Common Themes: National Conference and Bemidji

I was gone last week taking in the American Planning Association national conference in Minneapolis. "Sustainability" and "Green" were common themes of the conference sessions followed closely by "Walkability."

The City has been working at making the Bemidji more walkable and bikeable through the Active Living project and it will take continued community support to make it a priority for the community.

New life seems to have been breathed into the idea of sustainability by council member Kevin Waldhausen who asked to start a sustainability committee, and the Mayor supported. He appointed Waldhausen chair of the new committee at Monday's meeting.

A good place for Bemidji to start may be to look at what other cities are doing to become more sustainable. One city that has a jump start is the City of Madison sustainability program, which was showcased at the APA conference session, Implementing APA's Sustainability Policy Guide.

The (full version) Policy Guide can be found at the APA website or a summary can be found here.

I believe the persistence of people like Erika Bailey-Johnson, sustainability coordinator at the university and B-WELL, the organization that is working on the Active Living project, have helped shift perceptions in Bemidji. If you support these themes, then keeping the vision of a better connected, more energy efficient community at the top of the list for our elected officials is your job too.