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Transportation for America releases Dangerous by Design 2011

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In the last decade, from 2000 through 2009, more than 47,700 pedestrians were killed in the United States – the equivalent of a jumbo jet full of passengers crashing roughly every month. On top of that, more than 688,000 pedestrians were injured during that time as well – a number equivalent to a pedestrian being struck by a car or truck every 7 minutes.

Despite the magnitude of these avoidable tragedies, little public attention and even less in public resources have been committed to reducing pedestrian deaths and injuries in the United States. On the contrary, transportation agencies typically prioritize speeding traffic over the safety of people on foot or other vulnerable road users.

Transportation for America’s Dangerous by Design 2011 examines this problem and America’s streets that are “dangerous by design” — engineered for speeding traffic with little or no provision for people on foot, in wheelchairs or on bicycles.

This year’s edition of the report is accompanied by an interactive map that tracks pedestrian fatalities from 2001 to 2009 across the country. Type an address and click on any point to see the available information about the victim, the date, the location, the street type and even what the road looks like via Google Street View.

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Pending legislation in New York could help reclaim vacant properties and revitalize neighborhoods

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Across the country, communities fighting to stay one step ahead of the foreclosure crisis are struggling with abandoned and vacant properties that lower surrounding property values, cut into local tax revenues, attract crime, and perpetuate a cycle of disinvestment. New York State is one of the places this battle is being waged, and Smart Growth America along with our coalition partner Empire State Future have been working to support a bill that could help.

New Yorkers! Tell the New York State Legislature to support the Land Bank Act: speak out today.

New York’s Land Bank Act (A00373, S663) would give New York jurisdictions the option to create a local entity to hold and manage problem properties and return them to productive use. In doing so the Act would bolster local economies and increase the safety, health, and vitality of struggling neighborhoods. In addition to these benefits, the bill is also revenue neutral and would achieve its aims without any added burden on New York taxpayers.

A recent op-ed in the Times Union by Empire State Future explains the benefits of creating land banks:

Land banks are able to acquire property, clear titles and dispose of land so the parcels again generate tax revenue. The best national example is the Genesee County Land Bank in Flint, Mich., a city of 102,000 people, down from 190,000 in 1960. This organization, formed in 2002, has developed innovative programs to facilitate the reuse of more than 4,000 formerly vacant and abandoned properties including side-lot transfer (more than 200 parcels), community gardens, housing rehabilitation and foreclosure avoidance (serving more than 1,300 families). Since its inception, this land bank has helped real property values in Flint to increase by more than $100 million.

The Land Bank Act could help make New York’s cities and towns more attractive for workers and businesses, and provide them with walkable communities close to shops, services and low-cost transportation choices. Land banks have been proven effective in other states and cities and have helped to revitalize many communities. New York today has towns, cities and counties that could turn their distressed spaces into valuable assets, but they need the power to do so.

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WalkBoston: Good Walking is Good Business

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The following is a guest post from Smart Growth America’s ally WalkBoston.

WalkBoston, Massachusetts’ main pedestrian advocacy organization, is working to reach beyond active transportation and smart growth partners to recruit allies in the retail, employer and real estate worlds to promote walkable communities. WalkBoston’s latest publication, Good Walking is Good Business (PDF), presents a wide array of research that shows how walking benefits many elements of the economy.

According to the Urban Land Institute, vibrant, walkable retail areas attract people to stay longer, spend more money, and visit more often. According to Marlon Boarnet, director the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California-Irvine and author of Retrofitting Suburbia, the most walkable, densely-built shopping districts in Los Angeles have four times the retail activity of “strip mall” shopping centers in less dense areas. For businesses, supporting improved walking conditions is a sound but sometimes overlooked investment. Here are some of the ways walkable neighborhoods support businesses.

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Former Md. Gov. Glendening says strong ag is essential to smart growth

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Crossposted from Farmland Preservation Report.
Originally written by Bob Heuer

Buy-in from farmland owners on suburbia’s edge can accelerate efforts to create compact, walkable communities in metropolitan regions nationwide. So says Parris Glendening, president of Smart Growth America’s Leadership Institute. This Washington-based non-profit agency helps local governments implement strategies that target housing and transportation investment near jobs, shops and schools.

Parris Glendening, who was a University of Maryland professor for 27 years, speaking on smart growth in 2006 (Wikipedia photo)

Stable urban-edge farm economies will encourage urban reinvestment by acting as a market-based firewall to impede suburbia’s outward march, according to Glendening—a national leader for smart growth during two terms as governor of Maryland, serving from 1995 to 2003.

The Glendening administration created a number of innovative incentives for local governments to encourage more compact patterns of development. Maryland’s Rural Legacy Program, one of Glendening’s most successful programs, has preserved large blocks of agricultural and natural land. Less successful was a law that targeted state assistance to “priority funding areas”—i.e. urbanizing locales that met smart growth criteria.

“I used to say the best tool against sprawl is a prosperous agricultural community,” Gov. Glendening recalls. “People who are opposed to sprawl often don’t understand the importance of farmers remaining economically viable. And the ag community was often hostile towards smart growth. They view their land as their own IRA and want to protect their right to the very logical alternative of selling for development.”

Maryland’s initiatives helped boost local farm economies by expanding both the supply and demand for farmers markets products. Yet, the focus on environmental outcomes like open space and habitat protection sparked a political impasse.

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Upcoming webinar: Advancing Equity in Sustainable Community Planning and Implementation

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Join us Tuesday, May 24th at 3:30 PM ET for the next Sustainable Communities Network webinar: “Advancing Equity in Sustainable Community Planning and Implementation.” This event is hosted by Smart Growth America, PolicyLink, Reconnecting America, and the National Housing Conference.

Speaking on the webinar will be Bob Allen, Director of Transportation and Housing Programs at Urban Habitat; Jessie Grogan, Policy Analyst at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council of Boston, MA; and Jonathan London, Director of the Center for Regional Change and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human and Community Development at the University of California, Davis. This webinar will be moderated by Kalima Rose, Director of the PolicyLink Center for Infrastructure Equity and leader of PolicyLink’s Sustainable Communities work.

What: “Advancing Equity in Sustainable Community Planning and Implementation.”
When: Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 3:30 PM ET.
Where: Webinar information will be sent to registrants.
RSVP: Click here to register. Please RSVP by 5 PM ET on May 23rd.

* Please note: Audio for this webinar will be broadcast through your computer. This is a change from previous webinars in the series. *

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Round Two: Your Stories About the High Cost of Gas and Your Jobs

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Rising gas prices and high levels of unemployment continue to weigh on the American economy. Smart Growth America asked for stories about how high gas prices are affecting your life, and we heard many stories about how expensive gas is making your professional life more challenging. With gas costing $4 gallon or more, workers are feeling the pain when it comes to commuting, meeting with clients around town, going to conferences, or even looking for a job.

  • A gallon of gas costs $4.11 for Carisa in Illinois, so in addition to carpooling more, she has to be very selective about which meetings and marketing events she absolutely must attend for work, and she said she’s still not getting to all of them. She’s reconsidering her attendance at some out of town conferences. She cannot reach her clients downtown without a car, so driving is a must for her.
  • An anonymous contributor from Northern California, where gas is $4.17 per gallon, is looking for a job and said the high gas prices are limiting the search.
  • Faced with $4.50 for a gallon of gas, Umi in Hawaii recently started carpooling the three-hour round-trip commute with a coworker. Even though the coworker’s shift ends an hour later, she “sacrifice[s] a little sleep and the personal convenience of leaving on my time table” to save money. Public buses are unreliable and intermittent in her hometown, and filling up just 3/4 of her tank costs more than $60.

A consistent theme throughout these stories is that transportation choices can help people and communities cope with rising gas prices. We’ve heard from people who are using public transportation or biking to work – or to look for work, for those who are unemployed – as driving becomes more expensive.

Part of Smart Growth America’s work is helping great communities have more low cost options for getting around when gas prices get too high, but we need to hear from you to do it. How much does gas cost in your area? What are you doing to cope with the high prices of gas? If you don’t drive often, or at all, how do you get around? Smart Growth America is helping more people have the option of shorter drives and more ways to get around when they want it. Click here to tell us your story.

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Rockefeller and Pew: States need to strengthen performance measures

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Crossposted from Transportation for America’s blog.
Written by Sean Barry.

Many states fail to track the results of their transportation dollars, according to a new report by the Pew Center on the States and the Rockefeller Foundation.

The report, Measuring Transportation Investments: The Road to Results, is quick to tie the timing of its findings to the current debate over including more performance measures in a reauthorization of the nation’s surface transportation law. An unofficial version of the Obama administration bill makes performance and accountability a key component of the federal program.

The report ranked the 50 states and the District of Columbia according to six key goals: safety, jobs and commerce, mobility, access, environmental stewardship and infrastructure preservation.

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Secretaries LaHood, Donovan on public transportation and connecting to jobs

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Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan spoke at the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program and on today’s Huffington Post about a new report on how public transportation helps American workers connect to jobs.

“Missed Opportunity: Transit and Jobs in Metropolitan America,” is “a first-of-its-kind analysis that shows how transit systems link workers to jobs in metropolitan America.” The report emphasizes the importance of not just the location and frequency of transit service, but ultimately how well transit aligns with where people work and live. LaHood and Donovan explain that public transportation plays a crucial role in the American economy, and better coordination between federal agencies can yield even greater benefits from this important resource.

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Register now for the 2011 Land Bank Conference in Detroit, MI

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In many places across the country, land banking is becoming an integral part of community revitalization efforts, especially as America’s cities and towns have struggled to keep ahead of the foreclosure crisis and the resulting economic impacts over the past few years. Today more communities than ever are developing and strengthening land banking efforts to increase affordable housing, create market-based development opportunities, and implement alternative land reuses.

The Center for Community Progress invites elected officials, business owners, developers and anyone else interested in land banking issues to the 2011 Land Bank Conference from June 5-7 in Detroit, MI. The conference will help participants identify how land banking and tax foreclosure strategies can catalyze development of effective solutions to unlocking the value of vacant, abandoned and problem properties. Highlights of this two-day event include training seminars, breakout sessions, bus tours and networking opportunities.

The conference attracts hundreds of professionals from across the country and from diverse backgrounds including: elected officials, land bank staff and board members, for-profit and non-profit developers and the real estate industry, community foundations, greening initiatives, neighborhood and civic leaders, and local and state government officials.

Click here for registration and more information.

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Round One: Your Stories About the Cost of High Gas

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Earlier this week, Smart Growth America asked for stories about how high gas prices are affecting you, and we’ve already received an overwhelming response. Thank you to everyone who wrote in. If you haven’t told us about the kinds of tradeoffs you’re making to deal with high gas prices, click here to tell us your story.

We heard from people who are saving money by choosing alternatives to driving, including walking, buses, light rail, subways and biking. We heard from people who wish they had more choices for ways to get around and from people living in rural areas where a car is the only option. People sent stories about delaying vacations, spending less on groceries, trading in a gas guzzler for something with better mileage, skipping doctors appointments that are across town, commuting 20 miles on a bike, and more.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to this problem, but a consistent theme through these stories is that people who have shorter drives or transportation choices are not as directly affected by rising gas prices. Part of Smart Growth America’s work is helping great communities have more low cost options for getting around when gas prices get too high, but we need to hear from you to do it. Click here to tell us your story

Here are a few stories that you shared with us so far:

  • Karen in Northern California says gas is $4.69 in her area, but she relies on walking and public transportation to get around. She said she decided to live in a place where she could get around without a car, but she said when she carpools with someone she is sure to chip in more gas money or buy them lunch.
  • Matt moved to rural Ohio six years ago with his family and says gas is $4.00 a gallon and his last tank was $72.00. He and his spouse each spend two hours a day in their cars. He thinks they’ll spend $8,000 on gas this year. They have no other options and are miles away from everything: their daughter’s school, work, stores, etc. He says they’re thinking about moving back into the city, partially because of the expense of all that driving, and partially because they’re just tired of spending so much time in their cars.
  • Christie lives outside of Nashville, Tennessee and says filling up her tank is $50.00. She takes the train and bus as much as possible, but she’s forgoing recommended medical treatments because the doctor’s office is too far away and it would cost too much to get there.
  • JR in Hawaii sent in the highest gas price: $4.91 for a gallon. He said even with a hybrid car and minimizing his family’s driving, they’re still seeing first-hand effects of high gas prices because 70 percent of goods, including food, are shipped to Hawaii. JR says everything is getting more expensive.

How much does gas cost in your area? What are you doing to cope with the high prices of gas? If you don’t drive often, or at all, how do you get around? Smart Growth America wants to help more people have the option of shorter drives and more ways to get around. Click here to tell us your story.

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