By Judy Sheahan
December 9, 2002

Speaking at the opening plenary session of the Brownfields 2002 Conference in Charlotte, Conference of Mayors Vice President Hempstead Mayor James Garner praised the Administration, Congress and meeting attendees for their efforts in encouraging the passage of brownfields legislation into law. He praised the Environmental Protection Agency and Administrator Christine Todd Whitman for leading the way in providing valuable tools for local communities to redevelop brownfield properties, and he encouraged every federal, state, and local agency to consider what they could do to redevelop these properties. He also linked the role that brownfields redevelopment can play in building a sustainable community. The conference, which ran from November 13-15, was attended by over 3,500 people including mayors, city officials, businesses and developers.

Excerpts from Garner's Speech

"On behalf of the Conference of Mayors, I want to express my deep and sincere thanks to the Administration, Congress, and all of you for your efforts in passing brownfields legislation into law. For years, the Conference has come before you urging your support in getting this important legislation passed. I'm pleased that we can finally celebrate this important victory.

"The new law will assist us greatly as we continue our efforts to redevelop these properties. I know in my own Village of Hempstead, I have worked for years with my community and neighborhood groups to create a vision for what we wanted our neighborhoods to look like.

"We have redeveloped the city center back into a thriving, walkable neighborhood that also serves as a transportation hub for the rest of Long Island. We have taken dilapidated old buildings and revitalized them into a 12-acre shopping center, a movie theatre, and a newly modernized railroad and bus station. We have built mixed-use housing, where apartments are above stores, and where within a 15-minute walk, you can have access to jobs, entertainment, housing and transportation.

"We were able to accomplish all that with a lot of hard work and a lot of resources brought together to make our vision, a reality. But we, like so many other communities, have much more to do.

"My fellow mayors and I believe that brownfields redevelopment is a win-win for everyone involved. It is pro-environment, pro-business, pro-neighborhood, and pro'smart growth.

"It also is a means of developing a sustainable community.

"I had the honor of being a U.S. delegate at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa. At the Summit I participated in a Local Government Session where 750 local officials, from all around the world, described their "best practices" in sustainable development.

"They were surprised to find out how progressive U.S. cities were on such topics as transit-oriented development, energy efficiency, preserving green spaces and farmland, and providing affordable housing.

"Redeveloping brownfields is a fundamental principle in sustainable development.

"We cannot have sustainable communities if we simply throw away land once it has been used. I'm glad that we have finally recognized this important fact. But we need to do more.

"We need the private sector, community groups, and just about every agency in the federal, state, and local government, to focus on this issue and determine what they can do to contribute to the revitalization of these properties.

"I want to commend Governor Whitman and the brownfields staff for their vision, understanding, and commitment to this issue. EPA has led the way in addressing this problem.

"I also want to thank EPA for encouraging other federal agencies to commit themselves to this issue with the adoption of this new and improved federal partnership agenda. I commend these agencies for their support but I would like to challenge them to do even more.

"We need every level of government and every agency to recognize their potential role in assisting in the redevelopment of these properties and I encourage them to examine their programs and policies to see how they can play a more substantive role.

"We have come a long way in redeveloping brownfields in our communities but we have much more to do. I commend all of you for your tremendous work in this field and I encourage you to keep this movement alive and strong. It will prove vital to the long-term health of our communities."