Senate tax reform bill triggers 10 years of ballooning deficits, harmful cuts, or both
After the passage of the Senate’s tax bill early Saturday morning, President and CEO Geoff Anderson offered this statement:
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House passes brownfields reauthorization bill
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.
Since the workshop: Osage Nation uses tourism boom to generate economic redevelopment
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.
Introducing a brand new grading framework for Complete Streets policies
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.
One last farewell from Smart Growth America’s President
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.
Policy #10: Moving policies forward requires strong implementation steps
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.
Watch the recording – Fitting the road to the context: Florida’s Context Classification and Complete Streets implementation
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.
Policy #9: Project selection criteria should prioritize active transportation
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.
Support small-scale manufacturers on #SmallBizSaturday
In 2017, SGA staff was on the ground in scores of communities like these, helping local elected and civic leaders understand how to support and expand this growing sector of their economy to build strong, vibrant, and walkable neighborhoods.
On this Small Business Saturday, you can help us do even more. Make a donation today so we can reach even more communities in 2018 >>
Policy #8: Performance measures: what gets measured, gets done
Performance measures exist to track and measure success in communities that have Complete Streets policies. The revised framework requires measures to expand beyond the usual metrics used such as the number of bike lanes. In Complete Streets policies performance measures should address categories like access, economy, environment, safety, and health. As well as, how implementation will impact communities of concern identified in the policy.