Mineola Mayor Jack M. Martins will represent the Village of Mineola at Adelphi University next month for a seminar on planning and revitalization being hosted by the Regional Planning Association (RPA), an independent, not-for-profit regional planning organization that improves the quality of life and the economic competitiveness of the 31-county New York-New Jersey-Connecticut region through research, planning, and advocacy.

The event is called the "Mayors' Institute on Community Design" and it's modeled after the national program, the Mayors' Institute on City Design, which was started in the mid-'80s.

The program's goal, according to David Kooris of RPA, was to get the mayors to think of themselves and the chief planner and chief urban designer of their communities.

About seven years ago, RPA, started the Mayor's Institute on Community Design in New Jersey and will be holding the first one for Long Island in June. Mineola has been chosen along with six other communities - Patchogue, the Village of Freeport, the Village of Lynbrook, the Village Bayville, the Town of Brookhaven and the Town of Riverhead -to be the first on Long Island to be invited to participate in the program.

"These communities were chosen because we knew that the mayors doing progressive things already in the realms of planning and design. It's really good for the mayors in that for two days, they get free access to planning and design professionals from around the region and around the country to work on the case they bring. Each mayor brings a sort of challenge that faces their community. We spend about two hours per case study brainstorming. It's a rare opportunity for the mayors," said Kooris.

Mayor Martins said he is looking forward to the conference and getting different perspectives on the village.