Members and guests were treated to an upbeat presentation on
the vision for revitalization, an industrial city’s transformation,
and a report on DC’s progress. Calvin Gladney, Managing
Partner of Mosaic Urban Partnership, set forth the three necessary
steps toward revitalization – reimagining, affirmative action
to move the process forward and understanding how public/private
partnerships work to make it a reality.
Tom Murphy, Senior Resident Fellow of ULI and the former mayor
of Pittsburgh, talked about how globalization, technology and
demographics are redefining the rules for society. For cities
to be successful, they need to be well-managed, vibrant, have
education at the core, and the ability to create companies. In
addition, raw materials and an entrepreneurial spirit are essential.
His success in redefining Pittsburg after the loss of manufacturing
jobs was due to several core principles – leadership to
get people to change their behavior, strategy, financing and design
excellence.
Rounding out the panel was Victor Hoskins, DC’s Deputy Mayor
for Planning and Economic Development, who reported that in the
last 10 months, DC has $1.9 B in construction starts and by 2015
plans to grow that to $11B. He reaffirmed the other panelists
view that technology is the opportunity.
