Video: Local Leaders Taking Action

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Local Leaders Taking Action

Coralette Hannon: We're about to hear from two local leaders in a moderated conversation featuring how they are taking action and making transformative change in economic development in their cities. Before we dive in, I want to take a moment to highlight a few opportunities for you to access resources on the topic of high-speed internet.

As Dawit shared earlier, AARP has been fighting for more affordable and reliable internet access for our members for years. And recently, this has included fighting for historic investments in broadband infrastructure in recent major pieces of federal legislation, such as the American Rescue Plan Act, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act.

New programs under these laws will enable low-income Americans to access reliable internet at far cheaper rates. And other provisions are helping states and communities expand access to areas that previously lacked adequate access. 

If you're tuning in and would like to learn more about the topic in your community, or are looking for some helpful tools to advance these conversations, you can visit aarp.org/livable and scroll the A-Z topics to find our page on broadband and download the Exploring Digital Equity Fact Sheet series. These resources were created by the Institute for Local Self Reliance with support from AARP and help from the National Digital Inclusion Alliance. The Exploring Digital Equity Fact Sheet Series unpacks key issues, challenges, and opportunities through a series of approachable, solutions-oriented resources. Again, you can visit aarp.org/livable to find these tools. 

Mike Watson: Thanks, Coralette. And we're really glad to work with our partner, the Institute for Local Self Reliance on these tools. And hope they will be useful to communities and elected officials across the country. 

And speaking of elected officials, now I'd like to turn to our closing panel for today. A fireside chat, with no fireside, with two local leaders who are taking action. This next conversation will focus on how mayors are fostering transformative economic development in their communities. 

And as before, there will be opportunities to ask questions and respond to polls. So please be sure to share your thoughts. You can either go to Slido in your browser as before and enter the event code, livable2023, or just scan the QR code on your screen. 

Now without further ado, let me introduce our moderator and guests. First, moderating today's discussion is Nancy LeaMond, Executive Vice President and Chief Advocacy and Engagement Officer at AARP.

Nancy has responsibility for driving AARP's social mission on behalf of Americans 50 plus and their families. And she leads government affairs and legislative campaigns for AARP, widely seen as one of the most powerful advocacy organizations. Welcome, Nancy.  

Nancy LeaMond: Thank you. 

Mike Watson: And we also have Mayor Bryan Barnett, who has served as the mayor of Rochester Hills, Michigan, for more than 17 years and is the city's longest serving mayor. His administration has received local, national, and international recognition for innovation, fiscal responsibility, operational excellence, and environmental leadership. Welcome, Mayor Barnett. 

Mayor Bryan Barnett: Good to be here. Thank you. 

Mike Watson: Thanks for being here. Finally, we have Mayor Indya Kincannon, who was sworn in as the 69th mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee, in 2019 with a commitment to putting people first. Her top priorities include public safety, affordable housing, and access to opportunity. Welcome, Mayor Kincaid. 

Mayor Indya Kincannon: Thank you. Glad to be here. 

Mike Watson: So glad to have you all here, and now I'd like to turn it over to you, Nancy, to moderate this conversation. 

Nancy LeaMond: Well, thanks very much, Mike, and thanks everybody for being here, and most of all, thanks to Mayor Barnett and Mayor Kincannon for joining us.

Local leaders are on the front lines, building relationships with their communities and addressing the issues that matter most to their residents. Today's topic of economic development ranks high up on that list. We've heard from some incredible panelists and speakers today and still have more to come tomorrow. 

I'm delighted to be here for our day one closing session with two local leaders who have been championing these issues in their communities. And so with that, let's begin. 

Mayor Barnett, you are known to be a very engaged mayor who has fostered robust community engagement and great relationships with your residents. Can you tell us how you leverage these strong relationships to ensure that your residents feel included in your various redevelopment projects? 

Mayor Bryan Barnett: Sure. Well, first, Nancy, thank you for the invitation. It's always good to see you and to be on a call with my colleague and friend, Mayor Kincannon, and she is a national leader in this, so we're going to hear some good words from her today as well.

You know, economic development is a huge issue in any community, and it's often not spoken about, we compete with folks in our state and around our region, and you're doing it in different ways than you've done it in the past, but all of it is so critically important, and being engaged is one of the great ways you, you find out what your community wants.

I just completed my State of the City address two weeks ago, and we do it very differently here, 600 people came out. We used the theme of the Greatest Show to show our city story, which we think is the greatest show, and my opening number for my state of the city had 40 dancers and four-person choir and a three-ring circus with pythons and fire breathers, all to tell a city story.

And when you think about redevelopment in a community and how you engage those voices, one of the great stories, I think in this recent past has been a corridor in our community called the Auburn Road Corridor, and it was left behind a lot of the other development and behind a lot of progress that the rest of the city saw. And so we went down there to try to understand what those residents wanted, and it was not just going door to door to listen to them, but we met with every business owner. One of the unique moments I remember is going to eat purposely for lunches in the area and restaurants in that area and finding out what people wanted to see. 

And one senior citizen story strikes me, I'll never forget it, we had proposed redevelopment plan and we were calling it something different and the lady looked at me and she said, “Mayor! This isn't called Old Town, this is the Brooklands! Call everything the Brooklands!” And from then on, we changed everything we did.

It's very important that you engage your residents, especially your senior citizens, to make sure they have so much for, have seen so much happen in your community, can often bring you right back to some of the important roots that your community's had. And it's a constant learning path and a learning process, but it's something hopefully we've channeled pretty well here in the Rochester Hills. 

Nancy LeaMond: Well, Mayor Barnett, thanks for that. And I'm just trying to envision you singing and dancing at the beginning of your opening address. But we take your point that it takes a lot of different ways to keep people engaged and to get what they really think about things. So appreciate that. Now I'd like to turn to Mayor Kincannon. 

Mayor Indya Kincannon: I was able to watch some of Mayor Barnett's state of his city, and it's worth a view on YouTube or wherever else he has it posted. Community engagement is essential to everything we do in Knoxville, and so one of the things we do is, is just go out to the, there's a lot of change happening in Knoxville. Some of it's led by the city, and some of it is led by the private sector, and so, trying to keep really open lines of communication is, is vital. 

One example is if you see behind me, that's the Tennessee River. For decades, no one was developing on the south waterfront. It was sort of the red-headed stepchild of our city and now all of a sudden, thanks to some investments of the city, more people are interested in going there and more people are moving to our city.

So our job is to listen to the community and find out what amenities they need for the current businesses and current residents as they work to accommodate the new investments and new people moving to our city. So in South Waterfront, we've invested more than 70 million in public infrastructure, and that infrastructure is universal design.

When we talk to people, they say, we want to be able to go to this park with our grandparents and with our grandchildren. We want fun things to be able to do for all ages and all ability types. So we invested created two new parks and at the same time, if you, we're a very hilly town, and so we have invested and created a thousand acre urban wilderness playground which is filled with mountain bike trails, but there are trails for everybody. Bird watchers walkers, hikers, bikers, and, and first and foremost it's my job based, based on what the community needs to serve the people of Knoxville. And when you do things that make the people here happy and feeling like they have access to opportunity and healthy activities then it brings visitors too, which helps our economy. 

So we have also invested and partnered with our county and state partners and private sector to bring minor league baseball back to Knoxville. Again, listening to the community, this is something that we had for a hundred years. It left at the end of the 90s. And now we're building a new multi-use stadium to bring that back in a part of town that hasn't seen any investment for 50 years. 

Nancy LeaMond: Well, Mayor Kincannon, thank you for that. You've given us a lot to think about and by the way, I'm a big baseball fan, so I think minor league baseball is the key to an awful lot. Glad to do that and looking forward to visiting Knoxville and your team. 

Look, at AARP, we believe in the power of taking action to make communities more livable for people of all ages. And so now I'd like to invite you all, uh, who are listening and watching to participate in a poll question using Slido. Everyone should see the instructions on their screen now. And the question is, what change should your community prioritize to encourage economic development near your mainstream? 

The response options are build more affordable housing options, ADUs, missing middle for example, improve walkable infrastructure, sidewalk improvements, crosswalks, benches, enhance public transportation, bus stop improvements, transit options, activate public spaces, placemaking events, more green space, other kinds of things. So if you can vote now, vote for one. Mike, what do you see coming in? 

Mike Watson: Thanks, Nancy. We're getting a lot of good answers here. I feel like I'm watching a horse race before Mayor Barnett's State of the City address. One of the top answers as folks can see on their screen is building more affordable housing options. But a close second, or maybe not so close, but a second is around activating public spaces, something we've heard about a lot in this program.

So I would say, you know, about half of folks are coming in and building more affordable housing options, but recognizing that means, that means a lot of different things, ADUs. Missing Middle, and other approaches. 

Nancy LeaMond: Yeah, and I think what's interesting is that the mayors are probably doing a bit of everything on that list.

Mayor Kincannon, coming back to you, do you have any initial reactions to those responses and themes? 

Mayor Indya Kincannon: Well, I can say in Knoxville housing is the biggest issue. We have a housing crisis right now in the, in way, in part, because so many people are moving here. We've had more growth between the last census and the most recent one. We've grown more than we have in over 50 years. People who are, grow up here, want to stay, and people who come here from out of state and come here for our universities and other opportunities need a place to live. 

So, it's a good problem to have, and I'm preparing a missing middle proposal I'm sharing with my council tomorrow. We've spent about a year talking to stakeholders, getting input from the community about a missing middle housing. And as you know, missing middle is just what is old is new again. If you live in an older neighborhood, you probably have four-plexes and six-plexes and duplexes that were just the way people built houses in addition to single family detached.

I myself live in a duplex and it's been a good fit for my family for the last 20-plus years. But right now, the way our zoning ordinances are written, it's very difficult to build that kind of housing. Whether you're a brand new young person starting out and need just a one bedroom, or maybe, you know, certain times of life, you need a lot of space and a yard, later in life, maybe you don't want as big a yard and prefer the idea of living closer and walkable communities.  

So missing middle housing, we're making it, we're moving forward on that in Knoxville and also trying to partner with private developers to build more affordable housing at all over the city because that's a real shortage here. Our rental numbers have gone up quite a bit — 53 percent of Knoxville residents rent, so a majority of our residents are renters, not homeowners, and so we're working to leverage, you know, do bridge financing for people who are working in the affordable housing arena. 

Nancy LeaMond: We and the residents of your great city will wait to hear your plan coming forward. As you say the middle housing issue is huge across the country. Thanks for that. Mayor Barnett, what are some of your reactions to that poll? 

Mayor Bryan Barnett: Well, first, I want to note, Mayor Kincannon’s slight flex as she pointed out the Tennessee River over her shoulder. I pointed out some unread emails over my shoulders. They're basic. 

You know, I think what's interesting in that, particular poll, and, and really when you think about the purpose of this kind of conversation was about economic development, what we aren't talking about anymore. Economic development, I've been doing this for 17 years, used to be about attracting companies through tax abatements, checking out your tax versus other communities, how much energy costs to heat a building in the winter versus what it costs to cool in the summer.

Those kinds of conversations change and it's much more attracting talent. It's about affordable housing. It's about those public places. It's about feeling a sense of community because now generally people have a lot more flexibility about where they work. The olden days of, of you move to a town and that's where you worked and that's where you lived and that's where you stayed until the end has really changed. 

And so the whole conversation about important for communities to look at relative to economic development, now largely centers around people, not so much the businesses. We don't talk about tax rates as much as we talk about, you know, we have great proximity to university talent. We have great proximity to natural amenities, natural beauty.

Those things move the needle for people and hence real economic development. And that's a dramatic sea change from last year.  

Nancy LeaMond: Thanks Mayor Barnett, that's a really interesting point as we enter this new world of people not necessarily being in the building where their company is located.

Let’s talk a bit about what these types of changes look like in Knoxville and how they're attracting new residents and benefiting existing residents. Specifically, Mayor, how is your city strategically funding and investing in infrastructure, physical or digital, to promote this kind of economic development? And do these investments positively impact your residents, especially older adults? 

Mayor Indya Kincannon: Yeah, absolutely. I think that a lot of people are moving to Knoxville because of our climate not just our, our business climate, but our actual, you know, the weather is, is nice here. We have four seasons, but we don't have as serious a challenge with hurricanes and, and droughts and so forth.

So our investments are leveraged through partnerships. So I would say the way the city invests in infrastructure, in housing and walkability, in economic development is all about partnerships. 

We are very fortunate that we are home of the flagship University of Tennessee, Knoxville, which is a large research institution. We also have the Oak Ridge National Lab, right a few miles down, down the road. And we're the headquarters of the Tennessee Valley Authority. 

So people want to come here for the brainpower of our workforce, and we have some highly educated members of our workforce, and also just sheer availability of public energy. Public power has been really crucial to the development of industry and manufacturing.

We are also the center, thanks to Oak Ridge National Lab, of nuclear small modulators. I don't really understand it all. But what the way the city helps that is we are supporting our clean tech energy hub. And so the city has helped support mentorships and fellowships for young people who have those Ph.Ds and they're trying to take their, their great ideas for clean energy, better EV batteries, mitigating climate change and that sort of thing to a business model that actually works. So we help pay their expenses for these fellowships. And then they get to work on the supercomputers at Oak Ridge National Lab and get the business and academic support from University of Tennessee. 

Nancy LeaMond: Great. Well, thank you, Mayor Kincannon. Same question to you, Mayor Barnett. How is Rochester Hills strategically funding and investing in infrastructure to promote economic development? And how have these projects benefited your residents? And you know, we're always interested in your older residents. 

Mayor Bryan Barnett: Well, Mayor Kincannon rallied off a lot of lists. We just got voted cooler than Knoxville this morning in a in a new study.  

Mayor Indya Kincannon: In a one, one person election. 

Mayor Bryan Barnett: I can't, I can't cite the study. I promise you it was,it was thorough. The research was credible. 

Your question's really interesting because in my last answer, a lot of economic development has changed, and therefore the infrastructure has changed, and it's much more people centric. So, you know, our motto in our city is to be the people who live, work, and raise your family. And everything we focus on is really centered around those sort of three attributes, those three major areas. 

And when we look at our economic development strategy, it's similar. We look at the, as Mayor Kincannon said, You have to look at what you're good at. We don't have a University of Tennessee. We have Oakland University. And so they have some certain strengths and some certain programs that we really build off. We know we look at our international strategy.

Where are companies locating from around the world here? Who are their buyers? Who are their customers? And how do we draw sort of concentric circles around their interests so that ours match theirs? So much in local government is really about partnerships. That's really find your success. 

But when it comes back down to finding talent and attracting talent, because that's really the, the currency of economic development today. You have to be innovative. You have to be really creative. And one quick story that I love that's really memorable, you probably won't remember anything else I've said of anything today, is one of the teams said, listen, what if we came up with this really creative idea to give every new person that moved here or a new company that moved here a puppy? 

And I thought it sounded crazy, but when we worked through it, we created a partnership organization here called Leader Dogs for the Blind, and they're looking for puppy raisers. And so you can imagine if you're the son or daughter of a person who's maybe moving here from Germany and you know that when you move to this new kind of confusing town in Michigan, you're going to get a free puppy. 

That really sets a community apart, and the day that we offered it, we had 10 people sign up to be interested, and so moving to our city, you get a free puppy, and although you might smile and think it's unusual, you're thinking about it. You're thinking about Rochester Hills from wherever you are across the world. It's been a great differentiating factor for us, so you have to stay innovative in today's climate. 

Nancy LeaMond: Oh, that's great. The puppy image is going to live with us, probably, probably forever. Aappreciate that. Now, we're going to open things up to the audience in a second, but before that, I have one final question. 

Throughout day one of this workshop, we shared tools, resources, and strategies with participants to create positive change in the communities they serve. With that in mind, what should we be ready to do differently as a result of this panel? What, what's your, you know, I always use this as an opportunity for free advice.

So I'm looking to the mayors to give out some free advice, starting with Mayor Barnett. 

Mayor Bryan Barnett: Well, you know, as who has been doing this for a while, the number one thing, and I think it sounds cliche, but so many people don't do it, is get involved. Find a way to get involved. Ours and citizens have so much to offer. Experience in relationships, in perspective.

I meet on Monday, something called Mondays with the mayor, just with our senior citizen community to get their ideas and perspectives. In Metro Detroit, we have a huge group of engineers, many of them retired. A lot of them start new businesses and have ideas to start new businesses.

And it's partnering that experience with maybe Young Energy and Young Capital, to deliver some. If it's not about being a business, it's just about getting involved with your community. So many needs: crossing guards, tutors, so many things that we think about that our seasoned citizens are oftentimes really exceptional at providing those services. We just want to connect and find ways to extract your talent in a way that you find interesting, and find engaging, because we both win if we can find that scenario. 

Nancy LeaMond: Mayor Barnett, you know AARP well, and you know that we have thousands of volunteers working in the community. And we try to stress when we talk about talent, we're not just talking about our staff, our paid staff. We're also talking about our volunteers. And that's in the same spirit. You just talked about engaging older, uh, residents of your city, get their ideas, get their experience and, uh, and benefit from it. So thanks for that. 

Turning to Mayor Kincannon, what's something we each should be ready to do differently. 

Mayor Indya Kincannon: Yeah, well, I, I would just say that, there's so many talents in our, among our, our seniors, the advice that I give to young people is the same as seniors is just what Mayor Barnett says, get involved, volunteer, mentor. I point hundreds of people to various boards and commissions and I'm always looking for talented people willing to do that. 

But if you are in the, among the many seniors who still want to work and need to work to make a living and make ends meet, just know that in the current labor market, you have some bargaining power. So let's say you want to work and earn some money, but you want to have a flexible schedule and only work, you know, 25 hours a week, give a proposal to your employer or potential employer and see what they say. We employ about 1,800 people and I'm always very encouraging to people who are eligible to retire say, we think you're doing a great job and we hope you stay. What can we do to make sure you will give us another few years?

Because, you know, they find their work meaningful and we want to make sure we can keep them as long as they're interested in working. 

Nancy LeaMond: Well, great. Well, I obviously could go on and on, but I'm not going to. Now it's time for audience questions that are coming in from Slido. So I'll turn it right back over to Mike.

Mike Watson: Thanks, Nancy. And we do have a lot of questions coming in. Mayor Kincannon and Mayor Barnett, you've been fantastic and we've got some more coming at you. So as a reminder, if you haven't asked your question yet, you can ask it by using the instructions that are appearing on the screen for Slido. So now we're going to go ahead and jump into our first question. 

So if you'd like to use it, use the Slido Q& A function. Again, those instructions are on the screen. And our first question is going to be for both mayors. And it's around, how do you measure success? So how do you measure if your economic development strategies are working? Mayor Kincannon, we're going to go to you first, and then you, Mayor Barnett.

Mayor Indya Kincannon: Well, I think since so many of our economic development strategies are related to streetscapes and infrastructure investments, I, one measure I see is how active are our streets and neighborhoods. Do people, are people out and about, walking, do they feel safe using our public amenities, our parks, our streets, you know, all of those things.

So just seeing an active, engaged, community in our public spaces. That's one sign of success. Another sign of success is our incomes keeping up with people's expenses, which, you know, has not been the case right now. We have, we can also measure success just in terms of our revenues that are coming in, but I more like to measure success in terms of abilities. People, you know, people's ability to pay their bills and earn enough income to have a high quality of life. So an active, engaged street and high quality incomes for a high quality of life for our residents. 

Mike Watson: That's a great response.  

Mayor Bryan Barnett: I think that, that answer is spot on. I would add, there's, there's quite a few ways to measure it. Obviously, the number of, you know, new businesses coming to your city, the, your unemployment rate. Your housing values, are all interesting. That Auburn Road corridor, example I gave earlier where we reinvested in a whole downtown district, that area which had been depressed had the fastest growing property values in our city for two years straight, and no one could have seen, seen that coming.

And then there's those intangibles about quality of life that are so important. I always say that I'm in the business of when you say my city, What do you think of in the next two seconds? And, and those things are really important as you try to measure success, the perception that you have as a community that people want to be in, like a restaurant, it's better to have a restaurant that's busy with a little bit of a wait than a restaurant nobody wants to be in. So, where do people want to be in our community? Property values are rising and businesses are moving here. 

Mike Watson: That's a great answer. Mayor Barnett, you talked about the intangibles here and kind of some of the messages. This next question, I think, is going to get to this. Nancy, I'm going to kick this over to you, and then you can turn it over to the mayors.

But one of the questions that we're hearing from folks here, in a couple different ways is, here's one I'll read. Our community has a heavy focus on youth. The Parks and Recreation Department was renamed Youth in Recreation. I wonder how we can reorient the direction to be inclusive of all. Nancy, I'm going to kick that over to you to see if you have anything to add, and then we'll kick it over to the mayors.

Nancy LeaMond: Well, I'd love to hear both of the mayors on this because I think they're both living examples of understanding that it's everybody in the community and that we have to focus on all ages and indeed so many of the things we do in communities, safe streets, nice parks, are there for people of all ages.

So I think part of it is we just have to start thinking in a way. As the mayors have, which is how do we serve everybody and in doing that, I think we're going to be able to, to cut through what people might see as trying to drive a wedge occasionally among generations, but look forward to hearing from the mayors.

Mike Watson: Yeah, Mayor Barnett, do you want to jump in on that first and then we'll go to you, Mayor Kincannon? 

Mayor Bryan Barnett: Yeah, well, this is a wonderful tip of the hat, and thank you to the AARP, we were able to secure a grant a few years back for an intergenerational playground, and we put it right next to one of our busiest, sort of youth focused playgrounds, and the interaction that you see there on any day and today is exceptional. You have all ages exercising, enjoying and having a great time together. It's, it's really been a wonderful recognition for us.  

And, and the person that asked that question, yeah. The Recreation Department is going to recognize trends and they're going to recognize ways to meet the community need.

In our city right now, I'm going to use, the P word, and I do it cautiously. Pickleball. Pickleball is the hottest thing to have. Up in Rochester Hills in the last few years, and we are building pickleball courts much faster than we're building anything youth related. Because that's what folks are playing, and that's what people are doing, all generations are playing it.

So, there's, you know, a good department is going to be tuned into its community. We have a wonderful organization called the OPC that really connects our senior community. We listen to them, we find out what the recreation trends are. A good city, a good community needs to be tuned in from beginning to end, to every single area. And I think hopefully we've done a good job here with the AARP's help here in the city of Rochester Hills. 

Mike Watson: I love that. Mayor Kincannon, do you have anything to add to that? 

Mayor Indya Kincannon: Yeah, I would just add that, you know, programming is possible and, and delightful when you mix all the ages together. And what, working in Knoxville, we have, Silver Sneakers programs and a program called SAIL, Stay Active and Independent for Life.

And, and those go in the same places with the same staff as our after school programs and they mingle well. Sometimes it helps when there's, we have cited some of our senior centers next to playgrounds and YMCAs. So there's a natural, mixing of generations and, and, and that's a really positive thing. So I appreciate the AARP's, guidance and support on these efforts as well. We have a very active community here in Knoxville. 

One thing I'm especially proud of is, you know, we have our city pools and swimming programs for kids. We've made a special effort to introduce people to swimming as adults in a very sensitive way because it's sometimes people are a little bit embarrassed that they haven't learned how to swim and that program has been so well received. 

It's also helping people get more engaged and feel comfortable. Using our river for recreation because, you know, we don't want to get people out canoeing and kayaking if they don't have, you know, at least able to swim at a beginner level. So those programs have been very popular and successful and we hope to continue doing that kind of thing. 

Mike Watson: I love that focusing on things that are going to benefit all ages and making those connections really really wonderful. Now we're going to touch on two final questions.

I think the first here we're seeing is maybe in the challenging space now. So you both have talked about your visions and your progress you've made. Surely that has not been without some opposition. So one of the questions we're seeing here is how do you overcome that opposition? What are some strategies to put in place?

Mayor Kincannon, let's start with you and then we'll go to Mayor Barnett. 

Mayor Indya Kincannon: Well, I think the mental housing proposal that I've set forth and I'm about to start trying to get it passed is a good example. We have a shortage of housing, and I'm going, in my way to deal with people who are worried about, change. They're worried about change. They're worried about, will it affect the character of the neighborhood. Some of it's NIMBYism. Some of it's just a fear of change and people have worked long and hard to increase their property values of their biggest investment, their home. How will this impact that? 

So one is sharing information. Two is sharing stories. And three, and this is probably the most important, is lining up supporters to speak in favor of it. Because a lot of times, you only get the beginners coming to the meetings, but we want to, we have members of the AARP and also members of Justice Knox. It's a faith-based coalition of people who are working hard to bring more housing at all price points, particularly affordable to our community, and also developers and realtors.

There's a lot of alignment, and so we want to make sure that you, we get all those people who have studied the issue and understand it's not, well, it's not the panacea, that it will be a benefit. So lining up those advocates, all to come speak at the important meetings where votes are taking place is a big part of our, my expected approval of this plan.

Mike Watson: Thanks, Mayor Kincannon. It sounds like bringing folks together and lining up the advocates to speak. Mayor Barnett, is there anything you'd like to add to that? 

Mayor Bryan Barnett: Well, Mayor Kincannon is, spot on. And in all of those things, the only thing I might add is, is that I think as a local leader, you have to start with listening and sometimes challenging. You have an idea you wanna push through. You have a, a concept, a plan, a thought. You see something somewhere that's working.  

But it has to really match your community. It has to match your community's needs. And that's why I think getting in touch with, with your community is really important. Whether it's, you know, physically, like I said, they've got these Mondays with the Mayor that are just for seniors to get their perspective. Because seniors think differently then. Business owners, oftentimes, but then our youth. 

But it's also making sure you're you know, like I said, we use these, outside groups to test and survey our question, our, our residents about how they feel about taxes. What are we missing? What, what could make us a better community? What are the things that you'd like to see as you travel around other places in the U. S. that we need to have? 

That listening part is really an important part as a baseline, and then building those teams and partnerships and connections to deliver it across the line, as Mayor Kincannon said, are really important to finish the deal.

Mike Watson: That's really, really great advice. And on the topic of advice, we have two elected officials and one of our nation's top lobbyists here, on this line. So folks are asking some advice of how they can help get things done. Nancy, Mayor Barnett, Mayor Kincannon. If you had one piece of advice to give to folks tuning in today, what should they go out and do? Nancy, I'm gonna kick it to you and then we'll go to both of the Mayors. 

Nancy LeaMond: Well, I think the key, and both of the mayors have mentioned this, is to get involved, is to whatever the issue is that interests you or moves you, take time to learn a bit about it and get involved and, you know, express your views and help. Help whatever advocacy group, I hope it's AARP, but help whatever advocacy group you, you're working with, move to action. 

And the thing I love, this is going to be my last comment of the day, I love talking to mayors because, they're not debating whether to shut down their government in a few days. They're talking about how to keep doing what the people of their city need them to do. And that is so important and I'm pleased to have been able to be with them and I also want to hear what their advice is.

Mike Watson: Thanks, Nancy. On that, Mayor Barnett, do you have anything you want to share? Any advice to folks? 

Mayor Bryan Barnett: Yeah, well, I think, Nancy is right, and Mike, it's good to see you. And Nancy, I think the last time we saw each other was last month in the White House. But, you know, there's a difference between local leaders and national leaders. 

And while we don't besmirch anyone, Mayor Kincannon and I are from different parties, but you would never know. I am her biggest cheerleader and want Knoxville to be a rock star success and I know she feels the same because we have a very special love of our communities and do, we'll do whatever it takes to see them be successful and thrive.

And I think if there was one thing I would say in terms of advice, it's exactly what you said, Nancy. It means something different to everyone, but get involved. It might just mean, Watching a council meeting very simply from your couch, it could be coming down to get involved, serving as a volunteer, whatever you are passionate about maybe in your career, whether it's the environment or it's economic or it's being outside, there is something you can serve on in your community and provide value and most likely receive value back and it just Take, Sing, Engage, and probably less than 1 percent of the population does that locally, and I would encourage you to be part of that 1 percent that does.

Mike Watson: Love that guidance. Mayor Kincannon, you're going to get the last word and the last piece of advice here for folks. 

Mayor Indya Kincannon: Well, it's, what an honor. It's hard with Mayor Barnett, if you weren't moderating, I might not get the last word in. So, anyway, I do admire and learn a lot from him. From Mayor Barnett and what's going on in Rochester Hills, and I really appreciate Nancy and AARP for having me on today.

I guess I would say in addition to your advice on, on just getting involved in different ways of doing that as a local leader, we have the benefit to be partisans for our city, and so I urge everybody to not only get involved, but find common ground. 

Luckily, we are mayors of cities where you do get to interact directly with the people at the grocery store, at the post office, walking your dog, and, and that's a real positive, because then people see that we're all, we're all here together, we're trying to have a good quality of life, and, and there's a lot of common ground, whether you're a millennial or Gen Z, or whether you're a baby boomer, whatever the age. We all want a high quality of life, so finding that common ground, and also focusing, I mean, we talk a lot about money and efficiency and, you know, climate and all these things, but ultimately we're all trying to have a happier city, where people can really, not just have a high quality of life, but when you do things right, people are in better moods, and when you're in a better mood, it's less stressful, and you live longer, higher quality of life. 

So, I think finding that common ground is even easier in a city level, local level, than national, and we want to lead by example. 

Mike Watson: Well, that was an incredible way for us to close out, not only this panel, but also this first day of programming. Nancy, Mayor Barnett, Mayor Kincannon, thank you so much for joining us today and lending us your insights.

Nancy LeaMond, Mayor Indya Kincannon, and Mayor Bryan Barnett: Thank you again. Thanks. Thank you.  

Mike Watson: Good to see you all. 

Now, today has been incredible and it was, again, great to close it out on that fantastic panel discussion. We've had a lot of great topics that we've dug into and there’s been some themes I’ve been able to jot down a few throughout the day. 

The first that I'm going to hit on is It's clear that livable communities, when we create a community that's livable and great for all, it's going to be good for the economy. Places that are walkable, have a diversity of housing options, and are designed for people to get around, are going to enable a vibrant economy, along with that infrastructure for digital connections.

Another one, older adults are often underestimated. Deb Socia started us out talking about the importance of older adults, reinforcing that they get things done. And we just heard Mayor Barnett talk about how older adults in his community are the key to history and a key to understanding what the community has been like as they go forward.

And Mayor Kincannon just shared with us the importance of common ground. Another theme that popped out today is right in that common ground realm. Inclusion matters. When you engage people, when you listen, when you ask people their opinions and their insights, and then take that into account, we heard earlier that those projects are going to have more economic power, they're going to have more sustainability, and you're going to ensure that the neighborhoods and communities you're looking to improve are being improved for the people who live there today and the people you're looking to attract in the future.

And then finally, I kind of sum this up as listen and tell. Reinforcing the point earlier, we need to listen to our residents and community, listen to each other, and also tell your story. Residents and communities, we can control our own economic destiny. Sometimes it can start with that action.

We heard multiple people tell us today to call that local elected official. Call your state broadband office. Reach out to local organizations. Take those small steps that can lead to change. So those are a few that really stuck out to me. And I know there's going to be more when you join us tomorrow for day two of programming.

So before we wrap, I do want to, we do want to hear from you again in Slido in that spirit of listening. Please tell us on a scale of one to five, did you get any new ideas, resources, or solutions to take back to your community from today's programming? That's on a scale of one to five, with five being an enthusiastic, definitely, I got some awesome ideas and I'm going to put them into place and one being, eh, not so much, maybe not. 

So we'll see a lot more of you for day two of programming tomorrow. While you're filling out that survey, I also want to encourage you to sign up for our free weekly AARP Livable Communities e-Newsletter. You can do that by texting LIVABLE to 50757. Again, that's LIVABLE to 50757. That will ensure that you're receiving the latest news from AARP on resources, strategies, and solutions to help create more livable communities.

Plus, all of the recorded content from this workshop. and previous workshops. I'd also like to do a quick shout out to all of our wonderful speakers, as well as to the planning committee and staff who made this event possible. Thanks to them, we have an equally dynamic and thought-provoking content program and planned for tomorrow.

Now, Coralette, it's been a real pleasure to be here with you today. Can you share some themes and take it out for us? 

Coralette Hannon: Thank you, Mike. And likewise, it's been a great day. I've appreciated being here. I also want to thank you all for joining us and thank our presenters and moderators. Please be sure to come back and join us tomorrow at 1 p.m. Eastern time. We'll have a keynote from Ilana Preuss, founder and CEO of Recast City. 

And you'll once again hear from national experts and community leaders. And of course, from around the country, please join us by using the same zoom link as you use today. You'll also be joined by a new emcee in the studio, Carly Roszkowski, AARP's enterprise lead on Work and Jobs issues.

Finally, please join us for small group discussions starting momentarily. These small group, open and dynamic conversations will be led by workshop participants and expert practitioners on critical economic development related topics. We hope that you will join us. Again, thank you for being a part of the 2023 Livable Communities Workshop.

We'll see you tomorrow.