Blog

Building for Prosperity: Louisiana's Smart Growth Summit

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Baton Rouge, LA – Developers, advocates, designers and civic leaders from across the region and around the country gathered last week for Louisiana’s sixth Smart Growth Summit. Hosted by the Center for Planning Excellence (CPEX), this year’s summit focused on the economic opportunities created by smart growth.

CPEX, which works primarily in Baton Rouge, is known across the state as the leading advocate for strategic redevelopment, land use and transportation planning. In 2006 the group led a state-funded visioning effort called Louisiana Speaks which engaged 27,000 people in a conversation about the state’s future. Cities, towns and parishes across the region joined the smart growth dialogue, and the results are already apparent in local plans and politics.

LOCUS Uncategorized

Upcoming Webinar: Transit Corridors for Sustainable Communities – Planning Transit to Connect the Dots

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Join us Tuesday, August 23rd at 3:30 PM ET for the next Sustainable Communities Network webinar: “Transit Corridors for Sustainable Communities: Planning Transit to Connect the Dots.” This event is hosted by Smart Growth America, PolicyLink, Reconnecting America and the National Housing Conference.

The session will begin with a discussion of the different types of transit corridors and how what they connect can have significant implications for land uses, ridership, and the potential for development after the transit is built, including a description of examples of these different corridor types and how transit and land use have interacted in a few regions. Following that, participants will learn how planners in a small town in Colorado are making the transition from thinking about making a successful transit system to ensuring that the system is integrated into community life and makes inter-agency connections. The session will conclude with an overview of the innovative tools being used in a joint planning process between city staff in Tigard, OR, a suburb of Portland, and the regional planning agency to direct growth alongside a high capacity transit planning project in the city.

Speakers include Dena Belzer, President of Strategic Economics and partner in the Center for Transit-Oriented Development; Crista M. Gardner, Senior Planner at Portland Metro; and David Johnson AICP, Director of Planning, Roaring Fork Transportation Authority. This webinar will be moderated by Elizabeth Wampler, Program Associate at Reconnecting America and the Center for Transit-Oriented Development.

What: “Transit Corridors for Sustainable Communities – Planning Transit to Connect the Dots”
When: Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 3:30 PM ET
Where: Webinar information will be sent to registrants.
RSVP: Click here to Register. Please RSVP by 5 PM ET on August 22nd.
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Transportation projects will stimulate new jobs

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The unemployment rate is staying stubbornly above nine percent and the President is preparing to offer new ideas for job creations. Hopefully he will pay attention to what groups like the American Society of Engineers and Transportation for America are promoting: infrastructure and transportation will create good, sustainable jobs across the country.

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Now Hiring: Fall Intern

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Want to put your passion for Complete Streets to work? If you’re an undergraduate student or a recent grad based in the DC area, we’d love to have you on our team. Interns are a vital part of our staff, involved in everything from research to strategy to stapling.

Complete Streets

Join Smart Growth America at the Solutions for Sustainable Communities conference in September

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State and local leaders are looking for more efficient ways of utilizing existing resources to achieve their housing, transportation and environmental goals. The National Housing Conference’s Solutions for Sustainable Communities, Septmber 26-28, 2011 in Washington, DC, will arm practitioners and policymakers with the best available information on how to work collaboratively and creatively to develop more sustainable and inclusive communities while reducing overall government costs.

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"Advocacy Training 201" webinar materials now available online

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Thank you to everyone who attended Smart Growth America’s Sustainable Communities Network webinar earlier this week, “Advocacy Training 201.” Telling Members of Congress about your projects and the benefits of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities is a crucial part of supporting these valuable federal programs.

Christopher Coes, Manager of LOCUS, provided additional training on how to talk about your project, The Partnership for Sustainable Communities, and Member of Congress meetings. The webinar also included a simulated in-district meeting with a Member of Congress, which can be viewed below.

As we’ve mentioned before, August recess is one of the best times to meet with your member of Congress (or their staff) to discuss the importance of the Partnership on the ground in your community and to our nation as a whole. To help you make these meetings happen, we have a toolkit available on the Partnership Blog and we are more than happy to assist you with scheduling or provide more infomation. Please contact Melissa Schreiber-Stahl at mschreiberstahl [at] smartgrowthamerica [dot] org with questions or to request scheduling help.

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The Better Block Project shows how changing a street can change a neighborhood

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What hidden potential do roads have to become lively, walkable neighborhoods? One group in Texas is helping reveal what streets in many places could be.

The Better Block Project temporarily transforms underused streets into vibrant neighborhood centers. The project acts as a living charrette so communities can see what “complete streets” look like, as well as the potential for revitalized economic activity in an area. By setting up retail stands, sidewalk cafes, places for children to play and making the area friendlier to pedestrians, the project creates a temporary town square that organizers hope will have a lasting impact.

Complete Streets
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