By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – Slidell Mayor Greg Cromer said he is very excited about the prospects for the city after being informed that Slidell has been selected to participate in the Tulane School of Architecture Mayor’s Institute on City Design.
Slidell is one of only six cities in the Southeast United States area that was chosen for the annual sessions hosted at Tulane University, set to be held Tuesday through Thursday, March 29-31.
The Mayor’s Institute on City Design provides a unique opportunity for the leaders of the chosen cities. Cromer will be among the other mayors who will give a 15-minute presentation about Slidell, including specific challenges he believes the city faces.
A panel of design professionals, as well as the other chosen mayors, will then provide feedback to Cromer about ways to achieve the goals he seeks for Slidell, as well as offering other commentary and feedback on Slidell.
Along with Slidell will be the mayors from Pine Bluff, Arkansas; Douglasville, Georgia; Alexandria, Louisiana; Ville Platte, Louisiana; and Monroe, Georgia.
“This is pretty exciting for us to be invited to this conference,” Cromer stated. “There is a great opportunity for exposure for Slidell, not to mention the feedback we will get about ways to improve our city.”
Cromer will also be able to listen to the sessions for the other cities and draw ideas from that information as well.
The Slidell mayor said he plans to ask for ideas to achieve his longstanding goal of a bike path throughout Slidell, and how to leverage the Slidell Airport in a better way for economic development.
“But besides the two main topics I will present, the sessions go for two-and-a-half days and the other information you could get is so valuable,” he added.
The leadership initiative is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in conjunction with the United States Conference of Mayors.
“That means we also will be heard by the NEA representatives and receive exposure about Slidell that could lead to grant opportunities,” Cromer said.
The Albert and Tina Small Center for Collaborative Design is a key outreach and design advocacy initiative within the Tulane School of Architecture. The center’s core mission is to learn about the challenges of municipal design, to create a regional knowledge base concerning public development and design, and to educate local leaders regarding the importance of quality planning and design.
Since starting in 1986, the sessions have drawn over 1,200 mayors with previous mayors describing the experience as “among the most influential and memorable events of their time in office. Design experts – volunteers who receive a modest honorarium – often remark that they learned as much from the mayors as the mayors learned from them.”
Many complex design topics have been addressed in recent years, including downtown and neighborhood revitalization, transportation planning, creative placemaking, district visioning and branding, main street and commercial corridor redevelopmpent, affordable housing, equitable development, historic preservation, and sustainable development.