CREATIVE CITY NEWSLETTER: JULY 2003

ISSUE 8: NEW OPPORTUNITIES

ISSUE IN FOCUS: E-government On-Line, Easy, and Accessible
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Community Development Lends its Hand to Economic Development
CREATIVE CORNER: Smart Land Use
The Young Creatives Speak
Creative Cities in the News
Articles of Interest
Upcoming Events

Greetings Creative City Participants!

Hello Creative City Participants, and welcome to this eight edition of the Creative City Online Newsletter. I want to introduce myself as the new Creative City coordinator replacing Laura Durham who has left Partners. Having worked with so many of you, she became envious of your direct hands-on local work and has joined the city planning department of Alexandria, VA. She much enjoys her new work.

As I begin to feel my way into the Creative City program, I hope to cultivate and sustain an association with you as Partners continues to develop and advance programs and campaigns that will help to push your cities to the forefront of livability and creativity. With support from Penny and Bob, we all look forward to serving you in the months to come.

However, I write to you now to provide an update on how we are aggressively moving forward under the Creative City banner:

BRIDGE BUILDERS’ AWARDS CEREMONY AND DINNER

First and foremost, I want to extend an invitation to any of you, who may be in the Washington Area on September 18, to join Partners, as our special guest at our Seventh Annual Bridge Builders’ Awards ceremony and dinner being held at The Hotel Monaco in downtown DC.

This year we have chosen a special creativity theme for the event as a way to honor the Tenth Anniversary of our Culture Builds Communities Initiative. We will be honoring devoted men and women who have not only crossed racial, economic, cultural, or geographic barriers to create positive and innovative change in their communities, but have done so by expanding and promoting cultural agendas as a form of community enhancement. As you know, the introduction of this initiative, and the partnerships that have been formed in communities like yours nationwide as a result of this effort, have changed the face of America.

AMERICA’S MOST LIVABLE CITIES AWARDS

As we have done about every half-decade, this summer will be an exciting time as Partners convenes an exclusive jury of livability and creativity experts to once again select America’s Most Livable Cities and place them on our distinguished Most Livable roster. This time is fast approaching as we look to inaugurate our new class and of course we are looking first to our Creative City participants based on the hard work and time they have put in to making their cities America’s Best and Most Livable.

America’s Most Livable Web Site
The ending of the summer will lead us into the intense development stage of our new and major marketing campaign and overhaul of our "America’s Most Livable" website (www.livableamerica.com) that will highlight these cities and call them to the attention of urban strategists, as well as media and marketing resources across the country. As a member of this useful, visible, and highly linked website, these groups will easily be able to use these communities as examples of what is working, what is new, and what leadership is being showcased in the American community as we move into the future.

America’s Most Livable Cities at the National Press Club
On March 22, 2004, Partners will hold an extraordinary event at the National Press Club where we will unveil and honor those cities that our elite committee has deemed Most Livable. Present at this event will be such honored guests and speakers as Secretary of the Treasury and former Partners Trustee, John Snow, a distinguished group of mayors from our chosen communities, and greetings from the President.

AGING IN PLACE
As the year continues to push on, Partners has entered into a collaboration with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and The National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (N4A) to develop a national initiative on Aging in Place. This 18-month initiative will engage communities by identifying key stakeholders, funders and opportunities surrounding this issue; offer hands-on technical assistance; assist communities in maintaining momentum of the Aging in Place program; and conclude with a preparation and dissemination of "blueprints" based on different sized cities and issue leaders on Aging in Place. As one of America’s exemplary communities, we encourage each of you to take a lead in rethinking your community’s needs and consider joining us in this partnership to develop a group of national "blueprints" on Aging in Place.

CREATIVE CITY
As all of you know by now, the conference we had planned for May, this year, on arts, culture, and entertainment and hosted by St. Paul as a national forum and part of the concluding sequence of events of the Creative City program has been postponed at the request of Mayor Kelley. However, Charlotte, North Carolina, as a component of their Creative City program, has asked Partners to develop a business plan for the city’s creativity agenda in addition to taking the lead in hosting the concluding conference for The Creative City in October 2005. Make sure to mark your calendars for this exciting event. And of course we will keep you posted of the details as they arise.

Creative City Public Policy Report
Partners is assembling a new team to work on the public policy research, and best practices we have received from you in order to weave together the public policy report. The goal is to have the report finished and available for release after the unveiling and announcement of America’s new class of Most Livable Cities in March 2004 and prior to the concluding conference in Charlotte in October 2005.

In summary, the later part of this year until 2005 will be a time of developing special thematic gatherings with many events being pushed to later dates because of public funding deficits. However, we are moving forward the undertaking of the public policy report, the development of the awards agenda, the creation of a major new Web site to highlight the honored cities and their achievements, and the advancement of a major national initiative on Aging in Place.

In the meantime, please check out our two web sites (www.livable.com and www.livableamerica.com) for news and updates on the various participants. Once again, I look forward to working together with you as we move forward to 2004 and reach the culmination of the Creative City program.

As usual, this edition is full of additional links. Our Issue in Focus is the Publication Guide, and I have compiled a list of Articles of Interest to Creative City participants in the same format. Other regular features such as a list of Upcoming Events, links to Creative Cities in the News, and our regular features: News You Can Use and the Creative Corner, are also found in this issue. I hope you will find these both useful and interesting in relations to your Creative City endeavors.

Best regards,

Irene Garnett