Volume 5, Number 1
June 4, 2009
Culinary Conference Center at Hudson County Community College
Journal Square, Jersey City
The 2009 Downtown New Jersey Conference, "A Brighter Economy Starts Downtown" will be held in Jersey City at Journal Square. Journal Square is one of the state’s 19 Transit Villages, and the focus of the city’s Vision Journal Square redevelopment plan. See our December 2008 issue for more information.
Jeffrey Otteau, president of Otteau Valuation Group, Inc., will provide the keynote: "Economic Recovery: It's Starting Downtown." Mr. Otteau has been a featured author in this newsletter. See our December 2008 issue for his article “Transit-Oriented Housing—Shelter in a Storm?” Also invited are Governor Jon Corzine and Former US Attorney Chris Christie.
The sessions will include:
- New Retailers and Restaurants for a Changing Economy: Who are They? and How to Attract Them to Your Downtown?
- Incentives for Developers: The Pros & Cons of PILOTs, Abatements, and other Inducements
- One Tunnel, Lots of Trains, Coming to Your Downtown: Will You Be Ready?
- Money? Any Money? How to Find Short-term Credit and Long-term Loans to Put People to Work in Your Downtown
- Higher Education Institutions: Is There a Role for Them in Your Downtown?
- Bricks to Clicks: Getting Merchants and SIDs Online & Selling
The day will end with a reception at the historic Landmark Loew's Jersey Theater in the heart of Journal Square.
Downtown New Jersey, Inc. is a resource to all of those interested in supporting the state’s downtowns and business districts. For more information about the organization and the 2009 conference, see the Downtown New Jersey website.
October 30-November 1, 2009
Westin Waterfront Hotel
Boston, Massachusetts
Rail~Volution—a conference for those who believe strongly in how land use and transit can create greater livability and greater communities—will be held for the first time in Boston. The conference will bring together practitioners of all kinds interested in:
- Innovative approaches to transit and other alternative forms of transportation
- Best practices for land use and transit from around the U.S. and beyond
- Planning for future growth in their community
The conference will include hands-on workshops that feature case studies and how-to discussions; symposia that provide in-depth explorations of issues facing every community; and inspiring plenary sessions that showcase some of the best livability minds in the country and the world—all for attendees to return home with a palette of new ideas and a toolbox of new strategies for making communities more livable.
Rail~Volution began in 1989 as a series of outreach and advocacy events geared towards developing advocates for the Portland, OR metropolitan region's MAX Light Rail System. In 1995 Rail~Volution became a national conference—the only one of its kind—focused on land use and transit issues and their affect on communities.
For more information, see the Rail~Volution website or send an inquiry to: info@railvolution.com
