By Noel Halvorsen, Envision Board Member and Housing & Safety Signals Team
Park Hotels and Resorts, the owner of two of San Francisco’s largest (Hilton operated) hotels, has stopped making mortgage payments in the “best interest’ of shareholders. Slow recovery from the pandemic, a weak convention calendar, lagging return to office numbers, and concerns over “street conditions” (the neighborhood has seen some high-end retailers pull out due to concerns about homelessness, street crime, and drugs).
While one might be tempted to point to the street conditions as a primary driver, it looks to this foresight analyst that the damage is more related to high market costs, and a slow return to normal in terms of room bookings. Choosing to default on a $725 million loan at two of the three largest hotels in a major city can’t be an easy decision. This could be a signal of central city real estate problems across the country as offices sit vacant, conventions continue to sputter in hybrid formats, and homeless numbers swell in the face of inflation and unreachable housing expenses. Read about it here.
Enjoy the July 2023 Horizons, Envision’s bi-monthly newsletter. Board members and a Strategic Foresight graduate describe the application of Strategic Foresight to Catholic education; Green Bay’s designation as the best place to live in the US; early childhood development and upward mobility; and combining Innovation, Design, Engineering, Application and Skills (IDEAS) with Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM).
When U.S. News and World Report asserts that Green Bay, Wisconsin, is the best place to live in the U.S., that’s a pretty sound recommendation, right? But what if there’s even more to that story? What if we discover that young Green Bay professionals are getting a firm foundation here, then going out into the world to get a start on success – and bringing those amazing successes right back to Green Bay? Well, we have! Recently I attended the NEW North Summit at Lambeau Field, and I heard presentations by individuals from both New York and Los Angeles who have brought their cutting-edge operations right back to Green Bay!
By Beverly French, Envison Board Member and Arts, Culture & EntertainmentSignals Team
“If you had two sheets of newspaper and ten inches of tape, how tall a structure could you build with them? ” That’s the sort of question Rutgers Prep lower and middle school students are asked every week in JoAnn Miller’s STEAM class. Combined with the IDEAS program (Innovation, Design, Engineering, Application and Skills), Ms. Miller’s class and others at Rutgers Prep are meant to give students in grades one through eight opportunities to explore their regular classroom work in a teamwork scenario, using problem solving, observation, experimentation and creativity.
Judy Nagel, Envision Board member and Upward MobilitySignals Team
Here in the nation with more gun violence than any other on earth, Americans constantly ask about the root cause of gun violence. The answer is “mental health.” So how are we doing with that? The CDC identifies early childhood as the period in which mental health is largely determined, starting shortly after birth (with some influence by prenatal conditions).
For the high school administrator, the summer months allow for a refocusing of attention. The fast-paced schedule dictated by needs of students and families, compounded by activities and athletics, gives way to a time for reflecting upon results and horizons for future planning. And so I have been reflecting on the “futuring” process I learned as part of Envision Greater Green Bay and its intersection with education, particularly Catholic education.
By Beth Kowalski, Envision Board member and Arts, Culture & EntertainmentSignals Team
Elizabeth Merritt is the American Alliance of Museums’ Vice President for Strategic Foresight and Founding Director of the Center for the Future of Museums – a think-tank and research and development lab for the museum sector. Here you’ll discover how she navigates this next iteration of text AI, and what it might mean for museums. It’s fun to watch her dialogue with ChatGPT develop, but it might also provide some fascinating ideas about how you might use AI in your own field of work. Read the article here.
By Jeff House, Envision Board and Economic TransformationSignals Team
VM Motori has announced that it is developing a hydrogen combustion version of its 2.2 L, three-cylinder inline engine. With 62 kW output and 270 Nm peak torque, the performance of the hydrogen internal combustion engine will be around 10% higher than that of the diesel engine from which it was created, VM Motori said. Read the details here.
Jamie Lynch, Envision Board member and Arts, Entertainment, & Recreation Signals Team
This year, over half of the states in the United States will officially recognize Juneteenth as a public holiday. The recognition of Juneteenth has gained momentum in recent years, with increased public awareness following nationwide protests against racial injustice. For now, Wisconsin does not recognize Juneteenth as a holiday. Pew Research offers a short but insightful summary of state differences in recognition of Juneteenth.
By Jeff House, Envision Board Member and Economic Transformation Signals Team
A hydrogen fuel plant is coming to Mulberry, Florida, by way of South Korea. A Korean company plans to build a clean-hydrogen facility in Polk County using natural gas from a nearby pipeline. The plant will produce “blue hydrogen” made from natural gas, but, down the road, solar power could be an option to power its operations (which would make it green hydrogen). Read about the project here.
