Hopping Green & Sams sponsored the 2011 Sustainable Florida Conference held in Tallahassee on October 24-25, 2011

Hopping Green & Sams sponsored the 2011 Sustainable Florida Conference held in Tallahassee on October 24-25, 2011.  About 300 people from government, industry, and academia attended the Conference.  HGS Shareholder Ralph DeMeo led a panel discussion with representatives of federal, state and local government on the topic: "Smart Growth and the Triple Bottom Line - Nation­al, State and Local Involvement in Redevelopment."  The panel discussed how government influences on redevelopment can strengthen human capital, improve the natural environment, and assist businesses. The discussion included how the EPA's "Smart Growth" and the "Triple Bottom Line" paradigms change the terms of the development debate away from the traditional growth/no growth question to "how and where should new development be accommodated."  Ralph spoke specifically about the role of brownfields laws in the redevelopment of previously underutilized distressed urban properties, and by example the successful City of Tallahassee Gaines Street Redevelopment Project, for which he serves as project environmental legal counsel.  For more information about this topic, contact Ralph DeMeo.