TRB Committee Disposition

[John Renne]

Dear TRB Committee on Transportation and Land Development:

 

I have disappointing news to share. Attached to this email is the results of TRB’s “Disposition of Current Committees as a Result of Restructuring.”

 

As a committee chair, I was not involved at all in this process and I don’t have much information about how these decisions were made.

 

I am sad to report that TRB is choosing to merge our committee into the scope of the Transportation and Economic Development Committee.  Attached you will see the many changes TRB will be taking in the near future.  This will be a radically different committee structure.

 

On the one hand, I commend TRB for taking bold action to restructure the organization to keep up with changing times. On the other hand, I am disappointed that our committee has had no representation in the changes at hand. I fear that issues regarding land use and development will not get as much attention as they have in the past via our committee as the champion. I also know other colleagues feel the same way regarding other topics represented by committees that are also being disbanded.

 

Our upcoming meeting at TRB will take place on Monday, January 13^th from 10:15 am – Noon at the Marriott Marquis, Independence Salon B (M4). We will have an award presentation but other than that, I will devote the entire agenda to discussion restructuring.

 

I see several paths that will emerge from this decision:

 

1.       Some of us will continue on volunteering with TRB under the newly scoped Transportation and Economic Development Committee

2.       Some of us my redirect our volunteer efforts towards the World Society for Transport and Land Use Research (WSTLUR) (http://www.wstlur.org/)

3.       Some of us will direct our efforts to other professional associations like the American Planning Association, Urban Land Institute or other nonprofit educational/research associations

4.       Some combination of the above

 

Finally, attached is a paper that former Chair Betty Deakin, Chris Nelson, Kristi Currans, David Lee and I wrote this past year that showcases the accomplishments of this committee for the 100^th anniversary of TRB. When we wrote this paper, I did not know it would be our swan song.

 

I personally will be committed to helping ensure that the Transportation and Economic Development Committee takes land use and development issues seriously as a core focus moving forward. However, at the same time, I am also eager to spend more of my volunteer hours building WSTLUR. WSTLUR is currently accepting papers until Dec. 31^st for the upcoming conference this summer in Portland, Oregon. They host a conference once every three years across the globe. I would be interested if spending time at our upcoming meeting with the WSTLUR leadership to see if we could perhaps hold an annual event during the non-conference years somewhere in North America. I may even be able to host the conference during the winter in South Florida, which would be a nice escape from the cold.  Again, let’s discuss this and other options on January 13^th.

 

Also note that the ADD30 Research Subcommittee will be canceled on Tuesday, at 10:15 am. Erick Guerra, who has been chair of the subcommittee has asked to set down. Tahisha Hall has been co-chairing this with Erick but given our committee will be disbanded, I don’t see a reason we should hold this subcommittee meeting.

 

I hope you have a Happy New Years and look forward to seeing you at TRB. I didn’t envision we would mark the 100^th anniversary of TRB with an existential conversation, but as Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan said, “For the times they are a-changin’”

 

Best, John

 

____________________________

John L. Renne, Ph.D., AICP

https://johnrenne.wordpress.com/ 

 

Director and Associate Professor

Center for Urban & Environmental Solutions (CUES)

Coordinator, Undergraduate Programs

School of Urban and Regional Planning

Florida Atlantic University 

Boca Raton, Florida 

http://www.fau.edu/surp/

http://cues.fau.edu/

[Nelson, Arthur Christian - (acnelson)]

Dear Colleagues,

This is unsettling. Though I am active in ADD10, on the whole it is actually too big to be meaningfully engaged to help me achieve my research and policy objectives. I also understand that there is a large list of Friends many of whom are waiting their turn to become a full member of the committee. What chance do many ADD30 committee members have to be meaningfully engaged on TRB after 2020?

If the objective was to make ADD10 stronger, this move actually waters down the transportation-land use field so as to disenfranchise it from the core of TRB's mission. That's too bad because ADD30 is at the heart of getting getting right the next $50 trillion in the nation's next wave of real estate investments.  Obviously, reshaping America's land use patterns to maximize the nation's return on transportation investments is no longer a TRB priority.

Best wishes to all,

Chris

On 12/26/2019 9:19 PM, 'John Renne' via Tra

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