by Lisa Chacón

Several of us from the class of ‘06 converged in Seattle - Ingrid Jacobsen, Miriam Karell, Melanie Dubin, Itzel Orozco, Pete Sims and I. From there we drove to Vancouver to meet up with a few more ‘06ers - Magdalena Szpala, Rachelle McElroy and Margaret McRoberts. It was a sweet reunion, particularly for those who hadn’t seen each other in nearly three years (yes, it really has been that long)!

Friday, February 6

On Friday morning we all attended a pre-conference workshop in Vancouver on the TNS framework, presented by Rachelle and Magda. Overall there were 34 people attending the workshop - about half were MSLS alumni and the rest were members of the public. The ladies did a great job of introducing the TNS framework, principles and the ABCD process. I always enjoy hearing how others present the material, especially now that we have all integrated the framework into our thinking, and also have gained experience applying it in the real world.

Guest speaker Ken Melamed, the mayor of Whistler, told us how Whistler used the TNS framework to develop the Whistler2020 master plan, which subsequently won the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Sustainable Community Award and the United Nations Liveable Communities gold medal in the ‘Planning for the Future’ category in 2005. The most  impressive thing that Ken shared was the Whistler2020 explorer, an online system that provides feedback on key metrics, which in itself won an innovation award from the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators.  

On Friday afternoon we left Vancouver and drove north past still, dark waters and the snowy pine covered mountains as we made our pilgrimage to the TNS mecca of sustainability. After hearing so many stories about the legendary Whistler, we were excited to finally see it for ourselves! We shared accommodations with a few more alumni - Heather Worosz ‘05, Sarah Brooks ‘08 and Heidi Blankenship-Speight ‘08, and got a chance to make new friends and catch up with old ones over a fabulous home-cooked meal and wine.