Obama Administration's Improved Screen for Transit Projects Will Help The Economy, Environment and Local Communities

Transportation for America and Smart Growth America applaud repeal of rules that hampered communities seeking deserving rail and rapid bus projects. In response to Secretary LaHood’s announcement today that funding guidelines for major transit projects will be selected based on livability benefits, including economic development and the environment, James Corless, campaign director of Transportation for America, and Geoff Anderson, president and CEO of Smart Growth America, had the following reactions:

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How should Congress spend additional jobs money? AP study hints at the answer

An Associated Press report on the impact of transportation stimulus spending underscores the need to make the right transportation investments in Congress’s current jobs bill to produce more jobs. “The AP report highlights an important question that data from the stimulus have already answered: where should we be spending money in Congress’ upcoming jobs bill to get the most bang for our buck? The facts on that point are crystal clear. Investing more of money in public transportation creates more jobs — nearly twice as many per dollar compared to traditional highway spending,” said Smart Growth America president Geoff Anderson.

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New Report: What We Learned from the Stimulus

In the first ten months of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), investments in public transportation have created twice as many jobs per dollar as investments in highways. A new analysis by the Center for Neighborhood Technology, Smart Growth America, and U.S. PIRG shows that by mimicking funding levels for transportation set out in ARRA, the Jobs for Main Street Act passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in December missed an opportunity to create additional jobs where they are needed most. Read more on the report, “What we learned from the Stimulus, and how to use what we learned to speed job creation in the 2010 jobs bill.”

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Report Finds House Jobs Bill Misses Opportunity to Create Most Jobs

Lessons Learned from Recovery Act Show Superior Job Creation from Spending on Public Transportation WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new analysis by the Center for Neighborhood Technology, Smart Growth America, and U.S. PIRG shows that in the first ten months of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), investments in public transportation have created twice as … Continued

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Jobs data shows stimulus spending on public transportation produces more jobs, faster

An analysis of congressional data by the Center for Neighborhood Technology, the U.S. Public Interest Research Groups and Smart Growth America shows that stimulus funds spent on public transportation were a more effective job creator than stimulus funds spent on highways. In the 10 months since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was signed, investing in public transportation produced twice as many jobs as investing in roads.

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Lawmakers and revitalization advocates talk about the Regeneration Act

Image from “Steel Valley: Meltdown” (This post was written by National Vacant Properties Campaign intern Ryan Kraske.) Over fifty people gathered on Capitol Hill last Thursday in support of new legislation that would strengthen cities and metropolitan areas that have experienced large-scale property vacancy and abandonment. The Community Regeneration, Sustainability, and Innovation Act of 2009 … Continued

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Groundbreaking Senate Climate Bill Will Promote Clean Transportation and Expanded Travel Options

Washington, DC – The latest version of the Senate climate-protection bill put forth by U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, would provide significant resources and incentives to communities to plan and build cleaner, more convenient travel and living options. The Clean Energy Jobs and American Power … Continued

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Growing Cooler authors respond to National Academies report on driving and the built environment

The National Academies recently released a report on driving and the built environment in which they concluded that increasing job and population density in city centers would benefit the environment by reducing vehicle travel, energy use, and CO2 emissions. (We reported on the release of that report a few weeks ago.) Two years ago, Smart Growth America and a number of other organizations collaborated on a report called Growing Cooler which similarly demonstrated the impact of our built environment on curbing climate change. However, Growing Cooler’s findings showed that the built environment’s impact on the environment was far greater than the conclusions of the National Academies’ report. Reid Ewing, Arthur C. Nelson, and Keith Bartholomew of the University of Utah’s Metropolitan Research Center (none of whom work for Smart Growth America) have issued a response to the authors of the National Academies report detailing how their original numbers remain more valid than the “moderate” findings of the new report.

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LEED-ND deserves our enthusiastic support

Kaid Benfield is a Smart Growth America board member and the director of NRDC’s Smart Growth program. This post originally appeared on his NRDC Switchboard Blog. Our thanks to him for letting us run it in full here. -Ed.

I make no pretense of objectivity on this one. I’ve been working on LEED for Neighborhood Development for seven long years. It’s now finished and awaiting final approval by the three founding partners – NRDC (in consultation with the Smart Growth America coalition), the US Green Building Council, and the Congress for the New Urbanism.

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