Boulder, CO targets carbon reduction through transportation at smart growth strategy workshop


The Boulder Civic Area is a visionary “community driven” project to rethink and evolve the downtown’s most expansive public space. Image via Bouldercolorado.gov on Flickr.

Boulder, CO officials and local residents will meet with representatives from Smart Growth America on March 4 and 5, 2013 as part of a free, grant-funded technical assistance program. The workshops aim to find innovative travel and mobility strategies that will give Boulder the tools to achieve the next level of the city’s ambitious carbon-reduction goals.

Boulder residents are invited to join the workshops first day for an open house on the city’s 2013 Transportation Master Plan Update (from 4:30 to 6 p.m.) and a presentation by Smart Growth America (from 6 to 8 p.m.). The event will be held Monday, March 4, 2013 at the Hotel Boulderado Conference Center, 2115 13th Street, Boulder, CO.

Technical assistance

Buena Vista Charter Township looks to address long-term fiscal and economic goals during smart growth strategy workshop


A rendering of streetscape plans for Buena Vista Township. Image via MLive.com.

Smart Growth America will meet with residents and leaders of Buena Vista, MI next week to help identify new strategies that could attract business investments and stabilize neighborhoods in the township.

Buena Vista Township residents are invited to join the workshop’s first day for a public presentation on March 5, 2013 from 6-8 PM at the Buena Vista Community Center, 1940 South Outer Drive, Saginaw, Michigan.

Technical assistance

Join LOCUS in Seattle next month at ULI's annual housing conference

The Urban Land Institute (ULI)’s annual housing conference brings together housing professionals from across the country to discuss current challenges and opportunities for supporting a full spectrum of housing choices in cities and suburbs increasingly challenged by the new economy.

Joining the discussion at this year’s conference is LOCUS: Responsible Real Estate Developers and Investors. LOCUS Managing Director Christopher Coes and Steering Committee member John Hempelmann, of Seattle-based business law firm Cairncross & Hempelmann, will join a panel discussion at the conference about federal involvement in real estate and how it might be reformed.

Local Leaders Council LOCUS

Know a project that's creating great neighborhoods? Nominate it for the 2013 National Awards for Smart Growth Achievement


Buffalo, NY’s Larkin District won an honorable mention for the Main Street or Corridor Revitalization category in 2013. Photo courtesy of U.S. EPA.

Do you know of an organization or project that’s using better development strategies to make your community a great place to live? If you do, consider nominating it for the 2013 National Awards for Smart Growth Achievement from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

These prestigious annual awards honor projects and policies that use smart growth strategies to improve communities environmentally, socially, and economically. Past winners include some of the most innovative development projects in the country, and a project in your community could be next.

Uncategorized

Smart Growth Stories: Mayor Marilyn Strickland on development in Tacoma, WA

Tacoma, WA Mayor Marilyn Strickland considers her city “the best kept secret in Washington State,” and smart growth strategies are helping make the city an even better place to live and work.

“Tacoma kind of got bypassed during the whole urban renewal phase of the late 60s and 70s, so as a result a lot of historic property did not get razed,” Strickland says. “So we have this beautiful stock of old warehouses and historic property.”

Local Leaders Council

Taking a close look at the federal government’s spending on real estate

The following post was crossposted on the U.S. Green Building Council’s blog.

The biggest real estate investor in the United States isn’t Donald Trump, and it’s not a private equity firm.

Spending or committing roughly $450 billion a year, the federal government is by far and away the largest investor in real estate in the country. This spending spans 50 federal programs at half a dozen agencies, and includes everything from loans and loan guarantees to tax credits to low-income housing grants. If you include the quasi-governmental enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the amount of money the government spends each year on real estate is even larger.

Uncategorized

Rethink Real Estate: The Housing Credit


Trumbull Park Homes, a low-income housing development in Chicago, Illinois. Photo by Robert R. Gigliotti via Flickr.

In January, Smart Growth America released Federal Involvement in Real Estate, a survey of over 50 federal programs that influence real estate in some way. This post is the second in a series taking a closer look at some of the programs included in that survey.

Congress began the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program in 1986 to incentivize the private sector to develop more affordable rental units for low-income households. Since its creation, the credit has created or preserved nearly two million affordable rental units across the country.

The program offsets investors’ federal income tax liabilities, but the responsibility for administering the program is delegated to the states. States designate housing credit agencies to distribute a pool of tax credits from the U.S. Department of Treasury based on their population. In 2010, the amount of credits agencies received was equal to the greater of $2.10 per capita or $2,430,000. For example, the population of Oklahoma in 2010 was about 3.6 million people, so the state received about $7.7 million in tax credits, or 3.6 million multiplied by $2.10.

LOCUS

Complete Streets news: February 2013

Policy Adoption

On February 5, 2013, the Oakland, California City Council unanimously approved a Complete Streets policy. The new document includes specific actions to implement Complete Streets, including a review of existing plans, defining a stakeholder consultation process, and establishing and collecting data related to Complete Streets performance measures. Read more >>

Rancho Cucamonga, California, a suburban community in the greater Los Angeles region, boasts the state’s newest Complete Streets ordinance. Approved unanimously in December, the ordinance includes a robust list of performance metrics and implementation steps. Read more >>

The City of Philadelphia has finalized its Complete Streets Handbook! The new guide provides design guidance to planners, engineers and architects and helps residents understand the city’s tools for creating Complete Streets. The Handbook release follows the signing of the city’s Complete Streets Bill in December 2012 and Mayor Nutter’s 2009 Executive Order. Under the Handbook, all City projects will be subject to Complete Streets processes. Read more >>

Complete Streets Local Leaders Council