During the course of the intensely engaging two days each mayor presented a case study on a challenge his city was facing. 

Beaufort is much smaller in size compared to cities, which, by and large, ranged from just under 100,000 - 250,000 and some even larger. 

Beaufort is also different in that we are not experiencing the growth others face and, as much as I would like, we are not able to compete for millennials like most others who have colleges and universities that serve as magnates for young entrepreneurs and small technology companies.   

And finally we do not face issues of major highways and active railroads dissecting the core of our city.

I also noted that most of the growth the cities were facing is an outcome of aggressive economic development strategies that leverage educational assets, relationships with the military and nearby industries and rich incentives be they the use of city owned land and/or tax and investment incentives.

In my last post I stated that Beaufort's challenge is to demonstrate to our residents, businesses and visitors that downtown Beaufort is larger than the three blocks on Bay Street: it once was and must again encompass, if we are to become fiscally sustainable, the area bordered between Bay and Boundary and Carteret and Bladen Streets.

The eight architects, landscape designers and transportation planners universally were impressed that we had invested the time and dollars to create a Civic Master Plan.  They recommended that we must first focus on creating more dense housing by saving historic structures and filling vacant land where businesses and residences used to thrive between Craven and Congress streets and bookend the downtown with incentives to encourage retail on Boundary between Bladen and Bellamy curve.  To accomplish this they recommended trying to move niche businesses like galleries and offices from Bay to Charles and Bladen making more room for traditional retail with everyday items on Bay and Boundary Streets.

Not only would this spread businesses and residential throughout the core, it would spread out parking thereby lessening the challenge and provide the roof tops that retailers need to diversify their goods and services to meet local demand. 

Furthermore they strongly advised walking "events" that would demonstrate the richness and health benefits of walking, while celebrating our unique history and unmatched beauty to residents, tourists and prospective businesses.

Everyone at the meeting, Mayors and resource professionals as well, demonstrated envy of the Henry C Chambers waterfront park and recommended the marina parking lot is too valuable to remain a parking lot. All thought expansion of the park would be nice, but most questioned the economic viability of building and maintaining a larger park until our tax base grows.

After sharing our experience with a conceptual proposal partnering with the private sector to create more vitality through more commercial and residential in the parking lot, they recommended a blend of additional open space, similar to the second phase recommended by Sasaki with some business and residential units along Bay Street leaving the lower level for open space, perhaps kayak and canoe storage and launching as well as other water related activities. 

Other cities were focused on creating water access as we already have; on convention centers that were not working, creating smaller meeting places and professional athletic fields their larger populations can sustain; ways of working around bridges, rails and overhead roads.  Some were interested in parks outside the city, but most professionals discouraged investing in non-walkable assets.

Outside of the formal sessions, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto shuttled us around his burgeoning diverse neighborhoods in his city which died with the steel industry but is rapidly rebuilding itself into a technology destination leveraging the two Universities to attract industry.  He showcased some of the local cultural assets his city celebrates. 

This proud Mayor, who served on City Council for ten years finally won the Mayor's seat on the third try.  (It only took me two.)

The first night we appetizers at the arboretum, with its 100% energy independent and environmentally neutral green building, that he hopes can become an economic driver of energy and environmental technologies that they can possibly export to other cities. From there we went to a banquet at the Carnegie Museum of Art and Natural History where we were joined by members of city council and community leaders. We ate well, while center stage there was a cellist accompanying a contemporary dance team like I have never seen before.

On the second night we took a "duck bus" tour through the central city, with a few stops, and then splashed into the river and ended at Heinz Stadium where veteran Steelers hero, Franco Harris, welcomed us and took us out on the field and through the facilities. Then we went to an outdoor historic rail car, the Incline that took us up to the top of Washington Hill to observe the city from above and have dinner.  During dinner we met a celebrated sculptress and visual and written artist, who works with inner city kids, who recited a poetry about her passion for the kids and the neighborhood they work to revitalize and save.

The final evening, we went to the Warhol Art Museum where we were guided through the life of Andy Warhol and his art and were entertained by a jazz singer with her band.  From there we went to the an up and coming neighborhood where an urban pioneer, more than twenty years ago, bought and renovated a classic fire station which is now a museum featuring Pittsburgh's celebrity baseball player Roberto Clemente who, as a young man, suffered a tragic death that shook the city. The plane on which he was flying on the way back from a charitable mission trip went down and Pittsburgh lost an icon.

Adjacent to the firehouse/museum, we dined at a family style authentic Italian restaurant, with a commercial winery, tasting bar and music venue for live music in the basement.  .

My sense that Mayors are a very unique brand of public officials was confirmed by the pride in his city by the mayor of Pittsburg and each of the participating members in our group as they took us through visual tours of their cities and plans for the future.  They demonstrate passion for their cities and for making them even better. It was, needless to say, a great opportunity to be with people whose lives as Mayor are similar to mine. 

The following are some of the characteristics I observed among the seven other mayors.

They display a passion for maintaining and improving the sense of place in their hometowns.

They have patience and demonstrate a love of people they serve.

They understand belonging and neighborhood individuality of people and their concerns.

They recognize that when the city is quiet they must speak up because people expect them to

They are accustomed to being called as the last resort for people who have no other place to turn even though the mayors may have no authority.

It was truly a fabulous experience for which I am grateful to the US Conference of Mayors, the National Endowment of the Arts and the American Federation of Architects.  I am also grateful to you for letting me serve as your Mayor.  If I was not the mayor of the best hometown in America, I would not have been invited to attend.