News

Attendees:

• Brad Garmon – Michigan Environmental Council
• Mary Kyle McCurdy – 1000 Friends of Oregon
• John Maximuk – Liveable Communities Coalition
• Bridget Jones- Cumberland Regional Tomorrow (TN)
• Peter Fleischer – Empire State Future (NY)
• Anita Hairston – Policylink
• Katy Hartnett, Zach Smith, Elisa Ortiz – SGA

Federal Update

•  Thank you for your help with the Partnership for Sustainable Communities!
•  Unfortunately, THUD did not fund another round of grants this Fiscal year
•  The President will release his budget in a few weeks
• The Senate EPW and Commerce committees have marked up their transportation bill, but no other committees have moved
• The current surface transportation bill extension expires in March
• Sen. Reid wants to move a transportation bill to the floor this spring
• Policylink is organizing a sign on letter to the President and Congress in advance of the state of the union about – email Anita (anita@policylink.org) for more information by Jan. 22nd

Next Coalition Meeting – Tentative Dates are April 25 and 26, 2012, in Washington, DC

• Coalition meeting on Wednesday
• Lobby Day on Thursday
• Send Elisa any topics or ideas that you would like to see on the agenda
• Date will be confirmed soon

New Partners for Smart Growth Conference

• SGA is hosting a reception and smart growth awards ceremony at New Partners for Smart Growth on Friday, February 3rd – For more information, visit the calendar on the coalition-only section of our webpage.

New SGA Press Manager (Tom Madrecki)

• Contact him if you have any questions about press or media coverage on key issues at tmadrecki@smartgrowthamerica.org.

Transportation Choices Coalition Update (Andrew Austin)

•  Working to improve Gov. Gregoire’s (WA) transportation package to benefit more transit agencies in the state

Liveable Communities Coaltion (John Maximuk)

• Organizations are beginning to mobilize education campaigns to inform people of the benefits of transit in the upcoming Georgia sales tax referendum
• The coalition is also working to develop a center to serve as a resource for TOD

Empire State Future (Peter Fleischer)

• Organizing a conference on Feb. 13 and 14 focused on adequate transit funding in NY and to improve rider representation in transit authorities
• Will begin a big push in the coming year on affordable TOD

The next coalition call is scheduled for Thursday, February 23th at 4:00 p.m. EST

• On the next call we will announce a new member benefit!