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Future Mobility in Massachusetts: Meeting the State's Need for Safe and Efficient Mobility. A new report that calculates the cost of neglecting the Commonwealth's transportation needs at $718M each year was unveiled on June 23rd at a downtown Boston rally. Organizations representing over one million residents and businesses took part in launching the campaign - Our Transportation Future - to publicize the new report just released by national transportation resource group, TRIP. For more information on the campaign, visit the Our Transportation Future website. Read the full TRIP report or the press release highlighting the campaign launch. Residents of Massachusetts' four metro areas contribute less per person to global warming than the average American, but there remains much room for improvment. A new Brookings Institution report, Shrinking the Carbon Footprint of Metropolitan America, released on May 29th, 2008 ranked 100 of the nation's metro areas in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, and provided strategies for improvement. See the Alliance's press release supporting the media launch of this report: Brookings Institution 'Carbon Footprint' News Release The Alliance expresses our support for HB4506, An Act Providing for Dispostion of Surplus State Real Property Based on Smart Growth Land Use Properties The Alliance recently submitted a letter to Mark Montigny and David Flynn, Chairmen on the Joint-Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets, expressing support for HB4506. This act would, among other things, create a coordination committee to help guide the disposition process, ensure that disposition is in line with Smart Growth principles and offer municipalities the right of first refusal to purchase disposition parcels for less than the appraised value. Please review letter details below: Alliance Surplus Land Letter, 4/08 Massachusetts Zoning Reform Effort Underway The Alliance and its members have been central contributors to the Zoning Reform Task Force led by Undersecretary for Economic Development and Permitting Ombudsman Greg Bialecki. The Task Force is looking at ways of reforming Chapter 40A, the basic zoning law of the Commonwealth. Our state land-use law is one of the root drivers of sprawling development in Massachusetts. At the same time, it has established a municipal patchwork of regulations that can produce long and unpredictable permitting processes. After many years and efforts, there finally seems to be a sense that something needs to be done and can be done. At the very least, representatives from the administration, cities and towns, developers, and the environmental community are in the same room to work on the issue, a huge step forward from the past. Strengthening Our Small Cities PolicyLink, CHAPA, and MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning recently released a new report last week called “Voices from Forgotten Cities: Innovative Revitalization Coalitions in America’s Older Small Cities” prepared by Prof. Lorlene Hoyt and Alliance Director André Leroux. “Though once known as cities with good jobs and places where families could achieve the American Dream, our nation’s older small cities and the people who live there are struggling to cope with a changing economy and diminishing resources. We call these communities ‘forgotten cities’ because they have been left behind by the global economy, the media, major foundations, and policy trends. Yet these communities and others like them feature some of the most imaginative and instructive revitalization work happening anywhere in the country. Local practitioners and businesspeople have overcome intimidating challenges and seized opportunities in the face of apathy and cynicism. We believe that those individuals and groups have some important lessons for the rest of the country…” To read the full report, use this link: http://www.chapa.org/pdf/forgottencities_final.pdf Other recent reports have also highlighted the challenges faced by our small cities: “Rehabbing Urban Redevelopment” Strengthening our smaller cities in Massachusetts is one of the keys to promoting smarter, more equitable development in the Commonwealth. Please contact me at andre@ma-smartgrowth.org if you would like to participate in this effort or have policy ideas to consider.
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Updated as of 6/19/2008 |
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