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Posted: Thursday, June 18, 2009Buffalo State Hosts National Conference on Rust-Belt Redevelopment
By Mary A. Durlak
Economists, activists, think-tank leaders, and public officials will gather in the Bulger Communication Center on campus today and Friday to discuss how the federal government’s stimulus spending will shape the economic future of the Rust Belt.
Buffalo State’s Center for Economic and Policy Studies is hosting the Great Lakes Metros and the New Opportunity Summit: Remaking Policy and Practice in a Time of Transformation. Conference organizers include the Great Lakes Urban Exchange (GLUE); the Washington, D.C.-based think tank Northeast Midwest Institute; and Buffalo’s Partnership for the Public Good. Registration for both days is $25; there is no charge for students or representatives of not-for-profit groups.
The conference was organized as a response to the federal stimulus package, formally known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
“To maximize the opportunity of the new [Obama] administration’s commitment to cities, we must do our part locally,” said Bruce Fisher, director of the Center for Economic and Policy Studies. “Regional governance at the metropolitan level is the most effective way to ensure that local fragmentation doesn’t prevent us from utilizing federal support to its fullest potential. We have organized this summit to reflect our agreement that regional cooperation is a necessary component to addressing all of the issues facing our cities.”
The keynote speech will be given by Jennifer Bradley, senior research associate with the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program. An impressive list of speakers has been scheduled, including William Hudnut, former mayor of Indianapolis, and William Johnson, former mayor of Rochester. Stephen Banko, Buffalo Field Office director for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Kathryn Foster, director of the University at Buffalo’s Regional Institute, are also schedule to speak. Many community groups, including Neighborhood Housing Services of South Buffalo, the Coalition for Economic Justice, the Cleveland East Side Organizing Project, and PUSH Buffalo, will also be represented.
“The new administration has made cities a priority,” said GLUE director Sarah Szurpicki. “Unless policymakers, activists, and other stakeholders seize this moment to advance new strategies for regional collaboration and to rethink the role of federal policy in urban vitality, we may have to wait decades for another opportunity like this. Cities like Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Detroit don’t have that kind of time.”
The GLUE coalition was founded to promote the power, aide in the positive transformation, and address the shared challenges of similarly storied older industrial cities situated in the Great Lakes watershed.
