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National Brownfields Redevelopment Conference in Atlantic City Draws on Local Leadership for Lessons in Success

Release Date: 09/27/2000
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(#00170) NEW YORK, N.Y. – If you could ask a mayor of any city in the U.S. what the No. 1 obstruction to redevelopment is, the most likely answer would be Brownfields. That’s why the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is co-sponsoring, with the assistance of the Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania, the largest and most comprehensive conference on brownfields conference at the Atlantic City Convention Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey from October 11 through13, 2000. Attendance is expected to exceed 3,000 at this fifth annual conference. Brownfields are abandoned or underused industrial or commercial sites where redevelopment and productive reuse are hampered by industrial pollution. EPA’s Brownfields Program brings together stakeholders from private, government and community groups to assess, cleanup and return these properties to productive roles in their neighborhoods. This free conference, with the theme Research and Regionalism: Revitalizing the American Community, will tap into national and international research efforts as well as successful regional strategies to revitalize neighborhoods with brownfields sites. EPA Regional Administrator Jeanne M. Fox noted, "City mayors are often the front-line commanders, assessing the situation, marshaling efforts and obtaining resources to achieve successful brownfields redevelopment. New Jersey boasts a number of mayors that have had winning record in turning community problems, like brownfield sites, into opportunities for positive change." New Jersey mayors have prominent roles in this year’s National Brownfields Conference. Alantic City Mayor James Whalen will provide welcoming remarks at the opening session. Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer will be moderating the session entitled Revitalizing the American Community: Where Do We Go From Here?, Perth Amboy Mayor Joseph Vas will moderate a session entitled Partnership: The Sum is Greter Than its Parts. Elizabeth Mayor J.Christian Bollwage will moderate the main session entitled Scenes From a Mall: Where Once We Worked, Now We Shop. And, Hudson County Executive Robert Janisewski will moderate a session entitled Stakeholder Roles: The Agony and the Ecstasy of Public Involvement. Ms. Fox explained, "By sharing their successes at the conference, these local leaders will help conference attendees turn that knowledge into action in their own communities." Mayor Anthony Masiello of Buffalo and Mayor Tom Suozzi of Glen Cove, Long Island will also be speaking at the conference. A brochure on the conference and registration information is available online at: http://www.brownfields2000.org or call the Brownfield2000 Hotline at 1-877-343-5374.