New Showcase Communities: EPA Administrator Carol Browner announced the 12 Showcase Communities winners at the Brownfields 2000 Conference in Atlantic City. Selected on a competitive basis, each Showcase Community will receive up to $200,000 for environmental cleanup assessments and $200,000 to support a federal staff person loaned to the community for two years. The sites selected include: Mystic Valley Development Commission, (Cities of Everett, Malden, and Medford MA) New Bedford, MA Niagara Region, NY Cape Charles, VA Jackson, MS Milwaukee, WI St. Louis, MO, and East St. Louis, IL Houston, TX Des Moines, IA Denver, CO Gila River Indian Community, AZ Metlakatla, AK

Over 20 Mayors participated in the Brownfields 2000 conference in Atlantic City October 11-13, 2000, as panelists, moderators and participants. In addition to Conference President Boise Mayor H. Brent Coles, Mayors James Whelan of Atlantic City, J. Christian Bollwage of Elizabeth, Douglas Palmer of Trenton, Anthony Masiello of Buffalo, Dannel J. Malloy of Stamford, Frederick Kalisz of New Bedford, Thomas Suozzi of Glen Cove, and Joseph Vas of Perth Amboy, participated in the conference.

Highlights of the panel presentations are featured below. More details of these sessions are on our website at usmayors.org/uscm/brownfields.

Showcase Communities: Trenton, Stamford and Glen Cove

Mayors Palmer of Trenton, Malloy of Stamford and Suozzi of Glen Cove presented their experiences as Brownfield Showcase Communities. This initiative is designed to demonstrate the value of focused and coordinated assistance from over 20 Federal agencies. Agencies work with state and local government to aggressively redevelop brownfield sites through improved communication between all levels of government and improved intergovernmental coordination and collaboration.

Mayor Palmer stated that Trenton's mission in redeveloping brownfields is acquiring, assessing, remediating and marketing properties. Trenton has redeveloped seventeen properties to date. In addition to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), other federal agencies have committed resources to assist the city. The Economic Development Administration has contributed funds for infrastructure improvements. Trenton has utilized 108 monies to create an ArtDeco Restaurant and with assistance from the National Endowment for the Arts to place public art on redeveloped brownfields.

According to Mayor Malloy, the City of Stamford markets their brownfields not as idle properties, but instead as valuable pieces of real estate. Stamford is building a major connector between area brownfields to increase the flow of traffic. In addition to a Conference Center and Ferry Place, Stamford has also built housing and commercial space on former brownfields sites and sell them at market rate. DOE has assisted Stamford through the Brightfields program, whereby a lighting system was installed on a former landfill. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has also assisted in preserving Stamford's commercial waterway.

Glen Cove's mission is to clean up the pollution at industrial sites, bring back economic engines to provide jobs and other services to citizens and reuse land instead of utilizing open space. Glen Cove has been able to attract $200 million to invest in brownfields redevelopment from private investment. Mayor Suozzi stated, "It was very difficult to get people to invest in brownfield properties, but the Showcase Community designation shows a concerted effort between the City, State and Federal government to assess, remediate and redevelop brownfields sites."

Play Ball! Turning Old Worksites into New "Play Grounds"

Mayor Anthony Masiello discussed Buffalo's five-year effort to redevelop an abandoned railroad property into 31 single-family houses adjacent to an existing neighborhood park. The Main-LaSalle Redevelopment project has been heralded as not only a step to provide much needed housing and eliminating a brownfield site, but also a possible anchor for retail reinvestment. The Main-LaSalle project will redesign and expand the McCarthy Park, to include three softball diamonds for Little League, two larger diamonds for Senior League, two soccer fields, a football field, and basketball courts. Under Mayor Maseillo's administration, Buffalo's community development department has built a coalition comprised of the New York State Department of the Environment, Housing and Urban Development and local banks willing to invest. The construction of thirty-one homes and park redesign will cost $9.7 million financed by public and private funds.

Hey Neighbor! Tapping all Brownfields Resources

Mayor Preston Daniels emphasized that Des Moines' current and future success is based on extensive partnerships that include neighborhood residents. The Des Moines community consists of 49 individual neighborhood associations organized under Des Moines Neighbors, which advises the City about redevelopment and quality of life issues. The Des Moines Good Neighbor Task Force was created under Mayor Daniels' administration. It began as an ad hoc task force convened to narrow the range of issues affecting redevelopment into a set of development principles. Businesses that want economic development assistance in the enterprise zone must work with the Good Neighbor Task Force to negotiate a Good Neighbor Agreement, which provides a project description addressing seven development principles. The principle focal points include environmental protection, worker safety, livable wages, hiring preference for local residents and other issues. The City Council then adopts the Good Neighbor Agreement and enforces the contract.