Author: Alex Dodds

The suburban corporate headquarters is losing its charm

By ·

The suburban campus headquarters, once the pinnacle of corporate America, is on the decline. Two recent pieces from the Wall Street Journal and Fortune magazine explain that many companies are choosing to leave their suburban headquarters in favor of walkable downtowns with smart growth features.

“The youth of America, when they graduate, they’re looking to go to an urban environment,” Quicken CEO Bill Emerson explained to Fortune. Explaining that top recruits wanted to be in a place where they could live, work and play, Emerson added, “An asphalt parking lot is not necessarily the best way to do that.”

Features like mass transit, shorter commutes, the option of walking to work and access to restaurants and shops – all key principles of smart growth development – are forming a new model of what America’s most desirable workers want. Rather than trying to lure these workers out to the suburbs, many companies – including corporations like United Airlines, Zappos.com, Credit Suisse AG, Panasonic – are relocating to where young, talented professionals want to live. According to Fortune:

In general, suburban or rural locations are cheaper per square foot, have lower taxes, ample parking, and don’t require higher salaries for employees to feel reasonably compensated. But for companies looking to recruit younger people, all those factors have to be weighed against the reality that there is nothing hip about the ‘burbs.

Uncategorized

EPA's Office of Smart Growth receives zero funding in 2012 budget proposal

By ·


On Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee reported out the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2012. The bill included severe cuts to programs administrated by the Environmental Protection Agency: the legislation proposes reducing the Agency’s budget for FY2012 by 18% – that in addition a 16% cut in 2011.

Help defend funding for the EPA’s Office of Smart Growth: click here to send a letter to your Representative.

Uncategorized

The Ford Foundation hosts Just City: a forum on metropolitan opportunity

By ·

Today in New York, The Ford Foundation is holding a 75th anniversary event to explore how fairness, opportunity and equity can serve as defining features in the development of megacities and metro regions this new era of urbanization. The event includes speakers working on all kinds of issues related to cities, including mayors, transportation experts, academics, artists, business leaders, journalists, governors and federal lawmakers.

Uncategorized

Help protect the EPA's Office of Smart Growth

By ·

The House Appropriations Committee just passed legislation that would eliminate funding for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Smart Growth. We need your help to tell your Representative to reject this proposed cut when the legislation is considered by the full House of Representatives.

Send a letter to your Representative: Don’t cut funds to the EPA’s Office of Smart Growth.

Towns across the country are making better economic and environmental outcomes through their work with the EPA’s Office of Smart Growth.

When Lincoln, Nebraska, needed a hand figuring how its zoning codes were impacting redevelopment efforts in the small city, it asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Smart Growth for guidance.

And when Bluffton, South Carolina, wanted help mapping future growth to make sure it would benefit the town’s economy for years to come, it asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Smart Growth for advice.

The Office of Smart Growth helps communities across the country: Help protect funding for this important program.

Smart growth strategies create the housing, transportation and business resources necessary to keep America competitive in a global, 21st century economy, and the EPA’s Office of Smart Growth is a crucial part of implementing these strategies. We need your help to make sure the Office of Smart Growth receives funding next year: send a letter to your Representative today.

Uncategorized

White House announces Strong Cities, Strong Communities initiative

By ·

The White House announced a new program today that will help communities across the country make their smart growth plans a reality. Strong Cities, Strong Communities is a new interagency pilot initiative that aims to strengthen neighborhoods, towns, cities and regions around the country by strengthening the capacity of local governments to develop and execute their economic vision and strategies. Speaking in a video about the new program, Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and the Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council Melody Barnes explained that Strong Cities, Strong Communities will support local governments by providing necessary technical assistance and access to federal agency expertise, and creating new public and private sector partnerships.

Uncategorized

Car and Driver goes on the record for a comprehensive transportation strategy

By ·

You know it’s bad when Ashton Kutcher is Tweeting about road closures. Route 405 in Los Angeles is due to be closed for construction this weekend – an event predicted to be so paralyzing for L.A.’s traffic that it’s been dubbed “Carmageddon.”

While L.A. drivers prepare for catastrophe and stock up on canned goods, the 405 road closure illustrates one of the arguments presented in a recent article from Car and Driver magazine. “The State of the Union’s Roads: An Investigative Report” chronicles why so many of America’s roads are in poor condition – and what we should be doing about it.

“The interstates were designed to last 20 or 30 years,” the article explains, “but now some areas are pushing 50 years and handling far more traffic than their planners anticipated. But as we reach into our wallets, we run into our generation’s big dilemma: We’re nearly broke.” Highway revenues are down, repair costs are up and the federal government can’t afford the level of road investments it committed to in past years. While gas prices and time wasted in congestion are both soaring, more people are living in cities than ever before, which leads even Car and Driver to question the logic of doubling down on highways.

Uncategorized

After 55 years, it's time to invest in road preservation and repair

By ·

The Interstate Highway System turned 55 years old yesterday, and many roads across the country are showing their age. Crumbling concrete, cracks and potholes not only mean a rougher ride for America’s drivers – they pose a huge threat to the country’s transportation budget.

Repair costs rise as roads age, and deferring needed repairs means spending much more in the future. Research shows that spending $1 on repair today averts $6 to $14 of cost later, and at a time when public funding is already stretched tight the U.S. can’t afford to incur those future costs.

A new bill in the Senate would make upkeep of our roads and bridges a top national priority – and we need your help to see it through. Better investments in repair will benefit of the national budget, businesses that rely on freight and drivers everywhere.

Tell your Senators to support the Preservation and Renewal of Federal-Aid Highways Act: click here to take action.

In a report in early June, Smart Growth America and Taxpayers for Common Sense revealed that states expose themselves to huge financial liabilities by failing to adequately fund road repair and preservation. Despite this risk, many states continue to add to the road systems they are already struggling to maintain – and costs will only go up as roads age.

Uncategorized

Save the date: 11th annual New Partners for Smart Growth Conference

By ·


“San Diego light rail station.” Photo by EPA Smart Growth via Flickr.

Save the date! Join smart growth leaders from across the country for the 11th annual New Partners for Smart Growth Conference, to be held from February 2-4, 2012 in San Diego, California.

New Partners for Smart Growth is a national, multi-disciplinary smart growth conference presented by the Local Government Commission. In these tough economic times when communities everywhere are struggling for fiscal survival, this timely conference will identify innovative ways to finance smart growth, explore creative techniques for reducing infrastructure and service costs, and provide concrete ideas for employing smart growth as a tool for community economic vitality.

Uncategorized

FTA announces funding available through Bus Livability Program

By ·

The Federal Transit Administration has announced up to $150 million of funding available through the Bus Livability Program, which provides money to purchase or replace buses and to build bus-related facilities. The grants are part of the Partnership for Sustainable Communies’ livability funding. From www.grants.gov:

The Bus Livability Program makes funds available to public transportation providers to finance capital projects to replace, rehabilitate, and purchase buses and related equipment and to construct bus-related facilities, including programs of bus and bus-related projects for assistance to subrecipients that are public agencies, private companies engaged in public transportation, or private non-profit organizations.

The Bus Livability Program will be funded using at least $150 million in available discretionary Bus and Bus Facilities Program funds, authorized by 49 U.S.C. 5309(b) of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient, Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), Pub. L. 109-59, August 10, 2005. FTA may use additional Bus and Bus Facilities funding that becomes available to further support this initiative. The Notice in FR DOC # 2011-16015 includes priorities established by FTA for these discretionary funds, the criteria FTA will use to identify meritorious projects for funding, and describes how to apply.

Places where people have access to affordable housing and different forms of transportation are communities that are economically competitive, and the places where businesses thrive and people want to live. FTA’s livability grants will go a long way toward helping create those communities through jobs, lower transportation costs, and economic development.

For more information about this funding opportunity visit www.grants.gov or www.federalregister.gov.

Want to receive alerts like this straight to you inbox? Click here to join Smart Growth America’s Sustainable Communities Network.

Uncategorized

New report reveals bike and pedestrian projects create more jobs than those for cars only

By ·

Bike lanes and sidewalks don’t just make streets safer and more convenient – they’re a good investment of transportation funds, too. A new report from the Policy Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst found that public investments in pedestrian and bicycling infrastructure – including sidewalks, bike lanes, and trails – create more jobs per dollar spent.

The report finds that bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure projects create significantly more jobs than infrastructure projects for cars alone. According to the study, bicycle projects create 11.4 jobs for every $1 million invested — 46% more than car-only road projects. Job creation potential decreased as infrastructure dedicated to automobilies increased:

Pedestrian-only projects create an average of about 10 jobs per $1 million, and multi-use trails create nearly as many, at 9.6 jobs per $1 million. Infrastructure that combines road construction with pedestrian and bicycle facilities creates slightly fewer jobs for the same amount of spending, and road-only projects create the least, with a total of 7.8 jobs per $1 million.

Complete Streets
  • …
  • …