Letters to the Editor

We welcome letters to the editor. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Please send your thoughts, ideas, and inquiries to publications@lincolninst.edu.

I am delighted to know that this year marks the 75th year of the history of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. It is a time for us to celebrate its great achievements and contributions to the world, in particular in the area of land policy education.

As the director of the International Center for Land Policy Studies and Training (ICLPST), it is also a time for me to fondly reflect on the close collaboration between the Lincoln Institute and the ICLPST. . . . Being a partner of the Lincoln Institute’s global efforts to improve quality of life, I feel both proud of its wonderful work and grateful for its generosity.

Your untiring support has helped us become a successful organization that benefits participants from around the world, bettering their countries and advancing their careers. On this auspicious moment, I would like to offer, together with my colleagues at the ICLPST, my congratulations on the Lincoln Institute’s 75th anniversary. I anticipate earnestly that our collaboration will keep going strong and yielding abundantly in the future.

Dr. Jack Kuei-son Sheu, Director
ICLPST, Taiwan

I’ve been participating in Lincoln Institute events since 2001 in cities like Cartagena, Quito, and others. The last one I attended was in 2020 in Madrid during the start of the pandemic—luckily, we weren’t affected by COVID, but [we were] definitely affected positively by the knowledge we shared on land policies and our Latin American experiences between Ibero American countries. I am deeply grateful for that opportunity.

Carlos Alvarado
Panama

So many favorite memories . . . . One unique one was the Ukrainian Parliament Study Tour on Private Land and Real Estate Markets in Boston, New York, and Washington, DC, where the Lincoln Institute brought the entire Ukrainian Parliament to learn about opportunities after their independence from the Soviet Union. Thank you to the leadership of the Lincoln Institute for creating this incredible program for an emerging democracy! Cheers to 75 years!

Mary-Helen Black, Director, Alumni Clubs and Associations
Harvard Business School, Cambridge, Massachusetts

I am grateful for our partnership with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy’s Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy. Together we offer our Growing Water Smart program to promote water conservation and efficiency in the West. I recall fondly the many workshops we have put on together across Colorado and Arizona. Here’s a toast to many more years of reducing water demand and promoting holistic thinking around water and land use policy!

Waverly Klaw, AICP, Director, Resilient Communities and Watersheds
Sonoran Institute, Denver, Colorado

I send my congratulations on the 75th anniversary of the Lincoln Institute. I am very grateful to you for making available such good information and access to publications. They have been very useful in my academic and consulting activities.

Marcelo Elucindo Ramírez Suárez
Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile

In 1997, I was undertaking my Ph.D. in England. I applied to be a speaker at a very fancy conference in Rome, Italy. During the selection process, I was called for an interview in London with a conference organizer. It was a rainy day. I missed the subway, and I got there late. I was looking terrible since I had forgotten my umbrella. The person who interviewed me told me that my name had been recommended by the conference organizers. Trying to be honest, I said to him that it was impossible. I did not know anyone in England but my supervisor or anyone who could be organizing the meeting. He said that he was sure, and . . . he selected me. When I arrived at the conference, I saw Martim Smolka, who I did know from Brazil and never thought that he was working for the Lincoln Institute. Since then—that is, for more than 20 years—I have had the privilege of developing research projects and teaching for the institute.

Claudia De Cesare
Porto Alegre, Brazil

I remember seeing Henry George as just a “job requirement” when I started working at the Lincoln Institute [as director of publications]. But 20 years and several jobs (and now retirement) later, I am still explaining his basic ideas to people every day, most recently for thinking about how to reduce the cumulative wealth gap between Black and white Americans. 

Alice E. Ingerson, Ph.D.
Newton, Massachusetts

Congratulations to the Lincoln Institute for sharing knowledge, exchange, and collegiality in Latin America. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to belong to this international community that makes it possible to solve challenges and propose solutions and innovations for our cities, environment, and natural resources. The Lincoln Institute has left its mark on many professionals and countries, and remains at the cutting edge of land policy and territorial management issues. The seed fell into fertile soil and grew to unimaginable heights.

Rudy Piedra Mena
San José, Costa Rica

See more 75th anniversary greetings at https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/articles/2021-05-letters-editor-75th-anniversary-greetings.