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National Brownfields Redevelopment Conference in Atlantic City Draws on Local Leadership for Lessons in Success; Glen Cove Mayor Suozzi to Speak

Release Date: 09/27/2000
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(#00172) NEW YORK, N.Y. – If you could ask a mayor of any city in the U.S. what the No.1 obstacle to redevelopment is, the most likely answer would be brownfields. That’s why the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is co-sponsoring, with the assistance of the Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania, the largest and most comprehensive conference on brownfields redevelopment at the Atlantic City Convention Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey from October 11 through 13, 2000. Attendance is expected to exceed 3,000 at this fifth annual conference. Brownfields are abandoned or underused industrial or commercial sites where redevelopment and productive reuse are hampered by industrial pollution. EPA’s Brownfields Program brings together stakeholders from private, government and community groups to assess, cleanup and return these properties to productive roles in their neighborhoods. This free conference, with the theme Research and Regionalism: Revitalzing the American Community, will tap into national and international research efforts as well as successful regional strategies to revitalize neighborhoods with brownfields sites. EPA Regional Administrator Jeanne M. Fox noted, "Mayors are often the front-line commanders, assessing the situation, marshaling efforts and obtaining resources to achieve successful brownfields redevelopment. Glen Cove’s Tom Suozzi has a winning record in turning community problems, like brownfield sites, into opportunities for positive change." Mayor Suozzi, representing Long Island, is one of two mayors from New York and several from New Jersey that have prominent roles in this year’s National Brownfields Conference. Ms. Fox explained, "By sharing their successes at the conference, the Mayor of Glen Cove and the other mayors in our region will help conference attendees turn that knowledge into action in their own communities." Mayor Anthony Masiell of Buffalo, New York and Mayor James Whelan of Atlantic City, Mayor Doug Palmer of Trenton, Mayor J. Christian Bollwage of Elizabeth and Mayor Joseph Vas of Perth Amboy in New Jersey will also be speaking at the conference. A brochure on the conference and registration information is available online at: http://www.brownfileds2000.org or call the Brownfield2000 Hotline at 1-877-343-5374.