After watching some of the debates over the last few weeks, and partially inspired by a similar post from Rob Goodspeed on the Planetizen Interchange, I pieced together this very abridged summary of where some of the current candidates stand on some of the environmental, transportation, energy and urban issues that our coalition cares about. … Continued
Those were the words of Scenic America’s Kevin Fry in a slideshow from the New York Times that accompanied a Dan Barry column just before Christmas. (New York Times photograph by Angel Franco. Click image to view the slideshow) “Once you’ve lost your connection to your place you have no reason to care about it … Continued
First of all, happy new year and welcome back! All of us here at SGA are excited about the prospects for 2008, including the transition to a new President and CEO, which you can read here in case you missed it. We’ll be posting Geoff Anderson’s full bio shortly, with perhaps a short Q&A on … Continued
After an extensive nationwide search, the SGA Board of Directors is pleased to announce the appointment of Geoffrey Anderson as President and CEO of Smart Growth America. Anderson, who has headed the smart growth program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency since 2000, will succeed founding executive director and CEO Don Chen, who is leaving … Continued
This white paper by CEOs for Cities argues that, “the collapse of America’s housing bubble—and its reverberations in financial markets—has obscured a tectonic shift in housing demand. Although housing prices are in decline almost everywhere, price declines are generally far more severe in far-flung suburbs and in metropolitan areas with weak close-in neighborhoods. The reason for this shift is rooted in the dramatic increase in gas prices over the past five years. Housing in cities and neighborhoods that require lengthy commutes and provide few transportation alternatives to the private vehicle are falling in value more precipitously than in more central, compact and accessible places.”
This NGA report assesses a number transportation funding strategies and includes pros and cons for each as well as examples of where the mechanisms are currently being used.
With the Urban Land Institute, we released Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change, which shows how meeting the demand for conveniently located housing with transportation choices will be key to addressing climate change.
The National Vacant Properties Campaign held its first national conference: Reclaiming Vacant Properties was an overwhelming success. Nearly 700 people rallied together in Pittsburgh to share wisdom and learn how to help their own communities hit hard by vacancy and abandonment.
Along with the Brookings Institution and other partners, we launched the Restoring Prosperity Initiative to bring hope and investment to our older industrial and weak market cities.
As we usher out 2007 and look to 2008, here are a few recent victories from the policy front — some of which were finalized in just the last few weeks. EPA Smart Growth funding restored There won’t be coal in the EPA Smart Growth office’s stocking this year. Though the program had been threatened … Continued
As long as local and state leaders in Georgia fail to grasp that Atlanta can’t pave its way out of traffic congestion, Atlanta could be in danger of becoming a case study in what may happen to a city’s business climate when an economic model based largely on growth and continual outward expansion hits the … Continued
As we mentioned earlier this week, Gov. Spitzer in New York created a new smart growth cabinet via an executive order that will attempt to coordinate all state agencies’ spending and policies into a coherent vision for growth and development in the state. Regional Plan Association’s Bob Yaro, which has been working for years behind … Continued