Leslie Braunstein

Leslie A. Braunstein, APR, is principal of LHB Communications, Inc., a boutique public relations firm located in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. LHB combines the flexibility, creativity, and cost-effectiveness of a small PR firm with the solid experience and outstanding results of a large PR agency. The mission of LHB Communications is to help clients meet their business goals by building their brands and enhancing awareness of their accomplishments among key stakeholders and audiences. Leslie is a seasoned award-winning PR professional with over 25 years of experience working with real estate industry clients and others in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, throughout North America, and abroad. Leslie holds professional accreditation from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and a master’s degree from the University of Maryland’s College of Journalism. On behalf of clients and under her own byline, Leslie has published millions of words in a variety of prestigious media including The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, numerous trade publications, and many other well-known publications and online media. Earlier in her career, Leslie served as served as a public information officer with the U.S. Department of Energy and as a communications manager with Booz-Allen & Hamilton, Inc. For more information, see www.lhbcommunications.com.

The industrial city of Hamburg, Germany, has an ambitious goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2020.
While the grass may not always be “greener on the other side,” cities may be considerably greener on the other side of the Atlantic—such as Hamburg, Germany, the 2011 European Green Capital.
During his address at the closing session of the ULI 2011 Fall Meeting in Los Angeles, the Honorable Robert M. Gates, former U.S. Secretary of Defense, said that the strength of the U.S. real estate market depends on a strong economy, which in turn depends on the nation’s security. Read more to learn what he said about the factors that may lead to a permanent shift in international geopolitics.
At a ULI 2011 Fall Meeting session titled “HUD Catalysts for Repositioning Neighborhood Markets,” a yet-unauthorized new HUD program called Rental Assistance Demonstration was described that would allow Section 9 public housing and several other HUD housing programs to convert to Section 8. Read more to learn how this program is just one part of HUD’s larger strategy to preserve rental housing.
How are retailers doing in the wake of the ongoing economic downturn? According to a panel of national large-format retailers convened during ULI’s 2011 Fall Meeting in Los Angeles, they’re doing better than some might expect—thanks to smaller and more efficient footprints, growing use of social media to reach their clientele, sophisticated branding, and a focus on customer service.
Despite the deepest economic recession since the 1930s, small-scale entrepreneurs are finding creative ways to develop and finance both commercial and residential real estate projects—and occasionally even make money. Find out what two such entrepreneurs told the audience at a recent ULI 2011 Fall Meeting session titled “Small-Scale Development: Entrepreneurship in the Post–Credit Crunch World.”
At the 2011 ULI Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing Awards Gala, held September 21, 2011, in Washington, D.C., a ceremony honoring former HUD Secretary Henry G. Cisneros as a “transformational leader” also included the presentation of two prestigious awards: the Jack Kemp Workforce Housing Models of Excellence Awards and the Robert C. Larson Workforce Housing Public Policy Award.
The United States faces a tidal wave of rental housing demand—a fact that Congress does not understand, said J. Ronald Terwilliger at the ULI Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing Policy Symposium, held on September 21, 2011, at the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the Collingwood Group, the sponsor. But demand is just part of the problem; affordability, he said, is another issue.
The federal government subsidizes housing to the tune of over $200 billion per year, with the mortgage interest deduction alone accounting for much of that, said panelists at the ULI Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing’s Policy Symposium, held September 21, 2011, at the Washington, D.C., office of the Collingwood Group. This, they agreed, is on the deficit reduction chopping block.
In a new study, the Brookings Institution found that while 70 percent of Americans—and nearly 90 percent of lower-income Americans—have access to public transit, most cannot use it to get to their jobs. Nonetheless, the percentage of Americans who commute to work using public transit grew during the 2000s. Read how rising gas prices and changing demographics may land America in “a transit moment.”
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