Day Two Report
Presentation Materials from Day Two (in PDF format):

• Robert Berkebile - US Green Building Council Presentation
• Steve Bingler - Schools as Centers of Community
• Ragan Broyles - EPA Response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
• Christopher Forinash - Environment and Public Health
• Christopher Shea - Mixed Income Neighborhood Development
• Mark Davis - Mississippi River Drainage
• Secretary Thaddeus Cohen - Leadership in a Crisis
• Thomas Farley - Developing Healthy Neighborhoods
• William Frey - Planning for New Orleans' Demographic Future

Focusing on People and Public Services

APA President Paul Farmer

The morning of day two of the Louisiana Recovery and Rebuilding Conference found participants exploring people and public schools in terms of demographics, housing and mixed income, schools and education, public safety, and community health. WDUS Anchor Norman Robinson again served as master of ceremonies and reported on the extensive amount of TV and newspaper coverage the conference has received to date. “As you can see, the people here are hungry for news,” he commented. American Planning Association President Paul Farmer served as moderator for the panel.

William Frey

Rootedness of population makes Louisiana unique: William Frey, an academic demographer from the Brookings Institute and University of Michigan spoke of the statistics that make New Orleans unique. It is highly segregated by poverty and has fewer Hispanics than most cities. Yet it is a deep sense of rootedness before the hurricanes hit that gives New Orleans its special character, Frey said. “Some 76 percent of the population were born in the same state—that’s very high, and especially true for African Americans.” Frey also explained that “the recent migration is the largest group of reluctant migrants we have ever seen: this is a population that would really like to come back.” There is speculation about whether the city will become more Hispanic because of the work; more middle class, Frey explained, and people need to keep in mind that the way in which the city is rebuilt will have a strong demographic impact on its future population. He advised that we need to consider the “reluctant migrants” and posited that the longer it takes to offer them an opportunity to return, the fewer who will come back. Specifically, he recommended that the recovery planning effort:

1. Include diverse populations, especially evacuees, in planning process
2. Give priority to allowing original residents to return
3. Give improved housing options for returning and new immigrants to the region.

Chris Shae

Diversity is the key for neighborhood success: Chris Shae, Baltimore Housing Authority, told participants that he believes that diversity is the key to striving communities; particularly for the people most in need. He cited a Brookings Institute study that demonstrates how mixed-income redevelopment has been successful in bringing back market activity and quality of life to distressed neighborhoods in Atlanta, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Louisville. In each case, he said, household income, employment and workforce participation, student achievement, and property values all improved; moreover, crime dropped in all cases. “To make this process work,” he said, “you need sustained public leadership, coordination within government and among private actors, and new credibility with new private partners from plans to respond to market values.” He said that the planning must include low, middle, and high income residents. Lessons learned include that “you need to have the plan focused on designing, building, and managing to the highest segment of the market,” he said. Shae walked the participants through examples of existing neighborhood infill as well as “whole cloth revitalization.” In summary, Shae said, to create vital neighborhoods, you must:

1. Articulate your values and act on them
2. Build diversity everywhere you go
3. Build with institutions that matter—schools, schools, schools and libraries and parks.

Steve Bingler, FAIA

New models for planning and schools: Steve Bingler, FAIA, founder and president of Concordia, said he was here to talk about schools and a planning model that is based on community goals. Planning tends to happening in silos, he said, as he proposed consideration of the 20-year-old Concordia medical model: cities are like bodies; and like them, cities work as systems. The model includes physical, cultural, social, organizational, economic, human-capital, natural-resource, and lifelong educational domains. The need is to find ways of building circles of leadership to allow bottom-up and top-down community planning—you need both, Bingler said. “It can be useful to hire people in the communities to follow through when the planners are gone. You need steering communities that reflect the entire community—youth, seniors, and different ethnic groups. You need a mirror image.” In summary, you need integration and participatory planning.

For schools, Bingler stated, people in the community want student achievement and schools that are a part of their community. To create such schools, we need a new model—one that goes beyond the “factory model” of creating schools. “What worked in 1955 doesn’t work anymore,” he said. “We are training people to be creative, not work in factories.” For new models, we need to look at:

1. Community use of the school facilities, that includes such places as senior centers, performing arts centers, and daycare facilities
2. Extended centers, which take learning into the community into separate buildings, such as auditoriums and theaters near the school
3. Integrated centers for schools—for instance, small schools, health centers, and performance center grouped around a town square.

In conclusion, he said, we need to look to 2076, and what are we leaving for our future generations. “Louisiana is in a unique position to create these schools—we can keep the democratic revolution that began in 1776 alive,” he said.

Florida Community Affairs Secretary Thaddeus Cohen

Planning for public safety: Thaddeus Cohen, secretary of the Florida Department of Community Affairs, offered the sage planning advice that comes with experience. “We have recovered from eight hurricanes in 14 months, and we’re still dealing with Wilma,” he said. “I think we all realize that we’re not asking whether a disaster will occur, but when will it occur in your community. Basically, he said, community governments need disaster planning that includes:

1. Pre-disaster plans through hazard mitigation strategies
2. Aid for communities in post-disaster assessments
3. Development of long-term recovery strategies.

For pre-disaster planning, it is important, Cohen said, to engage partnerships with local components of the AIA as a pre-disaster plan. He further emphasized that Florida’s statewide building code, enacted recently, particularly the wind portion, has worked well. It is also imperative to determine the state’s Good Samaritan law, so that you can maximize volunteer help. Another important factor is to have a plan so that volunteers can start helping immediately. Florida is adding architects to their Web site, which allows people in distress to contact a design professional should they need one. In terms of recovery, important steps for recovery are re-establishing the entreprenurial class, diversifying the employment base, and re-establishing human capital. He concluded with the importance of community involvement: “It’s going to be the average citizen who is going to tell you these are the things that are important to them,” he said.

Thomas Farley, MD

Thomas Farley, MD, professor and chair of Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, told the audience that Louisiana ranks 49th in mortality of the 50 states and that heart disease, lung cancer, and stroke are the leading killers in the state. “The actual causes of death are tobacco, diet/physical activity, alcohol, microbial agents, toxic agents, and cars, which are related to behavior.” He explained that there is a disconnect between behavior and knowledge because “people often know about healthy behavior but don’t practice it.” Determinants of behavior in ever-increasing circles are: individuals, family, neighborhoods, community, and society. Farley noted that working on the outer rings works best.

Some of the societal changes that could be put into affect as rebuilding is undertaken are to:

• Increase opportunities to walk in communities
• Build playgrounds and parks within walking distance of every house
• Give economic incentives to stores that sell healthy foods and penalize those that sell unhealthy foods.

“We know that people who live near stores that sell healthy foods have healthier diets,” Farley said. In conclusion, he said that participants should realize:

1. Health and heath care are different
2. Behaviors influence environments
3. We have a great opportunity to build healthy environments.