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Since the workshop: Charlotte, NC plans for economic and fiscal health with Smart Growth America workshop

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The City of Charlotte, NC, is working to spur economic development and community reinvestment within five geographic areas with the help of a technical assistance workshop from Smart Growth America.

Property values have increased in many of Charlotte’s neighborhoods over the past decades. However, several areas in Charlotte have lagged behind.

This observation prompted the City to apply for technical assistance from Smart Growth America. In May, our staff visited the city to host a “Planning for Economic and Fiscal Health” workshop. At the workshop, Smart Growth America’s experts and City officials discussed strategies for attaining quality growth throughout Charlotte, and how better development strategies could contribute to the city’s economic competitiveness and stability.  Five areas in Charlotte were targeted for city investment including: Whitehall/Ayrsley, Prosperity Village, West Trade/Rozelles Ferry, Sunset/Beattie’s Ford, and Central/Eastland/Albemarle.  In their “next steps” memorandum after the workshop, Bill Fulton and Roger Millar of Smart Growth America recommended a number of possible high-impact public investments for each of the five target neighborhoods. Ultimately, the hope is that these types of investments will strengthen the five areas by making them more desirable for commercial and retail markets and middle-income housing.

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House of Representatives calls economic redevelopment programs "nice-to-have," moves to eliminate all funding

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Brownfields Program helps communities clean up abandoned land and put it back into productive use. Tomorrow Congress will begin considering whether the program will continue this work in 2014.

The Brownfields Program is rebuilding local economies across the country, and that’s not work we consider “lower-priority.”

On Wednesday, July 31, the House of Representatives’ Appropriations Committee will mark up the Interior and Environment and Related Agencies funding bill, which allocates funding for all EPA programs, including Brownfields. Last week, a House subcommittee passed a draft version of the bill. The draft bill would cut funding for the EPA by 34% overall—and zero out funding for the Brownfields Program.

Don’t let Congress zero out funding on community redevelopment: Send a letter to your Representative today.

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Join us to celebrate 500 Complete Streets policies

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Live streaming video by Ustream

Over the past eight years, the National Complete Streets Coalition has helped communities across the United States make their streets safer and more accessible for everyone who uses them. Even more communities have learned about Complete Streets and implemented policies on their own. In fact, there are now 500 Complete Streets policies on the books in the United States, and we think that’s worth celebrating!

Complete Streets

Workshop addresses parking supply and demand issues in Missoula County, MT

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Officials and local residents in Missoula County met with representatives from Smart Growth America on July 23 and 24, 2013 as part of a free, grant-funded technical assistance program. The workshop provided the City and County of Missoula with the tools to implement parking management strategies in Midtown, a section of the city designated as an Urban Redevelopment Area.

“The Missoula Fairgrounds and Midtown Missoula are really excited to start exploring alternative solutions to conventional parking problems,” said Steve Earle, the Missoula Fairgrounds Director. “This part of Missoula holds 160 acres of citizen-owned resources but has not received the attention it deserves for the past twenty years. This workshop will help us plan for the best possible access to this property.”

Technical assistance

M-1 streetcar project a sign of hope for Detroit amidst municipal bankruptcy

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M-1 Streetcar in downtown Detroit. Photo via The Architects Newspaper.

Despite Detroit declaring bankruptcy earlier this month, the city’s M-1 RAIL streetcar project is pressing forward and bringing with it hopes for a stronger local economy in downtown Detroit.

We’ve written before about the M-1 RAIL project and how it is expected to support economic development along Woodward Avenue. The good news is that the City’s ongoing financial troubles are not expected to impact the project’s progress.

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Smart growth strategies a key to economic opportunity

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Income mobility map
A map of income mobility. Mixed-income neighborhoods turn out to be a key indicator of a family’s ability to rise out of poverty. Via New York Times.

A new study from Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley underscores why smart growth strategies are a key part of economically strong regions.

The Equality of Opportunity Project examined economic mobility—the likelihood a family will rise from the bottom of the income ladder toward the top. Schools, civic engagement and two-parent households are all correlated with economic mobility, but the study also considered factors that previous studies of economic mobility could not, including a region’s geography. The study found that where a family lives also impacts their potential to rise up the income ladder.

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A Joint Announcement from Reconnecting America and Smart Growth America

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Reconnecting America and Smart Growth America boards and staff have recently completed a joint strategic planning process to evaluate how to have the most impact in advancing shared goals related to federal transportation policy reform. To that end, the boards of each organization have agreed to the full transfer of the Transportation for America Campaign, which has been jointly hosted by Reconnecting America and Smart Growth America, to Smart Growth America with the goal of consolidating the transportation policy advocacy work into one organization.

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Developers, smart growth experts outline changes to federal real estate policy in online event

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On Thursday, July 25, Smart Growth America and LOCUS, which represents private-sector development interests from across the United States, held an online discussion introducing new recommendations for federal real estate programs.

Leading the discussion were Geoff Anderson, President and CEO of Smart Growth America; Ilana Preuss, Vice President and Chief of Staff at Smart Growth America; Chris Leinberger, President of LOCUS; Frank Alexander, Sam Nunn Professor of Law, Emory University; Dennis Allen, Director of Planning and Development, ZRZ Realty; Richard Baron, President, McCormack Baron Salazar; and Eric Larson, Managing Partner, Bedrock Real Estate Services.

LOCUS

Reigniting America’s real estate and housing markets through reform

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This op-ed originally appeared in The Hill.

Today, the real estate industry finds itself caught between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) are leading the charge for tax and housing reform. On the other, we in real estate are wary of policy changes and the potential impacts on the recovering real estate market. But there may be a way forward. In January 2013, Smart Growth America (the parent organization of LOCUS: Responsible Real Estate Developers and Investors) released a study that surveyed 50 federal programs and found that between tax breaks, grants, loan guarantees and other programs the federal government spends or commits approximately $450 billion each year directly to the real estate market. The study found that much of that spending is uncoordinated and out of step with today’s market realities and demographic shifts.

As leaders in the real estate development community, we understand the positive impact federal involvement can have on the real estate market, and support a continued federal role in the sector. However, we also recognize the economy and real estate market have structurally changed, and policies and programs that spurred prosperity in previous generations can actually impede it today. We must ensure that every dollar invested in real estate is going to help the economic recovery – and that is why, we, LOCUS, a national coalition of real estate developers and investors in partnership with Smart Growth America developed a series of recommendations in a recent report, Federal Involvement in Real Estate: A Call for Action, proposing common sense reforms to existing programs.

LOCUS
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