WASHINGTON D.C. — President and CEO Geoffrey Anderson released the following statement after the Senate’s cloture vote today on its surface transportation authorization: “Smart Growth America is disheartened to learn that members could not reach full agreement and cloture on MAP-21. Though today’s efforts were unsuccessful, we remain confident in the Senate’s bi-partisan bill and … Continued
Smart Growth America lauds latest draft of surface transportation authorization MAP-21, pushes for successful cloture vote Tuesday WASHINGTON DC — The newest version of the Senate transportation bill, presented by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) with bi-partisan support, includes key provisions that preserve existing infrastructure, grow the economy and improve the mobility of all Americans. … Continued
Three years of work have paid off, with the release of Somerville, Massachusett’s first 20-year comprehensive plan, reports the Somerville Journal.
“This is an extraordinary achievement made possible by the hard work of hundreds of community-minded contributors both inside and outside government,” said Mayor Joe Curtatone at the event. “Because it is based on so much public input and review, it truly represents a consensus view of our values and priorities as a community.”
A study commissioned by the Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce, the Minneapolis Regional Chamber, and the TwinWest Chamber, as reported by Minneapolis-St. Paul’s KARE 11,
found that 76 percent of Minnesotans polled agree the state would benefit from expanded public transportation. The same poll showed that 69 percent would like to use public transportation more often.
Thursday, March 8, 2012, 2:30pm – 4:00pm ET. From Grassroots to Grasstops: Values-Driven Planning, Issue Identification, and Partnership Building for Scenarios Planning. Register here.
Thursday, March 15, 2012, 2:00pm – 3:00pm ET. Advancing Local Sustainability Initiatives through Improved Stormwater Management. Register here.
Thursday, March 22, 2012, 2:30pm – 4:00pm. Off the Starting Block: Data Gathering, Assessment, and Scenarios Modeling Tools Selection. Register here.
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
It’s thousands of miles from more recognized hubs of smart growth activity like Seattle and San Francisco, but Western North Carolina has emerged as one of the nation’s leading examples of what is possible when regional planning and economic development strategies find common ground.
Thanks to a $1.6 million grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development through the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, government officials, local citizens and business leaders in the region are taking control of their communities’ future. If recent initiatives meet with the success they promise, an area that was once an afterthought even for many North Carolinians might become a staging ground for new businesses at the forefront of the state’s economy.
“I want my kids and grandkids to have a future here,” said Mark Burrows, Planning and Economic Development Director for Transylvania County. “Even before we knew what sustainability was, this is what we have always wanted…a place where there are jobs and people can walk to work.”
Crossposted from the Huffington Post.
Let’s look on the bright side of life.
By all accounts, you would be hard-pressed today to find anyone who views congressional inaction positively. But with the House of Representatives’ transportation package languishing amid opposition from both Democrats and Republicans, members of Congress at least have added time to address the bill’s severe shortcomings.
Our country’s roads and bridges are in desperate need of repair, so crafting economically beneficial legislation with bipartisan support should be lawmakers’ top priority. Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica has already shown us what’s possible when business development and other interests meet, including language in the House bill that would spur development around transit stations and jumpstart real estate investment. With that kind of cooperative leadership as a model, the House would be wise to make the following revisions, showing voters that it’s the congressional branch with the capacity to get things done in an election year.
In Pennsylvania today, more than 300,000 properties stand vacant. These properties cost municipalities millions of dollars each year in maintenance costs and even more in lost revenue. In Philadelphia alone – which has some 40,000 vacant properties – the City pays $20 million each year just to maintain those properties.
Last week, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives took a major step toward turning the state’s vacant properties back into homes and businesses. On Wednesday the House passed HB 1682, a bill that would allow counties and municipalities in Pennsylvania to create land banks. Land banks are entities that can hold and manage vacant, abandoned and foreclosed properties, making it faster, easier and cheaper for prospective new owners to purchase these properties and get them back into productive re-use.
Thank you to everyone who attended SGA’s Sustainable Communities Network Partnership for Sustainable Communities Briefing on February 16th, 2012.
Smart Growth America hosted the senior leadership
from the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Environmental Protection Agency on this briefing.
Click below to listen to Beth Osborne (DOT), Mariia Zimmerman (HUD), and Tim Torma (EPA) give updates on this year’s Partnership for Sustainable Communities grants and programs, talk about where the Partnership stands in the President’s fiscal year 2013 budget, and outline the work that each Partnership agency plans to do in the upcoming year.