Urban Land Institute’s Las Vegas conference webcast live

by Yule Heibel on October 24, 2007

Not all of the Urban Land Institute‘s annual conference presentations are being webcast, but several key ones are, and furthermore they’re supposed to be archived for later viewing, too. Surf over to this site and follow the links:

ULI – the Urban Land Institute | 2007 ULI Fall Meeting

I listened to a fantastic presentation on P3s (public-private partnerships), by a panel that included David Leininger of the City of Irving; Robert C. Lieber of the NYC Economic Development Corporation; and John Stainback of Stainback Public/Private Real Estate. The panel was chaired by Patrick L. Phillips of Economics Research Associates. Lots of frank talk, from both sides of the fence (the private & the public side of the partnership). The fence will likely morph into something else entirely, as the panel described P3s as an “avalanche.”

This is definitely something to listen to again — I sent in a question, but it wasn’t read out, and I’m not sure this panel could have addressed it anyway. My question had to do with how Canadian cities can leverage P3s, given that we have not only a “weak mayor” system in Canada, but that Canadian cities are wholly the creatures of the Provinces, rely on property taxes for 53% of their budgets, and can’t raise revenues by collecting sales taxes (these go to the Provinces) or income taxes (they go to the Feds & Province). So how do we fund infrastructure — the responsibilities for which have been downloaded on to municipalities by the Provinces, which have had them downloaded by the Feds? And how do we offer incentives to the private side of the development that will give us — the city, the public — the control we want in shaping our own destinies? The Provincial government in BC is totally enamoured of P3s, but somehow it’s not so good for us (city) when the Province calls the shots, or tells the cities to develop via P3s without giving us the tools we need to talk turkey with developers.

Just some thoughts…

I guess it’s a question of leadership. If we had municipal leaders and mayors who just identified the right thing, committed to it, went all Terminator-like on our Premier (he gets Terminator, he’s buddies with Arnold, and gets the green agenda, too), and told him what we want and how we want it, maybe something good would come of it. But our city leadership consists of politicians who’ll go wherever the wind blows, who dream of other posts or something… We undersell and underassert ourselves, and the Province thinks we’re idiots.

Like I said, just some thoughts…

Here’s the line-up for webcasts tomorrow and the day after (see this page):

Webcast Session Schedule – NOTE: All times are Pacific Time Zone
   
Public/Private Partnerships: The New Underwriting Formula
David L. Leininger City of Irving 10/24/2007 2:15:00 PM
Robert C. Lieber NYC Economic Development Corp. 10/24/2007 2:15:00 PM
Patrick L. Phillips Economics Research Associates 10/24/2007 2:15:00 PM
John Stainback Stainback Public/Private Real Estate 10/24/2007 2:15:00 PM
   
Charting the Course for the Multi-Family Market: Overview and Outlook
William G. Lashbrook, III PNC Real Estate Finance 10/25/2007 9:45:00 AM
Ronald E. Zuzack BlackRock Realty 10/25/2007 9:45:00 AM
Geoffrey L. Stack Sares-Regis Group 10/25/2007 9:45:00 AM
Alan W. George Equity Residential 10/25/2007 9:45:00 AM
Hessam Nadji Marcus & Millichap 10/25/2007 9:45:00 AM
David Lazarus Lehman Brothers 10/25/2007 9:45:00 AM
Harvey Green Marcus & Millichap 10/25/2007 9:45:00 AM
         
Mega Mixed-Use Potentials and Realities: Complexity, Investment Value, and High Density Sustainability
Michael P. Buckley Columbia University 10/25/2007 11:15:00 AM
Luis E. Rodriguez Science & Technology Trust 10/25/2007 11:15:00 AM
John B. Lin Echelon Resorts – Boyd Gaming 10/25/2007 11:15:00 AM
Chris Marcinkoski Field Operations 10/25/2007 11:15:00 AM
Ramsey D. Meiser Forest City Washington 10/25/2007 11:15:00 AM
   
Dueling Economists
Nouriel Roubini   10/25/2007 3:00:00 PM
Susan Hudson-Wilson Hawkeye Partners, LP 10/25/2007 3:00:00 PM
Nariman Behravesh Global Insight 10/25/2007 3:00:00 PM
Catherine L. Mann Institute for International Economics 10/25/2007 3:00:00 PM
   
Strategy Planning in an Era of Change: Lessons Learned from the Real World

Charles A. Hewlett

RCLCO/Robert Charles Lesser & Co., LLC

10/26/2007

11:15:00 AM

Michael P. Neal

H.G. Fenton Company

10/26/2007

11:15:00 AM

John B. Slidell

The Bozzuto Group

10/26/2007

11:15:00 AM

Gaudi Kaufman

Robert Charles Lesser

10/26/2007

11:15:00 AM

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