Protected: Coalition Update – 6/13/2012
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Month: June 2012
Stop the House assault on walkable neighborhoods
Safe sidewalks and bikeable streets are both key parts of creating a great, walkable neighborhood, and towns across the country have used these tools to create places people want to live and visit.
Over the past month, members of Congress have been negotiating details of the federal transportation bill. Now, members of the House of Representatives have proposed allowing states to opt out of a program that would let communities make it safer to walk to public transportation, revitalize a Main Street or create bike trails for families.
Stand up for walkable streets: click here to send a letter to your members of Congress.
The House proposal would eliminate the small amount of money going directly to metropolitan areas, and would let state-level leaders decide whether communities ever see a dime of this funding. The move is slap in the face of city councils, mayors, and county leaders from across the country on both sides of the aisle who are creating the great neighborhoods so many Americans already know and love.
Livable MHT interviews Bill Fulton on smart growth and prosperity in Manchester, NH
Crossposted from LivableMHT.
Boasting the Millyard and an accessible downtown, Manchester has a beautiful built environment that most cities would love to have. The city’s challenge now and in coming years, said Smart Growth America Vice President for Policy and Programs William Fulton, is how to best take advantage of our built environment and other assets.
In his keynote talk, “Pursuing Prosperity: Smart Growth in Manchester,” delivered Wednesday, June 6, as part of the 2012 Intown Manchester Annual Luncheon, the former Ventura, Calif., mayor said New Hampshire’s Queen City is positioned better than most cities to capitalize on our assets, but that we must focus on creating a quality of place where people want to live if we want to attract the high end talent and capital necessary to thrive new economy.
“Money and talent can and do go anywhere. The key is to create a desirable quality of place that can’t be moved and can’t be easily replicated,” he said.
Boomers and Millennials — the two groups driving both the housing and the jobs markets — are trending away from suburban living, he said. Cities that want to attract them must create environments in which it is possible to live in close proximity to all aspects of their lives — work, recreation, shopping, etc.
A collaborative blueprint for smart growth in Concord, CA
Photo of the Concord Naval Weapons Station. Photo by the Greenbelt Alliance via Flickr.
Thanks to feedback from community residents, business owners and environmental organizations, eight square miles of land in Concord, CA, which was slated for sprawling development will instead become home to a vibrant, transit-oriented and walkable neighborhood and protected open space.
The land in question was formerly the site of the Concord Naval Weapons Station, which closed in 2005. When the base was shuttered, Concord officials made plans to repurpose the site, which is adjacent to an underused transit station. The area includes several brownfield sites as well as stunning tracts of open space.
The City’s original plan was to develop homes in a manner consistent with the past five decades of exurban sprawl. But when word of the plan began to spread to local newspapers, residents North Contra Costa County spoke up.
“We raised our hands and said ‘We don’t want you to do that,’” says Rosanne Nieto, who lives near the former weapons station.
In turn, these neighborhood activists caught the attention of local groups, including Greenbelt Alliance, a nonprofit organization that brings stakeholders together to find innovative solutions to the Bay Area’s growth challenges.
Update on Appropriations: The Partnership for Sustainable Communities
This week, the House Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee marked up their spending bill for the 2013 fiscal year. The bill funds HUD’s Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities to continue its operations, though funding for the tremendously popular Regional Planning and Community Challenge grants was not included. Also lacking in the bill was funding for DOT’s TIGER grants.
Partnership in the News: HUD officials visiting Texas witness economic development in action
During a recent trip to seven Sustainable Communities grantees in Texas, Department of Housing and Urban Development staff were able to see new and innovative economic development strategies in action. They visited Regional Planning grantees Houston-Galveston Area Council and Heart of Texas Council of Governments near Waco, as well as Austin, which received both Regional Planning and Community Challenge grants, and other Community Challenge grantees Dallas, Fort Worth, and Garland.
Senators Warner and Bennet honored for their work promoting walkable communities at LOCUS Leadership Summit
LOCUS, Smart Growth America’s coalition of real estate developers and investors, met in Washington DC this week to push for improvements in the federal transportation bill that will help create more walkable communities across the country.
During the three-day event, LOCUS also recognized two Senators who have championed legislation that would support great neighborhoods and strong local economies across the country.
“It is with great pleasure that we honor Senator Michael Bennet and Senator Mark Warner with the first annual LOCUS Leadership Award,” said LOCUS President Chris Leinberger at a ceremony Wednesday evening. “They have been integral in strengthening our efforts to build transit-oriented and walkable development projects across the country.”
Protected: Coalition Call Notes – 5/31/2012
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Councilmember Elaine Clegg on Boise, Idaho's blueprint for success
City Councilmember Elaine Clegg is using her experience with smart growth development to create great neighborhoods in Boise, Idaho.
First elected to the City Council in 2003, Clegg believes Boise’s wealth of natural assets and existing infrastructure can be utilized to attract the kind of young, educated workers many leading companies demand. To accomplish those goals, however, the city must invest in the things that make a difference, creating places where people want to live and where they can walk or bike to shops, restaurants, schools and other amenities.
LOCUS Developers gather in Washington DC to push for transportation bill improvements
The Navy Yard Metro station in Washington, DC is a recent example of development near transit stations. Photo by Flickr user M.V. Jantzen.
The hotly debated federal transportation bill could better support development near transit stations – if the House and Senate adopt a key amendment in their negotiations.
Members of Smart Growth America’s LOCUS, a coalition of real estate developers and investors, are gathering in Washington this week to call on Congress to pass a transportation bill that makes it easier to build transit-oriented and walkable development projects across the country. LOCUS developers will deliver that message as part of the 2012 LOCUS Leadership Summit, a three-day event that includes educational forums, walking tours of smart growth in the DC region, the inaugural LOCUS leadership awards and presentations by Obama Administration officials.