Tuesday, May 21, 2013

FREE Webinar - June 14


“What NOT to do: Lessons Learned from the Failure of Others”

Friday, June 14, 2013 at 1:00 pm EDT

A wise person once said, “Learn from others' mistakes, you can’t possibly live long enough to make them all yourself.” No one who has been a party to a failed development or was taken in by a fraudulent real estate scheme thought that the project would turn out badly for them or their municipality. Unfortunately, in the world of economic development there are plenty of examples of poorly-designed projects, terrible advice, real estate fads, and clear fraud. As planners and economic developers, we have a duty to our clients to provide sound advice and analysis to protect the interest of the municipality, and ultimately the taxpayers. In this webinar we examine a few failed projects that damaged the financial position of the municipality that undertook them and consider what lessons we can learn from these unfortunate situations.

“The wise learn from other people's mistakes and fools from their own.” –Old Proverb

“The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.” –King Solomon, Circa 950 B.C.

Speaking will be Andrew Z. Murray, AICP, LEED GA. Andrew is a Project Manager for PGAV Planners and has experience in assisting communities with particularly complex and challenging issues, requiring innovative and collaborative strategies to bring redevelopment and revitalization. His projects have encompassed transit-oriented developments, brownfield issues, historic preservation, and both urban and suburban redevelopment contexts. His experience includes authoring neighborhood, regional, redevelopment, transportation, and bicycle / pedestrian plans. Andrew’s range of interdisciplinary experience has given him the opportunity to draft model policies and best practice guides for sustainable development, community engagement, and redevelopment in rural communities, small towns, and urban settings.