A national celebration of John Parr and his life’s work to energize civic life in communities and regions across the United States will be held in Pittsburgh, Pa., on the afternoon of Tuesday, July 29. All of John’s friends and associates from all regions are cordially invited to attend.
The event is scheduled for 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at an especially fitting location — the Regional Enterprise Tower at 425 Sixth Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh. The tower houses virtually all the major regional organizations of the Pittsburgh region, including the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission and the Allegheny Conference on Community Development. Formerly the corporate headquarters of ALCOA, the building was turned over to the regional groups at the instigation of Paul O’Neill, ALCOA’s then-CEO (and later U.S. Treasury secretary) when ALCOA moved to another headquarters building in the city.
An earlier tribute to John’s work and life in the Denver and Colorado communities in particular, and to his wife Sandy and daughter Chase who lost their lives in the same December automobile accident, was held in Denver February 29, with more than 1,500 people in attendance. But John’s colleagues in the Citistates Group, National Civic League and others, believe that there should be a national event, focused on John’s remarkable legacy of invigorating cities and civic life all over the United States. The July 29 date also provides all who are interested an opportunity, following the late afternoon event in John’s honor, to register and take part in two activities of the Alliance for Regional Stewardship, which John led for several years. (The ARS is currently being operated as a program of the American Chamber of Commerce Executives — ACCE).
The first ARS event will be a July 29 dinner at 6:30 p.m., at the William Penn-Omni Hotel – a short walk from the reception. The dinner will feature awards for outstanding regional accomplishments and pay tribute with a special new award to the lives of John Parr and Joan Riehm of Louisville. (Joan, who died earlier this year, was an outstanding civic leader in the new Metro form of government there and former ARS chair.)
The second ARS event will be an all-day program July 30 focused on “Organizing and Mobilizing Regions for Sustainable Development,” including a number of noted speakers including
- Bruce Katz, Director, Brookings’ Metropolitan Policy Program, Blueprint for Prosperity
- Marc A. Weiss, Chairman and CEO, Global Urban Development
- Petra Todorovich, Director, America 2050, Regional Plan Association
- Michael Langley, Chairman, Alliance for Regional Stewardship, and President & CEO, Allegheny Conference on Community Development
- Richard C.D. Fleming, President & CEO, St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association
- Robert Grow, Founding Chair, Envision Utah
All friends of John Parr are invited to the 4 p.m. Regional Enterprise Tower reception at no charge. For the ARS dinner there is a $75 charge. To participate in the dinner and the July 30 program, there is a discounted ARS member rate of $195. The registration fees and way to get a discounted hotel rate are described in the following link.
Click here for more details or to register>>
To be eligible for the ARS member rate, insert “ARSGuest” on the coupon code line. To register at one of the designated hotels under the ARS-ACCE group rate, check http://www.acce.org/forumhotel.
In addition, if you plan to attend the 4 p.m. celebration of John’s life, please send a confirming e-mail to Farley Peters, business manager of the Citistates Group (fpeters@citistates.com). We want to know who’s coming, to prepare name tags, plan the program and assure room set-up and refreshments. We believe all these events should be memorable moments — in John’s spirit — for people who care about the future of regions and all those leading the charge to make them more competitive, sustainable, civic places to live.
For The Citistates Group –Neal Peirce, Curtis Johnson and Farley Peters