ROBERT L. FREEMAN (“BOB”)
Easton, Pennsylvania

AFFILIATION: Pennsylvania State Representative (136th District, located in Northampton County)

EXPERTISE: Land use planning, Traditional Neighborhood Development, and urban revitalization   

BACKGROUND & EXPERIENCE: Bob has been a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1982-1994 and 1998 to the present. He served as chairman of the House Select Committee on Land Use and Growth Management in the 1991-92 session of the Pennsylvania legislature. The committee issued a report with sixty-five recommendations on how to improve planning and reduce sprawl in Pennsylvania. The recommendations served as a basis for legislation that was enacted as major revisions to the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (MPC) in 2000. Bob authored the Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) provision of the MPC revisions. This TND section is Article VII-A of the MPC. He is also the author of House Bill 500 (of the 2003-2004 session of the legislature), which stablished an Elm Street program in Pennsylvania that targets deteriorated urban residential neighborhoods in proximity to a downtown for revitalization. Modeled after the successful Main Street program that targets commercial downtowns for revitalization, the Elm Street bill would use similar tools and techniques to revitalize urban residential neighborhoods close to a downtown.

RESEARCH INTERESTS: For his Knight Program research, Bob will conduct a case study of his Elm Street proposal.