Uncategorized

Join Smart Growth America at the 2012 New Partners for Smart Growth Conference

By ·


After celebrating its 10th anniversary last year in Charlotte, NC, the New Partners for Smart Growth conference begins its second decade back where it started in San Diego, CA. Sun, Surf, and Smart Growth: The 11th Annual New Partners for Smart Growth Conference from February 2-4, 2012 will bring together participants and speakers who cross disciplines to share experiences and insights, and valuable tools and strategies to make smart growth strategies a reality.

Members of Smart Growth America’s knowledgeable staff will be among the many speakers at this year’s conference. Join us to learn about: Smart Growth for Clean Water; Infill Development Strategies for Small Cities; Achieving the Prosperity Benefits of Transit and Smart Growth; Not Your Father’s DOT: Progressive Trends in State Transportation Policy; Leveraging Smart Growth Solutions to Build Political Support; Area-wide Planning: Innovations at the State, Local, and Federal Level; Smart Valley Places — Taking Advantage of the Great Reset; Facing the Critics: Tools and Trainings to Successfully Counter Smart Growth Opponents; and Implementing Green Infrastructure: Creative Approaches to Reducing Regulatory and Financial Barriers in Rural and Urban Communities.

Local Leaders Council Uncategorized

Ohio selects six communities to participate in the new Brownfields Action Plan Pilot Program

By ·

The Ohio Department of Development (ODOD) announced last week six communities that will participate in the state’s innovative Brownfields Action Plan Pilot Program, a new initiative designed to help communities with multiple brownfield sites create area-wide plans to address them.

ODOD launched the program in August of this year and selected the pilot communities after a four-month application and review process. The chosen communities will each receive technical assistance and a $50,000 grant to develop and implement their area-wide plans. The six communities selected include the cities of Fairborn, Newark, Piqua, Ravenna and Xenia, as well as the Seneca Industrial and Economic Development Corporation.

ODOD’s initiative is an exciting milestone for brownfields redevelopment and will provide major benefits to Ohio communities. Area-wide planning is a smart growth strategy that looks at vacant and contaminated sites within a region comprehensively – rather than individually – and allows communities to address each site within the context of broader revitalization and economic development goals. This strategy is particularly helpful for communities plagued by sites that are too small or distressed to be viable for redevelopment individually. Addressed collectively, these sites can all become more attractive to potential developers and can ultimately catalyze community-wide revitalization.

Uncategorized

Welcome to the coalition: Rainbow Housing Assistance Corporation

By ·


Smart Growth America is proud to welcome Rainbow Housing Assistance Corporation to our coalition of state and national allied organizations.

Rainbow Housing Assistance Corporation is a national non-profit organization formed to create and preserve affordable multifamily housing for low-income families throughout the United States. Rainbow renovates and rehabilitate housing that will be a catalyst for neighborhood revitalization.

Formed in 2002, Rainbow creates and preserves affordable housing for families throughout the United States. The organization renovates and rehabilitates distressed properties with the goal of being a catalyst for neighborhood revitalization. Rainbow has successfully turned around formerly distressed properties, preserving affordable housing opportunities for thousands of low-income households.

Uncategorized

PlanMaryland the fiscally responsible way to build a better Maryland

By ·

Years from now, I want my grandchildren to enjoy living in Maryland as much as I do. That’s why I support PlanMaryland.

I want my grandchildren to enjoy the beauty of Patapsco Valley State Park and the bustling downtown of historic Annapolis. I want them to be able to eat food grown in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and to find a job in Maryland. I want Maryland to be a place they will love.

PlanMaryland will help make sure all these things are possible. On Monday, Governor Martin O’Malley signed an executive order on this long-term growth plan for the state, and I completely support his action.

PlanMaryland will save Maryland taxpayers billions of dollars of infrastructure costs, including $1.5 billion on necessary road repair. In addition, the Plan will help Maryland avoid $29 billion in road and school construction costs over the next 25 years, which would be needed to keep pace with current trends.

PlanMaryland will stimulate economic development and revitalization in towns, cities and other existing communities. Many of Maryland’s communities have empty storefronts and vacant homes, and PlanMaryland will help bring people back to these places. The Plan will also support 600,000 new jobs in Maryland by the year 2035.

Uncategorized

Omnibus package includes full funding for EPA's Office of Sustainable Communities

By ·

A contaminated empty lot is more than just an unsightly nuisance for its neighbors. It’s a financial burden on taxpayers, local businesses and nearby homeowners, not to mention a serious threat to land and water quality.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Sustainable Communities helps towns and cities address these kinds of problems and turn them into economic assets. Today Congress is scheduled to vote on the final FY 2012 Omnibus Spending package which includes full funding for the EPA’s Smart Growth Program in fiscal year 2012.

“Today’s vote will be a victory for towns across the country working toward economic prosperity,” said Geoff Anderson, President and CEO of Smart Growth America. “The EPA’s Office provides towns with the tools they need to overcome some of the largest, most persistent challenges to creating a stronger local economy. We are thrilled that Congress decided to support this program.”

Uncategorized

Making the most of limited transportation dollars: WYDOT does it right

By ·

State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) across the country face tightening budgets, and one DOT recently stepped up to make the most of the funds it has.

The Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) has positioned itself responsibly for the future. On November 16, the agency announced it will stop approving highway expansion projects and will focus resources toward repair of the state’s existing road system. This announcement comes just months after the publication of Repair Priorities, a report by Smart Growth America and Taxpayers for Common Sense, which made recommendations along these lines.

Uncategorized

The perfect gift for smart growth supporters

By ·

Looking for the perfect gift for the smart growth advocate in your life? Or want to express your pride of place with what you wear? Look no further!

Make a donation to Smart Growth America and receive a custom t-shirt from CityFabric.

Smart Growth America is working harder than ever to advocate for state, regional and national smart growth initiatives. From our Transit Campaign Planner for local advocates, to our work helping Ohio identify policy changes to better support brownfields redevelopment, to bringing economic development tools to towns like Muskegon, Michigan, Smart Growth America is fighting for all our rural, suburban and urban communities.

With a donation of $50 or more, Smart Growth America will thank you with a custom designed t-shirt from CityFabric. Based in Raleigh, North Carolina, CityFabric aspires to build community and civic-pride by creating conversations about place through simple design and apparel.

Your donation will help support our work in the coming year so we can keep making great neighborhoods together.

Support Smart Growth America this holiday season and receive a custom designed thank you gift.

More and more Americans want to live in places where housing and transportation choices are near jobs, shops and schools – and Smart Growth America is helping make those places possible. Support Smart Growth America today: click here to make a donation.

Uncategorized

White Flint Partnership looks to smart growth strategies to become a vibrant destination

By ·

Property owners in Montgomery County, Maryland, want to make their neighborhood great, and they’re using smart growth strategies to do it.

The White Flint Partnership is a group of Montgomery County property owners working to create an amenity-rich, new urban center for the area that is engaging, accessible, connected, convenient, green, safe and vibrant.

Governor Parris Glendening, President of Smart Growth America’s Leadership Institute, spoke earlier this fall at the White Flint Partnership’s second Speaker Series event. Governor Glendening spoke about the principles of smart growth and these strategies are currently being used around the country. He also discussed demographic changes projected to take place in Montgomery County in coming years, and how those changes will impact the area’s development needs. Investments in transit and sustainable design, Glendening explained, are just some of the ways White Flint can meet future demand and improve quality of life for existing residents.

Uncategorized

The benefits of Washington DC's Metro

By ·

Washington, DC’s Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which operates Metrorail and Metrobus service in the region, brings large, tangible benefits to the DC-area economy. A new report from WMATA, prepared by AECOM and Smart Growth America, details just how big these benefits are.

“WMATA Regional Benefits of Transit” (PDF) examines Metro’s impact on several aspects of the DC-area economy, including how public transit supports businesses, workers, families, visitors, and the region’s largest employer, the federal government.

The report found that Metro is an outstanding investment of public funds. Access to Metrorail significantly boosts property values and tax revenues for the city. Real estate located within ½ mile of a Metrorail station represents 27.9% of the area’s tax base on just 4% of its land, including 68.1% for DC, 15.3% for Virginia, and 9.9% for Maryland.

Metro supports businesses, and economic activity tied to Metro’s presence is critical to the success of the region. Claude Anderson of the Metropolitan Washington Restaurant Association is quoted in the report’s executive summary:

We have come a long, long way from the bad old days of a deserted, dilapidated and dangerous downtown during the evening hours and few destination retail and entertainment neighborhoods. The establishment and growth of vibrant areas such as Penn Quarter, Ballston, U/14th Street corridors are directly attributable to transportation access for patrons, visitors and employees.

Collectively, Metro saves DC-area families $342 million per year in car operating expenses. Home values may increase near rail stations, but families save significantly on transportation costs each year.

Uncategorized
  • …
  • …