News

Attendance

• Catherine Nagel – City Parks Alliance (DC/National)
• Peter Fleischer – Empire State Future (NY)
• Jennifer Stenhouse – Center for Planning Excellence (LA)
• Adam Garcia – Greenbelt Alliance (CA)
• Mary Kyle McKurdy – 1000 Friends of Oregon
• Grant Ervin, Jack Machek – 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania
• John Maximuk – Livable Communities Coalition (GA)
• Jacky Grimshaw – Center for Neighborhood Technology (IL)
• Stephanie Seskin, Jeri Mintzer, Rayla Bellis, Ella Krivitchenko, Elisa Ortiz, Zach Smith – Smart Growth America

Complete Streets – Stephanie Seskin

• Complete Streets is now an official member of Smart Growth America with a new online home at smartgrowthamerica.org/complete-streets with a number of resources to get you involved
• Staff: Roger Millar (Director), Stephanie Seskin (Deputy Director), and Laura Searfoss (Policy Associate based in D.C.)
• Recently released a complete streets policy workbook
• In the winter, Complete Streets will launch two new workshops to empower design professionals to make complete streets happen in their local area
• Contact Stephanie Seskin at sseskin@completestreets.org if you have any other questions about Complete Streets

Federal Policy Update – Jeri Mintzer

• In anticipation of the upcoming election season, Congress passed a continuing resolution (CR) to extend federal spending until March 27, 2012.
• Appropriations were not passed this year, so the governnment will be funded at current levels
• There is no answer to whether sequestration will occur
• The Office and Management and Budget (OMB) released a report, as required by Congress, outlining cuts that could go into effect as a result of sequestration
• Potential cuts  from sequestration include $41 million from TIGER and $279 million from the large Community Development Fund, which houses CDBG and the Sustainable Communities Initiative. Cuts to EPA’s programs were less clear
• We will also follow up on the implications of the CR on the farm bill
• If you have any questions contact Katy Hartnett at khartnett@smartgrowthamerica.org

SGA is offering communities technical assistance – Ella Krivitchenko

• Applications are being accepted for a second year of free technical assistance
• We are offering 12 tools at TA workshops led by an SGA staff member or consultant
• We hope to offer workshops to 22 or 23 communities
• Contact Ella Krivitchenko at ekrivitchenko@smartgrowthamerica.org if you have any questions about the receiving technical assistance

LOCUS Updates – Zach Smith

• LOCUS network of real estate developers that work on smart growth
• 8 state chapters: MI, MN, CA, GA, TX, FL, TN, AL (plus MA) – doing work on state and federal work
• If you know of developers that we should reach out, please let Zach know
• Have two events coming up: Railvolution on 10/15; ULI mtg on 10/16 – if you developers that work on smart growth issues, let us know

Smart Growth America DOT Handbook – Rayla Bellis

• SGA is  working with DOTs to help them get more or better outcomes out of transportation investments
• The newly released report provides DOT officials with recommendations that will help them reform policies to stimulate economic growth
• We will do TA with states to help
• Hosting a Free Webinar on Sept. 28th at 2 p.m. with SSTI to explore other organizations can utilize this resource
• This report has solutions that are applicable at the state and local level as well

Updates from Coalition Members

• John Maximuck – Livable Communities Coalition is working on efforts to regroup after a failed ballot transportation initiative and taking a lead role in organizing non-profits that support more TOD
• Adam Garcia –  Greenbelt Alliance has built a new mapping tool to evaluate open lands around the bay area to evaluate their threats from development and identify locations where funding should be put to protect this land

Our next coalition call will be 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 25th