Smart Growth Around America

Through the end of 2009, investments by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) in public transportation have created almost twice as many jobs per dollar as investments in highways – and the advantage is growing. The most recent data from states shows that every billion dollars spent on public transportation produced 19,299 job-months, compared to 10,493 job-months for every billion spent on highway infrastructure. Public transportation projects create more jobs than road projects because they spend less money on land and more on labor, and because projects are often more complex, whether laying track or manufacturing vehicles.

In today’s announcement of $1.5 billion in TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) awards, the US Department of Transportation (US DOT) showed the kinds of transportation projects that move people and freight in a way that makes places stronger, cleaner, and safer. DOT received 1,380 applications for the $1.5 billion pot, for a grand total of $56.5 billion in funds requested. The 51 projects announced under TIGER, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), include…

For those of you brave enough to dig into the numbers, the latest edition of the Washington Update from Smart Growth America details the President’s budget for smart-growth related programs in HUD, EPA, and DOT. If you want to know more about the details of policy and would like to receive the Washington Update newsletter [...]

Transportation for America and Smart Growth America applaud repeal of rules that hampered communities seeking deserving rail and rapid bus projects. In response to Secretary LaHood’s announcement today that funding guidelines for major transit projects will be selected based on livability benefits, including economic development and the environment, James Corless, campaign director of Transportation for America, and Geoff Anderson, president and CEO of Smart Growth America, had the following reactions:

An Associated Press report on the impact of transportation stimulus spending underscores the need to make the right transportation investments in Congress’s current jobs bill to produce more jobs. “The AP report highlights an important question that data from the stimulus have already answered: where should we be spending money in Congress’ upcoming jobs bill to get the most bang for our buck? The facts on that point are crystal clear. Investing more of money in public transportation creates more jobs — nearly twice as many per dollar compared to traditional highway spending,” said Smart Growth America president Geoff Anderson.

In the first ten months of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), investments in public transportation have created twice as many jobs per dollar as investments in highways. A new analysis by the Center for Neighborhood Technology, Smart Growth America, and U.S. PIRG shows that by mimicking funding levels for transportation set out in ARRA, the Jobs for Main Street Act passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in December missed an opportunity to create additional jobs where they are needed most. Read more on the report, “What we learned from the Stimulus, and how to use what we learned to speed job creation in the 2010 jobs bill.”

Lessons Learned from Recovery Act Show Superior Job Creation
from Spending on Public Transportation
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new analysis by the Center for Neighborhood Technology, Smart Growth America, and U.S. PIRG shows that in the first ten months of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), investments in public transportation have created twice as many jobs [...]

An analysis of congressional data by the Center for Neighborhood Technology, the U.S. Public Interest Research Groups and Smart Growth America shows that stimulus funds spent on public transportation were a more effective job creator than stimulus funds spent on highways. In the 10 months since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was signed, investing in public transportation produced twice as many jobs as investing in roads.

Image from “Steel Valley: Meltdown”

(This post was written by National Vacant Properties Campaign intern Ryan Kraske.)
Over fifty people gathered on Capitol Hill last Thursday in support of new legislation that would strengthen cities and metropolitan areas that have experienced large-scale property vacancy and abandonment. The Community Regeneration, Sustainability, and Innovation Act of 2009 would empower [...]

Washington, DC – The latest version of the Senate climate-protection bill put forth by U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, would provide significant resources and incentives to communities to plan and build cleaner, more convenient travel and living options.
The Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act [...]

This is the latest edition of the Washington Update from Smart Growth America. The Washington Update is a typically policy-heavy newsletter covering federal policy developments here in Washington. If you want to know more about the details of policy and would like to receive this regularly via email, you can sign up for it (and [...]

The National Academies recently released a report on driving and the built environment in which they concluded that increasing job and population density in city centers would benefit the environment by reducing vehicle travel, energy use, and CO2 emissions. (We reported on the release of that report a few weeks ago.) Two years ago, Smart Growth America and a number of other organizations collaborated on a report called Growing Cooler which similarly demonstrated the impact of our built environment on curbing climate change. However, Growing Cooler’s findings showed that the built environment’s impact on the environment was far greater than the conclusions of the National Academies’ report. Reid Ewing, Arthur C. Nelson, and Keith Bartholomew of the University of Utah’s Metropolitan Research Center (none of whom work for Smart Growth America) have issued a response to the authors of the National Academies report detailing how their original numbers remain more valid than the “moderate” findings of the new report.

Kaid Benfield is a Smart Growth America board member and the director of NRDC’s Smart Growth program. This post originally appeared on his NRDC Switchboard Blog. Our thanks to him for letting us run it in full here. -Ed.

I make no pretense of objectivity on this one. I’ve been working on LEED for Neighborhood Development for seven long years. It’s now finished and awaiting final approval by the three founding partners - NRDC (in consultation with the Smart Growth America coalition), the US Green Building Council, and the Congress for the New Urbanism.

updated 6/27: The NYT changed the previous headline from “country living” to the “far suburbs.”
Good piece today in the New York Times, surveying the scope of changing preferences for buying in the suburbs as energy prices continue rising:
Suddenly, the economics of American suburban life are under assault as skyrocketing energy prices inflate the costs of [...]

Guest post by Barbara McCann, coordinator of the National Complete Streets Coalition
As Americans watch the seemingly inexorable climb in gas prices, many are looking at their streets in a new way. They are looking for streets that can give them more than a way out of their neighborhood – they need a way out [...]

Smart Growth America is looking for an IT professional to manage its current web assets and the rollout of new CRM and CMS systems.
Do you have experience designing and building and managing websites, managing small local networks? Would you be willing to do tech support grunt work for our small office while also managing the [...]

As you may have read this morning in numerous other outlets, New York City’s plan to implement congestion pricing in Manhattan was defeated last night without reaching a vote on the floor. [NYT] The plan would have charged most cars $8 and trucks $21 to enter traffic-choked Midtown and Lower Manhattan during busy hours on [...]

The Alaskan Way Viaduct is a three story barrier, separating Seattle from its historic waterfront.
Continuing the thread started yesterday on urban freeways and the CNU Teardown Survey, we have a guest blogger today. Cary Moon is the co-founder and director of the People’s Waterfront Coalition, which is a grassroots group that formed a few years [...]

This is a news release from the Smart Growth Leadership Institute about the final release of their new toolkit:
Smart Growth Leadership Institute releases toolkit to help communities implement smart growth.
The Smart Growth Leadership Institute (SGLI) has released a suite of tools to help communities identify and overcome barriers to smarter growth and more sustainable development. [...]

Joint statement by the Smart Growth America, Reconnecting America and the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership to the report of the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission.
For Immediate Release: Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008
Contact: David Goldberg, 202-412-7930
WASHINGTON, DC – The National Surface Transportation Study Commission has provided an invaluable service in marshalling evidence [...]

Smart Growth America is looking to fill several internships and one full-time paid fellowship. (See the links at left)
The National Complete Streets Coalition is seeking a Complete Streets Fellow. This is a tremendous opportunity for a recent graduate to take on significant responsibility while learning about transportation reform issues and working directly with a variety [...]

We’d like to alert you to this important annoucement from the Smart Growth Leadership Institute:
Join us for a Knowledgplex Experts (Online) Chat as we introduce the Smart Growth Implementation Toolkit on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 at 2 p.m. ET
The Smart Growth Leadership Institute, through a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is releasing a [...]

The growing demand for conveniently located housing in walkable, accessible, compact neighborhoods with a mix of uses has been well-documented, but according to research released today, meeting that demand could significantly reduce the growth in the number of miles Americans drive, shrinking the nation’s carbon footprint while giving people more housing choices.
A new book, pre-released [...]

Ed. note: Read the “background” below for a detailed explanation of what this means.
Contact Your Senator or Congressman TODAY as they work on the Transportation Appropriations bill. Ask them to STOP the proposed rule for New Starts and Small Starts and give US DOT clear directive that FTA must:

Comparably weigh all 6 project justification criteria, [...]

ed. note: this essay by David Goldberg originally appeared in September 2005. On the second anniversary of Katrina, we remember the storm, its aftermath, the people affected—and ponder the future.
There’s something about an event such as Katrina’s devastation of the Gulf coast region that tempts hyperbole.
Just as we fell into the habit of repeating to [...]

An announcement from the Smart Growth Leadership Institute (SGLI):
SGLI, working with The Trust for Public Land (in partnership with the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators and the River Network) launched a new program to help state governments develop innovative ways to protect drinking water sources by improving the coordination between state land use management [...]

As more and more people realize the drawbacks of living in solely auto-centric places—obesity, lost time, high cost of fuel, energy dependence, dangerous emissions—demand is growing rapidly for homes in walkable areas, where it’s not a given that a one-ton automobile is required to get one dozen eggs from the store. But how does one go about finding out just how “walkable” is that new home or apartment?…

When the United Kingdom announced their goal of adding 3 million new homes by 2020 to relieve pressure on an overburdened housing market, some residents probably had visions of great natural places like the London Greenbelt or Scottish Highlands filling up with new housing developments. In a country where space is at a premium, a new report by the Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment makes the case that it’s a more economical and environmentally sounddecision to add these 3 million homes by creating “walkable, mixed use, mixed income developments instead of car-dependent housing estates.”

Since 2001, Governor Ruth Ann Minner has been blazing a path for the First State by advocating an agenda known as Livable Delaware — designed to slow sprawl, guide growth to appropriate areas, preserve open space and promote high-quality redevelopment. She is one of many governors who have embraced the power of the state government and budget to help shape the rules of the development game…

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released a report by Barbara McCann about the relationship between the built environment and healthy food access. The report is based on research and interviews with some of the top names in the field, and outlines how transportation infrastructure and land use policy have limited access to healthy food. The [...]

As gas costs go up and geopolitical concern over oil supplies rises, many Americans are feeling increasingly vulnerable. But residents in some metro areas are more exposed than others. Places where “affordable” housing lies at the distant fringe no longer look so affordable. Spread-out metros like Atlanta, where Gov. Sonny Perdue cancelled school during the post-Katrina fuel shortage, are especially susceptible to fluctuations in gas prices…

A local foundation has launched an audacious effort to make the southwest Virginia community of Martinsville/Henry County a paragon of walking, biking and healthful physical activity. The Harvest Foundation is investing $1.56 million over three years to transform the furniture-making town into “a place where bicycling and walking are deeply valued and integral features of vibrant and healthy life in the region…”

Much has been made over the last few months about America reaching the 300 mark in population, heading towards 400 million in another 40 years or so. What’s often lost between the lines is how much older that population will be. By only 2030, nearly 1 in 5 Americans will be over age 65. As the Aging in Place Initiative tells us, the largest majority of seniors are not retiring to the beach or moving into a nursing home – they choose to remain where they are and “age in place”. But as many seniors choose to stay where they are, they are realizing that many of our communities aren’t made for such a lifestyle, and find their options to be extremely limited….

On the whole, America’s central cities are coming back, with growing employment and increasing numbers of young people, empty-nesters, and others choosing city life. Unfortunately, many cities are lagging behind their peers, especially older industrial communities that are still making the transition from manufacturing-based economies to more knowledge-oriented activities…

California paved the way last year for states to take the lead in tackling rising greenhouse gases when Gov. Schwarzenegger signed AB 32, which promises to reduce the state’s greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2020. Cleaner energy, efficient cars, and green buildings are all part of the equation, but some state leaders question whether they can make much progress given the increase in driving required by sprawling development…

Last year, Ontario, Canada raised the bar in the realm of forward-looking planning when they released the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, after more than five years in the making. With nearly a quarter of Canada’s entire population nestled in this horseshoe-shaped region around the lake stretching from Niagara Falls through Toronto to the eastern edge of the Province around Lake Ontario, the leaders recognized that adding a projected 4 million more people in the coming years while continuing to grow in the same sprawling fashion will surely spell disaster. So they rallied everyone together, studied the outcomes, built consensus, and authored a gem of a plan…

n introducing his bold, comprehensive plan for a sustainable New York on Earth Day, Mayor Michael Bloomberg pointed to research showing that New Yorkers already had the lowest per capita carbon emissions in the nation. While most news outlets focused on the controversial idea of congestion pricing for Manhattan below 86th Street, they missed the larger point: Well-planned urbanism is likely to be our best hope for curbing greenhouse gas emissions and cutting oil dependency…

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has drawn much attention for his declaration last month that “green is the new red, white, and blue.” As a companion to a special on the Discovery Channel, Friedman wrote an article for the Times Magazine arguing that the U.S. must seize the lead in creating and deploying “green,” energy-efficient technologies as the only way to maintain our economic edge while shielding ourselves from radical movements and geopolitical instability….

Since its inception more than 10 years ago, EPA’s Smart Growth program has won praise from city and state leaders across the country for their work advising communities in the creation of local plans to embrace growth in a smart and sustainable way, cutting down on pollution, emissions, and vehicle miles traveled.

With limited publicity, a 60-day window to apply, and only 120 slots available, 370 developers across the country submitted proposals for the new LEED-ND pilot program, displaying a massive interest in the new groundbreaking rating system that rewards implementation of smart growth principles.