A10 • Wednesday, October 20, 2010 • The Record
City councillor at conference McEvoy is attending a Livable Cities gathering in South Carolina
BY THERESA MCMANUS REPORTER tmcmanus@royalcityrecord.com
Coun. Jaimie McEvoy is hoping to pick up some new ideas for creating a livable city in South Carolina. McEvoy is attending the International Making Cities Livable conference from Oct. 17 to 21 in Charleston, South Carolina. “This is the organization that started the entire Livable Cities movement,” he said. The Livable Cities website states that conferences focus attention on the importance of making cities livable for children, the need for public transit, bicycle lanes and trafficcalmed streets, for human scale architecture and mixed-use urban fabric, for reviving the city centre and creating public places where people can gather. Topics at the conference include healthy cities, child-friendly communities, nature in the urban environment, public health and planning issues, promoting healthy transportation modes, urban villages and towns, regional planning for healthy cities, green buildings/green neighbourhoods and traditional town planning. “Other councillors have previously been to one of these,” McEvoy said. “I am the only one going to this one. The emphasis is on healthy cities for children.”
McEvoy said the City of New Spitale, who co-chaired the task Westminster has tried to make the force, said all of the early work about city more livable for children through livable cities is still relevant today. initiatives such as increased child “It is still important,” she said. care options. “The reason why that conference, I “The question for me is, can we do felt, was a good one was it is about more?” he said. “As the city densifies making cities and downtown childand grows we want to make sure it is friendly. That has been a principle in still a good city for kids.” the downtown plan.” The International Making Cities Coun. Betty McIntosh attended Livable website states that the theme a Making Cities Livable conference of the 48th conference is True in Portland in 2007, along Urbanism: Planning healthy with councillors Jonathan and child-friendly commuCote, Bill Harper and Lorrie nities. The city of Charleston Williams. She felt some of and the International Making the topics presented at that Cities Livable Council are conference were more applico-organizing the convencable for American cities tion and an exhibit on sucand advised McEvoy against cessful solutions for healthy attending. and child-friendly commuSpitale said she had been nities. scheduled to attend the conMaking Cities Livable Jaimie McEvoy vention but was unable to conferences have been held councillor do so because of her workin various places including load. McEvoy took her spot San Francisco, Portland and Santa Fe at the conference. (United States), Freiburg (Germany), “There’s always something to Vienna and Alpbach/Salzburg learn,” she said. Whether a confer(Austria) and London (England). The ence is held in Toronto or the United first conference was held in Venice, States, Spitale said some of the inforItaly in 1985. mation presented may not be directly The City of New Westminster’s applicable to New Westminster, but task force on community problems there are often best practises or useful and social issues began work on a lessoned learned that can be applied neighbourhood livability model in locally. the fall of 1998. Before attending the Oct. 17 to 21 “It was about the principles of International Making Cities Livable community planning, crime preven- conference in Charleston, McEvoy tion and a continuum of housing vacationed in the area. Reached via choices,” said Lisa Spitale, the city’s cellphone, he said his vacation was development services director. “We “on my own dime” so taxpayers embedded it into the city’s work weren’t footing the bill for his holiplan.” day.
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