MJ's Ennis Davis Attends Next City Vanguard Conference

Vanguard Conference Review by Photographs


Exploring Murray Hill and Little Italy before the start of the conference.



Heading to Chinato on East 4th Street in downtown Cleveland.



Next City's executive director, Diana Lind, in the process of explaining the rapid introduction process at the Cleveland Design Collaborative.



From left to right: Lunch in Perk Plaza with Keome Rowe - City of Fort Worth, Assistant to the Mayor and Chief of Staff, Adam Rosa - Senior Associate at Chicago's Camiros, Patrick Sabol - Senior Research Assistant at Washington, DC's The Brookings Institution, Ryan Sotirakis - Downtown Denver Partnership's Public Realm Design Specialist, and Rosa Mayer - Economic & Housing Development Associate with the Partnership for Downtown St. Louis.



From left to right: Preparing for the Westside neighborhoods bike tour with Joe Hansbauer - Cincinnati's Findlay Market President and CEO, Efrem Bycer - Manager of Economic Development at San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation, Rosa Mayer - Economic & Housing Development Associate with the Partnership for Downtown St. Louis, Paul Supawanich Transportation Planner with San Francisco's NelsonNygaard, and Patrick Sabol - Senior Research Assistant at Washington, DC's The Brookings Institution.



Crossing the river with a view of downtown Cleveland in the background.



Jenny Spencer - Team Northeast Ohio's Manager of Business Attraction and Monica Campana - co-founder and executive director of Atlanta's Living Walls: The City Speaks, standing at a bike box in Ohio City.


Quotes of the Conference

A list of memorable quotes from the conference. List suggested by Next City Vanguard Class members:

"Artist are poor people that wealthy people aren't afraid of" - Stephen Crim, Mobility Lab, Research Manager

"Plop Art" - Ryan Sotirakis, Downtown Denver Partnership, Public Realm Design Specialist

"Neighborcrats" - Wanona Satcher, Durham Urban Innovation Center, Project Manager

"Hipster Development"

"Schmeriously. Best."

"Froyo/Cupcake Culture"

"Pink hair and portfolio crowd"

"Finding ways around no" - Ari Maron, Partner, MRN Limited

"Connecting investment and accountability" - Daniel Miller, Fundrise, Co-founder and Director of Sales

"Once the goals are in line, the partnerships grow from there"

"when you look at Detroit, the problems of other cities like Cleveland look cute." - Dan Kinkead, Detroit Future City, Executive Director

"If you change who's writing the check, you change what gets built." - Daniel Miller, Fundrise, Co-founder and Director of Sales

"Ask better questions" - Melissa Sobolik, City of Fargo, City Commissioner

"Talking about the waterfront is irrelevant if you can't get wet." and "I want my kids to actually be able to throw me into the water legally." - Joe Cimperman, City of Cleveland, City Councilman



Ohio City Farm with Cleveland's skyline in the background.



Hops that will be used by nearby Great Lakes Brewing Company in Ohio City Farm.



Making a stop in Detroit-Shoreway, a neighborhood being revitalized with affordable mixed-use housing.



Visiting a community garden in the Stockyards neighborhood.



From left to right: Liz Maillie - Next City special projects manager, Dan Kinkead - Detroit Future City executive director, Ennis Davis - Metro Jacksonville co-founder, Alex Dodds - Smart Growth America's Online Communications manager, and Marika Shiori-Clark - Principal of Cleveland's SOSHL Studio. Photo courtesy of Made in Brownsville and fellow Vanguard 2013 class member, Quardean Lewis-Allen.



Kareeshma Ali, an Urban Designer and Planner with Houston's Asakura Robinson discusses Public Interest Design as other interested Vanguards look on.



The HealthLine BRT on Euclid Avenue in University Circle.



A group photo of Next City's 2013 Vanguard Conference participants. Photo courtesy of Next City's Emaleigh Doley.

Editorial by Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com

Thanks to Wiatt Bowers of Transform Jax for encouraging me to apply to be considered by Next City, Trip Stanly, and the board of Metro Jacksonville for raising the funds to cover travel expenses.