Smart Growth Around America

The Chesapeake Bay, one of our country’s most precious natural resources and one of its most troubled, is suffering in a new way these days. Agriculture was once its biggest problem; improperly treated waste from farmland contaminated the rivers that lead into the estuary. As farmers have gotten smarter and more diligent about their role in contaminating the waterways, a new problem has emerged: development.

It’s one of our most basic needs, and one we take most for granted — clean, fresh water. But polluted stormwater runoff, overtaxed sewer systems, increasingly urbanized areas and shrinking forests and grasslands are threatening Americans’ water quality. Tell your Representative to support green infrastructure now!

Tweet In the first ten months of the 2009 economic stimulus package, investments in public transportation created twice as many jobs per dollar as investments in highways, according to a new analysis by Smart Growth America. With the 2009 stimulus providing three times more money for highways than transit, Congress missed a chance to put [...]

In an economic crisis like the one we face today, it’s more important than ever that people know how smarter growth can save communities – and all of us – money. The federal government decides how billions get spent each year in ways that affect your community. Your support helps Smart Growth America serve as your voice in these national debates. Will you consider supporting Smart Growth America as we work to change federal policy and support the work of similar groups across the country?

Tweet Those of us on the ground working to make better places often get so focused on the changes happening in our cities and communities that we may forget the many things we love and cherish about the places we call home. The holidays are the time of year when we can take stock of [...]

Tweet The Boxer-Kerry bill requires states and Metropolitan Planning Organizations to come up with long-range plans for greenhouse gas reductions from transportation, providing funding for planning and strategies that can help them meet their targets. The House bill gave clean transportation only one percent of total revenues, even though transportation is responsible for one-third of [...]

Tweet Tell your Members of Congress to support Complete Streets today! Half of all trips taken in metro areas are three miles or less and 28% are one mile or less — yet 65% of those trips take place in a car. A recent poll from the National Association of Realtors found that 83% of [...]

Tweet Investing first in repair and maintenance can prevent another disaster like Minnesota’s I-35W bridge collapse. Tell your Governor to invest in the future with smart, proven, ready-to-go transportation spending. Creative Commons Flickr photo by Poppyseed Bandits. Earlier this week, we highlighted a new Smart Growth America report that details 20 proven and ready-to-go ways [...]

Tweet The picture is the same everywhere you look. You’ve been reading it here, in your newspaper, or watching it on the television nearly nonstop for the last few weeks: Gas is expensive, driving is down, transit systems are packed. Here in D.C., people are abandoning their cars and taking Metro in record numbers to [...]