Corridor planners teaching at national smart-growth seminar

The City of Lake Charles, the Center for Planning Excellence and Moore Planning Group will be teaching the rest of the country what they know about smart growth. The three 10/12 corridor entities are presenting a session at the New Partners for Smart Growth Conference on Jan. 24 in Albuquerque, N.M. Now in its tenth year, the event is considered the premier smart-growth program. The Louisiana session, “Response, Resilience, Revitalization … and New Louisiana” will delve into Louisiana Speaks visions and strategies for post-Katrina and -Rita recovery and growth in South Louisiana, and how the city of Lake Charles has implemented it. Corridor speakers include Lori Marinovich and Oliver “Rich” Richard of the Lake Charles Downtown Development Authority; Elizabeth “Boo” Thomas of the Center for Planning Excellence; and Patrick Moore of Moore Planning Group. “What the Downtown Development Authority has done is take all the initiatives from Louisiana Speaks and turned them into an actual local implementation plan with very defined projects,” Marinovich says. “It’s neat to get this kind of national exposure for it.” — PBF