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                            Rebuilding Our Region Sustainably Workshop

South Louisiana Submerged Roads Program featured on NPR

On June 22, 2008, NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday program featured the South Louisiana Submerged Roads Program, a partnership between RPC, the City of New Orleans, LDOTD, and FHWA to repair roads damaged as result of Hurricane Katrina.

The story highlights RPC’s efforts to incorporate bicycle lanes and ADA accessible sidewalk ramps as street are repaired as well as coordinate road work with upgrades to subsurface utilities.

Walter Brooks, RPC’s Executive Director, provides information on coordination efforts.

NPR’s story may be heard at:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91779971

Additional information on the Submerged Roads Program may be found at:

http://www.pavinglaroads.com/index.html

Rebuilding Our Region Sustainably:
High Time for Low Carbon

RPC Executive Director Walter Brooks and MWH President and CEO Bob Uhler with the cypress tree planted in New Orleans City Park. In lieu of individual speaker gifts, the workshop committee opted to donate two cypress trees along with a year of care and maintenance to New Orleans City Park. Staff Photo, Otte

On June 12, 2008, RPC and MWH Global Inc., co-hosted a workshop entitled: Rebuilding Our Region Sustainably: High Time for Low Carbon, which focused on incorporating sustainable building practices as we continue to rebuild southeast Louisiana.

The objectives of the workshop were to:

	Better understand building practices and technologies that can reduce current and future energy consumption and green house gas emissions
	Share and learn from successful experiences and past challenges in order to better implement sustainable strategies
	Build an enduring and collaborative network to keep the momentum going and rebrand the New Orleans metropolitan region as a sustainable community

Presentations from an international panel of speakers covered a variety of topics including:

	Reducing vehicle miles traveled to increase transportation efficiency
	Current projects to rebuild our wetlands using wastewater treatment plant effluent
	Efforts to update our local schools to make them more energy efficient and improve the quality of the students’ learning environment
	Activities of the US Green Building Council
	New developments in computer models to predict and plan for flooding events
	How carbon emissions can be limited using a cap and trade system

New Orleans City Councilmember Shelley Midura and Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard addressed the audience in support of rebuilding sustainably and noted projects currently underway in both their jurisdictions that are putting these principles into practice.

Councilmember Midura mentioned the City Council’s resolution to assert their commitment to energy efficiency and develop of a viable energy efficiency program, while President Broussard noted that the post-storm renovations of the Yenni Building (Jefferson Parish’s east bank office building) included a variety of energy efficient measures.

Hunter Lovins, President and founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions, gave the keynote address, discussing how incorporating environmental practices into businesses and governments can stimulate positive economic development and enhance a community’s quality of life.

The workshop concluded with a working session where attendees developed action steps to implement the ideas discussed during the workshop.

In an effort to practice what we preach, the workshop included a variety of greening efforts, such as:

	Minimization of individually package foods and beverages by using bulk serving portions when available, for example providing pitchers of water instead of bottled water
	Use of locally grown or organic foods as available
	Providing containers to recycle paper, plastic and metal
	Distribution of conference proceedings via web site instead of CDs via mail
	Reduction of paper printed for workshop attendees by providing additional workshop information via web site
	Donation of two cypress trees with funding to maintain the trees for one year in New Orleans City Park
	Utilizing remote conference call technologies for our speaker from the state of Washington to reduce emissions related to travel

Community Outreach Meeting
May 2007

The Regional Planning Commission, in coordination with the University of New Orleans, conducted a Community Outreach meeting on April 13, 2007. Those in attendance included representatives from environmental groups, non-profit organizations, and local communities within the RPC’s five-parish region.

The purpose of the meeting was to provide an overview of RPC’s programs and begin to foster a stronger relationship with the community. The RPC hopes to continue this endeavor with regular meetings to discuss specific upcoming projects and allow the community groups to present on their projects and programs. In addition, we began a discussion on incorporating comprehensive planning strategies into projects throughout the region.

PowerPoint Presentations from the meeting (PDF files):

Other Documents: Agenda    

Resource Agency Network

On May 24, 2007, the Regional Planning Commission held a workshop for Resource Agencies similar to the Community Outreach meeting held on April 13. Invitees included representatives from local, state, and federal agencies working within RPC’s five-parish region.

As with the Community Outreach meeting, RPC presented an overview of our programs and began to develop plans for a regular forum to foster better program communication and project coordination between our local, state, and federal partners.

This network will provide opportunities for improved coordination between the various agencies and allow for additional partnerships on specific projects within the region. In addition, we began a discussion on incorporating comprehensive planning strategies into projects throughout the region.

RPC is currently required to coordinate our programs and projects with other local, state, and federal agencies by the new SAFETEA-LU legislation (Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users; this is the current transportation law which dictates federal transportation funding).

PowerPoint Presentations from the meeting (PDF files):

Other Documents: Agenda; List of Attendees