When Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman was at the AIA national component headquarters July 17, she made a point to visit with AIA executives. They talked about the importance of brownfields in community development, one of the AIA's three legislative priorities for 2001.

Whitman had been the governor of New Jersey from 1993 to 2000 and is fully supportive of facilitating development of former industrial sites that are lightly to moderately contaminated. These brownfields are often situated in prime locations. Well-planned development of such sites, experience has shown, offers the opportunity to revive entire communities.

AIA Executive Vice President/CEO Norman L. Koonce, FAIA; Chief Operating Officer Jim Dinegar; and Government Affairs Managing Director Lisa Blackwell welcomed Whitman and EPA Deputy Administrator Linda J. Fisher to the building. They discussed the AIA blueprint of legislative priorities for 2001 and specifically legislation to make brownfields development more practical. (The other two 2001 AIA legislative priorities are improvement of schools and defeat of H.R. 721 barring private firms from federal work).

Fisher, who has a long tenure with the EPA, recalled how brownfields development was a pariah only 15 to 20 years ago. Many towns and cities now see one or more local brownfields sites as the key to their future, she agreed.

Copyright 2001 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved.