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2003 Environmental
and Public Policy Conference
Moving Beyond our
Comfort Zone: Exploring the Edges of our Field
April 24-26, 2003
Radisson barcelo Hotel
Washington, D.C.
Letter from the
Section Chairs and Program Committee
At our previous conference in Tucson, Arizona,
our members suggested two elements that would
be important for the next conference: an urban
atmosphere and greater discussion of diversity
issues. We are pleased to offer you both of these
important elements this year, as well as the opportunity
to "kick the dirt" with a great field
trip, discuss pressing issues in the field, and
conduct Section planning.
We were extremely fortunate to have the Hewlett
Foundation support our Section with the development
of seven critical issue papers related to the
Environmental Public Policy field of conflict
resolution. The papers "Quality and Oversight
of Practice," "Governance and Institutionalization,"
"Democracy and Civic Engagement," "Evaluation
and Research," "Non-Environmental Opportunities,"
"Quality and Implementation of Agreements,"
and "Responding to Critics" are now
available to our Section. It is our hope that
we can take the good work that has been started,
add to it and bring to our field some of our best
critical thinking to help us learn and grow. The
papers will be available at the conference as
well as on the ACR Web Site at www.acresolution.org.
Rosemary Romero
Co-Chair, EPP Section
Tom Fee
Co-Chair, EPP Section
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Introduction
At last year's ACR Environmental Public Policy
Section Conference in Tucson, Arizona, members
noted that while recent meetings have had a decided
environmental focus and have been held in beautiful
suburban and rural locations, our goals needed
to be expanded. Our past conferences have not
attracted diverse populations. Our meeting attendees
were homogeneous, despite a Section goal and an
ACR goal of working to build diversity in our
membership. Skilled practitioners in many public
policy arenas are conducting agreement-seeking
collaborative processes, yet many do not identify
with the conflict resolution field and have not
attended past conferences.
To concentrate on our goal of attracting a diverse
membership, we decided to hold our next meeting
in an urban location. We will focus on the challenges
and opportunities in urban public policy conflicts
and other non-environmental public policy arenas
that intersect frequently with issues of race
and culture. Those goals have been given to our
program chair for the next meeting, Bill Potapchuk.
Bill has focused his practice on urban public
policy conflicts and will be drawing from his
network to assemble a program committee that reaches
beyond "the usual suspects." The program
committee is looking to provide not only a great
program but a fun event.
So put April 24-26 on your calendar now and plan
to join your colleagues for an exciting conference
that will focus on urban public policy conflicts,
different and emerging modes of practice, and
urban environmental justice issues paired with
some dancing and great music. We want to especially
extend an invitation to those practitioners who
might define themselves as being on the edge of
our field. The Section conference is an opportunity
to broaden our collegial networks, understand
different arenas of practice, and perhaps attract
new members to ACR.
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Conference at-a-Glance
Thursday April 24, 2003
8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Registration
10:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Field Trip to the
Anacostia River
2:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Opening Plenary:
"Cleaning the Anacostia River: Exploring
Different Approaches to Civic Engagement and Decision
Making"
6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Dinner: "Strengthening
our Community and Planning Our Future"
Friday April 25, 2003
8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Registration
8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Breakfast
9:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Concurrent Sessions 1:
Series 1.1 Dialogue on Diversity Issues within
our Section and the Field
Series 1.2 Sustaining our Institutions in Fiscal
and Political Hard Times
Series 1.3 Community Conferencing
11:30 a.m. – 12:00 noon Break
12:00 noon – 1:00 p.m. Luncheon and News
You Can Use
1:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Break
1:30 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.
Concurrent Sessions 2:
Series 2.1 Building Collaborative Communities
Series 2.2 In House and Outside Practitioners
Series 2.3 Sitting LULU's (Locally Unwanted Land
Uses)
3:15 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. Break
3:45 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.
Concurrent Sessions 3:
Series 3.1 Using Consensus Building to Tackle
Urban Air Toxics
Series 3.2 Conflict and Situation Assessments
Series 3.3 Advanced Practitioner Status
5:30 – 7:00 p.m. Reception and Various Activities
in Washington
Saturday April 26, 2003
8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. Breakfast
8:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Closing Session: "Planning
the Future of the Environmental and Public Policy
Section"
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Conference Program
Thursday, April 24, 2003
Registration Open (8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.)
Field Trip to the Anacostia River (10:30 a.m.
– 1:30 p.m. ):
Under the leadership of the staff of the Chesapeake
Bay Foundation—Anacostia Waterfront Initiative,
visit the river, see the surrounding neighborhoods,
and learn about initiative's to clean the river
and reconnect neighborhoods and the waterfront.
We will visit a local restaurant and lunch is
a Dutch treat. Meet in the lobby of the hotel.
(RSVP required- space is limited.)
Opening Plenary (2:00 p.m. –
5:30 p.m.):
"Cleaning the Anacostia River: Exploring
Different Approaches to Civic Engagement and Decision
Making"
Welcome:
Rosemary Romero, Section Co-Chair
Bill Potapchuk, Conference Program Chair
A broad range of participatory strategies are
being used on the urban political landscape to
engage citizens in governance, improve decision
making, and develop implementable policies and
decisions. Doug Siglin will orient us to the social,
political, and environmental geography of the
river. Following his presentation, panelists representing
three modes of practice will respond to a fictional
Request for Proposals and propose a process that
helps citizens and stakeholders develop a strategy
for cleaning up the Anacostia river, a physical
and metaphorical partition of the District of
Columbia. Their presentation will be followed
by an opportunity for conference participants
to ask questions and dialogue with each other.
Stakeholders, including elected officials from
local jurisdictions, a neighborhood leader, a
District official, and an environmentalist will
respond to the proposals, outlining what attracts
them to each proposal and indicating where their
concerns lie. This will be followed by more dialogue
with attendees. Presenters are Doug Siglin, Chesapeake
Bay Foundation Anacostia Waterfront Initiative,
Dan Dozier, MNG Center for Environmental Strategies
and Technology, Carolyn Lukensmeyer, AmericaSpeaks,
Deeohn Ferris, President, Global Environmental
Resources Inc., and a Panel of Anacostia River
Stakeholders including: Thomas Arrasmith, Chair,
Anacostia Watershed Citizen Advisory Committee;
Toni Griffin, District of Columbia Office of Planning,
Anacostia Waterfront Initiative; John Imparato,
Naval District Washington; and John L. Johnson,
Anacostia River Initiative, Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Dinner (6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.):
Strengthening Our Community and Planning Our Future
At our evening dinner, we will begin our own community
building and lay the foundation for developing
a vision and strategic actions for our Section.
This will also be a chance to reconnect with your
colleagues and meet new participants in the Section
meeting.
Friday, April 25, 2003
Registration Open (7:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.)
Breakfast (8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.)
Concurrent Sessions 1
(9:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.):
Series 1.1: Dialogue on Diversity Issues
within our Section and the Field
John L. Johnson (Process Work-DC), Greg Sobel
(Environmental Mediation Services) and Paddy Moore
(Moore II Resolutions) will facilitate a dialogue
among participants about diversity issues in our
field. Topics may include whether our meetings
are welcoming of diverse participants, whether
the way work and contracts flow brings diverse
practitioners into our field, and the role of
the Section in meeting diversity goals. Participants
will be asked to carry this dialogue forward into
our Section planning session on Saturday. Participants
are asked to participate in the entire dialogue.
Series 1.2: Sustaining our Institutions in
Fiscal and Political Hard Times: A Roundtable
on Developing Strategies for Survival
In recent months, proposals have been made to
eliminate or stop funding state offices of dispute
resolution in Ohio, Oregon, and Massachusetts.
Other state and local programs have faced similar
challenges. Donna Silverberg (DS Consulting) will
lead a roundtable discussion to illuminate the
challenges and explore strategies for survival
with representatives from threatened programs.
Series 1.3: Community Conferencing: A New
Approach to Restorative Justice and Community
Problem Solving
Community conferencing, a conflict resolution
and community building approach that has been
imported from Australia and New Zealand, is growing
rapidly in this country and is being used with
success in urban communities and communities of
color. Lauren Abramson, Associate Professor of
Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine,
and her colleague Roberta Haynes will guide participants
through a session which explores the nature of
this approach and offers a primer in its use.
Break (11:30 a.m.– 12:00 p.m.)
Luncheon (12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.)
News You Can Use
Join your colleagues for lunch and hear news you
can use, including updates from the effort to
create the U.S. Consensus Council and news from
the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict
Resolution. Bring your news to share!
Break (1:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.)
Concurrent Sessions 2
(1:30 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.)
Series 2.1: Building Collaborative Communities:
Using Conflict Resolution and Collaborative Processes
to Change Civic Culture
Some communities such as Jacksonville and Chattanooga
are being touted as having a more collaborative,
more inclusive civic culture that was formed by
the extensive and intentional use of collaborative
processes. These collaborative processes help
inculcate new norms, build collaborative capacity,
and lead to deeper and more ambitious collaborative
efforts. Skip McKoy (DC Agenda) and Bill Potapchuk
(Community Building Institute), who has led a
national agenda-building effort on collaborative
communities, will offer some background and lead
a dialogue on these ambitious change efforts.
Series 2.2: In-house and Outside Practitioners
The time seems ripe to move beyond the discussion
of whether there is a place for in-house (agency)
dispute resolution professionals and whether they
detract from outside practitioners. Amid the theoretical
concerns about where the in-house domain ends
and the independent mediator sphere begins, a
number of agency and independent dispute resolution
types have been quietly collaborating doing what
mediators do best: making it up as they go along
to meet the needs of the parties. What have we
been learning from each other? What do we have
to offer each other? What are the tensions, opportunities,
and satisfactions to be found in this land where
in-house and outside practitioners come together?
These are the questions we would like to explore
in a participatory forum with Ellie Tonkin and
Doug Thompson (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency),
Elena Gonzalez (U.S. Department of Interior) and
several senior outside practitioners.
Series 2.3: Sitting LULU's (Locally Unwanted
Land Uses): Exploring Recent Practice
Anyone who has been involved in siting issues
knows that even recreational center such as schools,
libraries and parks are sometimes hard to site
because of community opposition. For those trying
to site facilities that are perceived to have
a negative impact on the surrounding area, the
challenge can be formidable. A panel that includes
Richard Collins (University of Virginia Institute
for Environmental Negotiation), David Lever (Architect
for the Prince George's County School Board in
Maryland), Robert Fisher (Resolve) and Alice Tousignat
(Virginia Supportive Housing) will explore recent
siting efforts in urban and semi-urban areas and
will discuss lessons learned. The panel will be
moderated by Robin Roberts (RESOLVE).
Break (3:15 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.)
Concurrent Sessions 3
(3:45 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.)
Series 3.1: Using Consensus Building to Tackle
Urban Air Toxics: The Cleveland Experience as
a National Model
The Environmental Protection Agency funded
a pilot project in Cleveland, Ohio that shared
decision-making with a stakeholder group of diverse
representatives. The group collectively identified,
prioritized, decided, and implemented a range
of projects to reduce air toxins in the area.
This is an innovative national pilot with implications
for how business is likely to be done under the
current administration. Come hear more about the
project from facilitator Patrick Field (Consensus
Building Institute); a Cleveland stakeholder;
evaluator Juliana Birkhoff (Resolve); and project
coordinator Bill Long (U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency) and then discuss the implications.
Series 3.2: Conflict and Situation Assessments:
A Report from the Online Working Group
This project emerged from the considerable
enthusiasm that was generated in two sessions
of the 2002 U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict
Resolution conference in Tucson, Arizona: "Enhancing
Environmental Decision-Making: Using Web-Based
technology in Multi-Party Cases" and "Analysis
of Conflicts for Diagnostic Consultation and Assessment."
It looks at how we can improve our assessments
of conflicts and contentious situations to improve
our practice. Funder Mike Eng (U.S. Institute
for Environmental Conflict Resolution) and project
leaders Scott McCreary (CONCUR), Colin Rule and
Jonathan Raab (Raab Associates) will provide a
report of the first round of online dialogue,
receive feedback, and gauge interest in participation
for future rounds of online discussion. In keeping
with the conference theme, presenters will touch
on potential applications of Online Dialogue and
Situation Assessment for Anacostia River issues.
Series 3.3: Advanced Practitioner Status:
What Should Our Section Do?
Currently, the Family Section is the only ACR
Section to have developed standards for certification
of advanced practitioners. This step has created
the need for similar discussion in other Sections
and poses the question as to whether our Section
should pursue certification for advanced practitioners.
Rosemary Romero (ACR's President-Elect), David
Hart (ACR CEO), Bob Jones (Florida Conflict Resolution
Consoritum), and Gail Bingham (Resolve) will lead
a dialogue among participants about this issue.
Reception (5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.)
Join your colleagues for a reception co-hosted
by CDR, DS Consulting, Resolve, Inc. and the Meridian
Institute.
Fun, Fun, and More Fun
Various Times
Work too hard? Always lament the fact that you
do not spend enough time with your colleagues
or meeting new people? Like good food? Resist
the idea of scheduling one more meeting (or heaven
forbid, going to sleep early!) and join your colleagues
on several expeditions to experience D.C.'s rich
nightlife. Preparations are still underway, but
we will soon have plans for groups of people to
go dancing, take in the sights, hear good music,
and eat great food. Details will be available
at the conference.
Saturday, April 26, 2003
Breakfast (8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.)
Closing Session (8:30 a.m. –
12:00 p.m.)
Planning the Future of the Environmental and Public
Policy Section: Visioning and Strategic Planning
Read this please! Colleagues, how many times have
you advised a group of stakeholders that the only
way to do "the work" is to convene a
meeting and make sure all of the "right"
people are there? Today, you are the "right"
person and we need you. Our Section needs your
attention to ensure that it remains a vital point
of connection for us, that it continues to have
an important presence in ACR, and that we fully
take advantage of the opportunities we have to
strengthen the field and improve political decision
making.
We have some important issues to work on—diversity,
understanding certification issues, continuing
our tradition of strong leadership, and planning
for the future. Please ensure that your travel
plans allow you to stay and participate in this
important session.
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Registration Information
Registration Rates are as follows:
ACR Member rate: $250
Non-Member rate: $275
Full-Time Student rate: $175
(Student must provide proof of full-time status)
One-Day Conference Vouchers!
You can only attend one day of the Conference?
Download a One Day Conference Voucher and register
on-site for a reduced rate of $150.
Full conference registration rates include:
Two continental breakfasts (Friday and Saturday)
Dinner (Thursday)
Lunch (Friday),
Reception (Friday),
Breaks
All conference materials
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Site and Hotel
Information
The Radisson Barcelo Hotel is the location of
ACR's Environmental Public Policy conference,
and will be the site of all main conference activities.
ACR has secured a block of rooms at a special
conference rate of $145.00 per night for a single
or double. Rooms are available on a first-come,
first-served basis. The room rates listed are
only guaranteed for reservations made before April
10, 2003 so be sure to reserve a room as soon
as possible because we are expecting a capacity
crowd. Be sure to refer to the ACR Conference
in order to reserve a room under our block.
Radisson Barcel Hotel, Washington DC
2121 P Street NW
Washington, DC 20037
Telephone: (202) 293-3100
Fax: (202) 857-0134
Reservations: (800) 333-3333
Hotel e-mail: Reservations@barcelodc.com
Sites about the city:
www.washington.org
www.dc.gov
Directions to Radisson Barcelo:
If you are traveling by Metrorail, exit at the
Dupont Circle station on the Red Line. Take the
Q & 20th street exit from the Metro station.
Make a left from the elevator (or immediate left
from escalator) onto 20th Street. Walk one block
and turn right on P St. We are located between
21st and 22nd St.
From Washington Dulles Airport:
Driving: Use the Dulles Access Road to I-66 East
towards Rosslyn. Cross over the Francis Scott
Key Bridge to Georgetown. At the light make a
right turn, and this places you on M Street in
Georgetown. Turn left on 31st St. NW. Turn right
on P St. NW. The hotel is located between 22nd
and 21st St. on the left.
Metrorail: You can take the Washington Flyer
shuttle bus from Dulles Airport to the East Falls
Church Metro station, on the Orange Line. Transfer
to the Red Line at Metro Center. The shuttle runs
approximately every 30 minutes.
From Reagan National Airport:
Driving: Take Route 1 North into D.C. Continue
up 14th St. NW, turn left on P St. NW, and continue
until you reach Dupont Circle. Follow the outer
circle around halfway and continue west on P Street.
We are located on the right between 21st and 22nd
Streets.
Metrorail: The Blue and Yellow Lines both stop
at National Airport. If you take the Blue Line
into town, you can transfer to the Red line at
Metro Center; if you take the Yellow Line, transfer
to the Red Line at Gallery Place-Chinatown.
From Baltimore-Washington International (BWI)
Airport:
Driving: Take I-195 West to the Baltimore-Washington
Parkway. Take the Parkway South and exit at New
York Avenue. Follow New York Avenue (50 West)
to 7th St. NW. Turn right on 7th St NW. Turn left
on P St. NW. You will encounter two traffic circles,
Logan and Dupont. Continue halfway around both
circles, remaining on P St. traveling west. We
are located between 21st and 22nd St.
Metrorail: Metrobus runs Express Route B30 between
the airport and Greenbelt station on the Green
Line. The bus runs approximately every 40 minutes.
Transfer to the Red Line at Fort Totten or Gallery
Place-Chinatown.
What to wear for the conference:
While D.C. weather will likely be in the sixties,
temperatures in the hotel can fluctuate from hot
to cold. We strongly suggest you dress in layers
so that you can adjust your apparel based on the
particular conference room you are in.
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