[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: NLC Conference

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Appelbaum, Matt

Colleagues,

A few weeks ago I went to the spring conference of the National League of Cities, which was held, as always, in Washington D.C.  Here are some of the meetings and sessions I attended:


*        The spring conference begins the yearly cycle for the various policy committees, when they choose the main topics they will discuss during the year at their subsequent meetings (one in July, then tentatively the third in September, and the final one at the fall NLC conference in November).  As you know, I'm again vice-chair of EENR (Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources).  Many potential topics are already part of NLC policy or lobbying efforts (such as restoring PACE loans), and, of course, there generally must be a relationship to some form of federal activity or desired action.  A number of interesting topics were suggested, but on my motion we coalesced around three.  First is finding ways to finance water infrastructure projects, which is a huge issue for most communities; I suggested we also examine linkages to climate change adaptation.  Second is continuing to work on natural gas, its role as a "clean" energy source and particularly the impact of fracking (hydraulic fracturing), an issue we began to investigate last year but which clearly needs more work.  Third is promoting energy efficiency, which I championed.  This includes a wide variety of items, both those with federal implications (like appliance standards) and also helping to promulgate best-practices.  I've attached a short memo that further describes these issues.

*        I'm also vice-chair of NLC's CityFutures Panel on Community and Regional Development (CRD).  This is a small group that discusses various relevant issues, with this year's theme being "livability."  As the chair couldn't attend I ran the meeting, which had an excellent speaker, Bill Hudnut, past, long-time mayor of Indianapolis and fellow at the Urban Land Institute, who talked about city planning and its implications on sustainability, housing, economic development, and transportation using many interesting examples.

*        I attended a session on "Making Great Places by Integrating Transportation, Housing, and Sustainability," which included an excellent presentation by Dan Gilmartin (executive director of the Michigan Municipal League), who has authored a book, "Economics of Place."  He talked about how "place" matters, and how successful 21st century communities need to be livable in order to attract residents and companies that will drive the economy.

*        Invited by a friend, I attended a meeting of the International Council, which had a good presentation by an MP from England, and a large group of visitors from South Africa (as well as their ambassador to the U.S.).

*        I finally got a chance to attend a meeting of the Western Municipal Association, a group of the municipal leagues from the western half of the U.S., where we heard an interesting talk by Harris Sherman (previously Colorado natural resources director, now undersecretary for natural resources at Agriculture), as well as updates from the various state leagues (fascinating litany of how many ballot issues there might be that would lower/eviscerate tax revenues).

*        There was, as usual, a gathering of CML folks with a briefing on various issues and some schmoozing.

*        We had a quite unexpected FasTracks meeting (can't avoid them even in D.C., apparently) with some RTD folks and mayors.  I think this helped the US36 MCC reach at least limited consensus on supporting the "hybrid" option.

*        I moderated a fine panel on "Energy Investments for Economic Growth."  We got an update on congressional energy issues (not that Congress will ever actually do anything...), PACE loans, and DOE's initiatives to make solar energy systems cost-competitive.

*        At the final luncheon, we heard from Sen. Enzi (Wyoming) about his efforts to get sales taxes applied on Internet/mail-order sales (which would, of course, be great for Boulder, although the mechanism that is moving through congress isn't as good as it should be), and David Brooks, the columnist for the NY Times, who was quite charming and witty.

*        Finally, I was invited to a DOE roundtable discussion.  I had thought/hoped that this would be about how DOE can assist cities with energy efficiency in their communities, but it was largely aimed at helping cities improve their own buildings.  But it was a good discussion, and I chatted for quite a while with the key folks from DOE.

--Matt
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