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June 20, 2019

Chair’s Message

Ronald J. Kramer

So much to say, so little time. So let’s get started.

Land Use Institute (LUI) and Spring Conference in Baltimore Recap

Wow! If you attended our LUI and Spring Conference in Baltimore you know what I mean. And if you did not, you missed an epic conference. What do you get when our Section pairs with Civil Rights and Social Justice, Public Contracts, the Forum on Affordable Housing, the Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence, and the Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity? Well, among the many excellent expert speakers, we had: 2 congressmen, 2 state attorneys general, multiple state’s attorneys, federal and local governmental officials, the former mayor of Detroit (and former state supreme court justice and ABA president), judges, and the current and incoming ABA presidents. Oh, and there was a civil rights tour, two museum visits, and Karaoke.

We had a great weekend of programs in a beautiful city. I’d like to thank everyone that put together the programs, our co-sponsoring ABA entities, and everyone that attended. Special thanks to our on-the-ground volunteers Yoanna Moisides, Chris Jennison and Amy McClain. I’d also like to thank our sponsors: Austen & Gowder, LLC, Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert, Foley & Lardner LLP, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, and our Gold Sponsor, Ballard Spahr LLP. Last but not least, a special thank you to the University of Baltimore School of Law, for welcoming us into their beautiful law school and hosting us.

Did you miss it? While the Karaoke bar is closed, check out our website https://www.americanbar.org/groups/state_local_government/events_cle/2019-spring/2019-spring-highlights to watch the excellent speeches given by Congressman Elijah Cummings and Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby. Other programs were recorded and may be turned into CLE or posted. So keep an eye out for them.

There Is Still Time for Annual in San Francisco, Fall in St. Paul and Spring in Tampa

We are now working on equally great programs for the Annual, Fall and Spring meetings. The agenda for Annual, which runs from August 8–11, is in this newsletter. Check it out. One of our programs will be an Earth, Wine and Wildfire CLE field trip that will end up at a winery for a tour and wine tasting. You do not want to miss it.

We are all going to go crazy for our Fall Conference in St. Paul, Minnesota, October 10-13. No trip to the Twin Cities would be complete without a visit to Paisley Park, Prince’s private estate. We hope you can join us. Don’t forget to wear purple.

And it is not too late to mark next year’s calendar for our Spring Conference and LUI in Tampa, from April 23-26, 2020.

Seriously, we will be having great conferences in San Francisco, St. Paul and Tampa, and I hope everyone can make it. Block out your calendars while you still can. And if you are interested in sponsoring or presenting, please let us know.

New Membership Model

The ABA is rolling out a new membership model that will result in cost reductions for almost all members. Yes, that was not a typo. There will be membership fee reductions. On top of that, members will have access to certain free CLE webinars and free electronic content across all of the ABA sections. So basically the ABA will cost less and offer more. Keep an eye out for the announcements. Tell your friends, and especially tell your colleagues in state and local government about the very low government rates. We hope everyone takes advantage of the reduced fees to join the ABA and, in particular, our Section.

Get Involved

As always, we cannot put on these programs without your help, and without your input we do not know how we as a Section can help your practice. If you are interested in becoming active, writing, speaking or helping put on a program, or if you have any thoughts or ideas about what we should be doing, please drop us a line at [email protected].

Questions?

Email us at [email protected], reach out to a committee chair listed on our web page, or reach out to any of our officers or me ([email protected], (312) 460-5560).

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