Smart Growth America http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:39:35 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Fighting blight in Pennsylvania: State House of Representatives passes land bank bill 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.
]]> http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/2012/02/22/fighting-blight-in-pennsylvania-state-house-of-representatives-passes-land-bank-bill-2/ Smart growth news – February 22, 2012 National News: Shilling: Why Renters Rule U.S. Housing Market (Part 1) Bloomberg - February 22, 2012 The collapse in housing and the 33 percent plunge in house prices since 2006 are favoring renting over homeownership. This trend will dominate the housing market for the next four or five years, and put additional pressure on a weak economy. Taxes pay for things The Economist - February 19, 2012 But Mr O'Malley makes a compelling case for why reinvestment might require more broad-based tax increases. America's infrastructure is crumbling. It will cost money to fix it—and delaying maintenance and postponing key projects will only cost taxpayers more in the long run. Transportation bills to get tune-up during recess Politico - February 22, 2012 A top GOP aide confirmed the bill’s funding is being reworked, but that’s far from the only hang-up: The severing of a link between the gas tax and federal transit funding threatens to open an urban-rural divide among Republicans. K Street pessimistic about highway bills The Hill - February 21, 2012 Supporters of the two transportation bills stuck in the House and Senate are pessimistic either will win chamber approval now that they have lost any momentum they once had.
]]> http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/2012/02/22/smart-growth-news-february-22-2012/ Partnership for Sustainable Communities 2012 Briefing materials now available 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.
]]> http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/2012/02/21/partnership-for-sustainable-communities-2012-briefing-materials-now-available/ Partnership in the News: Flint Gets First New Master Plan in Over 50 Years The Flint Journal - -
Fast-forward 50 years and Flint is facing the opposite struggle -- jobs are gone, homes are empty, people are leaving -- and community leaders are poised to craft a new master plan that will attempt to point the city in a new direction. It will be the first time the city will have a comprehensive look at its former industrial and now-vacant properties, officials said.

]]> http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/2012/02/21/partnership-in-the-news-flint-gets-first-new-master-plan-in-over-50-years/ Smart growth news – February 21, 2012 National News: Economic crisis slows U.S. population growth USA Today - February 18, 2012 "We're still talking about adding a lot of people," Fulton says. "We know we can't environmentally sustain those people living in sprawled locations. … Local governments are not going to be able to afford sprawl anymore." Highway bill stalled; Chamber campaigns outside beltway The Hill - February 20, 2012 Lawmakers can expect to hear about the stalled surface transportation reauthorization bill from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce during the congressional recess. Trending Local News: Cities and Smart Growth Video of the Day: Thinking Cities The Atlantic Cities - February 20, 2012 A new documentary explores the world's exploding urbanization. The documentary (created by Ericcson), looks at how cities can operate more efficiently and sustainably. Land-use plan shifts emphasis to economic growth Asbury Park Press - February 20, 2012 Now state planners are more eager to make room for projects that first and foremost promise robust fiscal results, as attendees at the ongoing State Strategic Plan public hearings are learning. Cincinnati's streetcar project breaks ground Cincinnati.com - February 18, 2012 With speeches, shovels and plenty of fanfare, Cincinnati leaders Friday began the long-awaited construction of the streetcar, the controversial project alternately seen as a bold path to a brighter future or a costly mistake that reflects failure to learn from the past.
]]> http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/2012/02/21/smart-growth-news-january-21-2012/ Partnership in the News: DOT Secretary Joins Cincinnati Mayor for Streetcar Kick Off Fox19 reports that Cincinnati Mayor Mallory joined by U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Federal Transit Administration Peter Rogoff to kick off construction of a new streetcar line partially funded by a DOT TIGER grant.
The new 3.6-mile streetcar line will connect Downtown and Over-the-Rhine. The D.O.T. says it will spur Cincinnati's efforts to revitalize its downtown core by improving access to major employers, the developing riverfront and many area attractions.

]]> http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/2012/02/17/partnership-in-the-news-dot-secretary-joins-cincinnati-mayor-for-streetcar-kick-off/ Smart growth news – February 17, 2012 National News: Walk in the Park: Encouraging Physical Activity in Communities New York Times - February 8, 2012 In this lesson, students read about ways to make streets safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. They learn about the health benefits associated with pedestrian-friendly communities, assess their own community’s level of pedestrian and cyclist access and make recommendations for improving these neighborhood attributes. In UN Conspiracy Theorists, the Right Has a Long Con Esquire - February 16, 2012 Almost every issue of the angry modern American right was engaged. A project to save the region's endangered oyster beds was attacked as adding to the national debt. But Agenda 21 provides a coherent narrative for inchoate anger and fear. People want someone to blame. Agenda 21 gives them a simple answer. It gives them a They, and life is always simpler with a They. It is a unified field of resistance to what seems to be the irresistible. HUD launches Sustainable Communities Resource Center NRDC Blog - February 16, 2012 The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has created an important online resource for professionals and citizens interested in improving America’s metro regions, cities, and neighborhoods. It looks very promising to me, especially as a sort of living compendium of best practices. Should Building Taller Be Much, Much Easier? The Altantic Cities - February 13, 2012 In early December, the city council of Austin, Texas, adopted an exhaustive downtown plan that will guide every element of the neighborhood’s transformation over the next 25 years, from its historic preservation policies to investments in workforce housing to parking and transit infrastructure. Amid all of those potentially touchy topics, though, the loudest row grew out of one program sketched on just five pages of the full 183-page document.
]]> http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/2012/02/17/smart-growth-news-february-17-2012/ Partnership in the News: Technical Assistance for Simsbury, Connecticut Simsbury Patch.
"The EPA is going to send in a private firm to assess things like walkability, such as sidewalks, street crossings and parking," said Hiram Peck, Simsbury's Town Planner. The technical experts will work with the communities on actions they can take to improve the economy, the environment, and quality of life.

]]> http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/2012/02/16/partnership-in-the-news-technical-assistance-for-simsbury-connecticut/ Smart growth news – February 16, 2012 Trending: Streetcars Twin Cities chase a desire named streetcar Minnesota Star Tribune - February 16, 2012 Since 2010, when President Obama changed the evaluation criteria for transit, nine cities have received federal grants of at least $23 million to build -- not just study -- streetcar systems. The cities are Dallas, New Orleans, Tucson, Ariz., Portland, Ore., Charlotte, N.C., Cincinnati, Fort Worth, Texas, St. Louis and Atlanta. Where to build streetcar lines Washington Post - February 14, 2012 Where should the District build its next streetcars after the H Street and Anacostia lines under construction today? That should depend on which neighborhoods want to help make them succeed. Oakland to Launch Second $300,000 Streetcar Study East Bay Express - February 15, 2012 For at least a decade Oakland has pined after a modern streetcar system linking Jack London Square with Uptown and North Oakland along the Broadway corridor. It spent $300,000 studying the viability of such a line between 2003 and 2005, and starting in May it will launch an updated eighteen-month study with an equally hefty price tag. City streetcar plans represent another developer-fueled heist San Antonio Current - February 15, 2012 The promises sound great. The San Antonio Express-News offered the editorial judgment that the streetcar could be "a game-changer that sparks inner-city growth and slows the culture of sprawl."
]]> http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/2012/02/16/smart-growth-news-february-16-2012/ Funding Opportunity: U.S. Transportation Secretary Announces $826.5 Million Investment in Transit Vehicles and Facilities Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announces the availability of $826.5 million to modernize and repair transit around the country, underscoring President Obama's dedication to infrastructure investments.
“An American economy that’s built to last must be built on a solid foundation, and when we have buses, transit facilities, and other equipment that’s in disrepair, we simply cannot afford to ignore them,” Secretary LaHood said. “The President knows that transportation projects like those we’ll fund from today’s announcement will help provide businesses and families with the safest, fastest, most efficient way to connect with opportunity.”

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