Month: February 2012

Partnership in the News: Millis Undertakes Study to Spur Development

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The Town of Millis, Massachusetts is soon to benefit from a portion of the $4 million Department of Housing and Urban Development Regional Planning grant awarded to the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, reports the Milford Daily News.

To help spur development of the town center, Millis will participate in a feasibility study with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council to encourage new housing and business opportunities.

Millis is hoping to create a “more vibrant” downtown area, and applied for the study in August, said Town Administrator Charles Aspinwall.

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Spotlight on Sustainability: Columbia, TN

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The heart of Columbia, Tennessee lies along a highway and commercial corridor; the James Campbell Boulevard. It was built at the city’s peak when demand was high for retail space and office buildings, but in the past several decades the needs of the City have changed. With the third slowest growth rate in the state of Tennessee, Columbia is in decline. It has the highest unemployment rate of any city of its size in the state and 20 percent of the population living below the poverty line. Not only has Columbia failed to attract new residents, with more and more families choosing to settle in neighboring Middle Tennessee cities, but the city is losing the young millennial generation, that many recognize as key to attracting local investments and maintaining a vibrant economy.

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Smart Growth America stands with Transportation for America in opposition to House energy and transportation bill

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Last week, the House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act, along with a companion measure eliminating dedicated funding for public transportation. James Corless, Director of Transportation for America, released the following statement:

“For more than three years, our coalition has worked hard for an updated federal transportation program that meets our needs in the 21st century; that creates jobs and lays the foundation for a rejuvenated economy; that balances the need to keep our highway system strong while augmenting it with other options. We still remain urgently committed to that goal.

“It is with deep disappointment, therefore, that we in the Transportation for America coalition find ourselves compelled to oppose the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act as advanced by House leadership. While we commend Chairman Mica (R-FL) for doing what he can to move a long-term transportation bill forward, the full legislation that is now heading to the floor of the House has significant fatal flaws.

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Smart Growth America honors California Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg with 2012 Leadership Award

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When the State of California passed a mandate to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, lawmakers quickly realized that better transportation and land use policies were a necessary part of achieving their goals.

The resulting legislation, SB375, focuses on one particular part of greenhouse gas emissions: reducing how far people need to drive each day between work, school, errands and home. Enacted in 2008, SB375 integrates greenhouse gas reduction goals into California’s existing regional transportation planning process, and encourages planners to locate homes near jobs and create more transportation options. The result is a bill that not only fights climate change, but also gives towns across the state the power to make land use and transportation decisions that strengthen local economies, reduce sprawl, preserve farmland and spur business development.

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National Brownfields Coalition successfully advocates for federal brownfields program in FY 2012

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For small towns, cleaning up a contaminated brownfield can seem like an insurmountable challenge. Rehabilitating former industrial sites, abandoned gas stations or other polluted land can be complicated and expensive – but transforming this land can have enormous benefits to both the environment and the economy. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Brownfields Program helps communities of all sizes achieve these goals.

As Congress debated the federal budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2012, Smart Growth America’s National Brownfields Coalition ramped up a national campaign to support the EPA Brownfields Program in the FY 2012 appropriations process. Faced with $40 million in proposed cuts from the House of Representatives, the Coalition reached deep into its membership to generate support for this important federal program. The Coalition asked mayors and economic development directors across the country to contact their Members of Congress and successfully reached nearly three-quarters of the members of the Interior and Environment Appropriations subcommittees.

The result of these efforts was that $35 million of those proposed cuts were restored. Among the many efforts involved in achieving this goal, dozens of towns, elected officials, non-profits, companies and other organizations sent letters to their members of Congress supporting the EPA Brownfields Program in FY 2012 appropriations.

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Bi-partisan support evident at Senate Environment and Public Works hearing

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Evans Paull, Executive Director of the National Brownfields Coalition, was among those who testified before Congress in October at a joint hearing of the Senate Full and Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics and Environmental Health entitled, “Oversight Hearing on the Brownfields Program – Cleaning Up and Rebuilding Communities.” Paull began his testimony:

I wanted to start today by calling your attention to brownfields community turn-around projects that have been carried out in some of the states that are represented on this Committee. There is a recurring theme that I want to stress. EPA brownfields funds, although modest in the larger picture of multimillion dollar redevelopment projects, are often the first funds in to help communities lay the groundwork for turning blighted contaminated properties into new community assets. It would be hard to overstate the importance of these critical resources – EPA funds essentially function to allay fears of the unknown, and then, once known, the funds work in concert with state and local resources to counter the extra costs of redeveloping brownfields. The payoffs from these modest investments in leveling the playing field are enormous, because it’s not just about cleaning up and redeveloping X, Y, and Z site. It’s also about enabling communities to re-position their economies, taking the failed industries of the past and retooling those sites to enable future growth and improved quality of life.

Paull was joined in by David Lloyd, Director of the EPA Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization; Mayor Mick Cornett of Oklahoma City; Elizabeth Spinelli, Executive Director of the Hudson County Economic Development Corporation; Aaron Scheff, Brownfields Program Manager at the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality; and Marjorie Weidenfeld Buckholtz, President of Environmental Consulting Solutions.

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Smart growth strategies in San Diego

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Investing in quality development and creating vibrant places where people want to live and work are among the themes at this year’s New Partners for Smart Growth conference in San Diego. Over 1,400 public officials, planners, developers and advocates are meeting this week to discuss better strategies for development – and the conference’s host city is a great example of that principle in action. From NBC San Diego:

“San Diego is investing in the right things,” said Ilana Preuss, vice president of Washington D.C.-based Smart Growth America. “Looking at how you create whole neighborhoods where people can live near where they work, have jobs near shops and schools. We’ve found that that’s really a key to the economic development of the 21st century.”

“Smart Growth” Experts Tout San Diego [NBC San Diego, February 2, 2012]

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Ways and Means Proposal Would Derail How America Gets To Work And Put Public Transportation On Life Support

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Americans take 10 billion public transportation trips every year to and from home, work, grocery stores, schools, and medical offices. These trips literally and physically move the nation’s economy. That economic engine is about to hit a wall. If new Ways and Means Committee legislation to fund the surface transportation authorization passes, public transportation would … Continued

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