Blog

Thoughts from the road: Walkability in Knoxville

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Last month, Complete Streets director Emiko Atherton traveled to Knoxville, Tennessee to speak in the Walkability Speaker Series, a series that highlights the benefits of walkability and explores strategies to cultivate more walkable environments. The series is a collaborative effort led by the Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization with the support of East Tennessee Quality Growth, the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors, the Knoxville Chamber, and the Knoxville Chapter of the American Planning Association. Emiko and I were excited by the opportunity to scope out Knoxville and get to know some of the local champions of smart growth and walkability, since we’ll be back before too long as part of our Complete Streets Consortium Series.

Complete Streets

“Building Resilient States: Profiles in Action” webinar recording now available

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Communities shouldn’t wait for a flood or a hurricane to see how land use choices will affect their ability to remain resilient in the face of disaster.

Many states and municipalities are already thinking strategically about how land use, transportation, and infrastructure decisions can help them prepare for and mitigate the impact of disasters. Building Resilient States: Profiles in Action, published by the Governors’ Institute on Community Design earlier this month, highlights local, regional, and statewide efforts to build more resilient communities from the ground up.

Resilience

Showcase your community to developers

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The Local Leaders Council and LOCUS, Smart Growth America’s coalition of real estate developers and investors, are teaming up to match local leaders with developers to get smart growth projects built. Strong relationships are key—smart growth-minded local leaders must connect with developers and investors, in the right place, at the right time, to get the ball rolling.

Local Leaders Council LOCUS

Trump’s budget would disinvest in communities

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Earlier this week, President Trump released his full fiscal year (FY) 2018 federal budget which, if enacted, would represent an enormous reduction in federal spending on America’s safety net and other vital domestic programs. As proposed, the budget would slash non-defense discretionary spending by $54 billion next year, but increase federal spending on defense and border security. And while Trump’s proposal does include $200 billion for infrastructure, it either eliminates or drastically reduces key federal programs that support attainable housing, community development, affordable transportation, and a clean and healthy environment.

Advocacy LOCUS

“The Best Complete Streets Policies of 2016” comes out on June 8

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Mark your calendar! Our annual review of the best Complete Streets policies of the last year comes out on Thursday, June 8, 2017!

This year we are excited to celebrate 1,000 Complete Streets policies now in place nationwide. That includes more than 130 passed in 2016 alone. See the full list of places in the running for this year’s best policy — is your community among them?

Complete Streets

Smart Growth America statement: “Communities need a partner, not austerity measures”

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Yesterday President Trump released his proposal for the fiscal year 2018 federal budget. Geoff Anderson, President and CEO of Smart Growth America, issued the following response:

“There’s a lot of puzzling logic in this budget, but one point stood out to me above the others. It was the budget’s justification for cuts to transportation. Despite a pledge of raising $200 billion for infrastructure spending, the budget explains that because cities are investing in public transportation, the federal government should stop doing so.

The fact that local governments are spending money on public transportation—or housing, or neighborhood revitalization—shows just how much cities value these things. Local governments and the private sector are willing to invest their own dollars to make these things happen. The federal government should follow their lead and help that work go farther.

Advocacy

Webinar recording: Three toolkits for smart growth in rural places

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In late April Smart Growth America released three new toolkits for smart growth in rural places. Our Community Facilities Location toolkit helps communities make the most of new facilities like hospitals or post offices. Our Well-Placed Affordable Housing toolkit looks at creating centrally located housing infrastructure. And our Fiscal Impact Analysis toolkit looks at how local government can better understand the long-term financial implications of decisions about new development.

Rural Development

Speaker presentations from the 2017 LOCUS Leadership Summit

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Commissioner John Schroer of the Tennessee Department of Transportation was one of the presenters at the 2017 LOCUS Leadership Summit.

The 2017 LOCUS Leadership Summit featured an exceptional group of real estate developers, investors, local elected officials, and transportation professionals who came together to discuss a range of topics affecting walkable, urban development in the United States today.

The Summit’s speakers talked about cutting-edge ideas for public/private partnerships, local and federal policy, place-making benefits, and more. If you are interested in a recap of what got discussed, all of this year’s speaker presentations are below.

Local Leaders Council LOCUS

Complete Streets News — May 2017

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Read

Webinar next week: Making the Most of Main Street — Join the National Complete Streets Coalition Wednesday, May 17, 2017 from 1:00-2:00 PM EDT for our webinar “Making the Most of Main Street: Complete Streets & Walkable Communities.” Co-host America Walks and speakers from Langley, WA will join the Coalition to discuss how a Complete Streets approach can help communities revitalize downtowns. Participants will learn about developing and implementing Complete Streets, the intersection of public health and rural economic development, how to get community members involved, and finding funding.

Complete Streets
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