Spring Land Economics Weekend in Dublin, Ireland
Wednesday, May 30 through Saturday, June 2, 2007
Register Now!

The whole of Ireland has arrived at an economic crossroads, from which there seems to be no turning back.  Under sustained pressure not only from the United Kingdom government but also from the many well-wishers in the United States, the sectarian, division between the Catholic Republic of Ireland and the still largely Protestant province of Northern Ireland (otherwise known as Ulster) is disappearing.  This is on the back of the realisation that in an ever more competitive world there are profound economic benefits in the whole or Ireland working together. 

Malahide Castle

The Republic has seen a huge renaissance over the last decade, such that not only has inward investment been high but there has been significant net immigration to the country.  Arguably the best has already been seen, but the Republic continues to enjoy high growth.

By contrast Ulster, so long plagued by security concerns, has only now begun to catch up with the south as the politicians of all hues have slowly learnt to trust each other.  Belfast, Ulster’s capital, is now in a buoyant state, already having seen major urban rejuvenation and with much more in train over the coming years.

Spencer Dock

For visitors to Ireland, both north and south, 2007 will be a great time to see the impact of the growing cross-border linkages, strongly fostered by business and academe on both sides of the border.  The Republic is having to learn how to manage success by keeping up the momentum of the last decade, while in the north the transition within Belfast is one of the most striking current examples of urban regeneration in the western world.

Titanic Quarter

LAI’s Irish Weekend will give ample opportunity to see all the changes in train and to meet a wide range of the most influential people on both sides of the border driving the changes.  Dublin’s recent success is palpable, while the work in hand in Belfast, the subject of a day trip, should certainly impress.  For those looking at investment opportunities in Ireland, there will be much over which to ponder. 

All in all, the Irish Weekend will be an exciting occasion, full of interesting things to see and hear.  For those who can spare a little more time, the Irish countryside, regardless of the border, is beautiful to behold, while travel around the whole island is easy.  And for those tempted to include England, Scotland and Wales on their itinerary, these are but a short hop by air across the Irish Sea.

Dr. Karen Sieracki

LAI member Agenda for the Dublin Land Economics Weekend (pdf)
Registration form for the Dublin Land Economics Weekend (pdf)
Registration form for the Dublin Land Economics Weekend (doc)

 

 

Letter from the President

Dr. James A. Fawcett

Our meeting in Ottawa was a great success thanks to the hard work of Doug Kelly and Nancy Meloshe of the Ottawa chapter and Patrick Devine, Ian Lord and their colleagues from the Simcoe Chapter in neighboring Toronto. It was an outstanding example of inter-chapter cooperation and all of our members attending were impressed with the resulting tours and meetings.

Since then we’ve had a major national election in the U.S. with some critical land use initiatives on state ballots. We’ll have more to say about that in future issues, but suffice it to say that ballot initiatives like Proposition 90 in California would have placed very serious limitations on municipal actions. Had it passed, Proposition 90 would have empowered landowners to initiate litigation over cities and counties whose actions apparently diminished land values. We’ll talk more about the details in the future but it is a serious issue that affects all of us who deal with land.

As you know, we meet semi-annually for our Land Economics Weekends. I’ve mentioned that these grew out of our Board of Governor’s meetings and now all members are welcome to attend. Well, this is the first volley of our pitch for the spring 2007 Land Economics Weekend when we will meet in Dublin, Ireland on Wednesday, May 30th and will continue until Saturday, June 2nd. The Weekend will commence with a stylish dinner at the historic Malahide Castle near Dublin. It will be followed by a day of touring around Dublin. The next day, we will have a historic tour of Belfast, Northern Ireland. Our London Chapter has worked tirelessly to arrange this very special tour that will include a luncheon hosted by the Belfast City Council and a tour of the Titanic Historic District, the largest redevelopment project in Europe. We’ll end the Weekend with a farewell breakfast our conference hotel, the Conrad, in Dublin.

Our registration materials will be issued in a few weeks and I hope you will consider joining us. Space will be limited so be sure to register early if you’re interested in joining this historic Land Economics Weekend.

On behalf of the Board of Governors I want to extend our warmest holiday wishes to you and your families. May the New Year bring us all a more peaceful world.

James A. Fawcett
International President
fawcett@usc.edu

Editor’s Column

Helen Sause

Fellowship – Friendship – Colleagues

‘tis the time of year for get-togethers and parties to celebrate our holidays and wrap up another year. I’ve been thinking a lot about how much we gain from our associations and sharing experiences.

Recently the Golden Gate Chapter held its annual Banquet and inducted 20 new members. Three of them were people I had recommended; I had to be away and missed the event, so I asked three friends that I knew were acquainted with “my” nominees to sit with them to ensure that their evening was special. When I returned home I had messages from these new LAI members telling me how much it meant to be included in LAI and how many of their friends they saw at the Banquet. This set me thinking about the benefits of membership. Also LAI members may want to be more overt about our organization! We need to let our light out from under bushel baskets and be more intentional about sharing our fine organization.

On the benefits side, I really appreciate the camaraderie of the monthly meetings and catching up with folks you may not see during the course of your work! Plus the Chapter’s programs give me new insights. The Land Economics Weekends also support professional exchanges and as well as seeing the host city in a different light from the usual tourist visit. I am really looking forward to the Spring Weekend and the opportunity to see you all as we visit the north of Ireland as well as the Dublin area, May 30-June 2, 2007. This is an unusual chance to see a city recovering from its “troubles” and with much major development underway.

So reflect on celebrating our collegial relationships and share special friendships within LAI.

Happy Holidays and may the New Year fulfill all your wishes!

Helen Sause
International Editor
helensause@alamedanet.net

Chapter Corner

Baltimore Chapter:

THANKS!
BALTMORE CHAPTER
LAMBDA ALPHA INTERNATIONAL
FOR A HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL
2006 PROGRAM YEAR
-----
The Board of Directors

Dr. Wim Wiewel, Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs,
University of Baltimore , Baltimore (c), Keynote Speaker, 2006 Annual Meeting
with Presidents of the Baltimore Chapter (l-r ) Ronald M. Kreitner, Josef Nathanson,
Dr. Wiewel, Ackneil M. Muldrow, II, Dr. Andrew C. Lemer.

The Annual Meeting was held on November 21, 2006 at The Center Club, Baltimore, Maryland.

Golden Gate Chapter:

The Annual Banquet on December 7 was well attended by 150 members, 20 new inductees and guests. The presentations of the evening were made by Harry O’Brien, Land Use Attorney and Dean Macris, City Planning Director. Their spoofs and characterizations on local development had everyone weak with laughter. Then much to his surprise, Dean Macris was presented with the prestigious Member of the Year Award for his many years of service to the City. A very special guest was also in attendance, many thanks to David Greenwood, LAI Regional VP West, for coming down to join us!

Los Angeles Chapter:

The Los Angeles Chapter website of Lambda Alpha International has recently been redesigned and has been launched.

Go to www.lailosangeles.org

New components, photos and historical information have been added.
It lists future and past events. The site is easier to navigate. You can also go directly to the main international website to obtain the monthly Keynote newsletter, and edit your own membership contact information.

There is a PDF document that describes how to move about the website. You can print it out if you'd like. Hope you try out the new website now!!

Vancouver Chapter:

Sam Sullivan, Mayor of Vancouver

Vancouver Mayor Shares Goals and Priorities at January Chapter Dinner

Traditionally the Vancouver Chapter has invited the Mayor of Vancouver to speak at the January Dinner Meeting. This presentation focuses on a more personal view of the city's goals, how they are being met and the issues the Mayor hopes to achieve in the coming year. In November 2005 Sam Sullivan was newly elected as Mayor of the City of Vancouver. During his tenure on the Council he initiated the Blueways Program to rethink Vancouver's connection of its waterways and raising the profile of our maritime communities. He continues to push for intensified urban land use and the protection of industrial lands. In Torino, Italy in March, 2006, he accepts the Paralympics flag at the 2006 Paralympics Winter Games. The flag will fly here when the Paralympics Games are hosted here in 2010. In 2004, he was awarded Canada's highest honour, being invested as a member of the Order of Canada for his community work on behalf of people with significant disabilities.

On January 17, 2007, Mayor Sullivan, will join the Vancouver LAI chapter to discuss his first year in office and goals for 2007.

A Review of Planning in Vancouver since 1974 and Comments by New Planning Director

(ED: The City of Vancouver is regarded by many as a model of sustainable design and a place where the quality of life has been placed over the needs of automobiles. This article from the Chapter Scribe, Don Vaughan, is a special analysis of the different emphasis placed by the City’s Planning Directors since 1974. This is very timely as the city has just selected a new Planning Director and the development community looks to the direction this director will take the city. What follows is an edited version of the excellent report from Mr. Vaughan. )

At the October 25th Dinner meeting the Chapter enjoyed hearing from Brent Toderian, the recently appointed Planning Director for Vancouver.
Prior to his new position in Vancouver he headed the development of Calgary's new comprehensive Centre City Plan, which meshes design and planning issues with arts and culture, social planning, economic development, and other facets of successful planning. Toderian also spent four years setting the tone for planning in Calgary. Prior to that he spent four years establishing the neighborhood design in Calgary as its Chief Subdivision Planner and was instrumental in introducing new approaches to sustainable design and growth.

Ray Spaxman, Director of Planning from 1974 to 1989, was an advocate for public open space and as result a number of public plazas were created and open space initiatives were initiated to guide development in the down town core. The pedestrian passages and linkages from Georgia Street between the buildings to the waterfront were illustrative of his vision.

Larry Beasly, Co-Director of Planning from the early 1990's until his retirement this year, on has had more to do with the form of development on the mega projects at Concord Pacific Place and Coal Harbour. He has advocated having projects developed to the street edge in a European style with the entries to the town houses on the street. These principles have contributed to the character of the city and have made Vancouver unique as a pedestrian oriented city.
How Brent Toderian, The new Director of Planning, would affect the city's plan was the topic of the dinner meeting. He began his comments by saying that having just arrived would not be so presumptions as to present his ideas about the planning of Vancouver. He said he intended to follow the goals and plans set out by Larry Beasly. He went on to express a belief in an emphasis on sustainability, creating beauty in the city and constructive candor, he was impressed with the positive relationship the city had with its citizens and community groups. He was pleased that the city, although incredibly great, set a challenge to take the city even further. He ended his comments by saying that he told Larry he intended to keep the ship on course and Larry's reply was; "That is not enough. You make it to fly."
Don Vaughan, Chapter Scribe.

Ed.Note: This is an essential approach for LAI - relationships with Planning Directors set the tone for development a having candid discussions on the goals of planners and the needs of development can achieve winning solutions for the city and the development community.

David Greenwood, FRICS, LAI Governor and Regional Vice President,

David Greenwood Appointed Chairman of
RICS Canada

David Greenwood MBA, FRICS, LAI Governor and Regional Vice President, was recently appointed to the position of Chairman, RICS Canada at a recent RICS Americas Board meeting in Toronto.

David, who is the LAI Liaison Officer on the Vancouver Chapter Board, was formerly Treasurer and President of the LAI Vancouver Chapter.

RICS, established in 1881, is the world's leading professional real estate organization with 120,000 members in 131 countries. For more information on RICS, visit www.rics.org.

Announcements

Save the Date ! ! !

Dublin, Ireland Spring Land Economics Weekend
May 30 - June 2, 2007
Register Today!
[Click Here] to register Online or
[Click Here] to register by mail

Los Angeles, CA Fall Land Economics Weekend
October 26 - October 30, 2007
More details coming soon!

In Memoriam

Los Angeles Chapter

Norman Murdoch, who led the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission from 1974 to 1988 and later developed a detailed street-tree plan for his Windsor Square neighborhood, died in October from complications of myelodysplasia, a bone marrow disorder.

When he came to Los Angeles as the county planning director from a similar position with the city of St. Louis, Murdoch was awed by the geographical difference – Los Angeles County covered more that 4,000 square miles compared with 61 square miles in St. Louis. Among the ideas he championed were preserving open space, including ecologically threatened areas, and seeing Los Angeles as the center of a network of satellite communities. “He promoted the understanding that Los Angeles isn’t one cohesive area with a single downtown but different downtowns with Los Angeles being the central one,” said Jon Sanabria, chief deputy of the county Planning Commission. Under Murdock’s leadership, a new general plan – essentially a blueprint for long-term growth and development in unincorporated areas of the county – was adopted in the 1980s.

In 1988, Murdoch became the county’s director of economic planning and retired in 1992. Before arriving in Los Angeles, Murdoch had spent six years in St. Louis and seven years as head of the planning and architecture for the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency. Although he had no previous affinity for trees, Murdoch had a passion for historical preservation which led him to chair the tree committee in Windsor Square and area of stately mansions near Hancock Park. He oversaw the cataloging of the neighborhood’s 2,490 parkway trees and compilation of a 45 page master plan that led to the planting of more than 900 new specimens. Jane Ellison Usher, president of the Los Angeles city Planning Commission said “the trees are a legacy that will last another several generations.”

Murdoch was born in Stockton, California and received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a master’s in city and regional planning at UC Berkeley. He met his wife, Sheila, on a European architectural and city planning tour in 1952. She died in 2003. Murdoch is survived by a daughter, Cathy Jaramillo, a son, Dr. Geoffrey Murdoch of Pittsburgh, a sister and a granddaughter.

New Members

Boston Chapter

Gregory Peter Vasil, Greater Boston Real Estate Board

Golden Gate Chapter

Dena Belzer, Strategic Economics
Margo N. Bradish, Cox, Castle & Nicholson LLP
Stephen F. Eimer, Westfield Corporation, Inc., San Francisco
Michael S. Freed, Passport Resorts LLC
Richard (“Rocky”) B. Fried, Farallon Capital Management LLC
Alan F. Greenwald, AF Evans Company, Inc.
Jon Knorpp, MacFarlane Partners
John D. Landis, University of California
Olson Lee, San Francisco Redevelopment Agency
Chris McEldowney, McMorgan & Company
Sean Randolph, Bay Area Economic Forum
Evan Rose, SMWM
Kirby Sack, Kirby Sack Properties, Inc.
Chi-Hsin Shao, CHS Consulting
Kate H. Stacy, Office of the City Attorney, City Hall
Ron Sturzenegger, Banc of America Securities
Susan Taymor Sagy, Broadreach Capital Partners
Gary A. Teague, Bank of America
Janice Thacher, Wilson Meany & Sullivan, L.P.
Jim Wunderman, Bay Area Council
Lori L. Yamauchi, University of California, San Francisco

Los Angeles Chapter

Joe Chatham
Adam Comeau
Ruchika Garga, CPA
Rebecca Huetter
Debi Kroman
Neal Millard, Esq.

Orange County Chapter

Robert M. Taylor, Robert M. Taylor Corporation dba The REMM Group

Philadelphia Chapter

Lois S. Hagarty, CHH Partners LLC
John Robert Noonan, Somerset Holdings
Peter J. Porretta, Lighthouse Architecture, Inc.
Chistopher Weeks, Amtrak
Jonathan Weiss, Templetown Properties

Simcoe Chapter

Julie Di Lorenzo, Diamante Urban Corp.
Paul D. Ferris, Ferris + Associates Inc.
Andrea Gabor, Urban Strategies Inc.
John G. Jung, Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance
Leo F. Longo, Aird & Berlis LLP
Cynthia A. MacDougall, McCarthy Tétrault
Lauren Millier, urbanMetrics Inc.
N. Jane Pepino, Aird & Berlis LLP
Martin Rendl, Martin Rendl Associates
Chris Sherriff-Scott, MintoUrban Communities Inc.
Cheryl A. Shindruk, Geranium Corporation
Mimi Ward, Malone Given Parsons Ltd.
Dennis Wood, Wood Bull LLP
Leslie Yager, Plazacorp Investments Limited