Go-getter to lead regional Reality Check

Pam Wall is convinced the Triangle needs a reality check. So she's spearheading one.

Wall is executive director and the only full-time employee of Triangle Tomorrow, a nonprofit group about to begin a Research Triangle Regional Reality Check.

The goal is to develop a consensus vision for handling the region's growth over the next 20 years -- plus a list of actions to carry out that vision. The Reality Check is a joint initiative with the Triangle District Council of the Urban Land Institute.

"A lot of the people engaging in this project may not be here in the year 2030," says Wall, 57. "We're not doing this for the people who live here now. We're doing it for our kids and grandkids."

It's the most ambitious undertaking yet by Triangle Tomorrow, a program of the Research Triangle Regional Partnership, an economic development organization. Fundraising for the project has brought in $415,000, exceeding the $400,000 goal, from sponsors such as SAS, Progress Energy and AT&T. This work has been led by Wall and Jack Clayton, the head of Triangle Tomorrow's finance committee and Wachovia's regional president.

Smedes York, president of York Properties and chairman of Triangle Tomorrow's advisory board, says that Wall gets along well with people and that people respond to her well. "She has a passion for what she's doing," York says. "It's not just a job."

Wall, who gesticulates nonstop as she talks -- "I'm animated. That's me," she says -- has first-hand knowledge of vision plans. From 1996 to 1999, while living in Asheville, she was executive director of Vision for Asheville-Buncombe County, a group charged with implementing the region's community-based strategic plan.

Results included an "education summit" that led to lowering the high school drop-out rate and a free vaccination program for low-income children.

Wall facilitated those accomplishments despite political tensions.

"Pam navigated that process beautifully and kept everybody at the table and invested in the process," says Pat Smith, president of the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina and former leader of Vision.

Wall managed that in part by keeping everybody up-to-date -- usually with a personal touch. "She had a lot of face-to-face meetings," Smith says.

Wall says "community building" is in her bones. In 1810 an ancestor, Hannah Cole, organized her community in Missouri to build a fort for protection after her husband and one of her children were killed by Indians. Wall's father, an undertaker, led a successful bond campaign to build a high school where she grew up in Pilot Grove, Mo.

Sketching the future

The Reality Check aims to bring together 300 volunteers -- from business, government and nonprofit groups -- to sketch out a vision for the region's future. Leaders are expected to participate, along with up-and-comers and others. People can apply at www.realitycheck2009.org.

"The magic of this process is it involves everyone from the grass tops [such as CEOs] to the grass roots," Wall says.

It will start with an orientation session aimed at bringing the volunteers up to speed on the issue -- the population for the 15-county region is expected to grow more than 50 percent by 2030 -- and develop a set of guiding principles for growth.

Then, on the morning of Feb. 24, they'll congregate at the new Raleigh Convention Center. Thirty teams of 10 people, each working with giant maps, will literally map out their vision of the best way for growth to proceed. They'll place different-colored Legos on the maps to represent population and job growth; different ribbons will be used to mark new transportation routes, such as roads and bike trails, that will be needed.