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Letter to the Editor: Land Bank Act will help N.Y.

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Originally published Friday, July 22, 2011 in the Albany Times Union

Dear Editor,
New York cities face a daunting vacancy crisis. Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, Rochester, Schenectady, Syracuse, Troy and Utica all have vacancy rates over 10 percent, according to recent census data. Vacant properties pose a serious threat to New York communities by lowering surrounding property values, attracting crime, cutting into local tax revenues and perpetuating cycles of disinvestment.

Across New York, leaders have coalesced around the Land Bank Act as an antidote to fight the plague of vacancies. The state Legislature passed the measure; now it is time for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to sign it into law.

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Smart Growth America offers ideas for growth in Jackson Hole, WY

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The town of Jackson and Teton County, WY, are in the process of jointly updating their 1994 Comprehensive Plan — a piece of legislation that guides policy, investment, programs, and land use decisions in the area. Updating the Plan is a complex process but one which will help it better meet the needs of Town and County residents, businesses, and other stakeholders.

PlanJH, a diverse group of community members from the Jackson/Teton area, has helped facilitate public discussion of the issues surrounding the Comprehensive Plan, and in May the group held a public presentation about smart growth strategies. Roger Millar, Director of Smart Growth America’s Leadership Institute, was on hand to answer questions and offer strategies that could help Jackson residents fulfill their vision of community success.

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How carsharing can help a city: the impact of Zipcar in Baltimore

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After a year of running its carsharing service in Baltimore, MD, Zipcar released a survey yesterday of its members in the city and the findings are exciting for anyone who supports easy parking, reduced traffic congestion and transportation choices.

According to the survey, people who use Zipcar’s carsharing service reported driving less overall, reduced vehicle ownership and increasing use of other modes of transportation. 18% of respondents have sold their vehicles since joining Zipcar, 46% stated that they have avoided buying a car, and 72% said being a Zipcar member made it less likely they would buy or lease a car in the future. In addition, a full 88% of respondents say they take less than five car trips each month.

All of this means that there are fewer cars on Baltimore roads, and that has great implications for the city.

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Webinar materials now available: Applying for HUD Regional Planning Grants

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The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently announced an additional $67 million investment in stronger, more sustainable communities that connect housing to jobs while fostering local innovation and building a clean energy economy.

A webinar jointly hosted by Smart Growth America and the American Planning Association last week provided tips from past Partnership for Sustainable Communities grant recipients, advice from a firm that has written several successful applications, and information about criteria that the Partnership uses to grade applications. Presenting at the webinar were Tim Torma, Deputy Director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Sustainable Communities. The Office of Sustainable Communities coordinates with other agencies as well as state and local governments to promote smart growth. Also presenting was David Rouse, AICP, a principal with the planning and design firm Wallace Roberts & Todd based in Philadelphia. He has been involved with a number of 2010 Sustainable Communities grant applications, including WRT’s current work as a subgrantee for the New River Valley Regional Consortium in Virginia.

Jeff Hirt, Sustainable Planning Project Manager at the Mid-America Regional Council in Kansas City, MO, also presented. With more than 60 regional partners, the Mid-America Regional Council received a $4.25 million planning grant from HUD for the implementation of the Regional Plan for Sustainable Development, a Category 2 grant. And finally Mark Kirstner, Senior Transportation Planner with the Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation, and the project manager for the Piedmont Triad Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Project also presented on the webinar. The Piedmont project is a $1.6 million Regional Planning Grant Program.

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The suburban corporate headquarters is losing its charm

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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.

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Invest in smarter communities

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How are we going to deal with gas prices? Pennsylvanians are paying about $3.70 per gallon and a recent Rasmussen Poll found that 72 percent of Americans think gas might cost $5 per gallon before long.

High gas prices depress other sectors of the economy, push up the cost of food and shake consumer confidence. This isn’t a new problem; it is one we faced as recently as 2008 and at various times since the 1970s. Will we finally demand real solutions?

It is time to get off the gas-price roller coaster. Calls for domestic drilling and other quick fixes to increase supply have dominated the conversation, but we know that ever-increasing global consumption of oil will quickly outstrip our capacity and continue to drive up prices. Alternative fuels have a long way to go. Real, long-term solutions must address our individual and national dependence on finite fossil fuels, which means we need to invest in infrastructure that gives communities better transportation choices.

AAA estimates the cost of owning and operating a car this year at $8,776. The average American household is now spending approximately 20 percent of its after-tax income on transportation. It would be a logical time for budget-conscious households to turn to public transportation, but here in Allegheny County, the Port Authority just cut service hours by 15 percent and many routes are overcrowded.

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

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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.

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“Slugging” saves DC/VA Drivers and Riders Time and Money

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David LeBlanc started slugging in 1997 and has been doing it ever since. He’s such a strong slugging supporter that he wrote a short guide and system map for users and now runs the Slug Lines website which is dedicated to the idea.

“Slugging” is an innovative, grassroots form of commuting in Washington DC and Northern Virginia that helps commuters get in and out of the city easily and efficiently. High occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, which require two or more passengers to use, provided the inspiration: drivers who would like to use the more efficient lanes pick up passengers – nicknamed “slugs” – and passengers, for their part, get a free and easy ride into the city. People almost always ride with strangers, but there’s a thriving community of devoted “sluggers.”

No one regulates or manages slugging; it’s a grassroots community of commuters who create carpools on the fly. A few other cities around the country have tried it to varying degrees, but it’s uniquely successful in the DC metro area. No one has ever conducted a formal survey or tally, but in 2007 the Virginia DOT pegged the number of daily sluggers at approximately 10,000 commuters.

LeBlanc visited Smart Growth America’s headquarters this week to discuss some of the frequently asked questions about slugging.

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

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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.

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