Mayor of the District of Columbia Adrian Fenty delivered the evening keynote at the New Partners conference. Unfortunately, he didn’t say anything particularly exciting.

In his speech, Fenty said that DC has a great history of urban planning back to Pierre L’Enfant up to 2008 where DC is confronting brownfields along the Anacostia watefront and the recent announcement of new streetcars. 95% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of transit. We have many walkable neighborhoods with shopping and services and a unique sense of place. DC works well with very environmentally conscious governors of Maryland and Virginia, and has taken a national lead in requiring green buildings including all new schools which will be constructed to high LEED standards. DC is great, thank you very much.

It’s the job of the mayor to talk about how great his city is. Maybe I shouldn’t have hoped for something a little more interesting and worth talking about beyond the standard city boosterism.

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Tagged: adrian fenty, dc, environment, sustainability

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.