The American Dream Coalition presents the 2008 conference on

• Tour one of the least-regulated, most-affordable cities in America
• Learn how cities can maintain livability without zoning
• Find out how regions can relieve congestion and finance new roadway construction
• Hear the latest research from the experts
• Exchange ideas with fellow activists
• Attend sessions on global warming, transportation funding, land-use reform, the reconstruction of New Orleans, and other key issues

The 2008 Preserving the American Dream conference will ask how land use can work without zoning and how toll road authorities can relieve congestion. The conference will include a tour of recent transportation and land-use projects in the Houston area as well as dozens of speakers and workshops on transportation and land-use issues.

Sample Previous Conferences

You can watch clips of previous Preserving the American Dream conferences on the subjects of density, housing, mobility, planning, property rights, sprawl, and transportation. Each clip features several speakers and is between 2.2 and 4.4 megabytes long in WMV format.

Tentative Agenda

• Friday, May 16
  • 8:00 am-4:00 pm: Optional tour of Houston transportation and land-use projects
  • 5:00 pm-7:00 pm: Registration and buffet dinner
  • 7:00 pm-9:00 pm: Houston's Past and Future
• Saturday, May 17
  • 8:00 am-5:00 pm: Presentations on Land-Use and Transportation Issues
  • 6:00 pm-9:00 pm: Reception and Texas Bar-B-Que dinner
• Sunday, May 18
  • 8:00 am-1:00 pm: Presentations on Grassroots Organizing
  • 1:30 pm-3:00 pm: Annual Meeting of the American Dream Coalition

Please download a more complete (but still tentative) agenda.

Speakers and Topics

• The Future of Houston
  • Peter Brown, Houston City Council Member
  • Kendall Miller, Houstonians for Responsible Growth
  • David Crossley, Gulf Coast Institute
  • Paul Magaziner, The Mobility Coalition
  
  
• The Cost of Congestion
  • Alan Pisarski, author of Commuting in America
  • Sam Staley, Reason Foundation, "The Economic Consequences of Urban Congestion"
  • Bill King, "Fixing Congestion in Texas Cities"
  
  
• Transportation Funding
  • Greg Cohen, American Highway Users Alliance, "The National Transportation Policy & Revenue Commission Report"
  • Shirley Ybarra, Reason Foundation, "Public-Private Partnerships for New Highways"
  • Jerry Taylor, Cato Institute, "Do We Need to Raise Gas Taxes?"
  • Tom Rubin, American Dream Coalition, "The Future of Federal Transit Funding"
  
  
• Reforming Transportation
  • Alfredo Santos, "Legalizing Jitneys"
  • Ted Richardson, Architect, "Houston Light-Rail: Lessons Learned"
  • Jim Longbottom, Center for Energy, Environment, and Transportation Innovation, "A Flexmode Future for Transportation"
  
  
• Environmental Protection
  • Pat Michaels, Cato Institute, "The Truth about Global Warming"
  • Paul Chesser, Climate Strategies Watch, "Environmental Hysteria and the Campaign to Regulate Our Economy"
  • Mark Payton, Mustang Engineering, "The Truth about Peak Oil"
  • Adrian Moore, Reason Foundation, "Land Use, Driving, and Greenhouse Gases"
  • Randal O'Toole, Cato Institute, "Rail Transit and the Environment"
  • Owen McShane, Centre for Resource Management Studies, "Why Integrated Land-Use and Transport Planning Does Not Work"
  
  
• Reforming Land-Use Regulation
  • Robert Nelson, University of Maryland, "Changing Zoning into Covenants"
  • Lolita Buckner Inniss, Cleveland State University, "Problems with Form-Based Codes"
  • Mai Nguyen, University of North Carolina, "The Cost of Ballot-Box Zoning"
  • Steven Greenhut, Orange County Register, "Fighting Smart Growth in Southern California"
  • Wendell Cox, Demographia, "How the Suburbs Made Us Rich"
  • Jerry Tipps, RS&H, "Does Houston Need More Land-Use Rules?"
  • Michael Shires, Pepperdine University, "Opportunity Urbanism"
  
  
• Living the Dream: Houston's Master-Planned Communities
  • Ted Nelson, Newland Communities
  • Peter Barnhart, Caldwell Companies
  • Doug Goff, Johnson Development
  
  
• Protecting Property Rights
  • Timothy Sandefur, Pacific Legal Foundation, "The State of Property Rights in the U.S."
  • Jeremy Hopkins, Virginia Institute for Public Policy, "The Real Story of Eminent Domain"
  • Bill Peacock, Texas Public Policy Foundation, "Fighting Eminent Domain in Texas"
  • Don Racheter, Public Interest Institute, "Dealing with Rural Population Loss"
  • Jessica Corry, Independent Institute, "Protecting Property Rights from a Rapacious Transit Agency"
  • Nancy Wilcox, Floodway Coalition of Houston, "Protecting Property Rights in Houston"
  
  
• Post-Katrina Reconstruction
  • Daniel Rothschild, Mercatus Center, "The Battle of New Orleans"
  • Eileen Norcross, Mercatus Center, "The Road Home or the Road to Nowhere?"
  
  
• Winning the War of Words
  • Michael Sullivan, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, "Getting Your Message Across"
  • Peggy Venable, Americans for Prosperity, "Promoting TABOR and Other State Reforms"
  • Drew Johnson, Tennessee Center for Policy Research, "How Business-Friendly Are Cities?"
  • Hugh Pavletich, Pavletich Properties, "Restoring Housing Affordability in Australia & New Zealand"
  • Daphne Scarbrough, The Mobility Coalition, "David vs. Goliath"
  
  
• More to come -- check this page for future updates.

The conference will take place at the Omni Houston Hotel, located at 4 Riverway, near the Galleria. The conference will feature dozens of speakers on a variety of land-use and transportation issues. A detailed agenda will be available soon.

Registration and Fees

The conference will cost $249, with a special $175 student/low-income rate. The cost includes a buffet dinner on Friday, breakfasts and lunches on Saturday and Sunday, and a Saturday night banquet. The optional tour, which includes a box lunch and transportation, is an additional $25. People who only want to attend a portion of the event, such as Saturday, may register on line for a pro-rated price. Late registrations (after May 11) must pay an additional $25.

To register by mail, please download a conference brochure. Or you can register on line. Fees are refundable if cancellation is received by May 2, 2008; after May 2, fees will be refunded on cancellation if someone registers late to fill your space.

If you are staying at the Omni Houston, make your reservations by calling 800-843-6664 and specifying you want the American Dream Coalition/Preserving the American Dream conference rate of $99 per night. The Omni Houston Hotel has kindly extended the deadline for reserving rooms at this rate to May 9. After this date, this rate will not be guaranteed.

Please note: There are two Omni Hotels in Houston. We are at the one near the Galleria. If you are driving, there is a charge for parking in the lot next to the Omni Hotel, but a nearby parking garage is free.

This conference is co-sponsored by:

• Cato Institute
• Reason Foundation
• Heritage Foundation
• Mercatus Center
• Frontier Centre for Public Policy
• Lowell Grattan
• Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
• Greater Houston Home Builders Association
• Greater Houston Partnership
• Harris County Libertarian Party
• Home Builders Association of Central Arizona
• Houston Property Rights Association
• Independence Institute
• Neal Meyer
• Public Interest Institute
• Tennessee Center for Policy Research
• Texans for Fiscal Responsibility
• Texas Public Policy Foundation
• Thoreau Institute
• VCI Group
• Weekley Properties
• Virginia Institute for Public Policy

and other organizations.

These co-sponsors are critical to making the conference a success. For information on becoming a co-sponsor, please contact Kathleen Calongne.