In This Issue:
Coalition Calendar is Up and Running!
Federal Policy Update
New Study: Bike and Pedestrian Features Create More Jobs
LaHood Announces $17.5 million in livability grants
New Report: A State-by-State Assessment of the Costs of Climate Change
11th Annual New Partners for Smart Growth Conference: Building Safe, Healthy and Livable Communities Conference
Coalition Calendar is Up and Running!
We have a created a Google calendar to help coalition members keep track of calls, events, and other opportunities. Please let us know if your organization has an upcoming event or there is something you’d like to share on the calendar. We hope to see you take advantage of this useful tool!
Federal Policy Update
Senator Menendez and 16 of his colleagues sent a letter supporting funding for the Partnership for Sustainable Communities to the Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Chair and Ranking Member of the Transportation-Housing and Urban Development (T-HUD) Subcommittee. Otherwise, there is no movement on T-HUD on the Senate side.
The House T-HUD bill is scheduled to be marked up in the subcommittee on July 14th and in the full committee the following week.
We are looking to do an e-advocacy push surrounding the House T-HUD bill – either saying thank you (not likely) or to advocate for continued funding. Please keep an eye out for that next week.
SGA is hosting a briefing on the Hill July 12th highlighting grant recipients as well as someone from the Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities to educate members and their staff about the work being done in communities across the country.
New Study: Bike and Pedestrian Features Create More Jobs
A study by the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) analyzed fifty-eight transportation projects in eleven cities nationwide. What they found was that “bicycling infrastructure creates the most jobs for a given level of spending: For each $1 million, the cycling projects in this study create a total of 11.4 jobs within the state where the project is located. Pedestrian-only projects create an average of about 10 jobs per $1 million and multi-use trails create nearly as many, at 9.6 jobs per $1 million. Infrastructure that combines road construction with pedestrian and bicycle facilities creates slightly fewer jobs for the same amount of spending, and road-only projects create the least, with a total of 7.8 jobs per $1 million.” More information and the study can be found on PERI’s website.
LaHood Announces $17.5 million in livability grants
A new round of grants has been announced to improve transportation options for urban, suburban, and rural communities. The announcement came on the 2nd anniversary of the creation of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities. Secretary LaHood commented that “communities where people have access to affordable housing and different forms of transportation to get to places that are important to them are communities where people want to live.” Funding for these grants comes from the Bus and Bus Facilities Program, as well as the Alternatives Analysis Program. For more information, the press release can be found here.
New Report: A State-by-State Assessment of the Costs of Climate Change
A series of 50 reports by the American Security Project took a look at possible economic impacts of unmitigated climate change in each state. Many industries are projected to be affected by climate change, including agriculture, timber, tourism, and even defense. From the report: “The PNPL reports show the costly, negative effects on our communities, our industries, and our jobs. The cost of inaction outweighs the cost of transforming our old energy economy into a green one. According to the Congressional Budget Office, a prominent cap-and-trade proposal would have cost $22 billion a year by 2020—a total of roughly $175 per US household. A small amount compared to the costs inaction will likely inflict.” For more information or to access the report, visit the American Security Project’s website.
11th Annual New Partners for Smart Growth Conference: Building Safe, Healthy and Livable Communities Conference
February 2-4, 2012 – San Diego, CA
Today, more than ever, we are faced with environmental and economic challenges that will define our generation, shape our future, and test our resilience as cities, regions, states and a nation. Join leaders from across the U.S. as we tackle these challenges head-on and demonstrate smart growth solutions that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil, create a green economy, assure a healthy population, and expand transportation and housing options for all Americans.
The program will kick off on Thursday morning and continue through Saturday afternoon and includes a dynamic mix of plenaries, breakouts, implementation workshops, specialized trainings, and coordinated networking activities. Exciting tours of local model projects from San Diego, CA and surrounding cities will be featured. There will be something for everybody, from veteran experts to smart-growth novices, with nearly 95 sessions and workshops. Learn from hundreds of speakers who cross disciplines to share insights, and valuable tools and strategies for making smart growth a success in your community.
Plan to join us, and others, from across the U.S. next February for the smart growth event of the year! Visit www.NewPartners.org to get more details.