By Judy Sheahan
June 23, 2003

Conference Vice President Hempstead (NY) Mayor James A. Garner addressed national and international mayors regarding his views of building a sustainable community.

"Although there is a lot of rhetoric around the term 'sustainable development-, I view it as a useful and practical tool," Garner said. "Sustainable Development is a way of designing a community today that looks at the long term goals of benefiting its citizens while not impacting, and hopefully improving, the environment."

Garner outlined how he used the concept of sustainable development as part of a master plan for his community.

"My vision for Hempstead is to create a community where people want to live, work, and play," Garner said, "It is a community where people of all income levels have economic opportunities, housing opportunities, and transportation options both now and in the future."

Garner explained how he combined a train station with the bus terminal to create a transportation hub that is used by many Long Island residents. Near the terminal, shops, restaurants, and housing have been developed. Garner said that by designing it that way, Hempstead now has a lively hub that promotes people walking around the neighborhood and enjoying the amenities. In addition, by promoting additional mass transit use, air quality is also improved.

"That is one of the examples of how I defined and implemented sustainable development in my city," Garner said, "it was having a long-term vision for my community and implementing that vision."

Garner also explained the value of cultural exchanges between mayors of different countries, such as the International Conference of Mayors Meeting and the Sustainable Development Conference in Johannesburg.

"Hearing from my colleagues about what they were implementing in their own communities was amazing," Garner said, "there were examples of developing housing along mass transit corridors, creating techniques to ease traffic congestion and reutilizing old industrial properties back into productive use."

"We learned a lot from one another and I am happy that many of the people I met in South Africa are with us for this meeting. I hope in the days to come, we can continue that dialogue and build upon it," Garner said.