Protected: Coalition Updates – 9/18/2013
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FHWA Supports Flexible Design Guides – Complete Streets News, September 2013
Policy Adoption Deerfield Beach, Florida officially adopted Complete Streets Guidelines on August 20. With these Guidelines, city staff will be better prepared to plan and design streets that work for all users, regardless of age, ability, or mode of transportation. In 2012, the National Complete Streets Coalition facilitated a Complete Streets workshop with Deerfield Beach. … Continued
City Councilmember Kristin Palmer on smart growth and resilience in New Orleans, LA
Kristin Palmer had long been interested in smart growth strategies, but smart growth really became a focal point of her first term on City Council in 2010, as New Orleans still struggled to rebuild five years after Hurricane Katrina.
“When you’re trying to rebuild from nothing, from ground zero, what are the things that make sense when you come back and rebuild? Access to public transportation and economic corridors was really part of that success,” says Palmer. “If you had access to grocery stores and you had a walkable community, and you could get to the resources you needed, those are the communities that rebuilt faster and better.”
Alexis Smith on San Francisco's parklet program
Alexis Smith, Planner/Urban Designer for San Francisco’s Planning Department, talks about the city’s parklet program. See more interviews with issue experts here >>
Adam Arredondo on Kansas City's growing startup movement
Adam Arredondo, CEO and Co-founder of Local Ruckus in Kansas City, MO, talks about Kansas City’s Startup Village and the role of urban design in attracting the startup community. See more interviews with issue experts here >>
Ariel Ben-Amos on parklets in Philadelphia
Ariel Ben-Amos, Senior Planner/Analyst for the Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities in Philadelphia, talks about the city’s parklet program. See more interviews with issue experts here >>
Jeff Aken on combining transfer of development rights with infrastructure financing in Washington
Jeff Aken, former Communities Program Manager with Forterra – Seattle, WA, talks about an innovative program that combines Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) with infrastructure financing to help cities grow in a responsible manner. See more interviews with issue experts here >>
Erik Calloway on designing cities for a 21st century economy
Erik Calloway, Principal with Freedman Tung & Sasaki, an urban design firm out of San Francisco, CA; talks about designing cities to compete in today’s growing innovation economy. See more interviews with issue experts here >>
Partnership in the News: Atlanta BeltLine receives TIGER V funding
The Atlanta BeltLine’s Eastside Trail, one of the more complete sections of the project. Photo by Atlanta BeltLine via Flickr.
Atlanta, GA’s BeltLine project will complete a major section of its multi-use trail network three years ahead of schedule thanks to a Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The $18 million grant awarded earlier this month will help develop a 2.5-mile stretch of the BeltLine’s southwest corridor. This portion of the BeltLine is a former freight line that has not been operational in over 30 years. Funding from this fifth-round TIGER grant will cover the cost of right-of-way, design, demolition and construction for a mix of shared use trails, trailheads, access points, and the preservation of the future streetcar transit corridor.
Mayor Murphy McMillin on preserving small town USA
From left: Oak Street in downtown Jena; participants in one of the city’s visioning sessions; an excerpt from Jena’s Vision, the town plan.
When a proposed highway project threatened Jena, LA’s historic downtown, Mayor Murphy McMillin worked with residents and fellow city officials to come up with alternatives to the construction. What ensued was a long-term vision incorporating smart growth strategies that not only found a solution to the highway project, but will also help guide development and protect Jena’s natural assets for years to come.
Jena has a simple tag line—“A nice place to call home.” Mayor McMillin, a member of Smart Growth America’s Local Leaders Council, describes the town as a close-knit community of 3,000 residents located between the larger metropolitan areas of Alexandria and Monroe, and residents are fond and protective of their town’s rural character and identity.