The town of Brattleboro, Vermont has received a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Building Blocks Sustainable Communities grant to aid in incorporating smart growth principles into local codes. Brattleboro is among 43 communities nationwide to receive a grant, and one of nine grants to focus on Sustainable Strategies for Small Cities and Rural Areas.
In this issue: Please register for the Coalition and Lobby Day Meetings (March 20-21st) and please book your hotel room for the Coalition and Lobby Day ASAP – Deadline is Feb. 25th SGA Coalition Member Survey Call for proposals – EPA’s Smart Growth Implementation Assistance – due March 1 Transportation for America is hosting a … Continued
Members of the Local Leaders Council and Smart Growth America staff. Top row, from left: Bill Fulton, Mayor Madeline Rogero, Mayor John Engen, Mayor Ken Moore, County Board Member Chris Zimmerman, Vice-Mayor Anu Natarajan and Jessica Holmberg. Bottom row, from left: Neha Bhatt, Councilmember Dave Richins, Mayor Rick Danner, and Mayor Scott Avedesian.
Smart Growth America’s Local Leaders Council was in Kansas City last week to collaborate, learn, and present solutions at the 12th annual New Partners for Smart Growth conference.
Over 1,100 people convened in Kansas City for the conference, including city planners, elected officials, bloggers, community leaders, health experts, and business people. Attendees traded ideas and stories, presented questions and solutions, and found new allies.
Since the early 1990′s, the city of Greer, SC has tripled in population and quadrupled in size. Mayor Rick Danner has been there for much of this change.
“We were growing at such a rapid rate that we were losing our sense of community, that small town feel,” Danner says in an interview with Smart Growth America. “And there was an overwhelming desire to be able to retain this sense of uniqueness that comes with the feel of a small town regardless of what size it is or population that it is. And we knew that the heart of that was going to be the downtown area.”
The following is a statement from Smart Growth America President and CEO Geoffrey Anderson in response to President Obama’s State of the Union address, February 12:
‘Stronger families. Stronger communities. Stronger America.’ In his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, President Obama described a shared national prosperity built on a thriving middle class and which has always been the source of our progress at home.
In order to achieve this prosperity, the United States must invest in its communities. Now is the time for bipartisan leadership on the issues that will ensure the long-term prosperity of the United States’ towns and cities. Many of the issues President Obama discussed on Tuesday are part of this work.
I was pleased to hear President Obama speak confidently about the chances for tax legislation this year. Part of bipartisan tax reform must include a review of America’s real estate spending to make sure taxpayers get the most for this investment. Smart Growth America recently released a report detailing the $450 billion in programs and line-items affecting our real estate market. That spending and commitments has a dramatic effect on how towns and cities get built, as well as their economic potential and fiscal resiliency.
Main Street/Downtown Winchester. Photo by the Town of Winchester.
Next week Smart Growth America is headed to Winchester, Connecticut to talk with residents and town officials about how the city can revitalize its downtown and attract economic growth.
“The redevelopment of Winsted has been a historic struggle,” says Winchester Town Manager Dale Martin. “Although several efforts have been taken to envision a revitalized downtown, those well-intentioned attempts failed to revitalize the commercial center as hoped. With the economic upheaval of the past several years, many of the foundations upon which those earlier studies were based have been undermined. The interest and experience of Smart Growth America presents an exciting opportunity to re-shape the future of Winsted, using principles and techniques that have been proven successful elsewhere.”
When he took office in 2005, Cincinnati mayor Mark Mallory knew he had to turn around a city that had been on a slow, precipitous decline since the 1960s.
It was a lofty task by any stretch of the imagination, even before the recession. But by implementing smart growth strategies and examining how neighborhood development affects economic potential and residents’ quality of life, Mallory has his city back on track.
At the recent New Partners for Smart Growth conference, Mallory touted how his administration embraced a wide range of community improvement initiatives, like tearing down enclosed sidewalks to add ‘eyes on the street,’ and renovating important public spaces to spur economic development and rehabilitate the damaged public perception of downtown Cincinnati.
In advance of President Obama’s State of the Union address tonight, we’re taking a look at the state of the administration’s work on development in the United States.
2012 saw a number of stellar advancements in federal policies that coordinate land use, housing and transportation. A number of federal programs as well as improvements to existing ones are helping communities across the country develop in ways that are cost efficient and promote broader economic growth.
The ongoing work of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities is the foremost example of this. The Partnership is an innovative program that helps communities more effectively coordinate federal housing, transportation, water, and other infrastructure investments. This work helps make neighborhoods more economically resilient, allows people to live closer to jobs, saves households time and money, and supports municipal budgets.
Guests at Smart Growth America’s 2013 Leadership Awards cheered (literally!) for smart growth, as well as the three recipients of this year’s awards.
Progressive Insurance was honored for its Snapshot program, the most widely available usage-based auto insurance program on the market today. Mayor Laura McConwell and the City of Mission, Kansas were honored for their commitment to investing in infrastructure. And Mayor Randy Rhoads and the City of Lee’s Summit, Missouri were honored for their focus on healthy, active transportation systems.
Maui County, HI has been selected to receive technical assistance to create a green streets strategy as a part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities program.