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Partnership in the News: Cincinnati approves comprehensive plan for city

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Last month, the Cincinnati City Planning Commission approved Plan Cincinnati, a comprehensive, community-based approach to future development. Part of this plan was funded by a multi-million dollar HUD Community Challenge grant intended to help the city to streamline its land use codes, facilitating future development.

The Plan is an opportunity to strengthen what people love about the city, what works and what needs more attention, says Katherine Keough-Jurs, senior city planner and project manager.

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Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick introduces new workforce housing initiatives, adopts GICD recommendations

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The following is crossposted from the Governors’ Institute on Community Design.

In July 2012, the Governors’ Institute on Community Design met with Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and his Administration to identify policies and tool to meet the State’s housing needs. Last week, Governor Patrick announced an ambitious housing policy initiative that builds on those strategies.

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Walkability increasingly drives developers and real estate market

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What makes a town or city desirable? What makes a neighborhood a great place to raise a family or start a new job? And what characteristics drive local economic growth and drive the real estate market? It all starts with walkability, according to a recent Washington Post story. A Texas native, Rogers put a premium … Continued

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Upcoming webinar: "The Innovative DOT" with the Federal Highway Administration

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State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) have ambitious goals: improve safety, reduce congestion, enhance economic opportunity, improve reliability, preserve system assets, accelerate project delivery, and help to create healthier, more livable neighborhoods, just to name a few. These goals would be challenging even if money were no object, but dwindling conventional federal and state transportation funding makes these goals even harder to achieve.

The Innovative DOT: A handbook of policy and practice, published earlier this year by Smart Growth America and the State Smart Transportation Initiative, lays out 31 tools transportation officials can use as they position their agencies for success in the new economy.

On December 12, from 3:00-4:30 PM EST, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will host a webinar about the report and its recommendations. FHWA is partnering with the Project for Public Spaces and INDUS Corporation to present this free event.

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Speak out to renew the federal Brownfields Tax Incentive

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Developers working to clean-up and redevelop brownfields could soon lose a major federal aid – unless advocates work together to save it.

Originally signed into law in 1997 and extended through December 31, 2011, Section 198’s Brownfields Tax Incentive is a tax deduction intended to encourage the cleanup and revitalization of brownfield properties. Under the incentive environmental cleanup costs are fully deductible in the year incurred, rather than capitalized and spread over time. Improvements in 2006 expanded the Incentive to include petroleum cleanup.

The incentive is scheduled to expire at the end of the year, but there’s a chance to save it. The National Brownfields Coalition is asking Congress to extend the Incentive as part of the Family and Business Tax Cut Certainty Act of 2012, more commonly known as the “tax extenders” bill.

Join the call to make brownfields cleanup easier: send a letter to your members of Congress today.

The Incentive is already helping towns put contaminated land back in to productive reuse. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for example, the Incentive helped make possible the redevelopment of a former industrial site in the city’s historic Martin Luther King Drive Business Improvement District. The site is now home to new commercial and residential space, and has greatly added momentum to efforts within the Business Improvement District.

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Partnership in the News: Port Richmond Trail restoration project breaks ground

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Recently, a 1.5 mile stretch of the Port Richmond Trail broke ground. Once completed, the project will reconstruct and improve 16.3 miles of pedestrian and bicycle trails that are part of a 128-mile regional network of trails throughout the Philadelphia region, with the help of a $23 million TIGER grant from the Department of Transportation.

U.S. Representative Allyson Schwartz, a key player in securing the TIGER grant, had this to say about the project:

“Reconnecting northeast Philadelphia communities with the Delaware River matters deeply to the residents of northeast Philadelphia, for both improved recreational opportunities and to build towards greater local economic development efforts.”

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More results in from Tuesday's elections show big wins for smart growth

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Photo by mystuart, via Flickr.

On Tuesday, voters from across the country overwhelmingly showed their support for smart growth, crossing partisan lines to support open spaces, land conservation, and public transportation.

“These votes demonstrate Americans’ commitment to strengthening communities and economies, as voters recognized the value of smart investments and how they can benefit their own neighborhoods and towns,” says Smart Growth America President and CEO Geoffrey Anderson.

The most recent results to come in this week include a $166 million parks measure in Houston, TX and a $77.7 million parks measure in Austin, TX.

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Smart Growth Stories: Building relationships and planning connections in mid-Michigan

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Looking down Michigan Avenue in Lansing, Michigan. Photo by the Graham Davis, via Flickr.

Three counties in mid-Michigan are working to improve their region, and they’re using a much-talked about — but seldom seen — strategy to make it happen: collaboration.

The Mid-Michigan Program for Greater Sustainability is a dynamic and interactive effort to bring smart growth and concerted planning to the mid-Michigan region. Organized by the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission and made possible by a Regional Planning Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Program is composed of hundreds of organizations from across Eaton, Clinton, and Ingham counties.

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Voters say ‘yes’ to great neighborhoods, transportation choices via Tuesday ballot initiatives

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Voters decided more than a president last night, with dozens of local decisions across the country to fund or approve important transportation and land-use ballot initiatives.

“With transportation choices and smart growth decision-making being so closely linked to economic development and long-term cost-savings, the public’s say on these measures plays a critical role in determining which communities will have an opportunity to leap forward,” Smart Growth America President and CEO Geoffrey Anderson said in a statement. “You’re voting on the future of your hometown, what you want your neighborhood to look like, and whether you want to see economic growth happen there.”

“The good news is that across the nation last night, we saw widespread support for investing in our existing communities. When voters see the real benefits of putting their tax dollars into a project, they’re very much inclined to support it, no matter what kind of town they’re from.”

Some of the most important ballot initiatives passed last night include:

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