Smart Growth
Streetsblog Basics
New NYS DOT Commish on Smart Growth: “We Need to Go Further”
Coming two days after her confirmation as the new commissioner of the state DOT, Joan McDonald's keynote speech at today's annual meeting of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council offered her the chance to lay out her agenda for statewide transportation policy. McDonald's remarks should provide cause for optimism among New Yorkers hoping for a more progressive transportation system: She strongly endorsed smart growth principles and indicated to Streetsblog after her speech that she welcomes the planning process that could advance the Sheridan Expressway teardown.
March 10, 2011
EPA: Energy Efficiency Is About Location, Location, Location
Where we live has an enormous impact on energy use, according to new research commissioned by the EPA. The report, "Location Efficiency and Housing Type -- Boiling It Down to BTUs" finds that Americans use far less energy if they live in an apartment building in a transit-oriented neighborhood than if they live in a detached suburban house, even if that house has green building features and sports fuel-efficient cars in the driveway.
March 3, 2011
Get Rich While Reducing Emissions: Smart Growth Keeps Looking Smarter
Just when you may have been looking for ways to counter that Pew report which poo-pooed the environmental impacts of transit and smart growth, here’s more evidence that reducing driving has an essential role to play in meeting economic and environmental goals: A new report from the Center for Clean Air Policy concludes that compact development will build wealth and cut carbon emissions.
January 21, 2011
Highway-Affiliated Pew Climate Report Favors “Clean” Cars Over Transit
Many transportation reformers were disappointed last week when the Pew Center on Global Climate Change released a report indicating that only clean car technology had a shot at significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The report dismissed smart growth development strategies and transit as trivial contributors to a lower-carbon economy.
January 20, 2011
Eight Ways State DOT Chief Joan McDonald Can Make New York Better
“By building more and more roads, we have made it almost impossible to solve our transportation problems”
January 18, 2011
Enviros Lay Out Smart Growth Agenda For Cuomo Administration
A coalition of environmental groups has lined up behind a smart growth agenda for New York State. Released by 12 organizations, the new memo lays out how Governor Cuomo and the state legislature can help New York use scarce public dollars more efficiently and sustainably when it comes to development.
January 14, 2011
Cuomo Touts Smart Growth Grants But Stays Mum on MTA Funding
If his State of the State address yesterday offers any indication, transportation policy isn't going to be a top-tier priority for Andrew Cuomo. He didn't mention pressing issues like the MTA's looming deficits or the state's crumbling infrastructure, instead focusing his attention on ethics reform, Medicaid and reorganizing state government. He did, however, repeat his proposal to institute a $100 million competitive grant program to encourage smart growth around the state, suggesting that campaign promise has momentum early in his administration.
January 6, 2011
Despite New York’s Huge Transit Ridership, Albany Failing On Green Transpo
New York State might be home to more transit riders than any other state, but when it comes to the transportation policies on the books, we don't look quite so green.
December 14, 2010
California Leads Nation in Green Transpo Policies. How Does Your State Rank?
In the absence of strong guidance from the federal government on climate policy and carbon emissions, states are left to their own devices. And since transportation is the number two source of carbon emissions, accounting for 31 percent of the total, state-level transportation reform must play a large role in any serious effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
December 14, 2010
EPA Recognizes Small Towns and Big Cities For Smart Growth Efforts
When Don White was young, his dad would drive him from the Boston area to Blue Hill, Maine up coastal Route 1. “In those days,” he reminisces, “the road wound through little, small towns. And some of that has been bypassed.”
December 2, 2010