Ashbeck, Mayor, City of Clovis, Regional Vice President, Hospital Council of Northern and Central California
    Presentation (PDF)
    The Role of Local Governments in Community Health: Mayor Lynne Ashbeck, City of Clovis, Regional Vice President, Hospital Council of Northern and Central California will moderate the panel and discuss the role of local elected officials is preparing for and responding to the new era of Community Health.
  • John Mattison, M.D., Chief Medical Information Officer, Kaiser Permanente
    Presentation (PDF)
    Affordable Care Act, Technology and Community Health: John Mattison will discuss what local governments should know about the Affordable Health Care Act, New Technology and Access to Information and ideas for proactive strategies to prepare and prosper in the new era.
  • Anthony Iton, M.D., J.D., MPH, Senior Vice President for Healthy Communities at The California Endowment
    Presentation (PDF)
    Changing Demographics and New Investment Strategies: Anthony Iton will discuss changing demographics, long term community level health interventions and social impact investing.
9:30 PM Adjourn for the evening
Friday, March 14 — Tudor Lounge, Ahwahnee Hotel
6:00 – 7:45 PM Conference Registration (Entrance to the Solarium in the Ahwahnee Hotel)
7:15 PM Conference Welcome
  • Jon Harrison, Councilmember, City of Redlands
 7:30 PM Participant Introductions (Introduce yourself to one person you haven’t met)
  • Jake Mackenzie, Councilmember, City of Rohnert Park
7:45 PM Government 2.0: New Technology and the Sharing Economy Create Models for Community Prosperity
  • Steve Hansen, Councilmember, City of Sacramento 
    Feeding Innovation: Steve Hansen will moderate this panel and address the importance of promoting openness, transparency and accountability of city government by providing high-value government data.  Steve understand the need for government policies that help find innovative solutions from the private sector as well as a manager at Genentech, a biotechnology firm who seeks to treat the world’s most difficult medical conditions.
  • April Rinne, Chief Strategy Officer, Collaborative Lab
    Sharing Economy: April Rinne will discuss the sharing economy and how to harness its potential to create a more sustainable, efficient world.
  • Adam Tetenbaum, General Manager, Popularise
    Presentation (PDF)
    New Tools to Create YIMBYs: Adam Tetanbaum will discuss their online crowdsourcing platform focused on local development that gives residents the ability to be directly involved in transforming their neighborhood, and gives builders a chance to vet ideas and build support early in the project process. Residents can submit ideas, and vote for what to build on projects posted by real estate developers and local business operators with the goal of getting good projects in the ground faster.
9:30 PM Adjourn for the evening
Saturday, March 15 — Garden Terrace, Yosemite Lodge
8:00 AM Continental Breakfast
8:30 AM Participant Introductions (Name; Community/Organization; One word that represents your vision for your community)
9:45 AM Innovative Ways to Save Blue and Green
  • Andy Lipkis, Founder and President of TreePeople
    Presentation (PDF)
    Capture the Rain and Rebuild the Economy! (YouTube)
    The Miracle On Elmer Avenue (YouTube)
    Elmer Avenue Neighborhood Project: Andy Lipkis will talk about overall efforts in the Sun Valley watershed to implement green infrastructure projects.
  • Dr. Nancy L.C. Steele, Executive Director, Council for Watershed Health
    Presentation (PDF)
    Elmer Avenue Neighborhood Project: Dr. Nancy L.C. Steele will talk about Elmer Avenue – a neighborhood in Los Angeles’ NE San Fernando Valley that was transformed from a flood hazard zone into a model of sustainability and community prosperity.
  • Sam Salmon, Councilmember, Town of Windsor
    Presentation (PDF)
    Windsor Pay as You Save: Windsor Councilmember Sam Salmon will share Windsor’s innovative new water conservation program which is saving millions of gallons while creating an immediate drop in residents’ utility bills.
11:00 AM Break
11:15 AM Energizing Community Prosperity and Resiliency
  • John Law, Director of Municipal Development, HERO California
    Presentation (PDF)
    Home Energy Renovation Opportunity (HERO) Program: John Law will discuss the rapidly growing residential Property Assessed Clean Energy Financing program for energy and water efficiency upgrades.
  • Jonathan Parfrey, Executive Director, Climate Resolve
    Presentation (PDF)
    Climate Resolve (PDF)
    Becoming Cooler with Cool Roofs: Jonathan Parfrey will talk about the Los Angeles City Council recently passed update to the Municipal Building Code which makes them the first major city to require all new and refurbished homes to have a “cool roof”.
  • Sarah Leddy, Project Manager
    Farm to Fork to Fuel to Farm: Sarah Leddy will discuss Sacramento’s effort to ‘close the loop,’ by growing and eating local food, converting the food waste into energy to power buildings or vehicles and taking the remaining food waste back to farms for compost.
12:30 PM Boxed Lunch and Hiking Break (Resumes at 4:15 pm in the Garden Terrace, Yosemite Lodge)
4:15 PM Planting Your Vision in the Ground—Getting Good Projects to Pencil Out
Many cities are struggling with vacancy and decreased sales tax revenues. Often outdated ways of thinking about shopping and retail districts impede forward progress. Panelists will discuss how to maximize retail in challenging times and share strategies to achieve meaningful economic development and create commercial districts and mixed-use projects that are both vibrant and commercially viable.
Presentation (PDF)

  • David Greensfelder, Managing Principal, Greensfelder Commercial Real Estate LLC
    How Retail is Evolving: David Greensfelder will lay the groundwork for developing successful retail and mixed-use projects in the current marketplace by discussing the types of retail and questioning current assumptions.
  • Janet Smith-Heimer, Managing Principal, BAE Urban Economics
    Planning for Changing Retail: Janet Smith-Heimer will focus on translating emerging trends and share practical steps to support retail growth.
  • Kelly Kline, Economic Development Director for the City of Fremont
    Lessons from Fremont: Kelly Kline will discuss their efforts to revitalize the City, recruit retail, retain local business, and grow local businesses.
5:30 PM Reception
6:00 PM Dinner
7:00 PM Evening Keynotes: Community Reinvention and Resilience
  • R. Rex Parris, Mayor, City of Lancaster
    Presentation (PDF)
    CBS Solar Story (Flash Player)
    Mayor Parris will talk about his mission for the City of Lancaster to become one of the first net zero communities by 2020 motivated by increasing public safety, maintaining a competitive edge and combating the threat of climate change.
  • James Fallows, Author, The Atlantic
    The American economy isn’t all multinational corporations, monetary policy and Wall Street. It’s what’s happening with people and small businesses in towns and cities all over this country. James will share his reflections on challenges and opportunities that impact a community’s ability to prosper in the 21st Century.
8:30 PM Thriving Regions Lead to a Thriving State
  • Mike McCoy, Executive Director, Strategic Growth Council
    Presentation (PDF)
    Following the Money: Mike McCoy, Director of the Strategic Growth Council will discuss investments in regional cooperation and planning around High Speed Rail.
  • Steve Frisch, President, Sierra Business Council
    Presentation (PDF)
    Strategic Partnerships for Success: Steve Frisch will discuss how regional leaders can work together to make sure all of the state’s diverse regional economies can achieve the triple bottom line- economic, environmental and social prosperity.
9:30 PM Adjourn for the evening
Sunday, March 16 — Tudor Lounge, Ahwahnee Hotel
8:30 AM Continental Breakfast
9:00 AM Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
  • Kish Rajan, Director, Governor’s O!ce of Business and Economic Development (Go-Biz)
    Lessons from Across the State: Kish will share lessons from across the state of cities collaborating to stimulate broader growth throughout the entire region.
  • Veronica Saldana, Business Development Director, California FreshWorks Fund
    Presentation (PDF)
    California FreshWorks Fund: Veronica will talk about a private-public partnership loan fund that has raised $272 million to invest in bringing grocery stores and other forms of healthy food retailers to underserved communities.
  • Craig Scharton, owner of Peeve’s Public House and Local Market (former Business
    Development Director and City Councilmember, City of Fresno)
    Presentation (PDF)
    A Business Owners Perspective: Craig will discuss low and no cost measures that local governments can take to eliminate barriers and facilitate downtown development.
10:00 AM Fiscal and Environmental Stewardship
  • Pam O’Connor, Mayor, City of Santa Monica
    Building Broad-Based Support: Mayor O’Connor will moderate the panel and share a local policymakers perspective on the importance of assessing both the economic and environmental impact for policy choices drawing from her experience as the Board President for SCAG when they unanimously adopted the regions #rst Sustainable Community Strategy.
  • Keith Bergthold, Executive Director, Fresno Metro Ministry (formerly Assistant Director of the Development and Resource Management Department for the City of Fresno)
    Presentation (PDF)
    Land Use and Transportation Strategies for Fiscal Strength: Keith Bergthold will discuss the role fiscal analysis played in building support to adopt the City’s most ambitious General Plan scenario and continues to play in their ongoing struggle to increase infill, public transit and transit oriented development.
  • Ronald Milam, Principal, Fehr & Peers
    Presentation (PDF)
    Fresno County Roadways and Transportation (PDF)
    Protecting Our Transportation Investment (PDF)
    Protecting Our Transportation Investments: Ronald Milam will point out a simple truth – as communities grow and expand, so do the networks of roadways and other transportation infrastructure communities must maintain and operate. Too often land use decisions are made without an understanding of what the resulting transportation system will cost and if that cost is something a community can bear over the long term.
  • Denny Zane, Executive Director of MoveLA
    Presentation (PDF)
    Denny Zane will leave us with the importance of building a broad partnership and thinking outside of the box to implement smart growth strategies in a financially constrained era.
11:15 AM Conference Wrap Up
11:30 AM Conference Adjourns

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