White House Invites Head of Dallas CityDesign Studio to Talk Clean Energy, Public Health

Brandon Thibodeaux

Brent Brown

​Ran into bcWORKSHOP and Re:Vision Dallas's Brent Brown Friday night at the opening of Main Street Garden, and during a lengthy chat that spilled over into a downtown dinner with our families, not once did he mention a pending trip to Washington, D.C. But the Dallas Institute this morning sent word that a lecture scheduled for Thursday night -- titled "Beauty in Modern Architecture" -- has been canceled, since Brown, who's now running the Dallas CityDesign Studio in City Hall, "has received an invitation to participate in a meeting at the White House the morning after."

As it turns out, Brown won't be at the White House, not exactly -- more like the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, where Brown's been invited by Greg Nelson, associate director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, to speak about "clean energy, public health and creating healthy communities," as Brown puts it.

"I thought it was spam at first," Brown tells Unfair Park concerning the invite. "Then I got another e-mail and realized, nope, it was for real. And I assume they found me through the EPA -- I'm speaking at the Brownfields conference in New Orleans tomorrow, and the White House said they wanted a diverse array of speakers for Friday. I was one of those things where I thought I should probably attend, even though I hate canceling the lecture." Brown says a few of President Obama's cabinet secretaries are scheduled to attend as well, among them, most likely, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and, most likely, Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan.