Change is inevitable. Developers can be good for a community's future or bad. How we plan for that future is important. Prevent change and we'll stagnate... or worse. Allow too much and we'll sacrifice what is special. Balancing those realities is a matter of risk, experimentation, community involvement, and flexibility.
Concentrate and our partners, the Ann Arbor DDA, have invited Melanie Piana to discuss how other communittes are working to understand developers' motivations, protecting their interests, evolving with changing demographics, and getting positive results.
Melanie Piana is the Associate Director of the
Michigan Suburb Alliance and the creator of Redevelopment Ready Communities, a program that evaluates urban communities to help them create more effective, efficient and transparent development processes and attract sustainable development projects.
Okay, so now we have some understanding of what's needed to create a downtown that's open to positive redevelopment. What will the impact be on our cultural assets?
Over the last few speaker events we've chatted with park planners, businesses, government officials, community leaders, and urban thinkers. This time we're inviting some of Ann Arbor's cultural leaders to weigh in on what their organizations would like to see for downtown Ann Arbor's future ...and how the decisions we make directly impact the health of their institutions.
The panel will include:
Russ Collins of the Michigan Theater
Josie Parker from the Ann Arbor District Library
Carla Milarch from Performance Network.
This event is part of a four-part "Great Places" speaker series, where we invite Concentrate's readers to an on-going conversation about the future of Ann Arbor's downtown. We hope you'll join us, and invite your friends, coworkers, and neighbors to attend as well.
SIGN UP BELOW!
WHEN :
Thursday, August 9th, 2012, 5:00-7:00pm
WHERE:
Conor O'Neill's in downtown Ann Arbor (318 South Main Street)
WHO: The event is free and open to Concentrate's readers, but seating is limited so RSVP below.
Doors open at 4:45pm. Refreshments will be served and the speaker program will begin at 5:15pm.
Conversation and questions are welcome afterward.
This is a partnership event with the Ann Arbor DDA as part of the
Connecting William Street Project – exploring topics with the community that are relevant and informative to the planning process. They'll be providing a short 5 minute project update at the beginning of the event.
Concentrate's Speaker Series is sponsored by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority
ABOUT OUR SPEAKER: Melanie Piana is the Associate Director of the Michigan Suburb Alliance. She lives in Ferndale where she volunteers for the Downtown Development Authority and is an appointed member of the Board of Zoning Appeals. In 2009, she was elected to the Ferndale City Council. She holds a Master of Urban Planning degree from Wayne State University and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).
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