As Congress moves to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, LOCUS’ top priority is to protect community development and affordable housing tax incentives. Join us as we reach out to the conference committee’s House and Senate Conferees and ask them to maintain these programs and incentives in the final version of the legislation.
On November 13-16, 2017, leadership teams from Macon, GA; Columbia, SC; Akron, OH; Charlotte, NC; and Wichita, KS came to Greenville, SC to learn about the placemaking strategies the city took to successfully create a vibrant, walkable downtown. The convening was the final half of the Amazing Place Ideas Forum, an experiential gathering of city leaders to learn how investing in a unique sense of place and vibrant, walkable neighborhoods is at the heart of a new economic development strategy.
After the passage of the Senate’s tax bill early Saturday morning, President and CEO Geoff Anderson offered this statement:
Thursday night, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3017, the Brownfields Enhancement, Economic Redevelopment, and Reauthorization Act of 2017, that would allow up to $250 million to clean up brownfield sites each year. Smart Growth America, LOCUS and the National Brownfields Coalition support the bill’s provisions and commend the bill’s sponsors for their hard work to bring this bill to fruition.
An influx of visitors to Oklahoma’s Osage Nation and the City of Pawhuska has spurred an opportunity to establish a robust tourism industry. The community teamed up with Smart Growth America to identify strategic investments that would maximize the unique culture, history, and arts of the Osage.
To conclude Complete Streets month at Smart Growth America, we’re proud to publish the brand new policy grading framework and scoring methodology. These changes come after our Steering committee voted to approve the framework in 2017. For months a group of national stakeholders, consisting of engineers, planners, researchers, and advocates, worked to revise the policy elements and truly raise the bar for what Complete Streets look like in practice. So it is only right that we spent the past month highlighting each of these revised elements and gaining a deeper understanding of the essence of Complete Streets moving forward.
Read the final end-of-year letter from Smart Growth America President and CEO Geoff Anderson as he wraps up this year of work and prepares to depart SGA in early 2018.
Over the last decade, we’ve come to understand that a Complete Streets policy is only the first step to making streets safer and more accessible to everyone. We’ve revised the “Implementation steps” policy element to include increased accountability from jurisdictions and requirements to include equity and community engagement.
Florida’s approach could serve as a model for other states looking to incorporate land-use context in decision-making. The latest webinar from our State Smart Transportation Initiative explained how this approach is being implemented in Florida and how other states can emulate it.
To most effectively implement them, a good Complete Streets policy must be fully integrated into the process for selecting transportation projects. And that process should focus on active transportation projects with a priority on underserved communities in order to reduce health, safety, and economic disparities.