BROWNFIELDS INTERNET FORUM

Aimee Houghton ( aimeeh@igc.apc.org )
Wed, 23 Apr 1997 23:28:21 -0700 (PDT)

Welcome to BROWNFIELDS INTERNET FORUM sponsored by SFSU CAREER/PRO and
the United Church of Christ Commission on Racial Justice. This forum is
available:

1) as a listserver (cpro-brownfields) serving anyone with an Internet
address. This means you send and receive messages as text-only (.txt or
ASCII) electronic mail. The address for this conference is
<cpro-brownfields@igc.org> in the U.S. Abroad, the suffix is <@igc.apc.org>.

2) as a conference available on the IGC (PeaceNet, EcoNet, etc.) and
APC networks. In other words, if your Internet service provider is IGC,
you have direct access to its conference system. The conference name is
cpro-brownfields. You can send and receive messages directly to the
conference, which is essentially a bulletin board. Messages you send
will automatically be sent as E-mail to subscribers to the listserver.
Messages distributed via the listserver automatically appear as
numbered messages or replies on the conference. If you are a member of
IGC, you don't need to subscribe to the listserver to receive forum
material in this way, but you can trigger automatic notification of
messages received simply by using the "m" (maintain) command on the
conference menu.

3) on the IGC Gopher. Use this to read old messages. We use the gopher
as an additional way to archive our conferences. If IGC is not your
Internet service provider you can view past postings to the
cpro-brownfields conference through the IGC gopher system. IGC's gopher
system is also available through the IGC Web site: <www.igc.apc.org>.


The purpose of the BROWNFIELDS INTERNET FORUM is to facilitate the flow
of information and ideas pertaining to the remediation and
redevelopment of brownfields, "abandoned, idled, or under-used
industrial or commercial properties where expansion or redevelopment is
complicated by real or perceived contamination.Ó We believe that both
public and private brownfields revitalization efforts will be most
successful if public stakeholders - those people who live near or who
are otherwise affected by brownfields properties - play a key role in
the cleanup and planning decision-making processes. This forum is
designed to inform and enhance such public participation.


We have modeled the FORUM after CAREER/PRO's Electronic Clearinghouse
on Base Closure, Cleanup, and Conversion. As such, we anticipate three
types of message traffic:

A. CAREER/PRO and the Commission on Racial Justice, as well as others,
will issue frequent reports and updates describing brownfields
activities throughout the U.S, and we will offer opinions and analysis
as well. We will try to maintain a relatively steady flow of information.

B. People in the field - activists, local officials, consultants, etc.
- will share their local brownfields experience, seek answers to
pressing questions, and offer their own ideas. The Internet is ideally
suited for such direct, rapid, horizontal communications.

C. Government officials - including people in policy-making positions -
are likely to respond to reports and queries. Sometimes this will
happen via private E-mail.

The Forum is a moderated vehicle. That is, all messages will be
approved by the conference moderator, Aimee Houghton, or other
CAREER/PRO and CRJ staff. It is our policy to transmit all messages, as
written, to the entire group, so it should be understood that our
approval does not mean that we vouch for all facts posted or agree with
all opinions. We moderate for three reasons:

i) To exclude irrelevant promotional material - such as the infamous
Russian mail-order bride announcements posted to cpro.military.

ii) Sometimes people accidentally send personal messages as replies to
the entire group; and

iii) Often we need to cleanup up punctuation or word-break problems
created by differences in software.

When you send an original message to the group, please key in a SUBJECT
heading. At the end of your message, please identify yourself. If it's
a long file, please place a warning at the top. This makes it easier
for some people to download the information efficiently.

If you are sending a reply, you don't need to include a subject. Please
consider, however, whether you wish to reply to the entire group, or
merely to the sender of the original message.

Feel free to offer suggestions for improving this FORUM. Let us know if
you are receiving too many or too few messages, and whether the typical
length is appropriate. We will quickly honor all requests to unsubscribe.

Aimee Houghton and Lenny Siegel
SFSU CAREER/PRO

Charles Lee
UCC Commission on Racial Justice