News

In This Issue

• Update/Date Change for the SGA Annual Coalition Meeting and Lobby Day
• Upcoming Federal Policy Issues: Appropriations and President’s Budget
• New Smart Growth America report examines transportation spending and job creation
• New resources available on the new Smartgrowthamerica.org
• Overcoming Obstacles in Regional Planning: webinar materials now available
• Upcoming FREE Webinar: “The Brownfields Area-Wide Planning Pilot: Early Implementation and Future Directions”
• EPA Now Accepting Comments on Draft School Siting Guidelines
• The Center for Community Progress is hiring!
• Follow Smart Growth America on Twitter and Facebook

Update on the SGA Annual Coalition Meeting and Lobby Day
Due to a number of scheduling difficulties, we’ve changed the dates for the SGA Coalition Meeting and Lobby Day to April 14 and 15. The Lobby Day will now take place all day on Thursday, April 14 and we will have a coalition happy hour on the evening of the 14th. The Coalition Meeting will take place on Friday, April 15 from approximately 8:30am to 12:30pm (followed by the SGA board meeting that afternoon). We are working on developing the agenda for the meeting and determining the locations for each activity right now. If you have questions or suggestions on the agenda, please contact Elisa.

Upcoming Federal Policy Issues: Appropriations and President’s Budget
Next week, the House of Representatives will consider another Continuing Resolution (CR) to replace the current CR which expires on March 4th. Currently, the House leaders are considering major cuts to bring the CR back to FY08 levels, which would be the reduction of $60 billion, although some Members seek to cut as much as $100 billion. As the full House takes the CR under consideration, some Members will likely introduced amendments that will likely attempt to cut or eliminate funding for key programs such as, Safe Routes to School, Transportation Enhancements, and non-motorized transportation funding, among others. Smart Growth America and Transportation for America will continue to oppose any attempt to reduce funding to these mentioned and other critical programs. We will provide a report-out on appropriations work in our next email update on 2/22/11 and on the SGA coalition call on 2/24/11.

President Obama Plans to Release FY12 Budget; proposes five-year spending freeze and major investment in transportation
On February 14th, the President will put forth his FY12 budget. It is expected that the budget will contain a five-year spending freeze in discretionary spending. However, within the context of the overall freeze, the President is considering several new programs and increases for selected priorities including $50 billion request for transportation and infrastructure investments. Keep an eye out for statements from T4A and SGA on the President’s budget once it is released.

New Smart Growth America report examines transportation spending and job creation
Smart Growth America just released a new report which reveals spending on road repair and public transportation create more jobs and creates them faster than paving new roads. “Recent Lessons from the Stimulus: Transportation Spending and Job Creation” has already been covered by The Hill, the Daily Beast, GOOD Magazine, Providence Business News, the Denver Post and many others. Click here to read more about the report and download a copy.

New resources available on the new Smartgrowthamerica.org
For those who’ve visited us online in the last few weeks, you’ll have noticed that Smart Growth America has a brand new website! Our research, news and additional resources are now easier to find for coalition members and the public. Look for more coalition member resources in the next few weeks as we continuing expanding the site: explore all the resources at https://sga-vpb-frontend.vercel.app/.

Overcoming Obstacles in Regional Planning: webinar materials now available
Thank you to everyone who attended Smart Growth America’s first Sustainable Communities Network webinar, “Overcoming Obstacles in Regional Planning.” Last week’s event was the first in a series of informational sessions for organizations and agencies that have received grants from the federal Partnership for Sustainable Communities. If you could not attend or want to review the materials again, you can download the webinar and presentations from our website.

Upcoming FREE Webinar: “The Brownfields Area-Wide Planning Pilot: Early Implementation and Future Directions”
In 2010, EPA’s Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization established the Brownfields Area-Wide Planning Pilot Program (AWP) and selected 23 pilot communities from across the country. The AWP pilot program will assist communities in developing area-wide plans that integrate the cleanup and reuse of brownfield sites into larger, coordinated efforts to revitalize surrounding areas.

David Lloyd and Aimee Storm from the EPA will give an overview of the AWP program, describe which communities were selected for the pilot and why, and discuss how the program fits into OBLR programs, EPA priorities, and Obama Administration initiatives. Andy Bracker from Kansas City will provide an on-the-ground perspective by describing Kansas City’s proposal and early implementation. Details:

EPA Now Accepting Comments on Draft School Siting Guidelines
Are you interested in school siting issues? EPA is accepting comments on their draft school siting guidelines, due by February 18 at 4PM. You can find more information here. If you would like to coordinate your messaging with SGA, please contact Stacey Williams.

The Center for Community Progress is hiring!
SGA coalition member The Center for Community Progress (formerly the National Vacant Properties Campaign) is hiring for a Vice President of Capacity Building position that can be located in any of their offices. You can check out the full position description here. Please share this posting widely!

Follow Smart Growth America on Twitter and Facebook
If you’re not already a friend of Smart Growth America online, be sure to follow us on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook. We’ll follow you back!