Lou Slade KeyNotes Editor

LAI Members’ Views on the Potential Land Economic Impacts of a New Streetcar System

This article is the author’s experiment to engage members to provide their expert input on a current land economics topic. I am really pleased how well this turned out. I simply asked for reactions to a blog summary of a study on the topic of the land economic impact of the new District of Columbia streetcar system. I kept it anonymous so no one would feel the need to spend a lot of time developing their reaction.

I sent the blog to all of our chapter presidents and scribes and asked them to try to gather some comments. I received a total of seven comments from four chapters that I’ve presented verbatim (with only a few edits to tighten them up).

I think this little experiment provides a glimpse into how the intellectual capital of our membership can be easily tapped. KeyNotes will continue to explore this potential in upcoming issues. My column this month talks a little more on this subject.

Excerpt from the Blog (Click here to view the blog)

The Washington, DC, streetcar certainly looks like a good deal. The 37-mile system, the first corridor of which is under construction and expected to be completed by 2012, will increase the value of existing properties by $5-7 billion, according to the study by Goody Clancy & Associates of Boston.

Add to that an estimated $5-8 billion of new development over 10 years attracted by the streetcar, and the total increased property value is $10-15 billion. Half of the tax increment from that total could support $600-$900 million in bonds to help support property development and streetcar capital costs, the study says. The streetcar system is expected to cost $1.5 billion.

The study used target-market methodology to determine the streetcar's substantial potential appeal to households across the demographic spectrum. The study predicts a 20-50 percent increase in demand for new housing and up to a 15 percent value increase for existing housing. On the commercial side, the study found that up to 95 percent of any new office development is expected to locate around streetcar corridors.

Such figures may sound fanciful, but the development and property value increases generated by smaller streetcar projects in Portland and Tampa, and light rail lines in Denver, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Charlotte, have demonstrated the substantial economic development potential of urban rail.

In addition, retail market analysis revealed $340 million in spending potential (equivalent to 1.2 million square feet of new retail space) over 10 years driven by streetcar-attracted households and jobs, according to the DC study.

The mobility benefits will also be significant. The streetcar would put 50 percent of households in DC near rail transit — from the 16 percent currently, the study determined. In some of the poorest parts of the city, this system would substantially increase access to jobs.

Three Comments from SIMCOE

• The problem with these kinds of projections is that even if you give credibility to the development values they envisage, you have to demonstrate that such values are incremental to what would have happened normally in the urban region and that they are new growth stimulated by the transit investment directly. And typically, while transit provision can increase regional productivity and attractiveness, it doesn’t generally generate the kinds of increases in value described on its own; it largely diverts regional growth to the transit-served location. There is no magic alchemy in urban economics – transit makes important but marginal improvements to the overall economic health of a region but does change the pattern of its distribution.
  
  
• On first blush these are awfully optimistic numbers; it is hard to know without doing a lot of work on it, but $10 to $15 billion is not chump change, anywhere. The article suggests that any change in value is a net change in value (no accounting for shifts in relative values from other locations). It goes on to assume that all of this net gain is realized, proportionately, as tax revenue (instead of a portion being used to “keep taxes down elsewhere” which, in my observation, most municipalities typically do). And finally, it assumes that a substantial portion of this revenue (half) is available to service the debt. The other half of the revenue would then be available to provide the tax-supported municipal and education services to the area (mainly the new development, at the margin). Unless the provision of these services were cut in half in these areas (which one can’t imagine), the tax-supported municipal and education services would just be subsidized by the taxpayers outside the area of the calculation.  In short, this is just a crafty way of categorizing costs and revenues, when, in fact, all revenue is general revenue, the “windfall” gain for municipalities is quite small, and major capital works such as transit projects can only, at the end of the day be fully financed with a significant public investment supported by general revenue.  We have done some work on this in a variety of locations and found that the actual contribution that new development can make through development fees, value recapture and incremental tax revenue in the direct vicinity of transit projects is quite a small proportion of total costs.  Again, major transit projects need to be seen (and supported) as the region-wide public investments that they are. The “free lunch” approach implied here (and by recent discussions in Toronto about private funding of the Sheppard subway extension, as if the public doesn’t have to pay for it) can be quite misleading.
  
  
• I prefer to imagine that the economic benefits of investment in transit infrastructure are realised primarily through improvements in and reductions to the costs of providing mobility in urban areas.  The positive economic impacts in terms of development stimulus, property values and tax revenues are generally over-estimated in studies undertaken during the planning stages.  It has been demonstrated after the fact that in numerous cases, presumed property value increases near transit stations have had the effect of driving actual non-residential development to occur in non-transit serviced locations.  The article asserts that the study found that up to 95 percent of new office development is expected to locate around streetcar corridors.  Without knowing the Washington DC market or the details of the streetcar corridors, one cannot be too critical of this seemingly extraordinarily optimistic finding.  One could however point out that in recent decades in the Greater Toronto Area – apart from the central area of the central city – the location of rail-base rapid transit by itself has had no discernible impact on private sector decisions made with respect to the location of new office development.

Two Comments from GEORGE WASHINGTON

• I am not sure what type of analysis was done, but usually a fiscal impact study (if that was what was done) looks at the additional tax burden of new development (schools, roads, other city services), and subtracts that from the total fiscal benefit. [The article does] not provide that net benefit, but only the total benefit and how much in bonds that could support compared with total cost. The information is therefore incomplete and presents a picture overly beneficial to the development.
  
  
• Not having seen the study, I find it difficult to provide any meaningful comments.  The 15% increase in residential value seems a bit on the high side.  With regard to locations near Metro [heavy rail subway] stations here and elsewhere, a more conservative figure might be that you can get a 10% increase in office or housing rent (I am relying on memory, not looking things up) if you are close to a station.  Also, given that the streetcar will share a ROW with cars and that is not the fastest alternative I think that the 15% may be on the high side.    It is also unclear [from the blog] whether the $5-8 billion of new development is development that would occur outside of DC or merely a diversion within DC.   But even more conservative figures seem to provide plenty of leeway for funding.

One Comment from SANTA FE

• Quick thoughts. My experience is that a bus system was never a catalyst for economic development. However, In Denver, Light Rail was a definite catalyst for TOD. The challenge here is the demographic. In the western portion of the country, buses are largely used by people who cannot afford their own cars. This is a stereotype and there are probably people with means who ride busses to work, but it is the exception rather than the rule. Light rail on the other hand is used by a wide demographic and is generally socially acceptable to the majority of the population.
  
  The question is how will street cars be perceived by the public? Are they socially acceptable like trains and light rail, or do they skew more to the Bus side? Are they perceived by the public as socially desirable or are they for losers who cannot afford a car? The speed limitations required by stopping for traffic signals, etc., and number of stops may skew more towards the Bus side.
  
  The other question is what type of development would a street car attract? If it is perceived as bus type transport, it would probably not attract Class A office buildings. On the other hand, large employers hire a broad cross section of people who will utilize public transportation because it is an economic necessity. Government and call center types of uses Street cars may be a positive for those types of employers. Street cars may also generate some small scale retail opportunities if the street cars are embraced by the tourist population who needs convenient transportation in DC. Probably infill development or redevelopment of existing, underutilized sites. this would be limited to areas tourist wish to visit and is unlikely to help old inner ring suburbs or areas further out of the historic core. Educational building development may also result along a street car route.

One Comment from ELY

Disclaimer – need entire study to see if all these were evaluated. Otherwise, in general positive impacts but “can” be somewhat overstated.

• Residential – more problematic and tougher to predict – yes new houses/condo but can the new occupants sell their old ones.  In an urban environment are they just trading house for house?
  
  
• Study says 20-50% increase over baseline for residential my gut tells me that’s aggressive.
  
  
• Commercial – I agree will be big stimulus to office for sure. Just look at the Blue Line (Chicago) office developments at Cumberland and also Harlem near O’Hare airport. Retail will develop at nodes (stations) but probably not so much regional type shopping centers but rather more neighborhood type commercial.
  
  
• Relative to above, a good urban station could experience 2000 boarding (Skokie Swift Dempster is 2500). However only minimal capture for nearby retail markets – which I’ve seen doing a lot of the RTA TOD studies.
  
  
• Zoning next to stations will be key – probably needs to change
  
  
• Still need to apply good planning principles to station areas (Metra report):
  1. Maintain a pedestrian friendly environment;
  2. Establish or reinforce good pedestrian access routes to stations;
  3. Environment around stations must be comfortable, safe and pleasant;
  4. Encourage convenience retail;
  5. Diversity of housing types;
  6. Street orientation of housing for security and aesthetics.
     
     
• Portland State University Study of impacts of their light rail line to housing prices (1997) states that proximity of housing to light rail has both a positive and negative effect on prices.The negative is the "nuisance effect" of noise, people, cars to station etc. However they go on to say that the positive generally outweighs the negative unless your home is right on the line.
  
  
• People are willing to walk longer to light rail lines than to bus (Portland Study). Consequently positive impacts to housing prices in neighborhoods further away may occur.
  
  
• General Principles are very good - Promotes urban infill.

Closing

Special thanks to the presidents and scribes of the chapters that helped pull this together.  Reading it reminds me of an expert panel providing comments on a primary presentation of a subject.  All we need now is an on-line Q/A session.

Lou Slade, International LAI Editor with Michael Hurley, AICP, Associate, Gorove/Slade Associates, Inc.

Lou Slade KeyNotes Editor

In the featured article this month regarding a collaboration of LAI members, I tried to show how the membership of Lambda Alpha International is an intellectual resource that can provide a valuable discourse on a land economics subject.  Most of us currently take advantage of this resource within our own chapters when we discuss topics with friends and colleagues to gain their thoughts on a problem we are trying to solve.  Also, some of our chapters provide an intellectual resource to an affiliated student chapter to benefit young people who are entering our professions.  Our monthly luncheons with speakers and other similar events provide a forum that encourages this kind of intra-chapter collaboration.

KeyNotes and the LAI Website are two mediums that could help to broaden this kind of intellectual collaboration among and between members throughout all of our chapters.  Other means of communications such as social media on the internet might be good additional ways to provide the means for the inter-chapter interchange of information and ideas.

In addition to enhancing how we communicate among and between chapters for the benefit of members, LAI could become a resource for entities outside the membership such as helping to illuminate issues in local, regional and national debates.  A good example is to consider how LAI chapters in cities that are under consideration for hi-speed rail could contribute to that debate.  If hi-speed rail service is under serious consideration between Minneapolis and St. Paul, and Chicago, those chapters could collaborate on the consequences pro and con of that service.  How would the terminal cities be affected? How would the intervening cities in Wisconsin be impacted?  This kind effort by those chapters could be integrated within a public relations strategy to further enhance the value of LAI to the outside world and that would in turn enhance the value of LAI membership to each of us.

LAI leadership is currently examining ways to enhance our organization and the value of our membership.  I’ll report more on this subject in future columns.

Progress toward Sustainable Growth in Maryland:
“Life Within Walking Distance”

Maryland is the 5th most densely populated state. The population has grown by 39% during the past 27 years, and still is growing. An additional 1 million residents or 42,500 households are projected by 2030. Baltimore City easily could absorb half of the forecasted increase. Yet, people may not have acquired the ‘gene’ for urban living, according to Jon Laria, Chair of the Maryland Sustainable Growth Commission and partner in Ballard Spahr, LLP’s Real Estate Department. The Commission’s mission is to assess and advise on efforts in the State to achieve economic growth resource protection, and sound planning.

Mr. Laria discussed the Commission and the 12 Visions, Maryland Annotated Code, State Finance and Procurement Article, 5 – 7A – 01 and Article 66B. 1.01. This permanent body considers and makes recommendations by creating a broader and established forum on growth and development issues. Chair Laria observed that given the abstract nature of sprawl, the Commission is looking to foster a “Smart Growth IQ”. This aspiration would have school kids and soccer moms demanding an ethos for conservation, similar to that for the Chesapeake Bay. Seven workgroups (including Funding, Concentrating Growth, Education, PlanMaryland, Watershed Implementation, Indicators, and Adequate Public Facilities) are focused on complicated and interwoven sets of policy issues dealing with guiding growth.

Maryland has one of the oldest planning commissions, founded in the early 1930s; and the state is an acknowledged leader in advancing smart growth. In spite of the legislated smart growth policy of linking public funding to designated priority funding areas, the results have fallen far short of the original intention. Since l997, more than three-quarters of residential growth has occurred in land area outside designated areas.

Gov. Martin O'Malley is looking at smart growth as an economic development issue — to save jobs and ensure lasting economic prosperity through energy conservation and sustainable green building. To meet the challenge, the Governor has designated 14 Transit Oriented Development sites around the state. Through the MD Dept of Planning (MDOP), Greenprint Maryland is a first-in-the-nation web-enabled map showing the relative ecological importance of every parcel of land in the State. There is a counterpart for Ag Print. Recently, MDOP unveiled a draft of Maryland's first state growth plan, entitled PlanMaryland. The Commission has been engaged with PlanMaryland’s development and review.

Tara B. Clifford, Baltimore Chapter Scribe

Spring 2011 Chautauqua - Chicago Planners on a Global Stage
Key leaders from four local Chicago architecture firms shared their experiences of planning and designing new communities in international settings. They focused on how redevelopment is implemented within cultures very different from our own in the United States. Each presenter captivated the Ely Chapter membership with images of the proposed projects and their personal stories about planning in a global environment.

• Peter Kindel, of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architects, presented a new town development in Chengdu, China.
• Richard Wilson, with Skidmore Owings & Merrill, showed the growth and development patterns in India, in particular in Namaste.
• Christine Carlyle, with Solomon Cordwell Buenz, highlighted several developments in Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar.
• Nan Zhou, of VOA Associates, described the redevelopment of former villages around Tanzhesi into a new destination.

The highlights of their challenges and constraints, and a description of the various planning processes of each country including the unique experiences each encountered are captured in three themes:

Development Starts with Infrastructure
New growth and city building trails the infrastructure improvements such as new airports, new rail lines and new highways. This is evident in both Namaste, India, where Richard Wilson has been facilitating new development, and in Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar, where Christine Carlyle is guiding planning and development efforts. In India, private interests will be building the new Agra expressway in exchange for receiving large tracts of undeveloped land adjacent to the new expressway.

Many of the developing areas such as UAE and others in the region are expanding their planning agencies and capacities by studying other countries including the US with the goal of transplanting best practices for zoning, transportation, infrastructure, and others.

Demographic Shifts Guide Development Goals
When determining the land use patterns for one particular new development, Christine Carlyle described one situation where 45% of the population for a specific geographic area is under 15 years of age. To address that demographic condition, they must focus the redevelopment plan on job creation and identifying where that population will find housing. Additionally, places like UAE where only 10% of the population are citizens, the rest as “ex-pats” from other countries, the country’s economic development policies are a key part of creating the planning and design strategy for development of new cities.

For Nan Zhou’s redevelopment projects in and around Beijing, they found that urban growth was not being driven by overall population growth mostly due to China’s one-child policy, but from the population movement from the rural areas to the cities. As agricultural methods are modernizing, rural populations are coming to the cities to find new employment opportunities. For his Tenzhesi redevelopment project, born from a recently-vacated agricultural community, the goal became identifying a job base to bring residents back along with combining new development harmoniously with the existing village assets which included a historic temple.

Culture and Natural Features are a Major Inspiration of the Patterns of Development
Christine Carlyle featured this notion during her overview of SCB’s Core Values, one of which is Design Reflects Culture. This is one of their guiding principles reflecting how they tailor the planning and design strategy to each unique client and circumstance. They identify the need and the opportunity and then focus on creating a hybrid community of historic or cultural influences and features of what makes a great place to live, like walkability and open space, and other components. For one of her projects, the radial pattern, which has symbolic and cultural meaning, was included in the design of the roadway and open space connections. Additionally, they created eco-boulevards specifically to follow the natural waterways.

In Chengdu, China, Peter Kindel has been planning a new town of 100,000. The final design of the community shows how Chicago and US development patterns are influencing the design, such as a grid street pattern. Similarly, Chinese culture and history manifests itself in the project as well. A significant portion of the project includes surrounding the new town with an agricultural component, which is the current/former land use. Also, the open space design calls out areas such as “a romantic flower garden;” again a major cultural influence.

In India, the result of their culture of strong property rights with minimal takings, is the creation of oddly-shaped development parcels as they may be unable to be assemble all parcels needed for a unified development parcel. Richard Wilson’s team then had to employ creative design features to develop the area cohesively despite the irregular parcels.

In India and Tanzhesi, China, streets and buildings will be oriented around nature, including following sun and wind paths. Physical features are planned around the ecology of the site. In India, for example, 90% of water comes in 2 months, so the developer-desired reflecting pool has to be designed to accommodate large rainwater during a short timeframe and high evaporation rates during the majority of the year.

Richard Wilson concluded with goal learning from the cultural influences abroad to bring back new practices to the U.S., including rethinking density and scale in our country, which is much lower than many of the other countries such as India among others.

For more detail, please refer to the April Chautauqua audio broadcast and power point on the Ely Chapter website, at www .ely-chicago.org.

Terri T. Haymaker, Ely Chapter Scribe

PENSION AND INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR OUTLOOK

Speakers:

Paul Mouchakkaa, Pension Consulting Alliance, Inc.
Charles J. Schreiber, Jr., KBS Realty Advisors & KBS Capital Advisors

Pension Consulting Alliance, Inc manages $1 trillion in assets under management, employs 25 Asset Managers and represents 20 clients in the U.S. and abroad. Clients include the Maryland Public Employees Union with $3 billion in assets and California Public Employees Retirement System, $16 billion in assets.

KBS Realty and KBS Capital Advisors, both nationally recognized real estate investment advisory firms with transactional volume greater than $20 billion. Mr. Schreiber is Co-Founder and CEO of both companies and is also Chairman of three KBS REITs which target opportunistic debt and equities in major office and apartment properties.

Pension consulting Alliance (PCA), is experiencing a strong appetite by their clients for core, class A office properties. Investor demand has increased substantially during the past year resulting in lots of money chasing high quality properties evidenced by lower cap rates in the 6-6-1/2% or lower on sales of qualifying product. Most institutional investors continue to believe that quality real estate investments have a significant role in their portfolio as a stabilizing source of income with appreciation potential. Mauchakkaa describes the past four years collapse and recovery as a “capital flow experience” based upon aggressive lending policies that led to overbuilding and then collapsed. A recovery is underway evidenced by a strong demand for new investments. Schreiber agrees that the market turn around began in the 4th quarter of 2009 after nine consecutive down quarters. (Ed. Note: Large pension funds are primarily all cash buyers.)

KBS Realty seeks 60-70% leased office properties in strong location that have good potential for lease up within 3-5 years. Clients expect an 8.5% IRR to the core investor and KBS defers its gain until sale within a 5-7 year holding period. Schreiber noted that class B and C office properties purchased during 2006-2009 that were less successful and slow to recover compared with Class A properties during that same period. In their experience, regional market collapses and slow recovery period were due more to over development than market decline. The market changed in the 4th quarter 2009 to positive net absorption except in markets where new product continued to come on line during the downturn.

Currently, office properties selling for the lowest cap rates are Class A buildings in core employment locations having less than 15% vacancy and few leases maturing within three years. Currently, cap rates are 6-6-1/2% on prime properties compared with 7-7-1/2% prior to 2006.

Both speakers spoke agreed there is a flight to quality among institutional investors. CalPERS and California Teachers Insurance and Annuity (CTIA) have shifted their portfolio balance objectives from 30% to 75% quality holdings away from higher risk/higher return investment in growth locations. CalPERS seeks a 7-1/2% - 9.00% return on investment and CTIA seeks a 9.00% - 10.00% return.

Pension Consulting Alliance believes the market outlook for apartments will continue strong influenced by in-migration although cap rates are influenced by FNMA financing. A cutoff or even a cutback in government guaranteed loan programs will have a marked effect upon sales prices and cap rate in this property category.

Institutional investment in retail properties has done very well due to their natural preference for large properties e.g. regional malls and grocer anchored neighborhood centers. In their experience, Occupancy levels in centers with grocer and drug chain store anchors (necessity shopping centers) have not dipped below 93% during the recession.

Markets that appeal to institutional investors must have “positive momentum”. Surprisingly, Orange County will not be a preferred location for office building investment until much of the present 19% vacant space is absorbed down at least to a 12% level. Other lack luster markets include Detroit and Boston which currently offer little employment or population growth. Quality buildings hold their value and occupancy is improving and better than Class B or C properties which they predict will continue to suffer at the current 83% occupancy in this area. KBS properties in the Chicago market have shown resilience and are renewing leases but most seek shorter lease terms of 1 to 2 years. Employers are reluctant to hire because of uncertainties in the present business environment.  Investors prefer longer lease maturities but will accept shorter term extensions with little to no tenant improvement expense and a rent premium over what they might offer for a longer lease term.

Most smaller cities are off limits to large pensions fund investors due to a lack of market depth and the absence of large properties. Given the billions they have to invest each year, property size is a limiting factor as larger properties are more economical to manage that an equivalent investment in a group of smaller properties.

Both speakers agreed that despite the drawbacks in the Fed’s strategy to keep rates low and “kick the can down the road” has been preferable to a sudden corrective action.  An abrupt increase in rates or cutback in lending would have been very disruptive to both the banking and real estate industries.  They concluded by forecasting that markets are in a recovery stage albeit slowly and improvement will be gradual for the foreseeable future.

Wayne Silzel, Orange County Chapter Scribe

Greening a City – Korean Style

A key element of Vancouver’s reputation as a livable city is the fact that it never built any freeways. On March 30, 2011, the LAI Vancouver learned about Seoul, Korea, a city that has torn down a freeway and restored a waterway that it had destroyed.

The visiting speaker was Dr. Kee Yeon Hwang, the President of the Korea Transportation Institute and former director of transportation for the Seoul Development Institute, the city's metropolitan planning agency. Dr. Hwang was in Vancouver as a Visiting Fellow on Urban Sustainable Development in Simon Fraser University's Urban Studies program. His topic was "The Cheonggye Stream Revitalization Project: an Urban Transport Revolution for Seoul."

For years, transportation planning in Seoul had been dominated by North American thinking on roads (and Japanese thinking on subways). This had led to the construction of a massive freeway link obliterating the Cheonggye Stream (the Stream's name, ironically, means "clean, clear stream."

The key to the project was the election in 2002 of a mayor with big ambitions for the city (and even bigger ambitions for himself to become the President of South Korea, which he ultimately attained). City staff support was mobilized around the project of tearing down the freeway and restoring the stream as a means of improving public safety and restoring a watercourse. The results were dramatic.

Monitoring of the effect of the change produced some interesting information:

• The drop in the level of service for road users was 1.3 percent, while subway use grew by 3.6 percent;
  
  
• Land values increased by 30 percent due to the high demand for development sites made viable by the removal of the freeway; and
  
  
• Average temperatures in the area dropped due to the reduction in traffic.

The presentation was timely, because Vancouver is considering the demolition of two viaducts in the eastern part of the downtown area, which are legacies of the freeway system that never was. Chapter members were interested in the potential of such a change to restore urbanity and vitality and connect the prosperous core with the troubled Downtown East Side neighbourhood. Reports to City Council on this possibility are due soon.

Ken Cameron, Vancouver Chapter Scribe

Leigh Christy is a Senior Associate at Perkins+Will.

At the April luncheon meeting, Leigh Christy, Senior Associate at Perkins+Will, spoke to chapter members about features of her work with other team members on the Piggyback Yard project and how this transformation of the Union Pacific railyard east of downtown Los Angeles is key to the revitalization of the LA River.  Ms. Christy presented two designs for the 125-acre railyard that both provide flood control, large-scale park and recreation, and increased connectivity between prominent LA communities and the downtown transportation hub.  Information about the River Strand and Broadened River designs can be accessed at http://piggybackyard.org/

Millard Lee, Los Angeles Chapter Scribe

LEF EXPANSION

The Board of Trustees of the Land Economics Foundation has continued efforts on a monthly conference call basis to crystalize the meaning and purpose of the organization; the intent is expanding the impact of the Foundation. Commitments over the past six years have produced a number of successful ventures on a co-funded basis, these may be found on the LAI website. The Trustees agree that it is time to enhance both LEF and LAI exposure on multiple levels. By the end of this year it is their desire to trifurcate the Directors’ obligations among three core functions to increase effectiveness.

• Research Approval and Review Committee
• External Funding Committee
• Communications Committee

The expanded internal structure will allow more Members (whether Director or not) to participate, increase funding of projects within five years to $100,000 annually directed to both academia plus the public/private sector ventures having effects in other arenas through greater communication. A growth oriented Business Plan will be presented to and discussed by the Board of Directors in Scotland; the results will be shared with LAI Members in ensuing Keynotes. We invite input from all LAI members on this new direction. If you would like to take an active role in this process please contact any of the officers. We will keep you informed as we move through this new strategic direction.

Steven R. Gragg MAI, FRICS, LEF President

In 2001, LAI moved to a schedule of engaging twice annual Land Economics Weekends, coupled with business meetings of LAI and its Land Economics Foundation. Local LAI Chapters have sponsored LEW's by volunteering to showcase their communities. On two occasions, LAI has departed from local Chapter's hosting LEW's to highlight particular land economic projects of interest, or to encourage future local Chapters of LAI.

Together these venues benefit the LAI membership with rewarding and stimulating educational experiences and insights into practices, programs and strategies that are unparallel in their diversity, accessibility and impact.

To properly plan future LEW events for the benefit of the membership, LAI schedules destination LEW's at least three years in advance. With a growing complement of 23 Chapters, scheduling a LEW event offers the opportunity to local Chapters to accent their contribution to LAI.

LAI has some openings for future Spring or Fall LEW events, including the Spring of 2012.

An established Protocol for LEW event planning is available.

Each local Chapter of LAI is invited to give consideration to conducting a LEW event.

Please contact the Executive Director or any member of the Executive Committee to discuss further the hosting of a LEW event.

Lambda Alpha International (LAI) has recently created a group on Linkedin.com. Linkedin is an online professional network of more than 60 million professionals in over 150 industries. Linkedin is a great place to exchange information, ideas and opportunities. Linkedin allows you to:

• Stay informed about your contacts and industry,
• Find the people & knowledge you need to achieve your goals, and
• Control your professional identity online.

Our LAI Linkedin group will provide a means to further promote communication and networking among LAI members. Please join us at LAI’s newest place to network: www.linkedin.com.

Forgot how to login? No problem.

Please visit the LAI Website at www.LAI.org. On the left hand side click on the Members Only Tab. Here you will need to use your email and the password is lai.

Scotland Land Economics Weekend

June 1-4, 2011
Scotland

Please visit www.scotlandthebrave2011.com for all the details.

Sacramento Land Economics Weekend

October 20-22, 2011
The Citizens Hotel, Sacramento, CA