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Transportation Seminar Series
Controversy and Transportation at the Most Basic Level: The Neighborhood

Nov 29, 2011 (2:00 - 2:50 p.m., IACC 422)

Few features of modern life cause more controversy than transportation. The use of fossil fuels, expense of alternative energy, concrete jungles and spaghetti bowl road networks, engine emissions, parking meters and speed limits on neighborhood are just a few conversation starters. Despite myriad controversial issues wrapped up in transportation systems, cities can't thrive in the absence of multiple transportation modes. This session uses a municipal case study to explore controversy and transportation at the most basic level: the neighborhood.

Suggestion for reading: Edward Glaeser, an economist at Harvard, has a book out this year called "Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier."

Connie Sprynczynatyk, Executive Director, North Dakota League of Cities

Connie Sprynczynatyk is the sixth executive director to represent the North Dakota League of Cities, a 99-year-old organization that serves the education and advocacy needs of North Dakota's 357 incorporated cities. She represents North Dakota as the Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army, is a member of the board of directors for the North Dakota Insurance Reserve Fund, and a director for Starion Financial. Sprynczynatyk serves on the Judicial Nominating Committee for North Dakota, the Upper Great Plains Institute Advisory Committee, she represents the National League of Cities on the Advisory Committee for the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, and 20 years ago became the first woman elected to the Bismarck City Commission where her portfolio assignment included engineering, streets, water, police and fire. In 1999 she was a CLAIR Fellow in Japan and in 2011, a Legislative Exchange Program Fellow in Russia. Sprynczynatyk is a graduate of North Dakota State University, and she and her husband David reside in Bismarck.

NDSU Dept 2880P.O. Box 6050Fargo, ND 58108-6050
(701)231-7767ndsu.ugpti@ndsu.edu