GPA 2007 Spring Conference

Online registration is now available for the GPA Spring Conference and Collaborative Symposium on Growth & Design. The registration website is www.regonline.com/Spring07

DOWNLOAD the Tentative Schedule (pdf)

A Few Headlines You may have Missed

January 11th, 2007, U.S. Comptroller General David Walker told the Senate Budget Committee that the huge mismatch between federal revenues and expenses, “is not pretty, and it’s getting worse. We need to recognize reality. We cannot grow our way out of this problem. The math just doesn’t work”. Walker heads the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office. The federal governments total liabilities and commitments to social programs now total $50 trillion, about four times the nation’s economic output. That is up $20 trillion or twice the U.S. output, from fiscal year 2000.

One week later, January 18th, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned the U.S. faces a “vicious cycle” of rising budget deficits and interest rates unless Congress quickly figures out how to pay for Social Security and Medicare benefits. Bernanke stated “unfortunately economic growth alone is unlikely to solve the nations’s impending fiscal problems”. Without action to reduce benefits or increase funding for entitlement programs, “the U.S. economy could be seriously weakened with future generations bearing much of the cost”.

On Monday, January 22nd, chief executives from major corporations including General Electric and DuPont teamed up with environmental organizations urging U.S. lawmakers to pass legislation that would ultimately cut greenhouse gas emissions. "The time has come for constructive action that draws strength equally from business, government, and non-governmental stakeholders," said Jeff Immelt, Chairman and CEO of General Electric. The United States Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) includes 10 corporations including GE, Alcoa, British Petroleum and invest bank Lehman Brothers and four environmental organizations including the Nation Resources Defense Council.

Friday, February 2nd, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which includes 2,000 scientists from 130 countries stated there is a 90% chance that human activity is responsible for global warming which will result in a much warmer planet by 2100. At an American Petroleum Institute event in December 2006, opponents of mandatory carbon laws suggested that new U.S. legislative changes would have little impact on global warming since other major industrial countries like China and India are not on board.

One interpretation of the above headlines is that an investment strategy based heavily on oil dependence, automobile reliance and historical transportation investments funded by federal government sources is speculative and possible destructive. Future demands on federal expenditures for everything from Social Security and Medicare for retiring baby-boomers to homeland security coupled with federal debt obligations could substantially impact receipt of future federal funds for roads or transit in Georgia. At the same time, forecasts for a doubling of energy consumption worldwide by 2030 make the end of cheap oil a near certainty.

Many transportation advocates in Georgia continue to promulgate a strategy for public investments and growth that not only may limit Georgia‘s economic potential but is increasingly not supported by Fortune 500 companies. Enormous national and global problems will impact Georgia. Population growth in Georgia will continue for many decades with more cars and potentially fewer public resources to accommodate them. More than ever location matters in public and private investment decisions. Mindlessly following past strategies to accommodate growth could mean our children and grandchildren’s future is much worse than our own.

March 2, 2007
Southface – Sustainable Atlanta Roundtable, Atlanta, GA
for more info please visit their website at www.southface.org

March 5 – 6, 2007
Community Planning Institute Training Program, Columbus, GA
Twelve hours of education in land use, comprehensive planning and legal issues. Course completion provides participants “Certified Planning Commissioner” status granted by the Georgia Planning Association and the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. Who should attend? Planning Commissioners; Zoning Board of Appeals members; other Citizen Planners and Planning Officials;  Government Planning Staff and Elected Officials. Download Agenda (pdf)

March 8 – 10, 2007
GPA Spring Conference, Buckhead – Atlanta, GA
for more info please email rlebeau@atlantaregional.com

March 10 – 14, 2007
Congressional City Conference, Washington, DC
for more info please visit their website at www.nlc.org

March 21 – 23, 2007
Paying for Sustainable Water Infrastructure:  Innovations for the 21st Century,  Atlanta, GA
for more info please visit their website at www.gmanet.org

March 22 – 23, 2007
Greenprints Conference, Atlanta, GA
for more info please visit their website at www.southface.org

Visit the GPA Calendar of Events website page for a full listing...

District 1 – Water Resources Workshop

by Larry Vanden Bosch, AICP, District 1 Director

The North Georgia RDC, Coosa Valley RDC, and Northwest Georgia Regional Water Resources Partnership are conducting their annual Water Resources Workshop on February 13, 2007 at the Forum in Rome. The topic of this year's workshop is Regional Water Resource Solutions. The workshop is from 9 am to 4 pm. Registration fee is $30.00 if registered prior to January 26, 2007, $50.00 after January 26.