Official Publication of the National League of Cities OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE NATIONAL LEAGUE OF CITIES
NATION’S CITIES WEEKLY
Volume 34, Number 19 | may 16, 2011

IN THIS ISSUE
www.nlc.org
PAGE 3

PAGE 3
Mobile ‘Lab’ to Study City Livability
Around the World
PAGE 3
Report Examines the State of America’s
Rental Housing
PAGE 4
Clean Cities Can Help Localities Pave
the Way for Electric Vehicles

Congress of Cities To Offer New Format, Schedule

Conference Start Date Adjusted for Election Day

by Amy Elsbree
NLC will be offering a
restructured conference for-
mat at the upcoming Congress
of Cities and Exposition in
Phoenix, November 9-12,
which will allow for more in-
depth exploration of the most
pressing challenges facing cit-
ies.

A day-by-day matrix of con-
ference activities is available at
www.nlccongressofcities.org.
The organization of the edu-
cational programming for the
Congress of Cities into four
concurrent conferences is based
on NLC’s highly successful
Your City’s Families conferenc-
es, held biennially since 1993,
and the Green Cities confer-
ence held in April of 2009.
“NLC is building on the
proven model of providing
focused educational content to
teams of elected officials and
staff from our member cities,”
said Janice Pauline, NLC’s
director of conferences, educa-
tion and training. “By co-locat-
ing the Your City’s Families
conference and the Green
Cities conference and adding
similar types of programming
around the areas of economic
development and infrastruc-
ture, we will be providing a
venue where cities come to
learn and take home concrete
tools and plans for addressing
their challenges.”
Congress of Cities attendees
will be encouraged to choose
one concurrent conference in

see page 7, column 1

CDBG WORKS
CDBG Helps Revitalize St. Louis Neighborhood

by Kalisha Davis

Newspaper Handling

Old North St. Louis is a historic
community encompassing a 90-block
region on the north side of Missouri’s
second-largest city. The neighborhood,
home to more than 2,000 residents,
dates back to 1816, when it was estab-
lished as an independent village adjacent
to the city of St. Louis. It was annexed
by the city in 1841 and soon grew into a
bustling, densely populated area.
Over a span of 50 years, however, the
once vibrant community experienced
a major decline in population and as a
see page 8, column 1
Community Development Block Grant funds helped in the revitalization efforts of the historic Old
North St. Louis neighborhood in the City of St. Louis.