[Conference Planning Committee chair Bill Fraser’s message to the committee members about the importance of attending the Annual Conference in the aftermath of the tragedy in Boston.]

Hello All:

We all come from different parts of the country and the world.  We have different interests and values and styles and beliefs.  One thing that all of us in this particular group have in common, however,  is that we spent a fun and productive November weekend together in Boston to plan even more fun and more productive days in Boston in September. 

I am sure that all of us were horrified and moved by the tragedy that occurred yesterday.  For those of you less familiar with the city’s geography, the finish line of the marathon is almost “out the front door” from the Convention Center where we were doing our work in November.   Those of you who strolled up and down Boylston Street between the Convention Center and Copley Square were walking along the exact area where this incident took place. 

Boston has always been a fun, welcoming and relatively safe city.  I believe it still is, the work of evil people can show up anywhere as we are all witnessing too often these days.  My family and I had planned to visit Boston for a day or two next week (our school vacation week) and we are still going.  We love the city and are not letting this tragedy scare us off.

I choose to honor the brave first responders (almost all municipal government employees), runners and bystanders who rose to the occasion to help others and, of course, those injured and killed needlessly.   I hope that our conference will find a way to honor them as well.  One way we can honor all of these good people and the city of Boston is to keep our enthusiasm up for our conference and show great attendance from all our states and countries.  

Thanks and thanks to all of you for the great work you do in your communities every day.

Bill