Friday News – Ordinance in Michigan's Capital
This week: Lansing City Council passes a complete streets ordinance, Fairhope (AL) and Ankeny (IA) work toward their policies, and more.
Blog
Stimulus spending results add to argument for repair and public transportation investments
At Streetsblog Captiol Hill, Elana Schor’s “Crunching June Stimulus Numbers: Roads Create Pricier Jobs Than Transit” confirms, so far, the predictions in SGA’s Spending the Stimulus: per dollar of investment, state road projects create fewer jobs than do state transit projects. The differences that she found are smaller than other studies have found, mostly, we suspect, because all the road project types are lumped together. Repair has long been found to produce more jobs than new roads.
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.
Complete Streets Included in Bills to Create Livable Communities for an Aging America
Several bills recently introduced in Congress recognize the clear benefits that complete streets provide for improving the safety and livability of a community for everyone living there–regardless of age or ability.
Destination: Your Hometown–Meet with your Member of Congress in August
Here in Washington, August is known for sweltering heat, but the real action is heating up back in your hometown. With Members of Congress back to their districts for August recess, now is a great time to talk to your representative about all the benefits of complete streets.
Stranded at the Station: The Impact of the Financial Crisis in Public Transportation
This joint report by T4America and the Transportation Equity Network is the first systematic analysis of the conundrum faced by communities and their transit systems: Historic ridership and levels of demand for service, coupled with the worst funding crisis in decades.
SGA Monthly Coalition Call, July 30, 2009
3:30PM EST
Attendance
Jeri Mintzer ([email protected]), Lindsey Gael ([email protected]), Elisa Ortiz ([email protected])
Kate Rube ([email protected]), Will Schroeer ([email protected]) – Smart Growth America, DC
Kristin Purdy ([email protected]) – Transportation for America
Kathleen Spencer ([email protected]) – Center for Planning Excellence, LA
Rachel Winer ([email protected]) – Idaho Smart Growth
Jim Gray ([email protected]) – NCB Capital Impact
Jane Kirchner ([email protected]) – America Farmland Trust, DC
Gloria Katz ([email protected]) – Smart Growth Partnership, Southeast Florida
Lee Epstein ([email protected]) – Chesapeake Bay Foundation
April Putney ([email protected]) and Sara Nikolic ([email protected]) – Futurewise, WA
John Maximuk ([email protected]) – Livable Communities Coalition, GA
Scott Wolf ([email protected]) – Grow Smart Rhode Island
Carey Knecht ([email protected]) – Greenbelt Alliance, CA
Gene Krebs ([email protected]) – Greater Ohio
Wednesday News – Rockville, MD Adopts a Policy
This week’s news include a new policy in Rockville, MD, some complete streets inspired musings in Indiana, data supporting the safety in numbers theory, and more.
Public Health Community Lines Up Behind Complete Streets
A new flurry of study results, meetings, and reports from the public health community – including a specific recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – are pointing the way toward complete streets policies as an important tool in the fight against the obesity crisis.
Small blue-collar Maryland hamlet innovates with stimulus help
The town of Edmonston in Prince George’s County, Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C., is a small hamlet of under 2000 residents, most of them blue-collar workers. Like many other cities in America, times are tough in Edmonston, which has high rates of unemployment and foreclosure. What makes life particularly hard for Edmonston is that it is bisected by the Anacostia River. Due to poor environmental practices, the Anacostia periodically floods the town, wreaking devastation on a place already struggling to get by.