Recent Reconnecting America News Articles

Reconnecting America and Community Transportation Association of America release Putting Transit to Work in Main Street America

Thu, 24 May 2012 11:40:05 -0400

Reconnecting America and the Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA) today released a report that examines how smaller communities and rural regions are using transit and other mobility investments to revitalize their economies and connect residents to local and regional opportunities.

"Putting Transit to Work in Main Street America," which was funded by a generous grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, offers nine case studies looking into how improved bus networks, downtown circulators, intermodal transit centers and intercity transit improvements have helped communities address the unique mobility challenges that stem from large geographic distances, an aging population, and limited financial resources.

John Robert Smith, President and CEO of Reconnecting America, said, "As the former Mayor of a small city who saw the positive impact of a multimodal transit facility, this report will be valuable to all who want to see examples of thriving rural communities."

CTAA Executive Director Dale J. Marsico, CCTM, said, "Smaller cities and rural communities and towns have made significant strides in public transportation provision and innovation in recent years and we are pleased to partner with Reconnecting America on this important report that highlights this progress."

Researchers found smaller communities are making a wide variety of transit investments, and these investments have had a positive impact on both the economy and the quality of life of residents. As shown in the case studies, improved transit service can be integrated into a community without adversely affecting the small-town or rural character. Investments don't need to be overwhelming. Researchers found incremental or small-scale improvements in transit service can yield significant benefits. Success, however, requires coordination among multiple partners on the local and state level, with the federal government also an essential partner.

"The case studies included in the report prove that there are different solutions out there for every need - and the size or geography of where you live should not be a hindrance to achieving qualify of life for your citizens," said G. Sasha Forbes, Policy Associate for Reconnecting America.

While more data is needed to better quantify the impacts of transit on rural economies and residents, the cross-section of examples included in this study should help to inform the ongoing federal transportation discussion as well as provide guidance for other communities dealing with the same challenges.

Read the introduction and download the report

Los Angeles Affordable Housing Preservation Study released by the Los Angeles Housing Department and Reconnecting America

Mon, 21 May 2012 15:48:52 -0400

Los Angeles' massive transit infrastructure investment promises benefits across the city and the region over the next decade and beyond, but it could also have unfortunate side effects if efforts aren't made to preserve affordable housing in transit-rich neighborhoods, according to a report commissioned by the City of Los Angeles Housing Department and written by Reconnecting America. The report was funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, through the Awards for State & Local Housing Preservation Leaders of the Foundation's Window of Opportunity Initiative (WOI).

The report "Preservation in Transit-Oriented Districts: A Study on the Need, Priorities, and Tools in Protecting Assisted and Unassisted Housing in the City of Los Angeles," was unveiled at the Second Annual Affordable Housing Preservation Summit in Los Angeles on May 16, 2012.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told conference attendees: "The employees of the future will need housing options, and they will need transit options. If our housing market is to work, it has to work for everyone. From housekeepers to hedge-fund managers, we need housing linked to transit for all Angelenos."

Los Angeles has been working to match its transit expansion in recent years with transit-oriented district planning. At the Los Angeles Housing Department, the goal of ensuring that all families and workers are able to continue to live and work in the city's transit-rich neighborhoods is a key priority. The report provides a framework for prioritizing areas for preservation of existing affordable housing based on the anticipated change in market and demographic characteristics resulting from transit investments.

"We're continuing to deal with challenges to the preservation and creation of affordable housing units," said LAHD Interim General Manager Rushmore Cervantes. "Preservation strategies protect past federal and local investments. With new resources increasingly threatened, preservation is key to addressing the affordable housing needs of all Angelenos."

In the report, Reconnecting America provides empirical evidence showing the need for affordable housing preservation near transit. The report authors then use a data-driven analysis reflected in 16 maps to create a framework for preservation of different types of income restricted housing near transit.

Abigail Thorne-Lyman, the Director of the Center for Transit-Oriented Development at Reconnecting America, notes that "preservation of affordable housing is the best way to accommodate the economic growth and revitalization that comes with the major transit investment being built in Los Angeles, while ensuring that low and moderate income workers are able to continue to rely on transit and support ridership on the system."

Read the executive summary and download the full report

Maps from this report are available in the Maproom

John Robert Smith Conversation With Steve Anderson, Managing Director, InfrastructureUSA

Thu, 03 May 2012 16:46:22 -0400

Recordings of the interview with John Robert Smith are available on The Infra Blog at InfrastructureUSA.org

Guest on THE INFRA BLOG

Conversation with Steve Anderson, Managing Director, InfrastructureUSA

Transcript

The Current Transportation Bill: Slow, but Some Progress

Well, certainly, this is not a seismic shift in how we see transportation. It is notthe visionary, interconnected series of transportation investments and choices that I want to see play out during the life of my grandson. But I do think we have to recognize the gains that have been made, and especially within the political context and the economic environment that we operate in. I do think there have been important wins in this bill, and even though it's short term, I think it sets the stage for a much more robust visionary discussion, debate, authorization, and appropriation for what will hopefully be a truly long-term bill. And, honestly that debate should start the morning after this bill is signed.

The Shah of Iran, Gas Prices and Lessons Not Learned

When the Shah fell you could not buy gasoline in this country after dark. There were lines wrapped around the block to buy gas. You literally didn't travel on the interstate at night because if you pulled off to get gas after 6:00pm it wasn't going to be available. I saw it remarkably change how people traveled that summer and fall, and I thought the country is going to understand how important not only transportation infrastructure is, but the resources that are needed, whether that's fossil fuels or other forms of energy to move citizens about. We're not a truly independent nation until we get that solved for ourselves. We saw what one nation's collapse could do to us, but we didn't learn from that, and we have not learned in other points of crisis. As soon as a crisis abates and the gas prices go down we go back to business and life as usual, and we have failed to tackle this issue that will continue to weigh on the economy and the productiveness of this country until we do. Certainly, when the bridge collapsed outside of Minneapolis, I thought we were going to now understand that we have not invested in just maintaining that which my parents' generation built for us. But I have seen signs that we are coming to grips with that.

Who Gets It?

Mayors across this country--red state, blue state, doesn't matter whether the mayor's republican or democrat--they understand the importance of investment in infrastructure, and the fact that they need a strong federal partner and a strong state partner, and that it is about being connected to the regional economy to be globally competitive. So I know mayors get it; I know it is a number one priority in most cities in this country. Some state DOTs get it, but I am seeing some movement in federally elected officials, probably more so in the Senate. We haven't come to terms with our energy dependence, and that's not going to happen in a presidential election year. I remain disappointed in our inability to face those challenges without blinders, but very directly. But I have seen some positive movements, and I've seen some senators, especially whose eyes are open to it now and who are stating--perhaps not publicly--but who are stating this is a new issue that has got to be addressed, and it's got to be addressed in the next congress. We cannot possibly work and grow ourselves out of this financial climate without investing in our infrastructure.

The Mission of Reconnecting America

Our work is, principally and very simply, how we grow and invest in our neighborhoods, our communities, cities and regions, at the connection of transportation choices and affordable communities that promote the good health of our citizens. We're about transforming those neighborhoods or regions into really thriving places that our people choose to live and to work and to play. And transportation's at the very center of that; it looks different in different states and cities and regions, but it's also about riding something you can afford to a place where you can actually afford to live. Think about the connectivity of this country: we are connected states, connected through transportation systems. The public has to think--and, therefore, the federal level and state and local level must think-from the time the citizen leaves their front door until they get to where they're destination is, whether that's to the hospital or to the community college, or to the place where they work or to a city that requires their business, or their choice to travel, and back. That's what Reconstructing America is really about: it's that seamless transportation experience that is both cost-effective to the citizen and also to the government entities that help provide that connectivity.

The original blog post is available here.

How Transit Can Create Opportunity At A Regional Level

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:54:01 -0400

Reconnecting America and its partners in Mile High Connects recently released the Denver Regional Equity Atlas, which maps how current and future transit service can connect people to opportunities throughout the region.

Innovative models of cross-sector collaboration in equity-focused efforts around the country have been applied to this effort in Denver. Reconnecting America has been active in this arena in the Great Communities Collaborative in the San Francisco Bay Area, the One Region Funders Group in New York City, and the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative in the Twin Cities in Minnesota.

The intent of the Equity Atlas, which was co-written by Reconnecting America and the Piton Foundation, is to help raise awareness among a wide range of stakeholders in the Metro Denver region about the benefits and opportunities that a robust transit system can create, including how issues such as housing, jobs, education and health are integrally linked to transportation access.

"The multibillion dollar FasTracks project, one of the largest transit expansions in the country, provides the region with an unparalleled opportunity to capitalize on this substantial infrastructure investment and leverage it into sustainable communities that provide all residents with better quality of life," said Reconnecting America Program Director Catherine Cox Blair. "Yet there are still many challenges to ensuring that those who most use and need access to public transportation, including low income individuals and people of color, have equal access to opportunities. The Atlas makes the case for why providing access to opportunity for all residents is critically important."

The Atlas is broken down into five chapters and 31 maps that cover demographics, housing, health, jobs and education. Data was collected from a variety of sources for seven counties in the Metro Denver region: Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson. Each map contains the current and future transit network, including high frequency bus routes and rail lines, as the base map.

Reconnecting America is a member of Mile High Connects (MHC), a Denver-based coalition of more than 20 local and national nonprofits, foundations and community lenders with significant experience in affordable housing, economic and workforce development, educational opportunities, community engagement, access to transit alternatives and healthy living. MHC's mission is to ensure the metro Denver regional transit system fosters communities that offer all residents the opportunity for a high quality of life. MHC is engaging in collective and targeted efforts to shape programs and policies that promote affordable housing and access to job, education and healthcare opportunities. MHC's work is made possible by the generous contributions of its members and by a contribution from the Ford Foundation's Metropolitan Opportunity initiative.

The full Denver Regional Equity Atlas is available here and at MileHighConnects.org. Individual maps are also available in the Reconnecting America Map Room.

For more information about Mile High Connects, visit MileHighConnects.org.

House Passage of Transportation Reauthorization Bill

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 20:21:07 -0400

I am pleased there is now bipartisan action on transportation reauthorization by the House that can be conferenced with the Senate. While this six-month extension does not provide the certainty of a multi-year reauthorization, it will keep our transportation network functioning at current funding levels and allow for a conference to begin with the Senate on a longer-term transportation bill.

I look forward to working with the conference committee to ensure that the final version of the bill includes language to keep our existing transit systems operating and provides support for local communities to invest in new transit services, bicycle and pedestrian projects, and transit-oriented development. These items combined will offer more options for Americans in how they travel to meet their daily needs, reducing costs for families struggling with today’s high gas prices.

Senate Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee Vote

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 09:40:39 -0400

I commend the action taken today by the Senate Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee to pass a bipartisan bill that will fund critical housing and transportation programs. The investments called for in this bill in our transit, rail, and road networks and in neighborhoods and communities across the country will strengthen America’s economic outlook and improve the daily lives of millions of families.

Of particular importance is the funding provided for the HUD Sustainable Communities grants. This funding will support integrated regional and local planning for housing, transportation, and other infrastructure in urban and rural areas around the country. In fiscal years 2010 and 2011, 152 communities and regions in 48 states received grants from this program, and are now hard at work developing strategies, implementing plans, and leveraging funds to create strong local economies. The need for these programs is significant; in those two fiscal years HUD received applications totaling $2.2 billion for regional planning and community challenge grants (jointly funded by DOT), which far exceeded available program funds. The $50 million provided in this bill will not meet every need, but will help to continue the progress that HUD’s Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities has made. I look forward to working with Congress to ensure that this funding is maintained in the final Transportation-HUD appropriations legislation.

I am also extremely pleased to see continued focus on improving and expanding America’s transit and rail systems, particularly through the New Starts and TIGER programs and the High-Performance Rail funds. This will provide Americans choices in how they travel.

The Denver Regional Equity Atlas: Mapping Access to Opportunity at a Regional Scale

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:26:40 -0400

Calling it a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the region,” an unprecedented local partnership of private, philanthropic and nonprofit leaders was joined by Denver Mayor Michael Hancock to outline how a smart expansion of Denver’s transit system can greatly increase access to opportunity and strengthen quality of life for all local residents, including low-income communities.

The partnership, known as Mile High Connects, also used the event to formally release its Regional Equity Atlas, a comprehensive study that visually conveys where critical points of opportunity—like schools, jobs, health care, and housing—lie in relation to the current transit system in the Denver Metro region. The report, co-written by Reconnecting America and the Piton Foundation, will serve as the basis of the partnership’s work to ensure that low-income residents can use Metro Denver’s expanded mass transit system to connect to these areas.

The event included a panel of jobs, health, education and housing experts including Kelly Brough, president and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce; Anne Warhover, president and CEO of the Colorado Health Foundation; Susana Cordova, chief academic officer of Denver Public Schools; and Gene Myers, CEO of New Town Builders.

Keynote Speaker Manuel Pastor, nationally renowned author, professor of American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California (USC) and director of the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity, discussed the vital role that equity plays in regional growth and prosperity.

The event was attended by more than 250 community members. Mayor Michael Hancock talked about the need to connect low-income families with affordable housing and transportation options, which in turn connect them to educational and career opportunities, increasing the overall economic success of our region as a whole.

The research done to develop the Regional Equity Atlas revealed that low-income populations in many parts of the region cannot currently take advantage of affordable transit choices to access career, education and health opportunities.

“The build-out of our transit system represents an enormous public investment,” says Patrick Horvath, director of The Denver Foundation’s Strengthening Neighborhoods Program, and co-chair of Mile High Connects. “It’s our goal to ensure that investment pays dividends for all residents— especially those in low-income communities.”

By increasing resources, influencing policy, working with residents and leveraging the current and expanding Metro Denver transit system, Mile High Connects will work to alleviate some of the challenges faced by low- income families in Denver.

“We are supporting this effort because we believe that the people of the Denver region are setting a very promising example for the rest of the nation,” said Lisa Davis, program officer of the Ford Foundation. “Guided by the work of Mile High Connects, they are showing not only how to build a world class transportation system, but how to do so in a way that lifts all people and connects many more families with the opportunity to build a stronger future and get ahead.”

Top line key findings of the Equity Atlas follow and a full copy of the Equity Atlas report can be found online at www.milehighconnects.org.

The Denver region has a tremendous opportunity to increase transportation options through the current transit expansion. The enhanced transit connections will increase the number of walking and bicycling trips, as more and more people can walk or bike to their nearest transit station, which will in turn connect them to even more destinations.
Last-mile connections are essential to make transit a viable transportation alternative. Communities need to invest in pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure that will connect people to the places they need to go within the station area and further afield. Employers need to look at ways to promote transit usage and how they might be able to provide those last mile connections themselves through shuttle services to and from stations.
The region is interdependent. Opportunities and resources in the Denver region are dispersed throughout many communities, new rail and bus service will not connect everyone to every place they need to go, but they will improve access to many important destinations.
Low income and other economically disadvantaged populations in many parts of the region cannot currently take advantage of affordable transit choices to access opportunities. Pockets of poverty exist throughout the Denver region without good access to jobs, schools, and essential services. Living near transit, specifically in walk and bike friendly neighborhoods, can help low income families keep costs down by not owning a car or driving less often, leading to improved health outcomes.
The full build out of the regional transit network will improve access to opportunities for low income and other economically disadvantaged populations compared to what is available now. Many economically disadvantaged groups will be better connected to jobs and other places of importance as the transit network is built out.
Many of the region’s affordable housing units are located near current or future transit stations, but increased demand for living near transit may cause gentrification and displacement pressures. The demand for housing near transit across the country is expected to grow exponentially in the coming decades and the cost to live in these neighborhoods is expected to rise. To ensure that current residents can continue to afford to live near transit, policies and strategies should be in place to preserve and create affordable housing near transit.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the region, and we must get it right. Unlike many other cities with long-established transit systems, Denver’s system is still in its infancy. Now is the time to plan and leverage this massive investment in transportation infrastructure. Land use decisions should align with the transportation plans to co-locate the elements of a prosperous, equitable, and sustainable region: affordable housing, job centers, educational institutions, quality of life amenities and community resources such as day care, markets, health centers, and commercial districts. Local transportation planning must also integrate and facilitate connections between different modes of transportation to make it safe and convenient for people to reach destinations by a means other than a personal automobile.

Download The Denver Regional Equity Atlas: Mapping Access to Opportunity at a Regional Scale

Federal Funding Matrix Lists Sustainable Communities Grant Opportunities

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 12:42:29 -0400

Reconnecting America has compiled a Federal Funding Matrix, which provides a listing of possible funding sources for creating sustainable communities. The Funding Matrix displays funding opportunities for states, cities, local governments and organizations, among others, for planning, implementation, site acquisition, business development, development financing, and other eligible uses.

In working with our partners around the country, Reconnecting America noticed a lack of a comprehensive list of funding opportunities centered on sustainable communities. We compiled a matrix that would give organizations an easily accessible, extensive, and descriptive tool to find funding opportunities to suit their communities. The matrix provides funding opportunities both inside and outside of the Sustainable Communities Inter-Agency Partnership of HUD, EPA, and DOT, and lists opportunities from agencies such as the USDA, US Small Business Administration, and the Treasury Department.

This matrix shows that funding opportunities for sustainable communities are not limited to only a few agencies, but that funding stretches beyond traditional sources. Ultimately, Reconnecting America sought to categorize existing federal funding opportunities for communities to continue efforts to create complete and equitable communities.

In this fiscally constrained environment, communities have limited resources. We hope this funding matrix helps communities to create innovative funding models that will combine funds from various federal, state, regional, local, private and philanthropic sources. The funding matrix is meant to be a working document and will be updated as information becomes available.

Federal Funding Matrix

Mixed-Income Transit-Oriented Development Action Guide Videos

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:48:52 -0400

Reconnecting America has introduced a video section on their MITOD Action Guide website. The new section will feature video interviews of experts in the housing, transportation and community development fields. The videos will be linked to the various strategies andtools listed throughout the MITOD Action Guide. The videos will offer additional insight on tools and strategies used to create affordable housing near transit from people who work with these issues daily.

The first video features Michael Bodaken from the National Housing Trust who discusses the importance of preserving affordable housing near transit.

Future videos will highlight the importance of creating more equitable communities near transit.

Center for Transit-Oriented Developments Comments On Proposed Changes To New Starts, Small Starts Rules

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 17:13:09 -0400

The Center for Transit-Oriented Development today released detailed comments on the Federal Transit Administration's proposed changes in the New Starts and Small Starts programs.

The New Starts and Small Starts programs support the engineering, design, and construction of rail and bus rapid transit projects around the country. Projects seeking funding from these programs must be evaluated according to a number of criteria specified in law. FTA’s changes seek to both streamline the process and to capture in the evaluation a broader set of the benefits that transit projects provide. FTA's proposed changes are detailed in an earlier Reconnecting America policy team analysis here.

March 26, 2012

Peter M. Rogoff
Administrator
Federal Transit Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590

RE: Docket Number FTA-2010-0009

Dear Administrator Rogoff,

On behalf of the Center for Transit-Oriented Development (CTOD), we write to provide comments on the Federal Transit Administration’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) and proposed Policy Guidance for the New Starts and Small Starts programs. CTOD appreciates the opportunity to submit comments to FTA regarding the evaluation process and criteria for these important programs.

CTOD is the only national effort dedicated to providing best practices, research, and tools to support equitable market-based transit-oriented development (TOD). CTOD partners work with both the public and private sectors to strategize about ways to encourage the development of high-performing communities around transit stations and to build transit systems that maximize development potential. CTOD is a partnership of Reconnecting America, the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT), and Strategic Economics. Reconnecting America is a national nonprofit that helps transform promising ideas into thriving communities, where transportation choices make it easy to get from place to place, where businesses flourish, and where people from all walks of life can afford to live, work, and visit. CNT is a creative think-and-do tank that advances urban sustainability by researching, inventing, and testing strategies that use resources more efficiently and equitably. Strategic Economics is an urban and regional economics and research firm.

CTOD receives federal funding to evaluate best practices in TOD, to research economic development impacts of transit investments, and to help develop standards and guidelines for TOD. However, we did not use federal funds to develop these comments. Our recommendations reflect many years of discussion with developers, local economic development directors, the transit industry, community development practitioners, land planners, academics, residents, and employers, as well as our own experience working with communities that are trying to build transit networks and promote mixed-income, transit-oriented development.

CTOD supports FTA’s stated goals of measuring a wider range of the benefits that transit projects provide, and establishing measures and procedures to streamline the New Starts and Small Starts project development process. We believe that FTA’s proposed changes are a significant step toward achieving those dual goals. Under the proposed structure, we believe that the timeframe for project development will be reduced, allowing project sponsors to bring their projects to completion sooner, and the projects’ benefits to be realized earlier. In addition, we believe that the changes proposed would help to elevate those projects which will provide the maximum benefits to the communities they serve as well as to the federal government.

Within the context of our overall support, we offer suggestions to improve or refine some of the elements of the NPRM and the Policy Guidance. The following comments are organized by issue area, and cover both the NPRM and the Guidance. In keeping with CTOD’s mission, our primary focus is on the evaluation of projects in terms of their impact on their corridors and regions, rather than on the specific stages of project development, local financial commitment, or operational issues. CTOD expresses neither support nor opposition on any issue in the NPRM or Guidance which is not specifically addressed below.

PROJECT JUSTIFICATION CRITERIA

1. Mobility Improvements

a. CTOD supports the proposed change in the metric from transportation system user benefits to trips (i.e. boardings) on the project.

CTOD supports FTA’s proposed change from transportation system user benefits (TSUB) to trips taken on the project as the measure for mobility improvements. While the original intent of the TSUB measure was to capture a broad range of mobility benefits, in practice it has proven difficult to measure elements such as time saved for highway commuters in the project corridor. On the other hand, ridership is an easily understood, quantifiable outcome of transit projects that can be used as an indicator of a project’s success in a community.

While we understand FTA to mean “boardings” by its use of the term “trips”, we recommend that FTA clarify this in the final rule to ensure a consistent understanding of the metric being proposed.

b. CTOD recommends that FTA evaluate both current year and future year ridership, over a 20-year horizon, compared to the no-build alternative.

While CTOD appreciates FTA’s desire to simplify the application process for project sponsors, we believe it is important for sponsors to present information not only regarding current year ridership, but also ridership in future years. This approach will enable FTA to ensure that projects are built to handle not only existing conditions, but also future conditions. If future ridership is not incorporated into project planning, we are concerned that project sponsors will be discouraged from building systems with sufficient capacity to handle future ridership growth. When projects are scaled back to handle only near-term ridership, project sponsors, local communities, and taxpayers will ultimately have to pay to expand capacity at some point in the future, often at greater cost than would have been incurred had the necessary capacity been included originally. The 20-year horizon is appropriate because it is consistent with the timeframe covered by regions’ long-range transportation plans and with federal requirements for highway investments.

Even under this proposed approach, project sponsors will likely save time and money compared to the current application process due to FTA’s proposed changes in the baseline alternative, which CTOD supports. Rather than the artificially constructed “Transportation System Management” alternative (which generally includes a set of smaller-scale projects that are unlikely ever to be built), FTA proposes to allow project sponsors to compare their projects to a “no-build” alternative, including the existing transportation network and those projects which have been committed to in the region’s Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). This is a sensible change which will help to better demonstrate the benefits of a proposed project while reducing time and cost for project sponsors.

c. FTA should incorporate job accessibility into its national ridership model.

CTOD appreciates FTA’s intent to establish a national model for estimating project trips. CTOD strongly encourages FTA to include within that model a calculation of how many existing jobs will be made accessible to fixed-guideway transit stops by proposed projects.

Such a measure of job accessibility is highly predictive of transit ridership.¹ The commute trip makes up 59 percent of transit trips,² and only 18 percent of auto trips.³ Transit projects that do a good job linking workers to employment centers will generate higher ridership than those that do not, even if the number of residents living near the projects are the same. In fact, research has shown that employment densities at trip destinations exert greater influence on ridership than residential densities near trip origins.⁴ In regions with strong suburban employment centers, they also serve to optimize the transit investment by promoting bidirectional flows throughout the course of the day.

For example, in “The Importance of Trip Destination in Determining Transit Share,” Gary Barnes highlights the importance of employment density in increasing transit ridership in the Twin Cities.⁵ His work finds that increases in employment density can result in increased transit share from origins with residential density held constant, a similar finding of earlier work by Zupan and Pushkarev.⁶ Barnes emphasizes the relationship between residential origins and destinations, noting that “Residential neighborhood characteristics matter, but the extent to which they matter is very strongly influenced by where people are going.”

Job accessibility can be incorporated into the FTA’s model through the use of the Employment Accessibility Index, which is part of the Housing +Transportation Affordability Index (H+T Index).⁷ The index uses the US Census Bureau’s Local Employment Dynamics data at the Census block level. The accessibility index is a sum of all jobs weighted by the inverse square of the distance within a 63 mile radius of a given block group. The Center for Neighborhood Technology recently updated the H+T Index to include the latest Census data – American Community Survey data through 2009.

Additionally, the H+T Index includes two measures of transit access, the Transit Connectivity Index and the Transit Access Shed. Data used in the construction of these indices are a compilation of publicly available General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) data as well as GTFS data provided to CNT by transit agencies and GTFS data created by CNT from publicly available sources. Where GTFS data was not available, CNT created data in this format using public information from transit agency websites including maps, schedules, and stop locations. When more detailed information was needed than what was available on the websites, CNT contacted agencies directly. Transit stops and stations in more than 50 percent of metropolitan and micropolitan areas with scheduled transit service are currently included in the database, or 445 transit systems.

The use of these measures provides a sound basis for evaluating local jobs access, including a detailed understanding of the relationship of transit service to employment locations. The H+T Index can be found at http://htaindex.cnt.org/ and the methodology is explained at http://htaindex.cnt.org/downloads/HTMethods.2011.pdf .

Given the importance of employment accessibility in determining transit ridership, CTOD believes FTA should include a calculation of existing jobs within ½ mile of the proposed stations in the national model for ridership.

d. FTA should establish breakpoints for ridership to ensure that only the strongest projects advance.

As stated above, CTOD supports FTA’s proposed shift to project trips as the measure of mobility improvements. CTOD notes, however, that the effectiveness of this change in helping FTA to evaluate projects depends in large measure on how FTA establishes the breakpoints that will determine the ratings under this criterion. Recognizing that different modes are likely to generate different ridership, and that regions and corridors have different characteristics, we look forward to reviewing FTA’s proposed breakpoints to assess their effectiveness in advancing those projects that will achieve the strongest ridership. We encourage FTA to consider establishing a minimum ridership threshold which all proposed projects must meet, and then providing breakpoints for higher ratings which would be normalized for different project types. Breakpoints should be established in a way that will incentivize project sponsors to select alignments, station locations, and other project features that will maximize ridership.

e. FTA should clearly define “transit-dependent” so that all project sponsors use a consistent definition.

CTOD notes that the inclusion of additional weight for trips taken by transit dependent individuals in the calculation of mobility improvements serves multiple goals, by increasing the likelihood that a project will provide connectivity to jobs and services for those who cannot or choose not to own a car. CTOD notes, however, that this metric must be applied consistently across the country in order to achieve a meaningful comparison of projects nationwide. CTOD recommends that FTA specifically define “transit-dependent,” which as FTA noted can be determined in terms of income level (percentage of area median income) or car ownership (which could vary by household size, as a two-worker household with only one car can be considered transit-dependent), in order to ensure consistent evaluation under this criterion.

2. Environmental Benefits

a. CTOD supports FTA’s goal of measuring a wider range of environmental benefits.

CTOD supports FTA’s efforts to develop a more meaningful approach to evaluating the environmental benefits of New Starts projects. Although CTOD recommended in its comments to the ANPRM that FTA not attempt to monetize environmental benefits due to the wide range of environmental benefits that transit projects provide and the difficulty of measuring those benefits, CTOD understands the potential value of the approach that FTA has laid out in the NPRM. CTOD stands ready to work with FTA to develop improved methods of modeling VMT change to ensure that the most accurate evaluation tools possible are available to support FTA’s goal of monetizing environmental benefits.

b. CTOD supports the inclusion of public health under environmental benefits.

CTOD strongly supports the inclusion of public health impacts under the environmental benefits criterion, and looks forward to working with FTA and other stakeholders to develop the tools that will allow this factor to be fully considered in the evaluation process. The health benefits of using public transportation are well-documented. Using public transportation has been shown to promote physical activity in a number of research studies. Transit users on average take 21% to 30% more steps per day than people who drive to work and are more likely to be physically active and maintain a healthy weight.⁸ Transit riders tend to walk more because they have to travel on foot to get to and from the transit stop, as well as their origins and destinations. Using U.S. National Household Travel Survey data, researchers found that 29% of public transit users walked over 30 minutes per day just getting to and from the station, thereby meeting the government’s recommended levels of daily physical activity.⁹ A recent study also found that people can lose weight by switching from driving to transit. Charlotte light rail riders lost an average of 6.45 pounds after switching from driving to transit for a year.¹⁰ In addition, overall increased use of transit can help reduce adverse health outcomes associated with asthma and other chronic diseases by reducing driving and greenhouse gas emissions. Improved public health has a benefit not only for individuals, but also for the public sector, which realizes a fiscal benefit through reduced health care costs. Therefore, those transit projects which maximize public health benefits should receive credit for those positive impacts in the New Starts evaluation process.

c. CTOD recommends that FTA not include the cost of betterments in the environmental benefits evaluation.

CTOD understands that FTA is proposing to compare the environmental benefits of proposed projects with the projects’ annualized capital and operating cost. In order to avoid creating a disincentive for project sponsors to invest in project features that will create long-term benefits, but are not directly related to mobility improvements in the short-term, CTOD recommends that FTA subtract the cost of “betterments” from the costs included in the environmental benefits evaluation. This concept is discussed more fully in the cost-effectiveness section, below.

3. Economic Development Effects

a. CTOD supports the inclusion of affordable housing in the evaluation of economic development effects.

As CTOD’s ANPRM comments indicate, we believe that all U.S. DOT capital funding programs should maximize the location efficiency benefits of transportation investments by elevating projects that demonstrate local commitment to preserve and create permanently-affordable housing. In particular, because transit investments may lead to rising property values near federally funded stations, the FTA should prioritize New Starts and Small Starts projects that (1) maintain housing affordability for existing station area residents to prevent displacement and (2) create new affordable housing near stations so that low-income households may also benefit from federal investment in transit infrastructure. For this reason, CTOD strongly supports FTA’s inclusion under economic development of plans and policies in place to maintain or increase affordable housing in the corridor. At the same time, in order to promote balanced mixed-income housing in those areas with significant concentrations of affordable housing, plans should include policies for attracting workforce and market-rate housing.

b. CTOD recommends consideration of employment centers in the required analysis of economic development effects.

As highlighted above in the section on mobility improvements, the strong relationship between job accessibility and transit ridership justifies inclusion of policies related to job growth and employment centers as part of the economic development evaluation. In addition to the ridership benefits discussed above, transit-oriented employment is space efficient (200-250 sq ft/employee, compared to residential development at 500-1,000 sq ft/resident) and often more economically feasible than increasing residential densities, given the agglomeration benefits that business districts and commercial corridors provide.¹¹ FTA should review policies indicative of local commitment to job growth near the proposed project, such as economic development strategies related to attracting targeted clusters, flexible zoning, minimum floor area ratios, minimum employment densities, and maximum parking ratios, as well as the presence of local funding mechanisms and incentives including TIF, BID/LIDs, etc. Given current economic conditions and the continuing decentralization of employment, greater emphasis should be placed on the job creation and retention potential of the transit investment.

To that end, project sponsors should be required to map all of the region’s major employment concentrations, and then to demonstrate how the proposed project would connect to one or more those concentrations, or create a critical link between two other transit lines, allowing transit riders to have greater job accessibility with only one transfer. This information is readily available through U.S. Census Bureau Local Employment Dynamics data. The project sponsor should also be required to demonstrate how plans and policies related to future employment growth would reinforce the employment centers connected by the project. This will enable FTA to determine which project sponsors will most effectively leverage the new transit investment to create economic benefits for the region.

c. CTOD recommends using a market analysis as the best predictor of future development outcomes.

CTOD understands that FTA is proposing to give project sponsors the option to develop a projection of future economic development effects in order to conduct a quantitative analysis based on the resulting VMT changes. FTA indicates in the proposed Policy Guidance that the projection would be based on “the economic conditions in the project corridor; the mechanisms by which the project would improve those conditions; the availability of land in station areas for development and redevelopment; and a pro forma assessment of the feasibility of specific development scenarios.”

CTOD believes that a quantitative analysis of future economic development effects is essential to determining which projects should advance through the New Starts and Small Starts process. We look forward to working with FTA to help develop the tools that will allow the quantitative analysis to become a required component of the evaluation process.

In the meantime, CTOD does not believe that the set of factors proposed by FTA would produce the best projections for future development around the project. CTOD’s recent report, “Rails to Real Estate: Development Patterns along Three New Transit Lines”, shows that land supply and zoning policy are poor predictors of future development in transit corridors. Therefore, we think other market factors should be used to measure potential economic development activity along a proposed transit corridor. Such factors could include the number and value of any real estate investments made in the corridor over the past five years, the number of major job and/or major cultural/entertainment/educational institutions along the corridor, and the proximity of transit stations with development potential to these major activity centers. Other market factors could include average rents/sales prices per square foot in the corridor by land use type as compared to the larger surrounding area, vacancy rates in the corridor also compared to a larger geography, and recent project absorption. If weak market areas are being considered for transit investments, then ridership numbers should be high enough to address a lack of near-term market activity.

4. Cost-effectiveness.

CTOD supports exclusion of “betterments” from project cost and recommends a broad definition of “betterments”.

In its response to the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, CTOD recommended that FTA consider only the federal contribution when evaluating cost-effectiveness, so that project sponsors would not be penalized for using non-federal funds to finance project features that would provide locally-preferred transit types, service levels, route alignments, transit vehicles, station amenities, or expansion capacity. Many of these features have long-term benefits for communities, but add to the up-front costs of projects, hindering their ability to achieve the necessary rating on the cost-effectiveness measure.

CTOD recognizes that FTA did not adopt that recommendation, but appreciates FTA’s willingness to exclude the cost of “betterments” from project cost for purposes of the cost-effectiveness calculation. This change will help to move FTA’s evaluation process toward the goal that CTOD advanced, allowing project sponsors to invest in certain project features that will have long-term benefits, but which are not directly related to improved mobility in the short-term.

In order to ensure that project sponsors have an incentive to invest in those project features that will ultimately yield the maximum benefits for the community, CTOD recommends that FTA adopt a broad definition of “betterments,” including all of the examples listed in the preamble to the proposed rule, and in addition capacity and access improvements which will save costs down the road. Too often, project sponsors who have had to scale back projects to achieve a satisfactory cost-effectiveness rating find themselves in a few short years having to make additional capital investments, at greater cost, to accommodate their growing ridership. For example, the light rail line in Charlotte, NC was originally planned as a 3-car system, but was scaled back to 2-cars in order to score well on cost-effectiveness. Due to the success of the line, the city is now retrofitting stations to accommodate 3-car trains, as a cost of $67 million.¹² Also, many alignments run adjacent to freeways such as the Southeast Corridor in Denver and the Green Line in Portland, allowing for lower project costs but also minimizing the long-term potential of that transit system to reshape the adjacent land uses in a way that supports multimodal accessibility and transit-oriented development.

To avoid future examples such as those cited above, FTA should include in the definition of “betterments” project features that provide project sponsors with the ability to conduct station area planning or other activities that support future transit-oriented development, expand capacity, and provide improved access to surrounding neighborhoods. The incremental cost of these project betterments should be excluded from the cost side of the cost-effectiveness evaluation. In the long run, this approach will promote more efficient use of federal funds and will achieve the maximum benefits from transit investments.

CTOD also recommends that the exclusion of betterments from cost under the cost-effectiveness criterion be included in the regulation itself, not only in the policy guidance as is currently proposed. This will ensure a level of consistency in application of the regulation which will allow project sponsors to plan their projects with more certainty.

5. Land Use

a. CTOD supports the inclusion of affordable housing in the land use evaluation.

As stated above, CTOD believes that all U.S. DOT capital funding programs should maximize location efficiency benefits of transportation investments by elevating projects that demonstrate local commitment to balanced mixed-income housing with policies for preserving and creating permanently-affordable housing in at-risk corridors. In addition, residents of affordable housing are more likely to use transit if it is available. For this reason, we strongly support FTA’s proposal to include the number of publicly-supported housing units in the transit corridor in the evaluation of transit-supportive land use.

b. CTOD recommends including current job connectivity in the land use evaluation.

As discussed above, job connectivity is one of the best predictors of transit ridership. Therefore, the number of existing jobs within the transit corridor is one of the strongest indicators of transit-supportive land use. For this reason, CTOD recommends that existing jobs be included in the same manner that existing publicly-supporting housing units are proposed to be included.

EVALUATION PROCESS CHANGES

CTOD supports the increased use of warrants proposed in the NPRM and Guidance.

One of the major themes running through CTOD’s comments to the ANPRM was the importance of streamlining the evaluation process. Doing so would shorten the time it takes to bring projects to completion and save money for both local communities and the federal government. Although CTOD had proposed the use of warrants only in the environmental benefits evaluation, we believe that the use of warrants for other criteria as well would be an effective means of streamlining the evaluation process. CTOD looks forward to reviewing the forthcoming Policy Guidance in which FTA will identify project and corridor characteristics that will allow project sponsors to make use of warrants. In addition, CTOD encourages FTA to establish the warrants with a goal of further streamlining the process, particularly for Small Starts applicants.

CONCLUSION

CTOD greatly appreciates the opportunity to provide this input into FTA’s NPRM and Policy Guidance for the New Starts and Small Starts programs. As stated at the outset, we support FTA’s goals of both streamlining the evaluation process and capturing a broader range of transit projects’ benefits, and we believe that the NPRM and Guidance significantly advance both goals. We look forward to reviewing and commenting on the forthcoming Policy Guidance which we understand will include additional details regarding weights and breakpoints for the factors within the evaluation criteria. In the meantime, please contact Sarah Kline at (202) 429-6990 x202 or skline@reconnectingamerica.org with any questions about these comments.

Sincerely,

John Robert Smith, President and CEO, Reconnecting America

Dena Belzer, President, Strategic Economics

Scott Bernstein, President, Center for Neighborhood Technology

Notes:

Wood, Jeffrey, Mariia Zimmerman, and Shelley Poticha. Destinations Matter: Building Transit Success. Center for Transit-Oriented Development, May 2009.
A Profile of Public Transportation Passenger Demographics and Travel Characteristics Reported in On-Board Surveys. American Public Transportation Association, 2007.
Pisarski, Allan E., Commuting in America III: the Third National Report on Commuting Patterns and Trends. Transportation Research Board (TCRP Report 110), 2006.
TCRP Report 128 – Effects of TOD on Housing, Parking, and Travel, Arrington & Cervero, 2008
Barnes, Gary. The Importance of Trip Destination in Determining Transit Share. Journal of Public Transportation, Vol. 8, 2005.
Zupan, Jeffrey and Pushkarev, Boris. Public Transportation and Land Use Policy. Regional Plan Association, 1977.
For further information regarding the Affordability Index, see Susan Wachter, Richard Voith et. al. “A Review of the Center for Neighborhood Technology’s Housing and Transportation Affordability Index,” University of Pennsylvania Institute for Urban Policy Research & E-Consult Corporation, submitted to the Manhattan Strategy Group, February 2012 at http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/huddoc?id=HTA-index.pdf; Carrie Makarewicz, Peter Haas, Albert Benedict, Scott Bernstein “Estimating Transportation Costs for Households by Characteristics of the Neighborhood & Household,” Transportation Research Record—Journal of the Transportation Research Board Number 2077, National Academy of Sciences, December 2008; John Holtzclaw, Robert Clear, Hank Dittmar, David Goldstein & Peter Haas; “Location Efficiency: Neighborhoods and Socioeconomic Characteristics Determine Automobile Use;” Transportation Planning and Technology, 2002, V. 25, 1-27; and Center for Neighborhood Technology & Center for Transit Oriented Development, The Affordability Index: A New Tool for Measuring the True Affordability of a Housing Choice, Brookings Institution, 2006 at http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2006/01_affordability_index.aspx
Wener R and Evans G. “A Morning Stroll-Levels of Physical Activity in Car and Mass Transit Commuting.” Environment and Behavior, 39(1): 62–74, January 2007; Edwards R. “Public Transit, Obesity, and Medical Costs: Assessing the Magnitudes.” Preventive Medicine, 46(1): 14–21, January 2008; and Lachappelle, U., & Frank, L.D. (2009), Transit and health: Mode of transport, employer-sponsored public transit pass programs. Journal of Public Health Policy, 30: S73-S94.
Besser, L.M. & Dannenberg, A.L. (2005). Walking to public transit steps to help meet physical activity recommendations. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 29(4): 273-280.
“Public Transit Systems Contribute to Weight Loss and Improved Health, Study Finds.” Science Daily, June 29, 2010. Available at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100628203756.htm (last accessed October 2, 2011).
Barnes, Gary. 2005. “The Importance of Trip Destination in Determining Transit Share.” Journal of Public Transportation 8 (2): 1–16.
Voorhees, Josh. A Southern Success Story Offers a Lesson on Livability. Greenwire, 04/05/2010.

Reconnecting America Comments On Senate Passage of Transportation Bill

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 16:13:50 -0400

In response to the Senate's passage of its transportation bill, Reconnecting America President and CEO John Robert Smith issued the following statement:

"Reconnecting America is extremely pleased with today's Senate passage of a two year transportation reauthorization bill. S. 1813 passed today with a vote of 74-22, which shows there is bipartisan support for maintaining and strengthening our nation's infrastructure. It is gratifying to see that items on which we worked to educate members of the Senate were included. For example, the bill maintains local control over funding of various transportation projects which would make communities safer for walkers and bikers and provides grants for station-area planning to support transit-oriented development. This bill will help us to fix our existing transportation infrastructure, while also providing more options for people in how they travel to meet their daily needs.

"The $109 billion dollar bill will continue current funding levels for transportation programs through FY2013. The Senate now waits for a House bill to be passed so that differences between the two may be worked out. The House is currently in recess, slated to return March 19th. The current transportation reauthorization extension expires March 31, 2012. I hope that the House will quickly pass a bipartisan reauthorization so that the process can move forward ahead of the upcoming deadline. As I know from my 16 years as Mayor of Meridian, MS, when legislators work together across the aisle, our country benefits."

FTA New Starts Notice Of Proposed Rulemaking

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 17:17:38 -0400

Reconnecting America's policy team has prepared a table summarizing the major changes to the evaluation criteria that the Federal Transit Administration is proposing for its project justification criteria for New Starts and Small Starts projects.

FTA’s New Starts and Small Starts programs support the engineering, design, and construction of rail and bus rapid transit projects around the country. Projects seeking funding from these programs must be evaluated according to a number of criteria specified in law. Over the years, applicants for funding as well as other stakeholders have expressed concern with the onerous nature of the current evaluation process. In response, FTA recently issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to make a number of changes in the evaluation process for New Starts and Small Starts projects. FTA’s stated goal is to both streamline the process and to capture in the evaluation a broader set of the benefits which transit projects provide.

The NPRM is open for public comment until March 26, 2012.

Summary Chart of FTA New Starts Notice Of Proposed Rulemaking

Welcoming Chris Yake

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 16:49:11 -0500

Reconnecting America today welcomed Chris Yake to its Washington, DC, staff. As project director, Yake will lead Reconnecting America's place-based work on the East Coast, working with diverse stakeholders in cities and regions to support transit-oriented development (TOD) planning and implementation. He will also lend his expertise to guide quantitative and qualitative research projects, managing multi-disciplinary teams working on subjects related to transit-oriented development, transit performance, urban form and travel behavior.

“I am delighted to welcome Chris Yake as part of the Reconnecting America family,” said Reconnecting America President and CEO John Robert Smith. “His background in transit-oriented development and successful track record in communicating with various stakeholders will be of great benefit to our team as we continue to fulfill our mission of transforming promising ideas into thriving communities.”

Yake comes to Reconnecting America from Portland Metro's TOD program, where he served as senior development project manager, leading its TOD Strategic Plan and working directly with the private sector to leverage development near transit. Prior to Metro, Chris worked across the country on TOD at all scales as an urban economist in Annapolis, MD, with Basile, Baumann and Prost Associates and a senior planner with the City & County of Denver. Committed to fostering transit and livable communities from inception to actual construction, his work has ranged from long-range regional and corridor visioning, alternatives analysis, and station area planning down to on-the-ground capital transit projects and vertical mixed-use development.

“Chris brings with him a wealth of experience having worked in different communities across the country helping to implement strategies to support equitable TOD,” said Allison Brooks, Reconnecting America chief of staff. “His passion for this work and in ensuring people of all incomes benefit from better access to opportunity makes him a great addition to our team”

Yake received his Master’s in City & Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a concentration in land use and transportation planning. He has a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from Gonzaga University.

John Robert Smith Applauds Senate Inclusion Of Local Funding Control Language In Senate Transportation Bill

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:33:14 -0500

In response to the Senate's inclusion of local funding control language in its transportation bill, Reconnecting America President and CEO John Robert Smith issued the following statement:

"I was extremely pleased to learn that a bipartisan amendment sponsored by Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) and my home state Senator, the senior Senator from Mississippi, Thad Cochran (R-MS), was included in the manager's mark of S. 1813. (The term "manager's mark" means there was agreement to include the amendment as part of S.1813, the surface transportation bill, commonly referred to as MAP-21.) The Cardin-Cochran amendment gives local governments a voice in the state's disbursal of funds that can be used to create safe options for pedestrians, bicyclists, children walking to school and main street preservation, among other things. Under the amendment, metropolitan planning organizations with populations of more than 200,000 would be sub-allocated a portion of the funds, and remaining funds would be awarded to local governments through a competitive grant process. As a former 16 year Mayor of Meridian, Mississippi, I know how critical these funds are to providing safe travel options and a sense of community, to small towns as well as larger cities. When I served, we used these funds to assist in building our multi-modal Union Station, which became a critical factor in the successful economic redevelopment of downtown Meridian, MS. I am delighted that other Mayors will have the opportunity to do the same, once this bill passes. I thank the many Mayors who reached out to their Senators from towns ranging in size such as Charleston, SC, to Gulfport, MS to Macon, GA. This is an issue that directly affects people on the local level, and now the voices of their elected officials have been heard."

Reconnecting America Comment On Obama Administration Proposed FY13 Budget

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:20:43 -0500

"In the Administration's recently released budget for Fiscal Year 2013, which calls for increased investment in our nation's communities and infrastructure, there is good news for all Americans, whether they live in urban or rural areas and whether they travel by automobile, bus or rail. In particular, President Obama continued the Administration's support for alternatives to highway transportation, such as increased funding for transit systems, and new investment into expanding inter-city and high-speed passenger rail. This affords all citizens choices in how they will travel and is at the heart of the work that Reconnecting America does, connecting people to the places that matter," said John Robert Smith, President and CEO of Reconnecting America. "In addition, the Administration's proposed funding for the Sustainable Communities Partnership would allow even more places around the country to benefit from that highly successful initiative. For our country to remain competitive in a global economy, we must provide all Americans with options on where they live, work and play and provide more opportunities for businesses to move their goods. We look forward to working with the President and Congress as the budget process moves forward."

Reconnecting America's full analysis of the transportation, housing and sustainable communities programs in the FY 2013 budget is available here.

Federal Policy Update

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:34:19 -0500

Reconnecting America's Policy Director Sarah Kline released the following update, which covers the president's upcoming budget, TOD and Livable Communities legislation, the Sustainable Communities Partnership and the New Starts changes.

There has been a significant amount of federal activity related to transportation and TOD in the last several weeks. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate are expected to vote on surface transportation reauthorization bills the week of February 13, and the President’s FY2013 budget request will be released that week as well. Major bills have been introduced in the Senate on TOD and Livable Communities. The Federal Transit Administration has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to change the way that New Starts projects are evaluated. All of this is occurring against the backdrop of the 2012 elections, which can heighten partisanship in an already contentious Congress.

Surface Transportation Reauthorization

The previous surface transportation bill, SAFETEA-LU, expired on September 30, 2009, and the federal transportation programs are continuing to function due to a series of short-term extensions passed by Congress. The most recent extension will expire on March 31, 2012. Both chambers of Congress are moving forward on passing a new multi-year reauthorization bill, but given the short window between now and March 31, it is unlikely that a final bill will be passed, so another extension will likely be needed. The key unanswered question is whether that extension will be of just a few months duration, or whether it will extend past the November elections.

The major issue that has held up passage of a new reauthorization bill is funding. The Highway Trust Fund, which funds almost all of the federal highway and transit programs except for the New Starts program, is not taking in enough revenues from the federal gas tax to support the current level of spending. The House of Representatives last summer put forward a proposal that would have cut spending on transportation programs by about 35%, to the level that the current gas tax would support. That proposal set off a firestorm of opposition so strong that by September, the House had vowed to find a way to fund the bill at current levels. Both the House and the Senate have spent the last several months working to identify a source of revenue to make up the gap between what the gas tax can support and the desired level of spending. (Of course, Congress would not have to find a new source of revenue if they simply raised the gas tax, but neither side of the aisle has come out in favor of raising that tax.)

U.S. House of Representatives

Funding (House Ways and Means Committee)

In the House, Republican leadership has identified expanded oil drilling on public lands as one source of funding for transportation, which is likely to be strongly opposed by Democrats. Even some conservatives oppose it, because the amount of money it is projected to bring in is minimal compared to what is needed. In addition, the House Ways and Means Committee last week passed a bill that would deposit all gas tax revenues into the Highway Account of the Highway Trust Fund, rather than sharing those revenues with transit as has been done since 1982. Transit would instead be funded from general funds. This is of significant concern for transit because general funds are not subject to the same protections as gas tax revenues and transit funding could be cut on an annual basis.

Policy (House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee)

The policy proposals in the House bill are focused on streamlining project delivery, increasing private-sector participation in transportation programs, and consolidating or eliminating federal programs. Overall, the bill maintains the historic share of the programs for highways (80%) and transit (20%), although as discussed above the Ways and Means Committee pays for the highway programs with gas tax revenues, and the transit programs with general funds. The bill also streamlines environmental reviews and repeals the Transportation Enhancements program and other bicycle/pedestrian-focused programs.

The New Starts process is streamlined as well, by eliminating the alternatives analysis requirement and consolidating preliminary engineering and final design into a single “project development” phase. “Land use” is no longer an evaluation factor, though “economic development” is retained, and a new factor is added related to private-sector participation in the project. Bus rapid transit projects retain their current eligibility, except that under this bill “a majority of the project” – not just a “substantial portion” -- must operate in a separate right-of-way.

Regarding TOD, the bill allows the TIFIA program, which provides federal loans and loan guarantees to major transportation projects, to support projects that improve mobility and are located within the station area of a transit, passenger rail, or intercity bus station.

U.S. Senate

Funding (Senate Finance Committee)

The Senate Finance Committee is poised to pass a bill on Tuesday, February 7, 2012, that will provide enough revenues for the Highway Trust Fund to support a two-year transportation reauthorization at current levels. Approximately $10 billion will be transferred into the Highway Trust Fund from various taxes and fees that are currently deposited into the general fund. The vote is expected to be bipartisan.

Policy (Senate Environment & Public Works Committee; Commerce Committee, and Banking Committee)

Last November, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the federal highway programs for two years. In December, the Senate Commerce Committee voted on a party-line vote to reauthorize federal transportation safety and research programs. The source of the partisan disagreement was language added to the Commerce Committee’s bill that would create national goals and objectives for the federal transportation programs, and a new national freight program.

On February 2, 2012, the Senate Banking Committee passed a bipartisan bill to authorize the federal transit program for the next two years. In general, the bill retains the basic program structure of SAFETEA-LU, and also provides flexibility for transit agencies to use federal funds to support operations during times of economic crisis.

Like the House bill, the Banking Committee bill streamlines the New Starts program by removing the requirement for alternatives analysis, and requires that BRT projects must operate “a majority” of their route in a separate right-of-way. The bill also elevates the consideration of land use and economic development in the evaluation process. In addition, 100% locally funded projects can serve as local match for a federally funded project within the same “program of interrelated projects.”

For TOD, the bill includes economic development and mixed-income TOD in the new national goals for the federal transit program. In addition, the bill includes a TOD planning pilot program, funded at $20 million per year, for planning around New Starts projects, and authorizes FTA to fund TOD technical assistance.

Next Steps for Reauthorization

The week of February 13, both the House and the Senate are expected to vote on their respective reauthorization bills. Given the bipartisan process so far in the Senate, the Senate’s two-year bill will likely pass by a large bipartisan margin. The House is less certain, however. Democrats are likely to oppose the bill because it diverts gas taxes away from transit and because it opens up new oil drilling. Some conservative Republicans may oppose the bill as well because it will spend more on transportation than the gas tax really supports. That said, most Republicans will likely follow their leadership and pass the bill on a party-line vote.

At that point, the Senate and House will appoint a conference committee to reconcile the differences between their two bills. While there are some differences in policy, the main differences are duration (2 years vs. 5 years) and funding sources. It remains to be seen whether the two chambers will be able to come to agreement. An indication of the outcome may become apparent by March 31, when the current SAFETEA-LU extension ends. If the two chambers expect to be able to come to agreement, they may pass a short-term extension, to provide just a few extra weeks to finalize the conference agreement. However, if agreement appears elusive, a longer extension may be needed.

President’s FY2013 Budget

On February 13, 2012, the President is expected to release his budget request for fiscal year 2013, which begins October 1, 2012. The budget request lays out the President’s spending priorities for the year, but it is not binding; it is simply a request to Congress to fund programs at specific levels. Congress will make the final decisions, in consultation with the President, through the appropriations process that will begin in the spring.

Key issues to watch for in the President’s budget include whether the President will stand by the record high levels he requested last year for transportation programs, or reduce his request to be closer to the funding levels that Congress is now considering; and whether he will request funding for the HUD/DOT/EPA Sustainable Communities programs. These will be important signals of the President’s priorities for the coming year.

TOD and Livable Communities Legislation

Two bills related to TOD and livable communities have been introduced in the Senate. S. 2053, the “Jumpstarting Transit-Oriented Development Act,” was introduced by Senator Bennet (D-CO) and Senator Warner (D-VA). This bill would create a TOD planning grant program and a TOD infrastructure credit facility to provide federal loans or loan guarantees to support the public infrastructure associated with TOD: lighting, utility relocation, land acquisition, etc. A portion of the planning grant program was included in the Senate Banking Committee’s transit bill, as discussed above, and Senators Warner and Bennet will continue working to try to include the credit facility in the reauthorization bill, possibly through an amendment on the Senate floor.

S. 1621, the Livable Communities Act of 2011, was introduced by Senator Menendez (D-NJ) with 18 Democratic co-sponsors. Like the Livable Communities Act introduced in the previous Congress, the bill would formally authorize the Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities at HUD, and would fund grant programs for integrated regional planning and implementation activities. Senator Menendez is looking for opportunities to move the bill forward.

Sustainable Communities Partnership

The FY2012 appropriations act did not fund the HUD Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program or the Community Challenge Grant Program, but it did fund the continuing operations of HUD’s Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities, allowing that Office to continue providing technical assistance to its grantees and to continue its coordination efforts with DOT and EPA.

When the FY2013 appropriations process begins, advocates will again urge appropriators to fund the HUD Sustainable Communities grant programs. The chief opposition to these programs appears to come from the Republicans in the House, who are disinclined to fund programs such as these which are priorities of the Obama Administration.

New Starts Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM)

The Federal Transit Administration is currently taking comments on a proposed rule which would change the way that New Starts projects are evaluated. FTA’s goals for the proposed changes are to to measure a broader range of benefits from New Starts projects, and to streamline the process.

One of the key ways in which FTA is proposing to streamline the process is by measuring cost-effectiveness in a new way. The current measure of cost-effectiveness is travel-time savings from the project, which must be measured against a baseline. The proposed new measure is cost per trip taken on the project, which does not require comparison to a baseline. This is intended to reduce project development time as often a great deal of time is spent determining what the appropriate baseline for comparison is.

FTA would also exclude the cost of “betterments” from the new cost-per-trip calculation. Betterments are additional items beyond the basic transit infrastructure, such as features that make the facilities “greener” or that enhance pedestrian access. By not counting these items in the cost-effectiveness calculation, FTA would remove a disincentive to making these sorts of investments.

FTA is also exploring the use of a warrants approach, under which a project can pre-qualify for New Starts funding based on the characteristics of the project or the corridor in which it is located. A warrants approach would allow certain projects to advance much more quickly through the process.

FTA is also proposing broader measures of environmental benefits and economic development effects. For economic development, FTA would continue to look at transit-supportive plans and policies, but would add a consideration of the degree to which policies maintaining or increasing affordable housing are in place.

Comments are due on the NPRM, and the accompanying guidance document which lays out the proposed measures in more detail, on March 26, 2012.

Making Joint Development Work: the Federal, Transit Agency and Business Perspective

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:17:54 -0500

The Center For Transit-Oriented Development held a webinar on "Making Joint Development Work: Perspectives from the Federal, Transit Agency and Business Roles." The webinar was co-sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration and the American Public Transportation Association.

Transit agencies such as Portland TriMet, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and Miami-Dade Transit have successfully completed joint development projects that have served to create revenue, provide affordable housing, increase ridership, and/or foster public and private partnerships in the community. Getting there however, was not easy. Numerous transit agencies across the country find it challenging to decode federal language, work with local developers and partners, comply with various state and local regulations, and secure funding for joint development projects. Webinar participants heard different perspectives on how to make joint development work, including the federal role in facilitating joint development, successful initiatives adapted by Portland Tri-Met, and insight from a business and legal standpoint on making a project viable. The webinar also highlighted research around joint development and recommendations submitted to the FTA for clarifying existing rules on joint development.

For more information on TriMet's Patton Park project and other livability initiatives in Portland, please see Livable Portland: Land Use and Transportation Initiatives.
View APTA's report on Forming Partnerships to Promote Transit-Oriented Development and Joint Development
For those interested in value capture strategies, please view CTOD's report on Capturing the Value of Transit
View FTA's resources on Joint Development.

Better! Cities & Towns published an article on this webinar: How to team up to build around transit stations

Try this link

Webinar Schedule

Reconnecting America Joins Transit And Elected Officials To Oppose House Transit Financing Changes

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:31:42 -0500

February 2, 2012

Dear Chairman Camp and Ranking Member Levin:

On behalf of the nation’s local elected officials and public transportation leaders, we are writing to express our strong opposition to H.R. 3864, the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Financing Act of 2012, which includes a provision that would jeopardize the future of public transportation. Specifically, the proposal to redirect federal gas tax revenues away from public transportation would undermine years of investment in our nation’s transportation infrastructure and could prevent local governments and transportation providers from entering into multi-year construction contracts, jeopardizing jobs that are urgently needed.

America is home to 7,700 public transportation systems, which range from three-van systems serving isolated seniors in rural communities to large urban systems serving millions of passengers each day. Taken together, these systems provide 400,000 direct jobs for American workers. Public transportation takes people from all walks of life to work, to health care, to shops, and to school. In fact, Americans take more than 10 billion trips on transit every year.

Since Ronald Reagan signed the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982, the federal government has followed a balanced approach to surface transportation funding, providing multi-year dedicated funding from the gasoline tax to both highway and transit projects. This funding stream allows local units of government to enter into long-term construction contracts that employ thousands of people to build critical infrastructure projects. If the gas tax is redirected away from public transportation, these jobs will be put in jeopardy.

Collectively, we represent the interests of almost every municipality or county government in the United States. For the economic health of our communities, we strongly urge you not to divert gas tax revenues away from public transportation.

Reconnecting America Comments On Senate and House Transportation Legislation

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:23:51 -0500

“This week the U.S. Congress has taken major steps toward building stronger communities through investment in public transportation and transit-oriented development,” said John Robert Smith, President and CEO of Reconnecting America. “We thank the leaders of the Senate Banking Committee and the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee for their tireless efforts to move legislation forward that will continue the federal government’s strong partnership with local transit providers.”

In the Senate, Reconnecting America was pleased that the proposed Federal Public Transportation Act of 2012 has continued to fully fund the nation’s public transportation program for the next two years. In the Senate Banking Committee’s mark-up today, bipartisan support under the strong leadership of Chairman Tim Johnson and Ranking Member Richard Shelby moved forward a bill that will help transit agencies continue to provide the safe, reliable, and affordable public transportation service that millions of Americans use every day.

Of particular importance to the work in which Reconnecting America is engaged, the Banking Committee recognized that an important goal of the federal transit program is to encourage economic development by connecting workers to jobs and supporting mixed-use development around transit stations. The Committee’s bill will provide local governments with funding to support planning around new transit lines, what we refer to as transit-oriented development or TOD. These plans will help stimulate economic development and community revitalization by creating mixed-use, walkable neighborhoods around high-quality transit. In this vein, the Committee also recognized the need for FTA to support communities’ efforts to implement TOD. The Center for Transit-Oriented Development, in which Reconnecting America is a partner, has been providing technical assistance on this issue for many years in regions around the country and through targeted research and practical guidebooks, and has seen first-hand the benefits that these resources provide to communities.

Across the Capitol in the House of Representatives, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica’s bill keeps transit programs funded at current levels for the next five years, demonstrating that the Committee’s leadership also recognized the importance of transit for our country in both providing jobs and economic development, as well as providing choices in transportation for all Americans.

The Committee’s bill, the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act, exhibits strong leadership on the issue of TOD by allowing TOD-related infrastructure projects to be eligible for federal loans and loan guarantees. It also makes great strides in improving rural transit service, so that residents of rural areas including the elderly, our nation’s veterans, and people with disabilities, can experience the benefits that quality transit service provides. Additionally, allowing intercity bus and vanpool providers to use some of their own resources to provide a local match for federal transit funds will improve connectivity in rural areas.

There are certain aspects of the House bill that are cause for considerable concern, such as reduced funding for intercity passenger rail and bicycle and pedestrian access to transit stations. While we plan to continue working with the Committee on these and other issues, we appreciate their recognition that transit is an integral part of our nation’s multimodal transportation network in both urban and rural areas.

Unfortunately, while the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is moving in the right direction on transit, the House Ways and Means Committee is poised to undermine this effort by diverting gas taxes that currently fund the transit program to other purposes. Tomorrow they will mark up the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Financing Act, which deals strictly with the funding provisions of the House bill. Proposed language in that bill diverts gas tax revenues away from public transportation, eliminating sustained funding provisions that have been in place since the Reagan Administration. This not only takes away jobs from long-term construction contracts that can no longer be put in place, but threatens the safety and ongoing operation of our nation’s public transportation systems.

“We encourage the leadership of the Ways and Means Committee, Chairman Dave Camp and Ranking Member Sander Levin, to work together in a bipartisan fashion on this critical issue so that the transportation needs of all Americans can be addressed,” Smith said

Kim Burnett Joins Reconnecting America Board of Directors

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:56:24 -0500

Reconnecting America President and CEO John Robert Smith today announced the appointment of Kim Burnett to the organization's Board of Directors.

"We are extremely pleased to have Kim join our board," said Smith. "Her background in the not-for-profit foundation world and the private sector, in addition to her expertise in transit-oriented development (TOD), will benefit Reconnecting America as we continue to work to create better communities."

Burnett has worked in the field of community and economic development for more than 15 years as a practitioner and independent consultant. She is a recognized expert on regional and urban policy and currently is a non-resident fellow for the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution. Burnett has extensive knowledge related to Sustainable Communities and transit-oriented development. She is a former Program Director for the Surdna Foundation's Strong Local Economies program. Burnett has a Master's in Urban and Regional Planning from Portland State University, a Bachelor's in Politics from the University of California at Santa Cruz and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Reconnecting America's Board of Directors works with Reconnecting America's staff to set the vision and goals of the organization. The Board provides valuable, strategic advice in the constantly changing environment of housing and transportation issues.

Federal Transportation Infrastructure Investment Critically Important

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:45:06 -0500

Reconnecting America President and CEO John Robert Smith issued the following response to President Obama's State of the Union address January 24:

"I appreciate the President's recognition that repairing our transportation infrastructure must be a part of any plan to make an America 'built to last.' As the President pointed out, both Republican and Democratic administrations invested in great highway projects after World War II. Those major infrastructure investments benefited everybody, as the President noted, 'from the workers who built them to the businesses that still use them today.' And now, many of those roads and bridges are in disrepair.

"Today, as the nation begins to rise out of a deep recession, an investment in transportation infrastructure is critically important, including not only roads and bridges, but other modes such as trains and buses. Transportation choices for Americans are essential for reducing our dependence on foreign oil, increasing access to opportunity, and improving our quality of life. Indeed, transportation is a key component in making many of the President's other proposals work. We need transit options and intermodal links to take students to college, to transport unemployed workers to job training, and to bring employees and customers to small businesses. Quality, reliable public transportation systems are the anchors that help many communities thrive, whether they are in rural, suburban, or urban areas.

“A world class transportation system can be made in America with Americans working to ensure that Americans have a way to get to work. That is a solution we can all support. As a former Republican mayor, I was pleased to hear the president's strong call not to politicize transportation construction. I encourage members of both parties to work towards a solution that will benefit all Americans."

Reconnecting America to assist the Gulf Regional Planning Commission as part of Livability Solutions work

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:31:14 -0500

Reconnecting America, as a partner in Livability Solutions, has been selected to provide technical assistance to the Gulf Regional Planning Commission in Gulfport, Mississippi. Reconnecting America will be working with the Gulf Regional Planning Commission to develop a typology for transit-oriented development (TOD) and to explore mixed-income TOD strategies to lower housing and transportation costs for residents of the region.

“I’m encouraged that the Livability Solutions team has selected Gulfport, Miss.,” said Reconnecting America President and CEO John Robert Smith, a former mayor of Meridian, Miss. “This region, like many others on the Gulf Coast, has seen its share of issues and challenges over the past several years. This opportunity will help lay the groundwork for future thoughtful investments in community building that will support all people in the Gulf region and make it more resilient in the future.”

Ten communities were selected to receive free technical assistance this year from among 64 applications. The 10 governments and organizations selected represent a diverse group of communities from across the United States, from large cities to rural counties. All have a strong commitment to sustainability and smart growth and are poised to implement positive change by making use of the assistance offered by Livability Solutions partners.

In addition to the Gulf Regional Planning Commission, the other nine recipients are:

University City District, Philadelphia, Penn.
West Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, Eau Claire, Wis.
Lower Eastside Action Plan, Detroit, Mich.
Toledo-Lucas County Sustainability Commission, Maumee, Ohio
Colfax on the Hill, Inc., Denver, Colo.
City of Blue Springs, Mo.
Charlotte County, Fla.
Arkansas Coalition for Obesity Prevention, Little Rock, Ark.
Anthithesis Research, Wellpoint, Wash.

Each community will receive a one- or two-day training session with a livability expert from Project for Public Spaces or one of the Livability Solutions partners on the issue of their choice. In addition to Reconnecting America, the partners who will be delivering technical assistance this year are:

Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT)
Congress for the New Urbanism
Local Government Commission
National Charrette Institute
Walkable Livable Communities Institute

This technical assistance is made possible by a grant to Project for Public Spaces from the United States Environmental Protection Agency Office of Sustainable Communities under the Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities Program. The Building Blocks program funds quick, targeted assistance to communities that face common development problems. Three other nonprofit organizations — Forterra (formerly Cascade Land Conservancy), Global Green USA, and Smart Growth America — also received competitively awarded grants under this program this year to help communities achieve their sustainable development goals.

Interested communities are encouraged to check the Livability Solutions website at livabilitysolutions.org periodically for additional opportunities for technical assistance. Interested foundations, organizations, and individuals who want to support assistance to one of the 53 other qualified applications are encouraged to contact Livability Solutions at livabilitysolutions@pps.org

TOD and Climate Change Webinar

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 19:05:09 -0500

This webinar presented research from the Center for Transit-Oriented Development analyzing the potential of TOD to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Planning scenarios for four regions were examined to contrast the GHG reduction potential of compact urban development near transit stations vs. business as usual development. Also, Mike McKeever of Sacramento Area Council of Governments and Tina Hodges at the Federal Transit Administration shared their experience on GHG reduction through transportation and land use planning.

Try this link

Webinar Schedule

Senate Committee Delivers Bipartisan Agreement On Behalf Of All Americans

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:19:30 -0500

On Dec. 15, 2011, John Robert Smith, President and CEO of Reconnecting America, released the following statement regarding on the Senate Commerce Committee Transportation Reauthorization:

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee marked up the Surface Transportation and Freight Policy Act of 2011. In the process of reviewing this legislation, which reauthorizes elements of our federal transportation program, they adopted an amendment with bipartisan support to ensure that all streets provide safe travel for not only motorists, but also bikers and walkers. This amendment provides all of our citizens, including those who cannot drive such as the elderly, the young and the disabled, quality access to our transportation network. The intent of the amendment is for any new federally funded road projects to be designed to accommodate and take into account the safety of all users.

I applaud Senator Mark Begich (D-AK) for sponsoring this amendment. Senator Begich and I both served as Mayors of our hometowns. We understand the varied transportation needs at the local level and that for many in a community driving is not an option. Senator John Thune (R-SD) also spoke about the importance of moving this amendment forward. Senator Thune and I have visited and discussed how small towns and rural areas have specific transportation needs, and alternatives to driving must be available.

This bipartisan agreement on behalf of all Americans, young, old, disabled, urban, rural and small town, should be applauded. Building a modern transportation system that provides choices and options is something all Americans can support.

Mapping Sustainable Communities Awards

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500

The past two years have been an exciting time as large and small communities, representing all corners of the country, have worked on developing collaborative planning processes that will address the unique conditions in their region and which will improve the quality of life for the diverse people that live, work and play there.

The impetus for this has been competition for grants springing from the unprecedented partnership announced between the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency in 2009.

In November, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced nearly $96 million in Sustainable Communities grants that will help 29 regions and 27 communities plan for better coordination of housing, land use, economic and workforce development, transportation, infrastructure and other elements that create strong, healthy and economically competitive places.

This followed last year's HUD awards under the Sustainable Communities Regional Planning grant program (SCRPG), and the Community Challenge grant program, and the Department of Transportation’s TIGER II awards.

Reconnecting America staff has been keeping track of where projects are taking place and created a map that displays all of the grants awarded by HUD under the Sustainable Communities in both 2010 and 2011. A separate map shows DOT TIGER programs during FY2010. The TIGER map will be updated when the FY2011 TIGER awards are announced.

(View map in separate window)

The map below displays all of the grants awarded by HUD & DOT under the Sustainable Communities and TIGER programs for all three years. (View map in separate window)

The map below shows all three years of TIGER grants. (View map in separate window)

CTOD Webinar Schedule Revised

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:04:18 -0500

The Center for Transit-Oriented Development's webinar schedule has been updated, moving this month's webinar into next year and shifting everything else. Webinars with an * are sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration.

Webinar on Climate and TOD* – January 17
Webinar on Joint Development* – February 14
Webinar on TOD 101 – TBA
Webinar on Regional Planning – March 13
Webinar on Cargo-Oriented TOD – April 10
Webinar on TOD and Families – May 8
Webinar on TOD 101 – June 12

Registration details will be sent out a couple weeks before each webinar. Please also check periodically for updated information on session description and panelists information.

The webinar sessions are sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and are valuable to planners, practitioners, housing advocates, MPOs, local, state and federal DOT's, transit agencies, sustainable communities grantees, advocates, as well as elected officials and other decision-makers.

Webinar Home Page

Reconnecting America releases two interactive maps

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:00:42 -0500

Reconnecting America has added map navigation to two projects and incorporated feedback forms in both that will allow visitors to help maintain and update the information.

The 2011 edition of Jumpstarting the Transit Space Race and the 2010 Inventory of Transit Oriented Development Programs now sport large interactive locator maps that give a national overview of the data and provide the ability to click and learn more about a particular map point. The material is also sorted into sections for easier browsing.

"These maps allow people to delve into the information in a way that you just can't do with a spreadsheet," said Jeff Wood, Reconnecting America's new media director and chief cartographer.

Feedback forms will be especially useful for these projects since both were, when published, snapshots of that time. Much has changed since then. Now, with visitor input, Reconnecting America will be able to update these resources on a continuing basis.

New Partners for Smart Growth Conference

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 12:50:41 -0500

Reconnecting America is co-sponsoring the 2012 New Partners for Smart Growth conference to be held in San Diego on Feb. 2-4.

The 11th annual New Partners for Smart Growth conference is a national, multi-disciplinary smart growth gathering presented by the Local Government Commission. Appealing to many different disciplines, the conference will draw an audience of local elected officials, city and county staff, landscape architects, developers and builders, planners, transportation professionals, public health professionals, architects, bankers, realtors, urban designers, parks and recreation professionals, advocates for social and environmental equity, school superintendents, board members and facilities staff, advocates for older adults and youth, bicycle and pedestrian advocates, labor representatives, environmentalists, crime prevention professionals, and all others committed to building safer, healthier, and more livable communities everywhere.

Today, more than ever, the nation is faced with environmental and economic challenges that will define this generation, shape the future, and test the resilience of cities, regions, states and the nation. This conference will identify innovative ways to finance smart growth, explore creative techniques for reducing infrastructure and service costs, and provide concrete ideas for employing smart growth as a tool for community economic vitality.

San Diego is an ideal setting for the 2012 New Partners for Smart Growth Conference. The second largest city in California and eighth largest in the nation, San Diego is one of the most livable and sustainable major metropolitan areas in the nation. An innovative pioneer in the smart growth movement, the San Diego region provides inspiring models for creating transit-oriented, compact development; transforming downtowns and ethnically diverse, older neighborhoods; designing walkable, mixed-use urban villages; and fostering the emergence of leading high-tech, telecommunications, and clean-tech businesses.

Preceding the conference will be a three-day tour of San Diego's regional smart growth from Jan. 30, 2012, to Feb. 1. The tour will combine travel by walking, trolley and coach bus to explore downtown San Diego, old classic neighborhoods, new neighborhoods and suburban downtowns. Each stop will be a great opportunity to learn how a wide range of smart growth strategies are being implemented in communities of all sizes and shapes.

The conference program will kick off on the morning of Thursday, Feb. 2, and continue through the afternoon of Saturday, Feb. 4 and will feature a dynamic mix of nearly 95 sessions — plenaries, breakouts, specialized trainings, implementation workshops, and coordinated networking activities. Exciting tours of local model projects from San Diego and surrounding cities will be featured.

Plan to join Reconnecting America and others from across the United States next February for the smart growth event of the year.

Reconnecting America commends HUD's announcement of sustainable communities grants

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:18:26 -0500

Reconnecting America commends the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) announcement of nearly $96 million in Sustainable Communities grants that will help 29 regions and 27 communities plan for better coordination of housing, land use, economic and workforce development, transportation, infrastructure and other elements that that create strong, healthy and economically competitive places.

Reconnecting America especially applauds the number of HUD awards going to regions and communities supporting equitable transit-oriented development and multimodal transportation planning. The diversity of the selected regions and communities shows that places large and small have a stated desire to improve access to opportunity and quality of life for residents of all walks of life.

"The increased focus on economic development this year will provide these places with the support needed to study how to create better connections to jobs, educational institutions and other essential destinations while also reducing housing and transportation costs," said Reconnecting America President and CEO John Robert Smith.

HUD's Regional Planning Grant program supports collaborative regional planning activities that foster greater integration of housing, land use, economic and workforce development, transportation and infrastructure development. Grants were available to support new efforts to create regional plans and also for more advance planning activities in regions that have already established regional plans. The Community Challenge Grant program provides individual communities with the resources needed to reform and reduce barriers to implementing housing and transportation plans, including reforming zoning codes, updating master plans, developing affordable housing strategies and increasing transportation options.

Reconnecting America worked with several regions to put applications together and was excited to learn that two of these regions, Denver and the San Francisco Bay Area, were selected to receive $4.5 million and $4.99 million, respectively, from the Regional Planning Grant program. The Denver region's proposal will build off of the Center for Transit-Oriented Development's (CTOD) work on the West Corridor and support similar corridor studies on three future transit lines currently under construction. The San Francisco Bay Area region's proposal will focus on increasing access to middle-income jobs and preserving affordable housing in transit-oriented communities.

HUD reported that it would have needed $500 million to fund all proposals received this year. Shelley Poticha, Director of HUD's Office of Sustainable Housing Communities (OSHC), stated that this demand demonstrates the need of many regions and communities to better integrate their investments in infrastructure and community development.

An interactive map of grant recipients is available here.

HUD's official press release is available here.

Webinar on Employment, Transit and Transit-Oriented Development

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 20:35:22 -0500

On Nov. 15, the Center for Transit-Oriented Development held a webinar “Employment, Transit and Transit-Oriented Development.” The webinar focused on the importance of concentrating jobs near transit to fostering economically sustainable regions and healthy transit systems. Speakers discussed new research on spatial employment patterns in our metropolitan areas, and the types of economic activity that are most likely to benefit from being near transit. Participants also discussed the ways in which national research has been applied to inform regional economic development, transportation, and land use planning in the San Francisco Bay Area and Phoenix regions. Last, the webinar discussed the best practices across the nation in economic development incentives that support job growth and concentration in sustainable locations.

Try this link

Webinar Schedule

Discussing Jobs Bill and Transportation Infrastructure

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 11:45:39 -0400

Photo by John Robert Smith

Earlier this week, Reconnecting America's President and CEO John Robert Smith, who also serves as Co-Chairman of Transportation for America, and James Corless, the Director of Transportation for America, were invited to the White House to participate in a discussion with the executive committee of Transportation for America and White House staff. Accompanying them were Transportation for America partners Arnold Weinfeld, Director of Strategic Initiatives and Federal Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League and Scott Wolf, Executive Director, Grow Smart Rhode Island.

The conference call discussion focused on the jobs bill and, in particular, the transportation infrastructure element.

During the visit, Smith was interviewed by the White House film crew along with several others about the transportation bill. (Video is embedded below.)

Later, Smith, Corless and the Transportation for America partners joined other groups in the East Room, where they heard from Senior White House Advisor Valerie Jarrett, Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama. In one-on-one conversations with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Shaun Donovan, Transportation for America was praised as an example of how nonpartisan groups can impact federal policy.

Link to White House blog post

Abigail Thorne-Lyman Named Director Of Center For Transit-Oriented Development

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:41:14 -0400

The Center for Transit-Oriented Development today announced the appointment of Abigail Thorne-Lyman to be the director of the Center for Transit-Oriented Development, replacing Sam Zimbabwe.

“Given her long track record of leadership in CTOD over the last seven years, Abby is the obvious choice to be the next CTOD Director,” said Reconnecting America Chief of Staff Allison Brooks. “Abby is an innovator and a wonderful collaborator, and will continue to help CTOD break new ground in supporting TOD implementation across the country.”

Zimbabwe is leaving to take a position as Associate Director for the Planning, Policy and Sustainability Administration with the District of Columbia Department of Transportation.

“While we will all miss Sam terribly, both his incredible expertise and warm and witty personality, we are so proud of him and his new opportunity with DDOT,” said Reconnecting America President and CEO John Robert Smith. “Sam will still be engaged in the type of work he led so well at Reconnecting America and I am sure we will cross his path often.”

Prior to Thorne-Lyman’s appointment, she was Project Director in Reconnecting America’s Oakland office, where she led a range of technical assistance and research projects in regions around the country, including Los Angeles, Portland, and Pittsburgh. As part of her work in regions around the country, she has helped public, private and nonprofit stakeholders develop new tools and methods for understanding and implementing TOD and for communicating the benefits and opportunities of TOD to a wide audience.

CTOD is a partnership among Reconnecting America, the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT), and Strategic Economics. As director, Thorne-Lyman will manage CTOD’s efforts to provide technical resources and best practices to transit agencies, cities, and local communities working to implement transit-oriented development plans at scales that range from the neighborhood to the region.

2011 Rail~Volution Presentations

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 19:34:51 -0400

Reconnecting America (@reconnecting) and its partners in the Center for Transit-Oriented Development were out at Rail~Volution in Washington, DC, Oct. 16-19. A full list of their workshops and seminars appears at the bottom.

Try this link

Monday, October 17, 10:30 am
Linear Thinking as Creative Thinking: Planning at the Corridor Scale (Elizabeth Wampler)
Value Capture: An Overview (Nadine Fogarty)
Monday, October 17, 2:30 pm
Empowering Practitioners: Recent Analysis and Research Findings in TOD (Sam Zimbabwe and Matt Sussman)
Equitable Sustainable Community Development - Lessons From Around the US (Allison Brooks)
Monday, October 17, 4:00 pm
The Politics of Community Change: Race, Class and Displacement in America (Darnell Grisby)
Affordable Housing Basics (G. Sasha Forbes)
Finance: An Overview (Shanti Breznau)
Tuesday, October 18, 10:00 am
ETOD: Focusing Employment Near Transit (Dena Belzer)
Aligning Transportation, Land Use and Housing Planning (Sarah Kline)
The Shifting Paradigm of the City (Peter Haas)
Tuesday, October 18, 12:00 pm (Box Lunch)
Advancing Equitable TOD in Your Region (Sam Zimbabwe)
Tuesday, October 18, 2:00 pm
Changing the Conversation: Using Blogs to Influence Policy and Start Urbanist and Transit Movements (Jeff Wood)
California High-Speed: Next Steps (Darnell Grisby)
Tuesday, October 18, 4:00 pm
Linking People to Opportunity in Small Towns and Rural Regions (John Robert Smith)
Wednesday, October 19, 10:00 am
Regionalism: Case Studies of Planning and Practice (Alia Anderson)
Wednesday, October 19, 2:00 pm
Creating Solutions through Effective Partnership: A Forum with Federal Grantees (Catherine Cox Blair, Sam Zimbabwe, Allison Brooks, Maria Choca Urban)

Apply for Free Technical Assistance

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:57:02 -0400

Livability Solutions, a partnership that includes Reconnecting America, is now taking applications for free technical assistance.

The Livability Solutions partnership is supported by a grant to the Project for Public Spaces from the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Sustainable Communities under their Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities Program. The Building Blocks program funds quick, targeted assistance to communities that face common development problems.

Livability Solutions will be offering workshops in six to 12 communities around the country, enabling local governments and stakeholders to implement changes that will advance them onthe road toward long term smart growth and sustainability.

The technical assistance will take the form of one- to two-day workshops in one or more of Livability Solutions' unique suite of livability tools. Each will be led by one or more of our experienced coalition members.

The application will be open until 8pm Eastern Nov. 22.

Applicants can be governments, government agencies, or non-profits, but a local government (elected officials or agency) must be involved in the technical assistance; the application instructions describe this eligibility.

Questions may be answered by going to the Livability Solutions website: www.livabilitysolutions.org.

Anyone interested in Livability Solutions preparing a workshop or series of workshops for their community, can contact livabilitysolutions@pps.org to explore the possibility on a fee-for-service basis or if they have another funder in mind.

Value Capture and Transit

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 18:21:31 -0400

On Oct. 25, the Center for Transit-Oriented Development presented the latest in its series of webinars, “Value Capture and Transit..”

A multitude of studies show that transit generates a host of economic benefits, including higher property values and enhanced development opportunities. Public sector “value capture” strategies attempt to harness all or part of this value to help pay for transit or other needed community investments. This webinar introduces participants to the range of value capture strategies that can be employed near transit, and provides real-world examples of innovative value capture strategies currently underway in the US.

Below is a video of the entire 90 minute webinar plus links to a slideshow created from the presentation and a downloadable PDF copy of the presentation.

Try this link

Webinar Schedule

Reconnecting America to help provide technical assistance to communities

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 10:19:30 -0400

Reconnecting America and its partners in the newly formed Livability Solutions partnership will be providing technical assistance to communities seeking to implement sustainable and smart growth development programs under a new federal grant.

“Reconnecting America is proud to be part of this coalition. The grant will make it possible for us and our partners in the Livability Solutions coalition to help communities around the nation enhance livability,” said Allison Brooks, Reconnecting America’s chief of staff. “Our goal is to help them create lasting economic and environmental improvements, and to effect positive change in the public and social health of their residents.”

With this funding, coalition partners will bring a number of time-honored approaches and innovative strategies for transportation and land use planning to help communities.

Citing the Mixed-Income Transit-Oriented Development Action Guide (MITOD.org) and the national TOD Database (toddata.cnt.org), Reconnecting America Program Director Catherine Cox Blair said, “With these tools, we can guide communities through the myriad details involved in creating better places to live that are also more sustainable. The combined expertise of our partners will be of great benefit to all involved.”

Partners in Livability Solutions include:

Project for Public Spaces
Reconnecting America
The Center for Neighborhood Technology
The Walkable and Livable Communities Institute
National Center for Biking & Walking
The Local Government Commission
The National Charrette Institute
The Congress for New Urbanism
Paul Dreher of the Newport City Renaissance Corporation
Leigh Lane of the Center for Transportation and Environment (CTE) at NC State University
The Surface Transportation Policy Project

More information on the Livability Solutions team is available at www.livabilitysolutions.org.

Creating and Maintaining Sustainable Communities

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Reconnecting America today released four training modules created for and funded by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) that illustrate various principles of creating and maintaining sustainable communities. The modules created by Reconnecting America’s LINK (Leadership¸ Innovation, Networks, Knowledge) Team were presented at three APTA conferences with the goal of educating practitioners, public transit agencies, elected officials and other decision-makers.

“The modules are applicable to a diversity of regions. We developed these modules to be flexible and adaptable to a variety of transit modes” said Catherine Cox Blair, Program Director of LINK.

According to Reconnecting America President and CEO John Robert Smith, “These modules are a significant step in educating a broader audience about the importance of transit-oriented development in building sustainable communities.”

“APTA is pleased to have worked with Reconnecting America to develop useful and informative modules for our members,” said APTA President William Millar. “These will help advance understanding in this important area.

These modules are also available on the APTA website.

Below are slideshows with speaker notes from each module:

Try this link

TOD Database: One Stop Shop for Station Area Data

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 16:42:38 -0400

Reconnecting America and the Center for Transit-Oriented Development held the third in its series of webinars on Sept. 20, 2011. "TOD Database: One Stop Shop for Station Area Data" introduced users to the functionality and potential applications of the TOD Database, a map-based website that provides comprehensive information on 4,610 transit stations across the country.

The TOD Database is a first-of-its-kind tool for planners, developers, academics and government officials. It is designed to help stakeholders understand and take advantage of development opportunities around transit nodes. Webinar presenters provided detailed instructions for accessing and downloading the data, assembling custom reports, and comparing station areas and regions.

The webinar series is sponsored by The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and is valuable to planners, practitioners, housing advocates, MPOs, local, state and federal DOT's, transit agencies, sustainable communities grantees, advocates, as well as elected officials and other decision makers.

Try this link

Webinar Schedule

John Robert Smith Praises Senate Appropriations Subcommittee Action

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 14:34:17 -0400

John Robert Smith, President and CEO of Reconnecting America and Co-Chair of Transportation for America, issued the following statement in response to today’s vote in the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD):

"I would like to praise the leadership of the Senate Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) for their foresight in retaining $90 million in the HUD Sustainable Communities Planning Grants program. This program is a valuable tool in building sustainable, affordable communities that connect people with their jobs, doctors, and schools.

"Though Reconnecting America is disappointed to see that no funding was provided for the high speed and intercity passenger rail program, we are pleased that funding for public transportation and Amtrak have been retained at current levels, and that funds have been included to continue the TIGER discretionary grants so that communities can continue to invest in the infrastructure that our nation needs."

Jeff Wood Named To Mass Transit Top 40 Under 40

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:17:23 -0400

Reconnecting America’s Jeff Wood has been named one of Mass Transit magazine’s Top 40 Under 40 list. Wood, who is the chief cartographer and new media director for Reconnecting America, was nominated by his peers as a professional who has made significant contributions to the public transit industry. Wood’s work was judged on criteria that included job commitment, industry involvement and contribution, achievement in his position and innovation in his field.

“Millions of people utilize public transportation every year, relying on it to transport them to work, school, social and sporting activities,” said Publisher John Hollenhorst in announcing the honorees this year. “The individuals chosen for this year’s list have been standouts in their respective areas and show a strong passion and commitment that exemplifies the best of the best.”

A 6-year veteran of Reconnecting America, Wood does mapping analysis for Reconnecting America and the Center for Transit-Oriented Development and conducts research on transit mode funding, technology, and the relationship of transit to development. Much of his mapping analysis which focuses on land use and transit can be found in Reconnecting America’s Map Room. (http://ractod.org/pO7YEl) His new media outreach and communications work includes a popular daily email newsletter, The Other Side of the Tracks, which is distributed weekdays to more than 1,200 subscribers. Previous to his work at Reconnecting America, Jeff co-founded Connect Austin, an umbrella organization for nonprofits in Austin that promoted streetcars. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Geography and a Master of Science in Community and Regional Planning from the University of Texas at Austin.

“I really enjoy meeting all the people around the country that are doing the hard work of organizing on the ground, getting transit lines and development around them through the political quicksand that pops up in every city,” said Wood. “In the blogosphere, planning departments, and transit agencies around the country there are a lot of unrecognized heroes out there that have a story to tell. Learning what they have done is inspiring and hopefully I can help them with their work in some way or another and tell their stories.”

Last year, Reconnecting America Policy Director Sarah Kline, then the director of policy and government relations for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, was a Mass Transit 40 Under 40 honoree.

John Robert Smith, President and CEO of Reconnecting America, praised Wood’s selection, saying, “We are extremely proud that the caliber of Jeff’s talent has earned him this ‘Top 40 Under 40’ selection. He is an indispensable part of our team. Reconnecting America prides itself on the skills of its staff and having Jeff and Sarah receive this honor in back-to-back years proves that we indeed have a strong team.”

Mass Transit Magazine Article

Transportation Triage: Rebuilding A 20th Century System While Preparing for the 21st

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:16:49 -0400

Building the System We Want

Montana’s communities face diverse transportation challenges. Some areas are growing rapidly without the resources to properly plan for and serve new residents. Others are losing people and have high aging and low-income populations that need a variety of reliable transportation options. Many are simply reeling from decades of under investment in infrastructure and are in need of a lifeline.¹

Every six years or so, Congress writes the rules for spending federal transportation dollars. In the current drafting of the bill, transportation for America is calling on Congress to reorient our policy toward repairing and maintaining our 20th century transportation systems while building for the 21st century. The current federal transportation program provides scant assurance that our hard-earned tax dollars will be spent wisely and effectively and fails to adequately invest in a variety of travel options. We need federal transportation legislation that addresses and meets the needs of Montanans and all Americans.

Americans everywhere are eager for an update to our transportation programs that will expand our options. A 2010 poll conducted by a bipartisan team of pollsters found that 79 percent of rural Americans believe the United States would benefit from an expanded and improved transportation system, such as rail and buses.² A majority of voters would like to see existing roads and bridge infrastructure maintained and rehabilitated before adding new capacity. Rural transportation stakeholders deserve improved rural accessibility, safety and a well-functioning transportation system that promotes health and economic vitality of communities.

Maintaining What We Have — Saving Money and Improving Safety

Over the last 50 years, America has built a national highway system that connects regions and states across the country, but now much of that system is showing its age. A recent report on road conditions by taxpayers for Common Sense and Smart Growth America found that over 7,300 miles, or 25 percent of Montana’s state roads have fallen out of good condition and 7.5 percent of Montana’s bridges are structurally deficient.³ This state of affairs affects the longevity of our transportation system, costs money, and reduces the safety of our existing infrastructure.

According to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, every dollar spent on repair of a highway can save up to $14 down the road. Poor road conditions cost U.S. motorists $67 billion a year in repairs and operating costs-an average of $335 per motorist.⁴ The repair Priorities report concluded that investing too little on road repair significantly increases the state’s future financial liabilities and recommends prioritizing maintenance and rehabilitation to reduce these future liabilities, benefit taxpayers and create a better transportation system.

Negative safety impacts of poor road conditions are particularly disproportionate for rural communities. Residents of small towns are more likely to be hurt or killed on the transportation system than those in urban areas. Nearly 60 percent of traffic fatalities occur on rural roads, while they carry 40 percent of the traffic and only 20 percent of the population.⁵

Ensuring we take care of the infrastructure in which we have already invested will result in more money down the road for Montana’s transportation infrastructure, cost-savings for Montanan motorists, and help improve the safety of Montana’s roads.

The Needs of Older Montanans — and All Americans

Improving public transportation and expanding options helps older Montanans, particularly those in rural and frontier communities. In 2000, 23 percent of older adults in America lived in rural areas. As they age, they risk being isolated in their homes in the absence of adequate transportation infrastructure. They would have no way to get to the services they frequent, such as healthcare and grocery stores.

Transportation for America’s recent report, Aging in Place, Stuck without Options, addresses these challenges in detail.⁶ The report ranked metro areas according to the percentage of seniors projected to face poor transit access, and asked: How do we address the shrinking mobility options of baby boomers who wish to stay in their homes and “age in place?”

Montana will face especially steep challenges, with a projected 104.8 percent increase in its population of residents 65 and older between 2000 and 2030, compared to 99.8 percent nationwide. The projected increase rises to 220.5 percent in Flathead County, 224.9 percent in Ravalli County, 227.7 percent in Lewis and Clark County and 328 percent in Jefferson County.⁷

Accommodating seniors who want to age in place — and most of them do — will be a challenge for our nation’s transportation system. But there is a lot that we can do. T4 America Director James Corless recently testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Housing, transportation and Community Development about policies that could be included in the next transportation authorization to specifically address needs of individuals with disabilities and older Americans. We can increase funding for bus routes, vanpools and ridesharing. We can provide incentives for community non-profits to operate their own systems. We can encourage states to involve seniors more intimately in the planning process and ensure officials are still able to “flex” federal dollars for transit projects. We can also prioritize “complete streets” that meet the needs of all users, including older Americans on foot, in wheelchairs or on their way to a transit stop.

The Link Between Transportation and Health

The impact of transportation investments and decisions on Montanans’ health cannot be overstated.

Montanans benefited from the massive infrastructure investment brought on by the interstate Highway Act in the 1950s. Unfortunately, by building neighborhoods and towns that require an automobile trip for nearly everything, we have literally engineered physical activity out of our daily lives.

As our travel habits have changed, obesity and diabetes have been on the rise. In 1995, Americans took 42 percent fewer trips on foot than in 1975, and the number has continued to drop.⁸ Only one in ten American children now walks or bikes to school. At the same time, the percentage of individuals who are obese has doubled in the last two decades, along with rates of diabetes. The percentage of overweight children nearly tripled, and more children today are being diagnosed with type-2 diabetes, a disease that used to be limited to adults.

According to a report from the Robert wood Johnson foundation and trust for America’s Health, Montana has an adult obesity rate of about 23 percent.⁹ The report also notes that the State of Montana has failed to enact complete streets legislation, which would ensure that all users – pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, wheelchair users and transit riders – have safe access on Montana’s streets. Some progress toward “complete streets” has occurred in Bozeman, Helena and Missoula, but local, state and federal policy change is an important next step.

Rural Transportation Access, Options, and Economic Vitality

The connection between economic vitality and transportation access and services in small towns and rural communities was the subject of a recent report from the rural Policy research institute (RUPRI).¹⁰ The report found that increased accessibility and mobility options improve quality of life, which in turn attracts both individuals and new businesses to rural areas, increasing economic development.

RUPRI found that a variety of transportation investments — including transit, vanpools, walking and biking paths, intercity bus, and roads and highways — are critical to the economic development and overall health of smaller communities and rural areas. The most beneficial investments are those that improve access to job centers and essential services, reduce cost of living, and fuel local private-sector growth by fostering communities where people want to live and work. To facilitate this, RUPRI’s recommendations include: encouraging innovation and multimodal investments such as rail; coordination, cost-effectiveness and efficiency (in local street connectivity, access management, and intercity bus, for instance); and flexibility for rural areas to focus resources on investments that meet specific needs and characteristics of the community.

Transportation investments that are not driven by locally identified priorities or collaborative approaches will lessen the potential to achieve key outcomes. Misdirected investments are more likely to diminish rural economic development potential and may lead to unintended negative consequences such as a reduced ability to pay for existing transportation improvements and services. Thus, some core policy recommendations included local rural stakeholder engagement in transportation planning and decision-making, integrated coordinated regional planning and implementation, encouraging innovation and integration for cost effective outcomes.

Addressing Rural Transportation Challenges: Policy Proposal

Over the past two years, transportation for America worked with an array of organizations around the country, including the Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL), the National Center for Frontier Communities and the National Rural Assembly, as well as a number of Montana based groups to develop a proposal to enhance rural transportation systems. We traveled to Montana to talk to people personally about their transportation needs and have specifically worked to address the transportation access, mobility, health, quality of life, and economic vitality issues that are primary concerns of rural transportation stakeholders.

The recommendations include:

Incorporating local stakeholders in the planning process;
Improving efficiency and effectiveness of rural transit services through development of a coordinated rural transit plan;
Designation of a “mobility manager”—an individual who would provide capacity to adequately develop and enhance implementation of these plans;
Increasing flexibility for specialized transit operators to serve all individuals dependent on transit, including seniors and people with disabilities;
Implementing a rural transit Cost Savings program to mitigate the disproportionate impact volatile gas prices have on rural transit providers through grants to increase fuel and energy efficiency of rural transit fleets and operators;
Providing increased flexibility to invest in additional transportation improvements — rail, local street networks, intercity bus, access management — to meet the unique needs of rural communities. The funding silos in Washington often “predetermine” the best solutions for rural communities. Increased flexibility will allow for outcome based investment decisions directed from the ground up;
Improving rural safety by prioritizing the most high risk roads, aiding rural areas in meeting new federal signage requirements and maximizing funding benefits by prioritizing low-cost, high-yield safety improvements;
Spurring innovation and revitalization of Main Street through a competitive grant program to allow small cities and towns — in non-metropolitan areas and on tribal reservations — to revitalize their existing town centers, promote economic development, leverage private dollars with public investments and provide a variety of transportation options, including car sharing, accessible walking and biking paths, intercity buses and public transportation;
Additionally leveraging private investment in public transportation through incentives to encourage private intercity bus and commuter vanpool providers to enhance service in rural areas; and
Helping tribes meet increased transit demand and increasing funding for the Indian reservation road program

Montanans Have Key Champions in Washington

Montana’s transportation challenges have far-reaching impacts on the health, quality of life, and economic vitality of Montana’s communities. Luckily, Montanans have a powerful champion in Senator Max Baucus, who in addition to being one of the “big four” on the environment and Public works Committee is also the chairman of the Senate finance Committee, which will lead the way in determining the size and revenue source of an eventual bill. With numerous details still in the works, Montanans who want increased options and real accountability in the bill should make their preferences known to Senator Baucus and his staff.

Montana’s junior Senator Jon Tester holds a position on the Senate banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee that oversees the transit element of the bill. The Committee’s Chairman, Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota, has also taken a particular concern in the diverse transportation needs of rural Americans and tribes. In this environment, Senator Tester’s position provides him unique capacity to be an advocate for rural transit and transportation in Montana. For example, in a May 19, 2011 committee hearing around priorities and challenges of the surface transportation authorization, he spoke up on the need for rural transit services and flexibility to help ensure all Montanans have access to education, jobs and health services.

Conclusion

This is indeed a crucial time for the nation’s transportation policy, as key players from the Obama administration down to the relevant Congressional committees are preparing to move forward with a reauthorization of current surface transportation law. Many advocates were disappointed by House transportation and infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica’s proposal to cut the transportation budget by 35 percent, eliminate dedicated funding for biking and walking and potentially reduce the number of roads and highways eligible for federal support.

The prospects for real investment and new options are more promising in the Senate. The environment and Public works committee is planning on moving forward with their transportation authorization proposal addressing the highway portion of surface transportation, and the Senate banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, where Senator Tester sits, is currently crafting the public transportation policy.

How we get to work, the quality and safety of where we call home and the opportunity to live actively are all dependent on the investments and policy directives of the next transportation bill. Montanans can surely reap the benefits of this legislation for years to come, but only if we communicate our priorities to our leaders in Washington so we can build a transportation system that will meet our needs well into the 21st Century.

John Robert Smith is the current cochairman of transportation for America, and current President and CEO of reconnecting America.

Gene Townsend is a lifelong resident of Three Forks, MT, and is currently serving his 26th year as mayor.

Footnotes:

TOD Database: One Stop Shop for Station Area Data

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 13:30:50 -0400

Please join us on Sept. 20, 2011, from 2:00-3:30pm EDT for the Center for Transit-Oriented Development webinar "TOD Database: One Stop Shop for Station Area Data." This webinar session is sponsored by The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and is valuable to planners, practitioners, housing advocates, MPOs, local, state and federal DOT's, transit agencies, sustainable communities grantees, advocates, as well as elected officials and other decision makers.

Hear from:

Linda Young, Research Director at the Center for Neighborhood Technology and CTOD
Peter Haas, Chief Research Scientist at the Center for Neighborhood Technology and CTOD
Sofia Becker, Research Assistant at the Center for Neighborhood Technology and CTOD
Jeff Price, Community Planner, Office of Systems Planning, Federal Transit Administration
Craig Sklenar, Planner in the Community & Economic Development Department at the City of Evanston, IL

Description:

This webinar focuses on introducing users to the functionality and potential applications of the TOD Database, a map-based website that provides comprehensive information on 4,610 transit stations across the country. The TOD Database is a first-of-its-kind tool for planners, developers, academics and government officials. It is designed to help stakeholders understand and take advantage of development opportunities around transit nodes. Participants in the webinar will receive detailed instructions for accessing and downloading the data, assembling custom reports, and comparing station areas and regions. CTOD staff and practitioners will give an overview of how the TOD Database has been utilized in various contexts.

Reconnecting America Responds To President Obama’s “American Jobs Act”

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 19:36:14 -0400

The President and CEO of Reconnecting America, John Robert Smith, tonight praised President Obama's jobs initiative, the American Jobs Act, as a "bold initiative to create jobs for Americans and at the same time strengthen our nation's infrastructure."

Smith released the following statement:

"Reconnecting America is pleased to see the President recognize that investing in our nation's infrastructure will result in putting more Americans back to work. As a former Republican Mayor, I was pleased that the President acknowledged that two Republican Presidents led major improvements in our nation's infrastructure with Lincoln building the Transcontinental Railroad during the Civil War and Eisenhower the Interstate Highway System on the heels of World War II. In the contentious climate that currently exists on Capitol Hill, it is refreshing to know that the American Jobs Act is based on ideas from both sides of the aisle. Just as our economy has weakened in recent years, so has our nation's infrastructure. What better solution than to have workers focus on our nation's transit systems, railroads, bridges and highways, all of which are in dire need of repair and improvement. A 'world class transportation system' should be 'made in America' with Americans working to ensure that Americans have a way to get to work. That is a solution we can all support."

Text of President Obama's speech

TIGER and Rural America Part 2

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 14:20:45 -0400

The second in a series of webinars designed to assist rural communities in submitting strong applications for the latest round of Department of Transportation TIGER grants was held Aug. 31. Below are slideshows from the presentations.

USDOT announced on July 1, 2011, that it would offer a third round of the popular TIGER grants, which fund innovative, job-creating transportation projects. The $141 million set aside for rural communities represents nearly 27 percent of the total $526.944 million DOT is authorized to distribute through the program.

The webinar series is part of an outreach effort to support rural communities in submitting strong applications for this funding and is supported by a number of organizations, including Reconnecting America, the American Public Transportation Association, the National Association of Development Organizations, the National League of Cities, PolicyLink, Rural Assembly, Smart Growth America, and Transportation for America.

The first webinar provided an overview of TIGER, discussed innovative rural transportation projects, and showcased successful rural projects from earlier TIGER grant cycles. This second webinar will focus on forming interdisciplinary, regional partnerships and on successful grant writing.

A recording of the webinar is available here.

Try this link

John Robert Smith Agrees With President: “Place Country Above Party”

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 14:04:41 -0400

John Robert Smith, President and CEO of Reconnecting America and Co-Chair of Transportation for America, was a guest at today's (Aug. 31, 2011) remarks by President Obama in the Rose Garden. President Obama urged Congress to pass an extension of the Surface Transportation Extension Act, which is set to expire Sept. 30. In particular, the president said Congress needs to save American jobs by passing a clean extension, at current funding levels, with no cuts or riders attached. The president called on Congress to "place country before party." In response, Smith released the following statement:

"As an American and a former Republican mayor, I was pleased to hear the president's strong push to provide certainty to working families by not politicizing transportation construction. Nearly half a million jobs are at stake, and our nation's economy and infrastructure are a critical juncture. Another disruption similar to the aviation shutdown would lead to lost jobs in the middle of a difficult economy. I urge our nation's leaders to put gimmicks and politics aside. Country before party."

Evaluating Transit Revitalization Investment Districts In Pennsylvania

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 13:52:37 -0400

The Center for Transit-Oriented Development has released, "Transit Revitalization Investment Districts (TRID): Opportunities and Challenges for Implementation," which assesses the effectiveness of TRID as a financing tool for revitalization of core communities across Pennsylvania.

In 2004, the state of Pennsylvania passed the Transit Revitalization Investment District Act. This innovative law was designed to encourage transit-oriented development by providing resources for station area planning, and by enabling use of a district-based tax increment financing mechanism to capture increases in property values near transit. It is distinct from tax-increment financing because unlike TIF, it does not require a finding of "blight" in the area where it is used, and focuses on encouraging comprehensive community-based planning. While many jurisdictions have taken advantage of the planning aspects of TRID, thus far no TRID financing district as been created.

The Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group commissioned CTOD to complete this report, which assesses TRID's strengths and seeks to understand why the financing mechanism has not yet been utilized. The report includes case studies in four communities: Marcus Hook, Bryn Mawr, Dormont/Mt. Lebanon, and Pittsburgh's East Liberty neighborhood.

The report concludes that while TRID has been successful in promoting district-based planning efforts that reflect the spirit of the legislation, there are many complicated and intertwined economic, political, and financing challenges to utilizing the financing mechanism. The report ultimately makes recommendations for changes and clarifications in the legislation as well as activities such as education and outreach, and a demonstration project to increase familiarity and comfort with the financing mechanism.

Read the introduction and download the full report

August 31 Webinar on USDOT's TIGER Grants and Rural America

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 12:46:40 -0400

The second in a series of webinars designed to assist rural communities in submitting strong applications for the latest round of Department of Transportation TIGER grants will be held Aug. 31 at 2pm EDT. The webinar will build on the overview provided by the first webinar in this series, by exploring in-depth the various aspects of the TIGER application process.Among the participants will be Reconnecting America President and CEO John Robert Smith, the former mayor of Meridian, Miss. Click here to register.

The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced on July 1, 2011, that it would offer a third round of the popular TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grant program, which funds innovative, job-creating transportation projects. DOT is authorized to award $526.944 million through the program. At least $141 million of the program funds will be reserved for projects in rural areas. (See Reconnecting America’s blog post for general information on TIGER.)

What: “TIGER Grants and Rural America”

When: Wednesday, August 31, 2011, 2:00 PM EDT

Where: Webinar information will be sent to registrants

RSVP: Click here to register.

The required set aside for rural communities represents nearly 27% of total TIGER funds, which is an increase from the portion directed toward rural places in the prior two rounds of funding. Especially given the municipal money woes faced in many rural communities, TIGER creates a particular opportunity to implement transportation projects that create jobs, support community and economic development and promote quality-of-life. In the first two rounds of funding, multimodal transit stations were a common type of project among successful rural applicants. For example, in 2010 Kent, Ohio (population 28,904) received a $20 million TIGER grant to build a new bus transfer center that will serve as a catalyst for the revitalization and redevelopment of the city’s downtown. The new station will serve as a transfer point for bus passengers traveling between Akron, Cleveland and other destinations in Portage County and will include retail space, bicycle storage and parking. With a green roof and geothermal heating, the building will serve as the city’s signature green building project. The City of Kent has estimated that the project will generate $105 million in total public and private development, create 266 construction jobs and 703 permanent jobs, and bring in $5.8 million in annual tax revenue for the city. Complete Streets projects have been another common type of transportation project funded in rural communities through the TIGER program.

Complete Streets provide safe and inviting travel options for all people, including bicyclists, pedestrians, transit users, people with disabilities and drivers. In one example, TIGER II awarded $3.5 million to Hailey, Idaho (population 6,200) to rebuild a 2.44 mile street in order to add sidewalks, bike lanes, bus shelters, bike parking, landscaping and traffic calming elements. A similar project in Fort Valley, Georgia (population 8,200) received roughly $1.5 million from TIGER II to rebuild State University Drive to include a median, streetlights and improved sidewalks and crosswalks. Other innovative TIGER-funded projects that benefit rural communities have included a commuter rail extension and station in West Fitchburg, Massachusetts, short-line freight rail improvements in Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee, and an electric vehicle corridor project in Oregon.

See a full list of TIGER II projects, with rural recipients highlighted, here.
See a list of TIGER I projects here.

Here are some additional resources for those interested in more information about funding opportunities:

The Partnership for Sustainable Communities
Smart Growth America’s Sustainable Communities Network
US DOT’s TIGER grants program

If you have questions about this event, please contact Garett Ballard-Rosa at or 202-207-3355 x142.

Webinar To Discuss Transit Corridors for Sustainable Communities

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 16:04:28 -0400

The demand for transit across the US is growing, and more and more transit corridors are being built every year. In 2010, 106 regions had proposed over 600 transit projects, with estimated costs for two-thirds of those projects totaling $233 billion. This growing demand for transit has increased the need to understand how planning a transit corridor can result in not only successful transportation outcomes but also successful land use and equity outcomes.

Join us Tuesday, August 23rd at 3:30 PM ET for the next Sustainable Communities Network webinar: "Transit Corridors for Sustainable Communities: Planning Transit to Connect the Dots."

This event is hosted by Smart Growth America, PolicyLink, Reconnecting America and the National Housing Conference.

The session will begin with a discussion of the different types of transit corridors and how what they connect can have significant implications for land uses, ridership, and the potential for development after the transit is built, including a description of examples of these different corridor types and how transit and land use have interacted in a few regions. Following that, participants will learn how planners in a small town in Colorado are making the transition from thinking about making a successful transit system to ensuring that the system is integrated into community life and is making inter-agency connections. The session will conclude with an overview of the innovative tools being used in a joint planning process between city staff in Tigard, OR, a suburb of Portland, and the regional planning agency to direct growth alongside a high capacity transit planning project in the city.

Speakers include Dena Belzer, President of Strategic Economics and partner in the Center for Transit-Oriented Development; Crista M. Gardner, Senior Planner at Portland Metro; and David Johnson AICP, Director of Planning, Roaring Fork Transportation Authority. This webinar will be moderated by Elizabeth Wampler, Program Associate at Reconnecting America and the Center for Transit-Oriented Development.

What: "Transit Corridors for Sustainable Communities: Planning Transit to Connect the Dots"

When: Tuesday, August 23rd at 3:30 PM ET.

Where: Webinar information will be sent to registrants.

RSVP: This webinar is free but registration is required. Click here to register.

Please RSVP by Monday, August 22nd at 5:00 PM ET.

Smart Growth America's Sustainable Communities Network is an opportunity for state and local government officials, business leaders and nonprofit professionals to ask questions, trade ideas, learn best practices, and share project ideas with others from around the country. The network also shares updates about federal initiatives, upcoming events, webinars and conferences to support vibrant, sustainable communities.

Do you have a colleague or know an organization that recently applied for, was awarded or is considering applying for the next round of grants through the federal Partnership for Sustainable Communities? They can join Smart Growth America's Sustainable Communities Network by clicking here.

For questions or comments, please contact Jeri Mintzer at jmintzer@smartgrowthamerica.org or Melissa Schreiber-Stahl at mschreiberstahl@smartgrowthamerica.org.

Reconnecting America Team Selected to Help Build Capacity of Sustainable Communities Grantees

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:52:32 -0400

A team led by Reconnecting America has won a competitive grant to assist communities that have received Sustainable Communities Grants. The Reconnecting America team was one of eight chosen by the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to help existing federal grantees work together to solve common problems.

“These organizations will form capacity-building networks among the grantees to exchange ideas on successful strategies, lessons learned, emerging tools, and public engagement plans,” the notice from HUD explained. “This work will strengthen the capacity grantee communities to create more housing choices, make transportation more efficient and reliable, make more efficient investments in water and wastewater infrastructure, and build vibrant, healthy and economically prosperous neighborhoods for American families.”

Reconnecting America’s team will develop effective implementation strategies for economic development and local and regional plans.

“All of the team members look forward to working with HUD, EPA and communities around the country in laying the foundation for a 21st century economy and helping to create more financially, environmentally, and socially sustainable communities,” said Reconnecting America President and CEO John Robert Smith.

Catherine Cox Blair, Program Director for Reconnecting America’s Leadership, Innovation, Networks, and Knowledge (LINK) program, will be project lead for the team.

“Team members each have direct experience in building capacity through provision of national resources, best practices and education programs, as well as direct, hand on technical assistance in regions across the country,” said Cox Blair.

In addition to Reconnecting America, the team includes:

Strategic Economics, a consulting and research firm specializing in urban and regional economics and planning, with offices in Berkeley, CA and Seattle, WA.
Center for Neighborhood Technology, a “think-and-do” tank that researches, promotes, and implements innovative and equitable solutions to strengthen economies and benefit the environment with offices in Chicago, IL, San Francisco, CA, and Washington, DC;
Enterprise Community Partners, a national nonprofit organization providing financing and solutions for housing and communities based in Columbia, MD and with offices across the country.
National Charrette Institute, a national nonprofit research and education organization located in Portland, Oregon with faculty on the East and West coasts.
Center for Creative Land Recycling, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that provides program and project level technical assistance and training for sustainable infill and brownfields redevelopment.
Kim Burnett Consulting, a consulting firm specializing in the revitalization of older industrial regions and integrating strategies to promote economic prosperity, environmental sustainability, and equitable outcomes for communities.

Reconnecting America, Strategic Economics and the Center for Neighborhood Technology are also partners in the Center for Transit-Oriented Development (CTOD). Reconnecting America has worked with the other team members in various capacities in the past.

In Pursuit Of Improved Transit And TOD In New Orleans-Baton Rouge "Super Region'

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 01:39:12 -0400

Reconnecting America today released a series of reports that explore the opportunity for New Orleans and Baton Rouge to develop an integrated, regional transportation network that supports strong communities and improves opportunity for the residents and businesses of southern Louisiana. In the briefs, Reconnecting America makes the case for regional and "super regional" coordination on transportation and land use issues, arguing that when neighboring jurisdictions compete for jobs and new development or plan transportation systems that aren't complimentary, they perpetuate a cycle of regional congestion and wasteful spending. According to the reports, three key ingredients are needed to build a sustainable super region in greater Baton Rouge and New Orleans: new commuter rail service between Baton Rouge and New Orleans; improved local and regional transit within each of those regions, and; coordinated local investments and policies that support affordable, walkable transit-oriented communities.

The briefs were written for CONNECT, a coalition of public and private sector organizations that work across the New Orleans and Baton Rouge regions to advocate for expanded mobility choices that offer improved access to affordable homes, job centers and equitable economic opportunity. The CONNECT Coalition is a project of the Center for Planning Excellence (CPEX), a Louisiana nonprofit that helped lead the 2007 recovery planning effort, Louisiana Speaks. Based on input from over 27,000 residents, Louisiana Speaks outlines a long-term vision for growth and recovery following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. CPEX and Reconnecting America developed this series of briefs in order to help the New Orleans and Baton Rouge regions implement the long-term vision outlined in Louisiana Speaks.

Rachel DiResto, Executive Vice President of CPEX, said, "The New Orleans and Baton Rouge regions are at a crossroads. Too few people live near quality public t

ransit and congestion between Baton Rouge and New Orleans is threatening to limit our economic potential. We have a real opportunity to address these issues - by working together to get commuter rail off the ground and by making sure that people of all incomes and ages have access to transit and quality housing. These briefs really give us the roadmap for our work moving forward."

Alia Anderson, Reconnecting America Policy Associate and the lead author for the series, said the briefs "drew heavily from case studies in other U.S. regions that have launched new transit lines or are working to elevate transit-oriented development in the regional dialogue. New Orleans and Baton Rouge are really unique places, especially with the challenges they still face related to hurricane recovery. That said, there are still a lot of lessons that can be drawn from places like Atlanta, Charlotte and Denver."

Brief one provides the background for coordinated transportation and land use planning in the super region, while brief two looks specifically at the potential economic benefits that the businesses and governments of Baton Rouge and New Orleans could realize from launching commuter rail, improving transit and supporting transit-oriented development. The third brief in the series outlined specific guiding principles and next steps that the super region can take, including "developing a commuter rail implementation strategy," and "prioritizing bicycle and pedestrian improvements in the near-term."

"I know that New Orleans and Baton Rouge have the leadership and momentum to pull this off," said John Robert Smith, Reconnecting America President and CEO and former Mayor of Meridian, Mississippi. "What is important now is creating a space for a broader set of stakeholders to play a role - something I know the CONNECT Coalition is dedicated to - and staying focused on those key initiatives that will really move the needle."

Download the Reports

Learn more about the CONNECT Coalition

Webinar Helps Rural Areas Apply for Federal TIGER Grants

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 13:32:59 -0400

The first of two webinars designed to help rural communities take advantage of the Department of Transportation's TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grants was held Aug. 3. The outreach effort to support rural communities in submitting strong applications for this funding is supported by a number of organizations, including Reconnecting America, the American Public Transportation Association, the National Association of Development Organizations, the National League of Cities, PolicyLink, Rural Assembly, Smart Growth America, and Transportation for America.

The outreach effort to support rural communities in submitting strong applications for this funding is supported by a number of organizations, including Reconnecting America, the American Public Transportation Association, the National Association of Development Organizations, the National League of Cities, PolicyLink, Rural Assembly, Smart Growth America, and Transportation for America.

Try this link

An Implementation Strategy for TOD along the Denver Region’s West Corridor

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 02:05:17 -0400

The Center for Transit-Oriented Development (CTOD) has released a report creating a strategy for implementing successful transit-oriented development along the West Corridor light rail line operated by the Regional Transportation District (RTD) and scheduled to open in 2013.

"Connecting the West Corridor Communities: An Implementation Strategy for TOD along the Denver Region’s West Corridor" was produced as part of a collaboration between the city and county of Denver, the city of Lakewood, the Denver Housing Authority and Metro West Housing Solutions.

August 3 Webinar on USDOT's TIGER Grants and Rural America

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 20:07:19 -0400

Reconnecting America is partnering with a number of organizations, including the American Public Transportation Association, the National Association of Development Organizations, the National League of Cities, PolicyLink, Rural Assembly, Smart Growth America, and Transportation for America, to support rural communities in submitting strong applications for this funding. To this end, our organizations are offering a webinar for rural transportation and planning practitioners on August 3 at 2:00 pm EDT. The webinar will provide an overview of TIGER, discuss innovative rural transportation projects, and showcase successful rural projects from earlier TIGER grant cycles. This webinar is the first in a two-part series that target prospective TIGER applicants from rural communities. The second webinar will take place in August and will focus on forming interdisciplinary, regional partnerships and on successful grant writing.

What: “TIGER Grants and Rural America”

When: Wednesday, August 3, 2011, 2:00 PM EDT

Where: Webinar information will be sent to registrants

RSVP: Click here to register.

Complete Streets projects have been another common type of transportation project funded in rural communities through the TIGER program. Complete Streets provide safe and inviting travel options for all people, including bicyclists, pedestrians, transit users, people with disabilities and drivers. In one example, TIGER II awarded $3.5 million to Hailey, Idaho (population 6,200) to rebuild a 2.44 mile street in order to add sidewalks, bike lanes, bus shelters, bike parking, landscaping and traffic calming elements. A similar project in Fort Valley, Georgia (population 8,200) received roughly $1.5 million from TIGER II to rebuild State University Drive to include a median, streetlights and improved sidewalks and crosswalks. Other innovative TIGER-funded projects that benefit rural communities have included a commuter rail extension and station in West Fitchburg, Massachusetts, short-line freight rail improvements in Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee, and an electric vehicle corridor project in Oregon.

See a full list of TIGER II projects, with rural recipients highlighted, here.

See a list of TIGER I projects here.

Planning Equitable Corridors and Transit-Oriented Development

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 18:37:58 -0400

Reconnecting America and the Center for Transit-Oriented Development held their second in a series of webinars July 19, with attendees listening in to a discussion of “Planning Equitable Corridors and Transit-Oriented Development.” The webinar was sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA).

Webinar attendees heard from:

Abby Thorne-Lyman, Project Director at Reconnecting America and CTOD
Catherine Cox Blair, Program Director at Reconnecting America and CTOD, Denver Region
Jonathan Sage-Martinson, Director, Central Corridor Funders Collaborative, Twin Cities
Danyell Diggs, Red Line Coordinator, City of Baltimore

Try this link

Webinar Schedule

Monitoring Federal Grant Opportunities

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 18:22:20 -0400

Looking for funding for a new project in your community? HUD, DOT, EPA, and several other agencies have made available millions of dollars in funding to support the planning and implementation of projects that promote sustainable communities. Funding is available for a variety of uses, including community planning, affordable housing finance, technical assistance, research, and capital infrastructure investments. To help you navigate the complex maze of opportunities, Reconnecting America has compiled a list of all upcoming programs and deadlines.

Federal Grant Opportunities

Webinar on Planning Equitable Corridors and Transit-Oriented Development

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 13:45:37 -0400

Please join us Tuesday July 19 at 2pm EST for the Center For Transit-Oriented Development webinar “Planning Equitable Corridors and Transit-Oriented Development.” This webinar session is sponsored by The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and is open to planners, practitioners, housing advocates, MPOs, local, state and federal DOT’s, transit agencies, sustainable communities grantees, advocates, as well as elected officials and other decision makers.

Hear from:

Abby Thorne-Lyman, Project Director at Reconnecting America and CTOD
Catherine Cox Blair, Program Director at Reconnecting America and CTOD, Denver Region
Jonathan Sage-Martinson, Director, Central Corridor Funders Collaborative, Twin Cities
Danyell Diggs, Red Line Coordinator, City of Baltimore

Description: This webinar focuses on introducing participants to the benefits of land use and community development planning at the transit corridor scale, and offering on-the-ground examples of how to make corridor planning work. Planning at the corridor scale provides an important means for understanding how transit investments can influence the character of nearby communities. It integrates knowledge about both local and regional contexts, coordinates key stakeholders, and can support regional growth. Participants will hear from three different regions that have demonstrated successful and equitable corridor planning and the outcomes of these efforts thus far.

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

Title: Planning Equitable Corridors and Transit-Oriented Development

Date: Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Time: 2PM - 3:30 PM EDT

Webinar Agenda:

Introductions and Remarks – Jeff Price, Community Planner, FTA
Abby Thorne-Lyman – Overview and Introduction of Panel
Catherine Cox Blair – Planning for the West Corridor, Denver, CO
Jonathan Sage-Martinson – Central Corridor Planning Initiatives, Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN
Danyell Diggs – Red Line and the Community Compact, Baltimore, MD
Discussion and Q&A
Closing Remarks

If you have any questions please contact Kelley Britt

This webinar is sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration and facilitated by the Center for Transit-Oriented Development. The Center for Transit-Oriented Development (CTOD) is the only national nonprofit effort dedicated to providing best practices, research and tools to support equitable market-based transit-oriented development. CTOD partners with both the public and private market sectors to strategize about ways to encourage the development of high performing communities around transit stations and to build transit systems that maximize development potential. CTOD works to integrate local and regional planning, generate new tools for economic development, real estate and investment issues, improve affordability and livability for all members of the community, and respond to imperatives for climate change and sustainability. The Center for TOD is a partnership of Reconnecting America, the Center for Neighborhood Technology, and Strategic Economics. For more information go to CTOD’s website at CTOD.org

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.5 or newer

Responding to Federal Transportation Funding Proposal

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 18:13:08 -0400

While I appreciate Chairman Mica's commitment to moving forward on this important legislation, his outline for a six-year, $230 billion surface transportation bill represents a cut of approximately one-third from current funding levels and would cost well over half a million jobs. As a former elected official myself, I certainly understand the challenges he faces in moving this legislation forward during tough financial times. But these are exactly the times in which we must invest in our infrastructure - it is the path we will travel to job creation.

A 30% cut in the federal investment in public transportation, roads, and bridges is in direct contradiction to the findings of numerous studies that our infrastructure is in dire need of repair and rehabilitation. Providing safe and reliable transportation infrastructure is an investment in our children's future - and we cannot afford to wait any longer.

Quality, reliable public transportation systems are the anchors that help many communities thrive, whether they are in rural, suburban, or urban areas. The Federal Transit Administration estimates that nearly $80 billion is needed to bring these systems into a state of good repair. Yet, under this proposal they will only fall further behind.

The proposal also cuts support to Amtrak and eliminates the intercity rail capital grant program, which by itself would cost 100,000 jobs. Communities around the nation have used these programs to promote community and economic development around their stations. Elimination of these programs pulls the rug out from under their plans and creates uncertainties that will ultimately scare away private sector partners.

Numerous other questions remain regarding the details of the proposal. The outline promises to streamline the New Starts program, which helps communities build transit projects that can serve as catalysts for significant economic development in underserved neighborhoods. Faster approval and delivery of such projects is a worthy goal, but the drastic funding cuts promised in this bill mean that fewer communities will experience the benefits that transit can provide.

I commend the Chairman's intention to do more with less, but I have serious doubts that this bill will accomplish that goal. I look forward to seeing the full legislative text of the proposal so that this question can be answered.

Reinvesting in Pittsburgh’s Neighborhoods

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 12:11:25 -0400

A new Center for Transit-Oriented Development report explores the merits of rethinking transit-oriented development in mature transit cities such as Pittsburg and the importance of maintaining transit services.

"Reinvesting in Pittsburgh's Neighborhoods: The Case for Transit-Oriented Development" was commissioned by the Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group, a non-profit that advances neighborhood revitalization throughout the region.

The report identifies the potential that coordinated transit-oriented development (TOD) initiatives have to enhance Pittsburgh’s economic competitiveness; the value transit brings to the region; and the potential of leveraging both to make life more affordable and connect more people to jobs. The report also warns of the impact of transit’s current funding crisis and calls for a realistic, actionable regional vision to advance transit and TOD.

"In many ways, Pittsburgh is ahead other regions where transit connectivity and walkable neighborhoods are concerned," the report concludes. "Our existing, well-utilized transit network provides us with the transit frequency and reliability needed to maintain a good quality of life. Our historic neighborhoods offer the walkable communities other places try to replicate, as well as a rich historic building stock. But this is also a critical time of need to reinvest in these assets."

The report notes that better coordination of transportation investments with plans for housing, community infrastructure, social services, and economic development plans will enable the region to capture the latent market demand that exists for walkable, transit-oriented communities.

Reinvesting in Pittsburgh's Neighborhoods: The Case for Transit-Oriented Development

Tips for Crafting Strong, Collaborative Applications for HUD Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grants

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 12:28:46 -0400

In anticipation of the release of the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for the 2011 round of HUD Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grants, Reconnecting America did a series of interviews with successful applicants from the 2010 round of HUD Regional Sustainable Communities Grants to understand has led to the formation of strong collaborative efforts that were successful in winning a highly competitive grant. These interviews included winners of both the Category 1 grants to support the creation of Regional Plans for Sustainable Development and Category 2 grants for Detailed Execution Plans and Programs.

Read the report: Crafting Strong, Collaborative Applications for HUD Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grants

Understanding Mixed-Income Transit-Oriented Development

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 12:22:27 -0400

Reconnecting America and the Center for Transit-Oriented Development held their first in a series of webinars June 21, with 200 people listening in to a discussion of “Understanding Mixed-Income Transit-Oriented Development.” The webinar was sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA).

Webinar attendees heard from:

Introductions by Sharon Pugh, Senior Policy Analyst, FTA
Abby Thorne-Lyman (moderator), Project Director at Reconnecting America and CTOD
Melinda Pollack, Vice President of Solutions at Enterprise Community Partners, Denver Region
Dan Landes, Senior Planner in Housing at Puget Sound Regional Council

Try this link

Webinar Schedule

Reconnecting America issues statement on proposal to privatize Amtrak northeast corridor

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:47:58 -0400

Representative John Mica (R-FL), Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, announced a far-reaching plan to privatize the Northeast Corridor (NEC) as well as intercity passenger and commuter rail service.

Reconnecting America President and CEO John Robert Smith said, “We applaud the Chairman’s focus on creative approaches to improve the nation’s intercity rail system. We agree with the Chairman that America still needs a national rail system and that taxpayers need to be protected. But we have concerns that this approach may fall short on these goals”.

Reconnecting America’s concerns include:

Very few, if any of the long-distance lines will attract private sector funding. The focus on privatizing the Northeast Corridor will weaken the existing national system. Removing the profitable NEC from the current system of shared benefits deprives the rest of the nation’s rail system of critically needed operating assistance. This approach, as proposed, may weaken or terminate the intercity rail connections that are the lifelines in small towns from Montana to West Virginia, as well as big cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles.
Globally, rail privatization has led to costly government bailouts of private companies that have acquired too much risk. Investors have an implicit assumption that taxpayers will provide a backstop for companies that make risky choices to maximize profits.
This approach will require an unknown amount of taxpayer funds in an effort to attract private investors to upgrade, maintain and operate the NEC.

These questions of how to maintain and upgrade a national system, and how to protect the public interest if we privatize a taxpayer-funded asset are fundamentally important, but heretofore, unanswered questions. “We look forward to hearing more on these specific topics from the Chairman when he introduces his proposal next week”, says John Robert Smith.

Webinar on Understanding Mixed-Income Transit-Oriented Development

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 00:36:23 -0400

Please join us Tuesday June 21st at 2:00pm EST for the Center For Transit-Oriented Development webinar “Understanding Mixed-Income Transit-Oriented Development”. This webinar session is sponsored by The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and is open to planners, practitioners, housing advocates, MPOs, local, state and federal DOT’s, transit agencies, sustainable communities grantees, advocates, as well as elected officials and other decision makers.

Hear from:

Abby Thorne-Lyman, Project Director at Reconnecting America and CTOD
Melinda Pollack, Vice President of Solutions at Enterprise Community Partners, Denver Region
Helmi Hisserich, Assistant General Manager at the City of Los Angeles Housing Department

Mixed-income transit-oriented development provides an opportunity for people of all incomes to live in neighborhoods with greater access to a wider variety of jobs, community resources, and truly affordable housing. This webinar focuses on introducing participants to the benefits, strategies, and challenges of mixed-income TOD and will introduce a useful tool, the “Mixed-Income TOD Action Guide,” which helps communities develop strategies to implement mixed-income TOD.

Webinar Agenda

FTA Introductions and Remarks – Sharon Pugh, Senior Policy Analyst, FTA
Abby Thorne-Lyman – The Concept of Mixed-Income TOD: An Introduction
Melinda Pollack – Denver Initiatives around Mixed-Income TOD
Helmi Hisserich – Linking Affordable Housing and Transit in Los Angeles
Discussion and Q&A
Closing Remarks

This webinar was sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration and facilitated by the Center for Transit-Oriented Development. The Center for TOD is a partnership of Reconnecting America, the Center for Neighborhood Technology, and Strategic Economics. For more information go to CTOD’s website.

Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now:

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

If you have any questions please contact Kelley Britt or 202.429.6990 ext 208.

Reconnecting America at CNU19

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 13:38:25 -0400

Reconnecting America is attending CNU19 in Madison, Wisconsin. The annual Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) is the leading venue for new urbanist education, collaboration, and networking. CNU members come from around the world to discuss development practices and public policies, learn from recent innovative work, and advance new initiatives to transform our communities.

Reconnecting America President and CEO John Robert Smith will be participating in a June 2 panel on "Passenger Rail: Making Local Connections Maximizing Local Value."

From the program:

Passenger Rail: Making Local Connections, Maximizing Local Value
Thursday, June 2, 2011 | 3:45 PM - 5:00 PM
AIA credits approved: 1.25 Learning Unit (LU)
AICP CM Credits: 1.25

Has hype about "high-speed" trains obscured how passenger rail can best connect and reinforce great urban places? This session explores the relevance of transit-oriented development to regional and inter-city rail (high-speed or otherwise), and examines how communities and rail system planners can make the most of the value created along new routes.

Below is the presentation by John Robert Smith

Since your browser does not support iframes, try this link.

Below is a live feed of tweets from the gathering.

CNU19 Tweetsgreat free widgetsWidgetboxMore info

Advancing Equity in Sustainable Community Planning and Implementation

Thu, 19 May 2011 14:50:05 -0400

A recording of the webinar is available online at Smart Growth America.

Join us Tuesday, May 24, at 3:30pm ET for the Sustainable Communities Network webinar: "Advancing Equity in Sustainable Community Planning and Implementation". This event is hosted by Reconnecting America, Smart Growth America, PolicyLink, and the National Housing Conference.

Hear from:

Bob Allen, Director of Transportation and Housing Programs at Urban Habitat.
Jessie Grogan, Policy Analyst at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council of Boston, MA.
Jonathan London, Director of the Center for Regional Change and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human and Community Development at the University of California, Davis.

This webinar will be moderated by:

Kalima Rose, Director of the PolicyLink Center for Infrastructure Equity who leads the PolicyLink Sustainable Communities work.

Click here to register. Please RSVP by 5pm ET on May 23rd.

The Sustainable Communities Network is an opportunity for state and local government officials, business leaders and nonprofit professionals to ask questions, learn best practices, and share project ideas with others from around the country. The network also shares updates about federal initiatives, upcoming events, webinars and conferences to support vibrant, sustainable communities.

Reconnecting America Welcomes Ford Foundation Grant To Ensure Equitable TOD In The Denver Region

Tue, 17 May 2011 14:00:00 -0400

Reconnecting America today welcomed a new Ford Foundation grant to a dozen organizations in Denver to ensure that low-income communities "don’t miss the train" as FasTrack’s transit expansion delivers economic growth opportunities to the region.

With the help of the Ford Foundation’s grant, Reconnecting America, Enterprise Community Partners, FRESC, the Urban Land Conservancy, and eight foundations will spend the next year making the case for why equitable transit-oriented development (TOD) is important to the Denver region, emphasizing how transit increases people's access to affordable housing, employment opportunities, education and essential services.

Reconnecting America has been working in the Denver region for more than five years. Reconnecting America has a local office with longstanding ties to the region and extensive knowledge of and experience with the Denver region’s transit expansion and TOD planning efforts.

“We are already aware of many of the challenges and opportunities that the FasTracks investment will bring, and we have documented these in our work on the West Corridor TOD Implementation Strategy and the city and county of Denver’s TOD strategic plan,” explained Catherine Cox Blair, Reconnecting America’s program director. Cox Blair, who leads the Denver office of Reconnecting America, is a former TOD Program Manager for the city of Denver.

Over the years, Reconnecting America has partnered with or provided technical assistance to several other equity-focused collaborative efforts around the country, including the Great Communities Collaborative in the San Francisco Bay Area, the One Region Funders Group in New York City, and the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative in the Twin Cities in Minnesota. Innovative models of cross-sector collaboration developed from that work will be applied to the efforts in Denver.

“The role of the Ford Foundation in helping to bridge relationships with local foundations in the Denver region, and in showcasing the important role that foundations can play when they work in concert with nonprofit partners, will be critical to our success,” said Allison Brooks, Reconnecting America’s chief of staff.

Activities funded through the grant and local organizations' matching resources include: the formation of the collaborative, educational events for regional stakeholders, the creation of a regional equity atlas, exploration of the expansion of the existing Denver TOD Fund to a regional acquisition finance resource for community development, and funding for local community development corporations to develop their role in the effort.

The collaborative is comprised of regional and national organizations Reconnecting America, Enterprise Community Partners, FRESC and Urban Land Conservancy; and eight foundations including The Anschutz Foundation, Colorado Health Foundation, Gates Family Foundation, Kaiser Permanente Colorado, The Piton Foundation, Rose Community Foundation and U.S. Bank’s foundation. As the collaborative picks up momentum, it is expected that other organizations will join as well.

Reconnecting America And CTOD Release Studies Of Employment And TOD

Wed, 11 May 2011 20:19:48 -0400

Over in Books and Reports you will find a pair of reports released today by the Center for Transit-Oriented Development that discuss the importance of connecting jobs to transit and which jobs, in particular, will be most responsive to locating near transit. And in Half-Mile Circles, Jeff Wood, who participated in the research for the reports, blogs about the need to make employment centers central factors in transit development decisions.

Books and Reports: Transit-Oriented Development, Jobs and Economic Development
Research: Transit-Oriented Development and Employment
Research: Transit and Regional Economic Development
Half-Mile Circles: Connecting Employment & Transit

Excitement Over High Speed Rail Grants Shows Support for Continued Funding

Tue, 10 May 2011 12:10:48 -0400

After receiving applications from half the states last month, the Obama Administration announced the winners of the High Speed and Intercity Rail grant program today. John Robert Smith, the President and CEO of Reconnecting America stated, "The vision created by these grants is one that should excite the American people. It calls for a high performance rail system that is reliable and competitive with the automobile and has the ability to reduce Americans' dependence on foreign oil."

Fifteen states received funding, from rural states such as Maine, to urban ones such as Massachusetts; from states as familiar with trains as New York, to states that would like to develop a system, such as Texas. For example, the grant program purchases new train sets for California that can reach speeds up to 220 mph, as well as an improved northeast corridor with better Acela service. The grants will provide support to Detroit, eventually creating a high-speed rail link with Chicago. Better connecting Detroit to its region will be critical for its long-term economic growth. The program also will bring California's rural Central Valley communities and small towns closer to the jobs and opportunities in Silicon Valley, by extending the section under construction to the edge of the Bay Area.

"High speed rail continues to move forward in a bipartisan way, with both Democratic and Republican governors applying for and receiving high-speed rail funds. The potential impact that the high-speed and intercity rail program will have in communities all over America is clear to people outside of the beltway. The high-speed and intercity rail program is important to secure the future for our children and grandchildren and Congress should fund it in Fiscal Year 2012," Smith says.

CTOD releases Metro TOD Strategic Plan for Portland metropolitan area

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 16:46:46 -0400

The Center for Transit-Oriented Development today released the Transit-Oriented Development Strategic Plan created for the Metro TOD Program in Portland, Oregon. In conjunction with the release, CTOD published a web page providing guidance on how the plan contents can be nationally applied.

Find more in Books & Report and Research Articles.

Half-Mile Circles has reprinted a related blog post.

Response To Federal Continuing Resolution

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 17:53:25 -0400

The recently announced compromise to fund the federal government through the remainder of FY2011 preserves several critical programs, but also raises cause for concern. Reconnecting America is pleased to see that the compromise continues to support the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, which is effectively coordinating federal housing and transportation programs to provide the greatest benefits at the regional and local levels. Programs such as DOT's TIGER grants and HUD's Sustainable Communities grants will save taxpayer dollars over the long-term by helping communities make better investments today.

However, the reduction in the Federal Transit Administration's New Starts/Small Starts program (see analysis of cuts here) and the complete elimination of the High-Speed and Intercity Passenger Rail program in FY 2011 is a step in the wrong direction. In this era of $4-a-gallon gas, Americans need more transportation options, not fewer. In a report to be released tomorrow, Reconnecting America has found that the pent-up capital demand for fixed guideway transit, whose major federal source of funding is New Starts/Small Starts, is at least $233 billion and at current levels it would take 73 years to fund the backlog of transit projects being planned by communities all around America. (See graphic at right.)

These programs support communities' efforts to connect people to jobs, to school, to health care. They are creating jobs today, and are helping to build a better future for our children and grandchildren. Reducing support for these programs is short-sighted and ultimately will set us back in our efforts to create stronger and more economically-resilient communities where Americans of all income ranges can afford to live, work, and play.

Reconnecting America's work across the country has demonstrated the transformative power that investing in infrastructure can have on the economy, sustainability, and quality of life in our communities. Continued investment in transportation options is essential to allow our nation to realize its full potential.

Questions and Answers about New Starts/Small Starts Program Cuts in the Final FY11 Continuing Resolution

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 15:35:04 -0400

Q. How much funding is cut from the New Starts/Small Starts program?
A. The final Continuing Resolution, which would fund the government through the end of FY2011, made two cuts to the federal New Starts/Small Starts program, which provides funding for fixed guideway (e.g., subway, light rail, commuter rail, bus rapid transit) projects.

The amount of funding cut from FY11 depends on what the baseline for comparison is. The CR would fund the New Starts/Small Starts program in FY11 at $1.6 billion, which is $400 million less than the FY10 level – but only about $220 million less than what the President requested for FY11. (The President’s request for FY11 was $1.822 billion, while the FY10 actual appropriation was $2 billion).

The CR also rescinds $280 million from unobligated funds that were appropriated to FTA prior to FY11.

Q. Is it true that all of the funding that is cut is attributable to New Jersey’s ARC project?
A. No. New Jersey’s ARC tunnel project, which was canceled by New Jersey’s governor, was scheduled to receive $200 million in New Starts funds in FY10 and the FTA requested an additional $200 million for that project in FY11.

Let’s look at prior years first. The $280 million rescinded from prior years was a combination of funding that had either not been directed to any project by Congress or was attributable to a project not moving forward. FTA was given the discretion by Congress to distribute the funding to other projects. In December 2010, FTA announced its intention to award the full $280 million to seven projects:

Dallas – Northwest/Southeast Light Rail
New York - Long Island East Side Access
New York Second Avenue Subway
Northern Virginia Dulles Corridor
Salt Lake City - Mid Jordan LRT
Weber County/Salt Lake City - Commuter Rail
Seattle - University Link

For FY11, of the $400 million cut (compared to FY10 levels), only $200 million was attributable to the ARC project.

Q. What projects will be directly affected as a result of these cuts?

A. The list of projects directly affected by the rescissions to prior year funding is included in the previous answer.

For FY11, the CR provides FTA with a lump sum of $1.6 billion and does not specify which projects are to receive that funding. The amount provided is enough to fully fund each of the projects with an existing or proposed Full Funding Grant Agreement or Project Construction Grant Agreement at the scheduled FY11 amount, with the exception of the New Jersey ARC tunnel project (canceled by New Jersey’s governor).

Q. How can projects be fully funded in FY11 if ARC only accounted for $200 million of the $400 million cut?

A. Of the $400 million cut in FY11 (compared to FY10 levels), $200 million is attributable to ARC. That leaves $200 million to be cut from somewhere else. But, the President requested about $180 million less for New Starts/Small Starts in FY11 than those programs received in FY10. So $180 million of the remaining $200 million in cuts was not requested by the President and therefore was never allocated to any project. The remaining $20 million in cuts will likely come out of the $44 million that was requested in FY11 for FTA to distribute to projects at its discretion

Q. What impact could these cuts have on the projects waiting in the New Starts/Small Starts pipeline?
A. By reducing the New Starts/Small Starts program to $1.6 billion in FY11, HR1 would establish a new, lower baseline for the program, against which future funding levels will be considered.

Why does the baseline matter? Given the new focus in both the House and Senate on cutting federal spending, it will be harder to achieve increases in program funding levels. The definition of what an increase is depends on where the baseline is set. In other words, once the cut to New Starts/Small Starts goes through in the CR, a proposal to fund the program in FY12 at $2 billion would be seen as an attempt to increase spending compared to the new baseline of $1.6 billion.

The bottom line is, these cuts could make it harder to grow the New Starts/Small Starts program in future years, and that could have a direct impact on those projects that are in the pipeline, advancing toward an FFGA or PCGA. The smaller the program is, the longer those projects will have to wait before funding is available for them. Such delays will raise the cost of projects due to inflation, borrowing costs, increasing land values, and other factors.

Projects currently in the New Starts/Small Starts pipeline (defined as those which have been approved by FTA to enter preliminary engineering) include:

Projects in Final Design:

Tucson, AZ - Streetcar
San Francisco, CA - Third Street LRT Phase 2
Denver, CO - Eagle Commuter Rail
Hartford, CT - New Britain-Hartford Busway
Stamford, CT - Urban Transitway Phase II
Wilmington, DE - Wilmington to Newark Commuter Rail Improvements
Orlando, FL - Central Florida Commuter Rail
Boston, MA - Assembly Square Station
St. Paul-Minneapolis, MN - Central Corridor LRT
Providence, RI - South County Commuter Rail
Houston, TX - North Corridor LRT
Houston, TX - Southeast Corridor LRT

Projects in Preliminary Engineering:

Los Angeles, CA - Regional Connector Transit Corridor
Los Angeles, CA - Westside Subway Extension
Sacramento, CA - South Sacramento Corridor Phase 2
San Jose, CA - Silicon Valley Berressa Extension Project
Honolulu, HI - High Capacity Transit Corridor Project
Charlotte, NC - LYNX Blue Line Extension - Northeast Corridor
Portland, OR - Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Project
Pawtucket, RI - Pawtucket/Central Falls Commuter Rail Station
Salt Lake County, UT - Draper Transit Corridor
Vancouver, WA - Columbia River Crossing Project

Projects in Project Development:

Mesa, AZ - Central Mesa LRT Extension
Fresno, CA - Fresno Area Express Blackstone/Kings Canyon BRT
Oakland, CA - East Bay BRT
Riverside, CA - Perris Valley Line
San Bernardino, CA - E Street Corridor sbX BRT
San Francisco, CA - Van Ness Avenue BRT
Fort Collins, CO - Mason Corridor BRT
Roaring Fork Valley, CO - VelociRFTA BRT
Jacksonville, FL - JTA BRT North Corridor
Grand Rapids, MI - Silver Line BRT
New York, NY - Nostrand Avenue BRT
Austin TX - MetroRapid BRT
El Paso, TX - Mesa Corrdior BRT
King County WA - RapidRide E Line BRT
King County WA - RapidRide F Line BRT
King County WA - West Seattle BRT (RapidRide)

Reconnecting America CEO Testifies Before House Committee

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:18:13 -0400

Today, John Robert Smith, president and CEO of Reconnecting America, testified before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, representing the Transportation for America coalition. Co-founded by Reconnecting America, the Transportation for America coalition consists of housing, business, environmental, public health, transportation, equitable development, and other organizations who are all seeking to align our national, state, and local transportation policies with an array of issues like economic opportunity, energy security, health, housing and community development.

Here are highlights of what he told the committee:

Before I came to Washington almost two years ago, I was a former 16-year Republican mayor in my hometown of Meridian, Mississippi. Meridian is a small city of 40,000 that serves as a regional draw for 11 counties. As Mayor, I witnessed firsthand the transportation challenges facing those who live in small towns and rural America.

It may come as a surprise to some, but Americans who live in small towns have the same transportation needs as those that live in big cities. They need access to their jobs, healthcare, education and services. Long commutes, rising gas prices, and shifting demographics all impact the prosperity of these communities and the people that live in them. Regional, intermodal transportation connections are critical. Many small towns and rural areas lack the financial resources, planning capacity, or authority to implement solutions to their transportation needs. A bold new policy is needed at the federal level with significant input from the state and local levels to meet those needs.

Transportation for America does recognize it is important to fix America’s crumbling transportation infrastructure. We are, in fact, today releasing a report on the state of disrepair of our nation’s bridges. …

In addition to repairing our nation’s infrastructure, we need to focus on transportation options that provide choices for people in this era of rising gas prices. Many aging baby boomers and veterans in small towns and rural areas depend on public transit to see the doctor or go to the grocery store. Working parents need to get to their jobs, get their children from daycare and complete their errands in a timely manner. And college students need access to local higher ed institutions and their part-time jobs they hold down as well.

Additionally, there is the quality of life that transit options provide. When I came to Washington, D.C. almost two years ago, I realized as I heard this new word, livability, that that was just what we were doing in Meridian. The transit connections and ensuing economic development that occurred in my sixteen years as Mayor were empowering people to make decisions without being hindered by distance and gas prices. You can put whatever label on it you want – but people should be able to live where they want to live, work where they want to work, and get there in a cost-efficient and timely manner.

Providing transit options not only provides a better quality-of-life for people, it leads to increased investment in towns that often are on the downslide. I saw this firsthand in Meridian. A public-private investment turned our historic train station into the South’s first multimodal transportation center and proved to be a catalyst for transforming our main street, increasing public transportation ridership, and helping to generate millions of dollars in private economic development in the surrounding neighborhoods. Historic buildings were renovated, people came back downtown to both live and work, and also for entertainment and our city center was revived, not only for residents but also for those that lived in the surrounding 11 county region. …

To conclude, small cities and towns in rural states are part of a national transportation system and people that live in them have the same concerns as their neighbors in big cities. Investing in transportation choices in urban and rural areas will lead to a better quality of life for all Americans and increased economic development to benefit all our citizens. Thank you for allowing me to testify and I welcome any oral or written questions.

His full remarks are available here.

John Robert Smith also submitted extended written testimony, which is available here.

Reconnecting America Lauds Metropolitan Transportation Commission Funding For Transit-Oriented Affordable Housing

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:18:43 -0400

Today (March 23) the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) – the metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for the San Francisco Bay Area – officially committed $10 million to the Bay Area Transit-Oriented Affordable Housing Fund (TOAH Fund). MTC's critical commitment to play the top-loss role in the fund has been instrumental in raising the additional capital. The fund will launch at the end of March with MTC’s $10 million matched by $40 million in foundation and private funding.

“Without MTC's initial investment, it is unlikely this would have been possible at all, let alone so quickly,” said Reconnecting America’s Chief of Staff Allison Brooks. “Reconnecting America is delighted that this fund has become a reality, and will result in lasting, sustainable affordable housing for working families in one of the nation's hottest housing markets.”

Brooks sits on the advisory board of the fund, which helped select the fund manager and set the policy parameters and goals for the fund.

The Bay Area transit-oriented development fund is a revolving fund that will provide loans for both property acquisition and predevelopment costs for affordable housing in transit nodes throughout the region. The goal is to provide affordable capital to allow housing developers to secure and/or develop properties near transit for new development or conversion to affordable housing. Loans will target MTC’s Priority Development Areas with good transit access to regional employment centers.

The TOAH Fund has been catalyzed by the Great Communities Collaborative and the MTC, and is being managed by a consortium of six community development finance institutions (CDFI) led by the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) and comprised of the Enterprise Foundation, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, the Opportunity Fund, Northern California Community Loan Fund and the Corporation for Supportive Housing. Reconnecting America and the Center for Transit-Oriented Development (CTOD) have worked for a number of years to help set the stage for this momentous event.

The fund grew from an effort to help create a financial resource that could be utilized to ensure that transit-oriented communities are enriched with adequate levels of housing affordable to a diversity of incomes in the San Francisco Bay Area. To that end, the Great Communities Collaborative, of which Reconnecting America is a founding member, commissioned the Center for Transit-Oriented Development and the Bay Area Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) to conduct an initial feasibility study for a type of structured fund that would be targeted to acquiring properties near quality transit for the purposes of building and preserving affordable housing, mixed-use development and other critical communities amenities. (Download the report )

That report and subsequent work by CTOD staff and members of the Great Communities Collaborative set the stage for the largest commitment of a metropolitan planning organization to a fund of this kind.

The role of foundations to fund such an effort was described by Reconnecting America and the Center for Transit-Oriented Development in a report exploring the role community development finance institutions could play in promoting equitable transit-oriented development. (Download the report)

Rails to Real Estate: Development Patterns Along Three New Transit Lines

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 14:23:25 -0400

The Center for Transit-Oriented Development has released a report that examines real estate development patterns along three recently built light rail lines. The findings of Rails to Real Estate: Development Patterns along Three New Transit Lines should help local planners and others considering new transit lines to maximize the benefits of new transit investments and foster transit-oriented development.

The three transit lines are the Hiawatha Line in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region in Minnesota, the Southeast Corridor in the Denver region in Colorado, and the Blue Line in the Charlotte region in North Carolina.

The analysis considers development patterns with regard to a number of factors, including proximity to downtowns and major employment centers, the location and extent of vacant or “underutilized” property suitable for development or redevelopment, block patterns that influence “walkability,” transit connectivity and household incomes.

“Setting realistic expectations about the scale, timing and location of private investment along new transit lines is especially critical where new development is expected to help pay for needed transit improvements, neighborhood amenities, or other community benefits,” said Nadine Fogarty, principal with Strategic Economics and primary author of the report.

All three transit lines experienced a tremendous amount of new development. Charlotte’s Blue Line had the most development, with approximately 9.8 million square feet of new space between 2005 and 2009.

The study found proximity to existing employment centers and downtowns to be important factors driving development along transit lines. While transit improvements were a factor, the impetus for development was more strongly related to longer-term efforts to revitalize the center cities, as well as shifting market demand that favors central locations with urban amenities, shopping and entertainment.

All three corridors offer significant areas of development opportunity that represent unmet potential for TOD, according to the study. But investments in neighborhood infrastructure and amenities are critical for unlocking the potential for TOD, especially in areas where land use patterns were previously automobile dependent.

“This study marks an important step in understanding the impact of transit investments in three regions, and the implications for other communities looking to transit investments as a source of long-term economic prosperity and competitiveness. We need to make transit investments that unlock the potential for TOD, but we need to make them in the right places,” said Sam Zimbabwe, Director of the Center for Transit-Oriented Development.

The findings of this report have implications for value capture strategies that attempt to harness property value increases near transit to help offset the costs of transit investments, or to help finance other needed improvements along transit corridors. Due to the uneven nature of development patterns near transit and the need for strategic investments, the study suggests a corridor-level approach to value capture may be very useful because value created in a strong market locations can help fund needed improvements and enable development elsewhere in the corridor.

Rails to Real Estate was prepared by the Center for Transit-Oriented Development, the only national nonprofit effort dedicated to providing best practices, research and tools to support equitable market-based development in pedestrian-friendly communities near public transportation. CTOD is a partnership of two national nonprofit organizations – Reconnecting America and the Center for Neighborhood Technology – and a research and consulting firm, Strategic Economics. CTOD works at the intersection of transportation planning, regional planning, climate change and sustainability, affordability, economic development, real estate and investment. CTOD's goal is to help create neighborhoods where young and old, rich and poor, can live comfortably and prosper, with affordable and healthy lifestyle choices and ample and easy access to opportunity for all. For more information, visit www.ctod.org

Supporting the Partnership for Sustainable Communities: Tools for Advocacy

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 14:18:50 -0400

On March 22 at 3:30pm ET, Reconnecting America will host "Supporting the Partnership for Sustainable Communities: Tools for Advocacy," the second in a series of Sustainable Communities Network webinars. Joining Reconnecting America in hosting this webinar are Smart Growth America, PolicyLink and the National Housing Conference.

With the future of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities still in jeopardy in the federal budget for this year, supporters of the Partnership have been leading great advocacy efforts around the country! The webinar will help answer what more can be done in each state to support programs such as the HUD Regional Planning and Challenge Grants and DOT TIGER Grants.

The webinar will include:

An update on the current state of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities in federal budget negotiations by Devon Barnhart, Transportation Policy Advisor for Senator Lautenberg.
A guide to local advocacy efforts to support these grant programs, including:
- How to schedule meetings in your District
- How to call your Members of Congress
- Email and Letter Templates
An overview of additional documents and images available specific to each state
An opportunity to ask questions and share efforts already under way

Click here to register. Please RSVP by 5 pm ET on March 21.

Social Media for Planners, Advocates and Consultants

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:26:28 -0400

Jeff Wood, New Media Director and Chief Cartographer at Reconnecting America, will discuss the Livable Communities Blogosphere strategy to organize the nationwide effort for Transportation for America and Reconnecting America at part of the Social Media for Planners, Advocates and Consultants webinar planned March 23.

The webinar put on by the National Charrette Institue will disuss the fast-changing world social media. Advocates, consultants and planners we explain how to use social media and avoid common fatal flaws and how to get more informed participants to get involved and stay involved throughout your project process. The webinar will discuss the latest tools and techniques for improving public involvement and accelerating project implementation, with ideas on how to use Facebook, Twitter, blogs and other tools in concert with one another. It will also discuss common problems such as how governments deal with contentious blogs, how to keep the process transparent and maintain a civil environment and how to efficiently manage large amounts of media flow.

In addition to Reconnecting America's Jeff Wood, other participants will be Ben Brown, Principal, Director of Client Public Relations, PlaceMakers LLC, and Julia K Thompson, Communications Manager, City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability

Brown will provide the perspective of the planning consultant working on private and public projects in highly contentious situations, while Thompson will show how social media increased the number of new meeting participants in the ongoing Portland Plan.

Social Media for Planners, Advocates and Consultants - March 23, 10 am PDT

Can We Still Do Great Things? High-speed Rail And The American Future

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 18:38:45 -0400

Our founding fathers sparred over the federal interest in funding infrastructure. In fact, the battle over it helped jumpstart partisan rivalry in America. The Federalist Party—created by Alexander Hamilton—supported federal funding and support for “internal improvements,” which we know as infrastructure today. The Democratic Republicans—created by Thomas Jefferson—vehemently disagreed. The nation would have been vastly different, if not for the outcome of these earlier contests.

Those who supported federal infrastructure investments prevailed, and a bipartisan consensus in support of infrastructure developed. President Lincoln, a Republican, built the Transcontinental Railroad and made it a priority—in the middle of fighting the Civil War. Another Republican President, Dwight Eisenhower, approved what may be the largest infrastructure project in human history—the Interstate Highway System.

This consensus remained strong even as transportation technology evolved, with widespread support for federal funding to develop an airline industry, as well as early bipartisan support for high-speed rail.

What we may be experiencing now is the first breakdown of the bipartisan infrastructure consensus in almost 100 years. It comes at a time when the economy needs a considerable reset, which will require significant investment in new transportation technologies. The federal government is the only entity that has the ability to fund and incentivize this level of change.

However, with a return to late 18th century politics, the federal government will be unable to provide direction and organization for an economy that is in profound need. This means that technologies like high-speed rail, which will be able to reorient our metropolitan and micropolitan areas into integrated regional economies, will be implemented with fits and starts and over a longer timeframe.

The world is full of nations ready to compete for the best minds and companies by providing the best functioning cities and most efficient governments. For a nation such as America, which has consistently been at the forefront of change, suddenly to lose its way, begs the question: Will our newly partisan politicians allow us to do great things again, or have we already reached our apogee as a world power?

Final Report On Policy Research Priorities for Sustainable Communities

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Virginia Tech’s Metropolitan Institute has released the final report on Policy Research Priorities for Sustainable Communities resulting from the research roundtable hosted in the fall of 2010.

Reconnecting America Chief of Staff Allison Brooks participated roundtable Sept. 1 to provide HUD and the new interagency partnership with research ideas and insights that support the development of a sustainability policy agenda. Former Reconnecting America Policy Director Mariia Zimmerman, now Assistant Director, Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities, also participated along with other HUD researchers and key staff from the partnership.

The roundtable focused on three core areas and their intersection with housing policy and the role of HUD:

Accessible and Affordable Housing;
Green and Energy Efficient Affordable Homes; and
Cities in Transition.

The event brought together researchers, policy experts, and leading practitioners to explore the current state of research covering these topics and to develop a list of important research topics and issues building on existing research and initiatives and opening new directions for future research.

The Metropolitan Institute plans to distribute the report to key decision-makers in the agencies making up the Interagency Partnership and, in the coming weeks, will coordinate a series of briefings with them to discuss the resulting priorities. The Metropolitan Institute will also connect with foundations, professional associations, and national organizations involved with research/policy development in the roundtable’s three sustainability topic areas.

Reconnecting America Analysis of FY 12 New Starts Report

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0500

On February 15, 2011, the Federal Transit Administration issued its Annual Report on Funding Recommendations for the New Starts and Small Starts program for fiscal year 2012 (FY 2012). The report lists the New Starts and Small Starts projects that make up the program budget included in the President’s FY 2012 Federal Budget, which was released on February 14, 2011. The total budget for the New Starts and Small Starts programs in the President’s FY 2012 budget is $3,225,556,000.

New Starts and Small Starts are discretionary grant programs that provide capital funding for fixed-guideway transit projects that are locally planned, implemented and operated. Authorized under the federal surface transportation bill of 2005 (SAFETEA-LU), these funds can be used to support the development of heavy rail, light rail, commuter rail, streetcars, bus rapid transit systems and ferries. As outlined in Section 5309 of Title 49 of the United States Code, New Starts projects are those that have total capital costs of more than $250 million or are requesting $75 million or more in federal funding, while Small Starts projects are those with costs falling below these thresholds.

Overview of FY 2012 New Starts Report

The New Starts and Small Starts budget request of $3.24 billion represents an increase of 77 percent over the program’s budget in FY 2011. This includes funding recommendations for 32 projects, including 19 recommended New Starts projects, nine Small Starts projects and four potential future projects.

FTA’s recommended budget includes $835.4 million to support seven ongoing New Starts projects, all of which are either under construction or open for service. An additional $1.295 billion is recommended for nine projects that have pending full funding grant agreements (FFGAs)[1], which means they were recommended for funding in past years and are undergoing final design. Three projects are recommended for new FFGAs totaling $443.6 million in FY 2012. The budget includes $180.6 million for nine Small Starts projects and $400 million in discretionary funding for additional, future New or Small Starts projects. FTA lists four transit projects that could become eligible for this additional funding if the projects overcome local uncertainties or funding issues during the fiscal year. A summary table of FY 2012 projects with existing or proposed FFGAs is provided below, and more detail about these projects is provided in FTA’s FY 2012 Annual Report on Funding Recommendations:

http://www.fta.dot.gov/publications/reports/reports_to_congress/publications_12354.html

Here are some facts about the transit projects recommended for funding in FY 2012:

For New Starts projects, the average proposed federal FY 2012 allocation is $135.5 million and the average New Starts share of total capital costs is 49 percent. In FY 2011 the average New Starts share of total capital costs was 47 percent.
For Small Starts projects, the average proposed federal FY 2012 allocation is $20.1 million and the average Small Starts share of total capital costs is 57 percent. In FY 2011 the average Small Starts share of total capital costs was 59 percent.
Of the 32 recommended and potential future grantees, 13 are new to the list in FY 2012. Of these new projects, there are five in California and one project each from North Carolina, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Arizona, Florida, Michigan and Texas.
Of the 23 recommended and potential future New Starts projects, 13 are light rail, five are subway/heavy rail, four are commuter rail, and one is bus rapid transit. All of the Small Starts projects are bus rapid transit systems except for one light rail extension in Mesa, AZ.

In addition to the projects recommended for funding, the New Starts report discusses 11 other transit projects that are in the New Starts “pipeline,” which means that they have been approved for preliminary engineering or final design but are either not yet ready to enter into a capital funding agreement with FTA or did not score as competitively as other projects, according to the New/Small Starts rating system. It is important to note that all of the recommendations in the FY 2012 New Starts report are subject to Congressional appropriations, a process that can result in changes to funding levels or to the list of funded projects.

Transit projects recommend for FFGAs and in the New Starts pipeline are evaluated against a range of criteria and awarded a score for both “Project Justification” and “Financial Rating.” The project evaluation criteria used to determine the FY 2012 recommended projects did not vary from that used in FY 2011.

Discussion

The recommended New Starts/Small Starts budget of $3.24 billion represents a significant increase over the FY 2011 budget of $1.82 billion. The increase is primarily due to three factors:

In FY 2012, FTA introduced eight new New Starts projects while only two New Starts projects from FY 11 were removed from the recommended project list (New Jersey’s Access to the Region’s Core, which was cancelled, and Denver West Corridor Light Rail, for which the federal funding agreement has been fulfilled).
The average award for New Starts projects increased from $86,645,040 in FY 11 to $135,472,998 in FY 2012. As the average federal share of projects did not change significantly, nor did the average total capital costs of projects, Reconnecting America speculates that this increase in average project awards for FY 2012 is an attempt to expedite project delivery in the near term.
The budget for “Other New Starts/Small Starts Projects” increased significantly from $44.6 million in FY 2011 to $400 million in FY 2012. Recognizing that transit project development does not always correspond with the federal budget schedule, FTA included this additional discretionary funding in order to “be poised to provide funding for additional qualified projects” as they become ready to advance through the federal process.

One billion of the FY 2012 New Starts budget would come from the first-year funding boost of $50 billion that is proposed in the President’s FY 2012 Federal Budget.

If the FY 2011 budget is any indication, there is likely to be lively debate in Congress over the proposed funding levels for transit in FY 2012. With the current extension of the federal budget set to expire on March 4^th, the House passed a Continuing Resolution (CR) on February 18^th that would fund the government for the remainder of FY 2011 but would make significant cuts to transit programs including New Starts. The House CR, if passed into law, would rescind $280 million in unobligated New Starts balances from fiscal year 2010 and cut the remainder of FY 2011 funds by $431 million. According to estimates by the American Public Transportation Association, those cuts to the New Starts program could result in the loss of 34,000 jobs.[2]

While the future of the New Starts budget remains unclear, it is certain that there is significant demand for transit funding as regions across the country seek to reinvigorate their economies. It is also important to note that the Annual New Starts Report includes only those projects that have been formally approved by FTA to enter the New Starts “pipeline”, and does not include the many other transit projects around the country that are in earlier stages of planning or alternatives analysis, or those being funded by other federal, state or local resources.

Summary of Recommended FY 2012 New Starts and Small Starts Budget
FY 2012 President's Budget
Full Funding Grant Agreements
NY New York, Long Island Rail Road East Side Access			$215,000,000
NY New York, Second Avenue Subway Phase I			$197,182,000
TX Dallas, Northwest/Southeast LRT MOS			$86,249,717
UT Salt Lake City, Mid Jordan LRT			$78,889,750
UT Salt Lake City, Weber County to Salt Lake City Commuter Rail			$52,047,490
VA Northern Virginia, Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project Extension to Wiehle Ave.			$96,000,000
WA Seattle, University Link LRT Extension			$110,000,000
Pending Full Funding Grant Agreements - Projects First Recommended For Funding in Prior Years
CA Sacramento, South Sacramento Corridor Phase 2		$50,000,000
CA San Francisco, Third Street Light Rail Phase 2 - Central Subway		$200,000,000
CO Denver, Eagle Commuter Rail		$300,000,000
CT Hartford, New Britain - Hartford Busway		$45,000,000
FL Orlando, Central Florida Commuter Rail Transit		$50,000,000
HI Honolulu, High Capacity Transit Corridor Project		$250,000,000
MN St. Paul-Minneapolis, Central Corridor LRT		$200,000,000
TX Houston, North Corridor LRT		$100,000,000
TX Houston, Southeast Corridor LRT		$100,000,000
New Full Funding Grant Agreement Funding Recommendations
CA San Jose, Silicon Valley Berryessa Extension Project		$130,000,000
OR Portland, Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Project		$200,000,000
UT Salt Lake County, Draper Transit Corridor		$113,618,000
Other Capital Investment Program Funding Recommendations		$400,000,000
(FTA may fund these or other projects not listed below)
CA Los Angeles, Regional Connector Transit Corridor
CA Los Angeles, Westside Subway Extension
NC Charlotte, LYNX Blue Line Extension - Northeast Corridor
WA Vancouver, Columbia River Crossing Project
Small Starts Funding Recommendations
AZ Mesa, Central Mesa LRT Extension	$37,500,000
CA Fresno, Fresno Area Express Blackstone/Kings Canyon BRT	$17,800,000
CA Oakland, East Bay BRT	$25,000,000
CA San Francisco, Van Ness Avenue BRT	$30,000,000
FL Jacksonville, JTA BRT	$6,443,200
MI Grand Rapids, Silver Line BRT	$12,887,943
TX El Paso, Mesa Corridor BRT	$13,540,000
WA King County, RapidRide E Line BRT	$21,629,000
WA King County, RapidRide F Line BRT	$15,880,000
Oversight Activities	$80,888,900
TOTAL FY 2012 Budget	$3,235,556,000

[1] A Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) is a contract between the project sponsor and the Federal Transit Administration that formally establishes the maximum level of New Starts funding and outlines the terms and conditions of Federal financial participation.

[2] American Public Transportation Association (APTA), “Job Loss from Proposed Cuts to Public Transportation, High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail and Amtrak,” February 14, 2011.

Reconnecting America Joins ClimatePlan

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Reconnecting America has joined the ClimatePlan partnership. The partnership includes dozens of California organizations dedicated to addressing land use, transportation and climate change in California. Our network represents a broad spectrum of interests, ranging from public health advocates to farmland preservationists, and we all are dedicated to smart land use policies and creating a sustainable future for Californians.

The mission of the ClimatePlan partnership is to advance policies and programs to address the relationship between land use policy and climate change, and leverage the resources and partnerships necessary to realize more sustainable and equitable development throughout California.

As the ClimatePlan website explains, "When SB 375 was signed into law in late 2008, ClimatePlan recognized an exciting new venue for achieving our vision of a healthier and more vital California that supports sustainable and equitable communities, preserves iconic landscapes, and significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions."

ClimatePlan's immediate goals focus on ensuring that the California Air Resources Board adopts ambitious SB 375 targets and supportive policies for reducing Vehicle Miles Traveled, to help build support in key regions for strong implementation of SB 375 and related policies and strengthen state and federal campaigns to win additional policy reforms.

More about ClimatePlan

TOD and SB375

Reconnecting America Releases Analysis Of Obama Budget Proposal

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Analysis of the President's FY 2012 Budget
The Administration's FY2012 budget request to Congress focuses on advancing economic growth and job creation through investments in education and job-training; incentivizing innovation and investment in research and development; rebuilding crumbling infrastructure; and reducing America's fiscal deficits through bipartisan cooperation. The budget request totals $3.73 trillion with significant funding for transportation-related investments, and budget cuts and reductions to programs in several departments.

The request, if implemented, could have a profound impact on the goal of creating equitable, economically sustainable communities. It proposes reductions to popular Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs, but continues to support the Sustainable Communities Initiatives. The budget also makes substantial investments in the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and other transportation programs—and backs those investments with smart, possibly transformative, policy and programmatic changes. The theme of “doing more with less” is clear throughout the request, even for programs slated to receive additional funding.

Top Line Themes

» Increased use of competitive grant programs, some modeled after the Department of Education's “Race to the Top” program. These programs seek to reward innovative programmatic changes at the state level, particularly those that contribute to national goals.

» Increased use of private capital to build public infrastructure. Programs that use federal funds to attract private-sector participation see a significant increase in resources and application. These new financing programs should provide a significant boost to local communities that are raising local revenues for transportation and wish to accelerate construction.
Significant Policy Shifts

» The President proposes to rename the Highway Trust Fund as the Transportation Trust Fund, officially recognizing that our transportation network is multimodal. The proposal calls for depositing sufficient revenues into the Transportation Trust Fund to cover all surface transportation programs, ending the practice of funding rail and transit programs with general funds. However, no revenue source is identified to support the proposed funding levels.

» Transportation programs are converted to mandatory, not discretionary, spending, limiting Congress' ability to reduce program levels during the annual appropriations process. Mandatory spending is subject to Congressional PAYGO rules, which require increased spending to be paid for, preventing Congress from authorizing more spending than the Trust Fund can support.

» The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) budget includes funding to promote livability, with $4.1 billion in 2012 and $28 billion over six years in new grants; FHWA will also offer a competitive grant program to encourage better coordination between state and local transportation plans.

» New “Transportation Leadership Awards” will provide $32 billion over six years in a competitive grant program for exemplary states that pursue a bold reform agenda.

» A new National Infrastructure Bank would invest in projects of demonstrable merit, determined through analytical measures of performance.

» FTA funding more than doubles to $22.2 billion in FY 2012, and the Federal Railroad Administration sees an additional $8 billion for intercity and high-speed rail in FY 2012.

Equity Implications
The President's budget reduces funding to perennially popular programs serving traditionally disadvantaged communities. However, the reforms sought in reauthorization of the surface transportation bill could provide protections that are more durable and important over the long-term. The proposed Infrastructure Bank may jump-start investment in low-income communities and provide increased employment and housing opportunities—with the proper incentive structure.
In an era of increased private sector participation, clear and sustained policy direction is needed to signal that equity and livability will be profitable over the long-term. Local communities and states need to know that federal investment will be partially contingent on sound equity analysis and sustained investment. The President's proposal shows great promise in providing clear policy directives. The development of new incentives and competitive grant programs, along with increased funding, will sustain the equity agenda—if the proper metrics are used.

The forthcoming release of the six-year transportation reauthorization bill, which provides the metrics that will help direct funding, will show what level of commitment there is to achieving equity through better housing and transportation investments.

Departmental Analysis

Department of Transportation
The President's Budget includes the outlines of a proposal for a six-year, $556 billion surface transportation reauthorization bill. The proposal includes $119 billion for transit programs over six years, more than doubling the commitment to transit in the prior reauthorization. The Budget also provides $53 billion over six years to fund the development of intercity and high-speed passenger rail and, notably, integrates the federal high-speed rail program and Amtrak's stand-alone subsidies into an integrated national strategy for intercity rail. Furthermore, the Administration proposes to reclassify all surface transportation outlays as mandatory spending and move transit and intercity/high-speed rail programs into the Transportation Trust Fund (formerly known as the Highway Trust Fund).
The six-year plan also includes $30 billion to establish a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB) that will provide loans and grants to support transportation programs and projects of regional or national significance.

The Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) program was created in 1998, in an effort to attract private sector investment to infrastructure development. TIFIA is proposed to move from FHWA and integrated into the NIB. TIFIA will more than triple in size and could leverage up to $13.5 billion in funding for transportation infrastructure construction.

The Administration also proposes to bring back Build America Bonds (Department of Treasury), which are interest-subsidized bond programs meant to make debt cheaper for local communities, while attracting private capital through a taxable bond that provides higher interest than municipal bonds. The interest subsidy is proposed to drop to 28% from the higher subsidy of 35% in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The Administration's proposal consolidates 55 duplicative, often-earmarked highway programs into five streamlined ones, and adopts a “fix-it-first” approach for highway and transit grants, requiring states and localities to report on the condition of existing infrastructure and on performance measures.

The six-year plan also includes a Livable Communities Program within the Federal Highway Administration, which would provide formula- and grant-based funding for plans and projects that improve the quality-of-life and increase transportation choices in rural and urban areas. This program is funded at $4.1 billion in FY2012.

With regard to transit, the six-year plan consolidates the “Rail Modernization” program and the “Bus and Bus Facilities” program into a single “Bus and Rail State of Good Repair” program which will be distributed on a formula basis. Transit programs serving the elderly and disabled and providing job access services are consolidated as well. The proposal also would allow urbanized areas with population greater than 200,000 to use a portion of formula funds for operations during times of high unemployment.

Looking only at FY2012, the total budget for DOT is $128 billion – a $53 billion increase over 2010 levels. In FY 2012 only, the Administration's Budget includes a first-year funding boost of $50 billion, designed to jump-start investment and stimulate job growth.

This first-year boost is distributed among various programs; for example, $1 billion in additional funding is designated for the New Starts program, which funds transit capital projects, bringing the total funding for New Starts to $3.2 billion in FY 2012.

There is also $2 billion in the first-year boost for a single round of competitive funding awards under the TIGER program (which has been renamed “National Infrastructure Investments”), as well as additional funding for TIFIA.

Housing and Urban Development
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requested a $48 billion budget, which focuses on buttressing core programs. Funding for several popular programs was reduced, including resources for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOME Investment Partnerships, and new construction components of the Supportive Housing Programs for the Elderly (202) and Disabled (811) programs. The budget reduces funding for the CDBG by 7.5 percent or $300 million, and reduces the HOME program by $175 million.

The budget continues to provide support for the Sustainable Communities Initiative by including $150 million for communities to develop comprehensive housing and transportation plans for sustainable development. This builds on the funding received by more than 100 grant recipients through the HUD/DOT/EPA Inter-Agency partnership late last year. The funds will be administered through the Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities (OSHC) and includes $40 million for the Challenge Planning Grants for local community planning. OSHC also plans to secure funding to commission a database that would track energy efficiency in HUD assisted housing.

The Choice Neighborhoods program, which replaces the HOPE VI program, rehabilitates and transforms distressed high-poverty neighborhoods and received continued support with a requested $250 million funding level. The Choice Neighborhoods program is closely linked with the Department of Education's Promise Neighborhoods Initiative, which requested $150 million to support comprehensive education reform for youth in high-need communities.

In collaboration with the Department of Treasury, two reforms are proposed to the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) to give more flexibility to create and preserve affordable housing. The first reform would give more flexibility to the LIHTC by replacing the cap on household income at 60 percent of area median income (AMI) with the option that properties can serve households with incomes no greater than 60 percent of AMI and no individual household above 80 percent AMI, creating opportunities for more mixed-income housing. The second reform would allow for a basis boost which would give federally assisted housing a 30 percent increase in eligible basis for bond-financed projects to preserve, recapitalize and rehab existing affordable housing.

The budget request also calls for a new $200 million demonstration project, meant to attract private-sector funds to reduce the backlog of capital repair needs in public housing, while providing tenants with more neighborhood choices.

\The cuts at HUD continue the overall theme of the FY 2012 budget request—more private-sector investment, consolidation, and doing more with less.

Conclusion
The President's FY2012 budget request makes a bold statement about the importance of investing in transportation infrastructure, reducing inefficiencies, and incentivizing innovation. Congress will spend the next several weeks holding hearings on the President's budget in a number of committees, before developing the FY2012 appropriations bills later in the spring. The President's vision for America's future is clear. It is now up to Congress to decide whether that vision will become reality.

Transportation Budget Choices For America's Future

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Reconnecting America was pleased to see that the president’s budget for Fiscal Year 2012 offers significant deficit-reduction, but also calls for substantial investment in our nation’s infrastructure, particularly for public transportation and high-speed rail.

“This budget includes real transportation reform along with sustained investment, which means our tax money will yield the results which will benefit all Americans,” says Reconnecting America CEO John Robert Smith. “Every dollar spent on public transportation creates $4 of new economic activity, providing jobs and strengthening our economy for the long-term.”

The budget proposal seeks to leverage private-sector investment in our infrastructure, provide for greater local control and community-based action, and encourage efficiency through competition. The budget also consolidates 55 highway programs into just five streamlined programs—thus reducing unnecessary bureaucracy and increasing the flexibility provided to local communities.

The budget also carries forward the Inter-agency Partnership for Sustainable Communities, which invests in locally developed community activities based on performance and outcomes, creating accountability for results. A core mission of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities is to break down silos between federal programs to ensure that limited federal resources are used efficiently and effectively.

Reconnecting America looks forward to working with the Obama Administration and elected leaders on Capitol Hill in the coming weeks as the budget process further evolves. We want to ensure that the additional investment in transportation called for over the next six years will serve as an investment in stronger, more sustainable economic growth for our country.

Reconnecting America Applauds Obama Effort To Jumpstart High-Speed Rail

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Today, in Philadelphia, Vice President Joe Biden, accompanied by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, announced a $53 billion, six-year program to accelerate construction of the nation’s high-speed rail network. The plan calls for $8 billion in fiscal year 2012 to jumpstart the program.

Reconnecting America President and CEO John Robert Smith, who attended the announcement, remarked that our nation is at a precipice, and the economic and environmental challenges we now face require a new way of thinking about how we create connections between cities and regions and how we can support the economic health of communities of all shapes and sizes.

“A National High-Speed Rail System is not only an opportunity to redefine how we travel and how our regional economies grow,” Smith said, “it represents the type of innovation and progress that can secure a better future for our grandchildren.”

Over the last 50 years, the federal government has spent more than $400 billion building our interstate highway system. The interstate system opened new territory for economic development and created the interconnected regional economies that drive our growth today. However, with an additional 100 million citizens expected by 2050, the nation needs new infrastructure that has the ability to move more people in more places and at a higher speed.

New investments are already showing measurable results. Since prior funding raised speeds between Harrisburg, PA, and Philadelphia to 110 mph, the corridor has seen rail ridership rise by 57 percent. In fact, more passengers now travel from Harrisburg to Philadelphia – and from Philadelphia to New York City and Washington D.C. – by rail than by plane.

What this means is less demand for foreign oil, lowering our trade deficit; less carbon emissions, yielding significant environmental benefits; and an expanded job pool for every community connected to the system.

”We applaud the administration’s vision of connecting higher-speed rail to 80% of American households within 25 years, and today’s announcement will move us closer to realizing this bold American ideal,” Smith said.

The Vice President referred to John Robert Smith in his former role as Mayor of Meridian, MS, and the development of Meridian’s Union Station.

Every year we found support from some of the most unlikely sources. We found support from mayors and governors in states and small towns far from the coasts that Amtrak connected together, the economic hubs and the population centers; people like a major named John Smith, who was mayor of Meridian, Mississippi, which built a new transportation hub because a stop on Amtrak line was in his city, revitalized his entire downtown neighborhood, channeling 350,000 passengers through his small town of 40,000 people.

Below is the White House video of the speech. The mention comes at around the 10-minute mark in this 30-minute speech.

&amp;#13; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/02/08/vice-president-biden-announces-six-year-plan-build-national-high-speed-r" mce_href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/02/08/vice-president-biden-announces-six-year-plan-build-national-high-speed-r"&gt;White House Press Release&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt;

House Transportation And Infrastructure Committee National Tour

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0500

The House of Representatives' new Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman, Florida Rep. John L. Mica, has announced the locations for a series of national field hearings and public forums on transportation legislation later this month.

Mica scheduled the hearings to help inform the committee’s drafting of a long-term reauthorization of the nation’s highway, transit, and highway safety programs. The previous multi-year law (SAFETEA- LU) expired in September 2009.

The committee goal, according to the hearing schedule announcement, will be to consolidate and improve the performance of programs, cut government red tape and streamline the project delivery process, increase private sector investment in our infrastructure, identify creative financing alternatives, and solicit other ideas for writing the legislation.

"These hearings and forums will be an important opportunity for local elected officials and senior community leaders to help shape the next surface transportation bill," said Reconnecting America's Policy Director Sarah Kline. "Their real-life experience will demonstrate the power of transportation investments to transform communities and strengthen regional economies."

The hearings and meetings will begin Feb. 14 in West Virginia, home state of the committee’s ranking Democratic member, Rep. Nick J. Rahall. At least a dozen other sessions are currently planned for Feb. 17-25, including a joint House-Senate hearing in Los Angeles on Feb. 23 in cooperation with Sen. Barbara Boxer, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

While details regarding specific meetings and dates are still being worked out, the committee expects to visit Beckley, West Virginia; Charleston, West Virginia; the Philadelphia Metropolitan area; Scranton, Pennsylvania; Rochester, New York; Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; the Chicago Metropolitan area; Vancouver, Washington; Fresno, California; Los Angeles; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Jonesboro, Arkansas; and the Memphis Metropolitan area.

Reconnecting America Applauds Obama Rail, Infrastructure Goals

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Reconnecting America applauds President Obama’s remarks last night in the State of the Union with regard to his support for high-speed rail, improved infrastructure, and, in particular, development around rail stations.

Transit-oriented development, or TOD, is what we do. We specialize in building on-the-ground partnerships and convening the players necessary for responsible, equitable development near transit centers. Therefore, we were elated to hear the President recognize that “Jobs…didn’t just come from laying down track…. They came from businesses that opened near a town’s new train station….” Modernizing our infrastructure means providing better transportation choices for people of all walks of life. Everybody wants to live in a community where they have easy access to jobs, quality housing, shopping, schools, healthcare and recreational opportunities.

High-speed rail is also an important goal for the improvement of our nation’s infrastructure. The President’s remarks that “Within 25 years, our goal is to give 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail” are commendable and we stand ready to assist in this planning and the TOD that should accompany it.

Reconnecting America President John Robert Smith has seen the positive impacts of transit-oriented development firsthand. A former four-term Mayor of Meridian, MS, Smith oversaw the renovation and expansion of Meridian’s historic Union Station, which resulted in an economic boost for a downtown that had suffered economic difficulty. “By investing a combined federal, state and local contribution of $6.6 million to rebuild Union Station, the citizens of Meridian reaped the benefits of an additional $135 million in private investments in the downtown area. Meridian was transformed from what had once been a ghost town in the evenings and a city that youth wanted to flee after graduation, to a city with a “sense of place” where people wanted to work, live and experience life to the fullest.”

With the main focus in the country’s economy on creating jobs, investing in our nation’s infrastructure and building communities with transportation options will be key in this arena. Reconnecting America welcomes the President’s remarks and looks forward to working with his Administration and the 112th Congress in implementing these recommendations.

2010 Inventory of TOD Programs

Tue, 04 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Reconnecting America today released a new report, "2010 Inventory of TOD Programs: A National Review of State, Regional and Local Programs that Fund Transit-Oriented Development Plans and Projects."

"There are so many innovative programs in the U.S. that provide grants, loans, tax credits or direct financial incentives to TOD plans or projects," said Sarah Kline, Reconnecting America's policy director. "This report can be used as a resource by planners and policy-makers who are creating new TOD programs in their own jurisdiction and who will benefit from learning the essential facts about other programs that operate at similar scales and contexts."

The scope of this effort was not to compile all policies that support TOD, such as zoning codes, joint development policies or authorizing legislation, but rather to inventory ongoing, institutionalized programs that provide direct funding or financial incentives. The report provides information on 42 programs, including 18 state-level, 15 regional and transit agency, and nine local programs.

John Robert Smith, President and CEO of Reconnecting America, stated: “I applaud Reconnecting America’s policy team for putting together this document. We recognize that these programs change frequently and there will never be a “final” compilation of TOD programs, but this snapshot should give readers a helpful understanding of the types of policies that exist.”

Programs that provide grants, loans, tax credits, or direct financial incentives to TOD projects or plans have been sorted into three categories:

Planning – funds to conduct corridor, district or station-area TOD planning.
Implementation – funds for construction of projects or infrastructure in a TOD district.
Property Acquisition – funds dedicated to acquiring property or land banking in locations near transit.

The report includes three recommendations regarding TOD funding programs.

TOD programs must be tailored to fit the local conditions and needs of the place they are designed to serve.
TOD-supportive programs are important, but they are just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to implementing TOD. In addition, removing policy barriers to TOD may prove equally important.
TOD programs may be able to include an incentive for localities to zone for appropriate levels of affordable housing near transit, for agencies to acquire properties for mixed-income TOD, or for developers to include below-market rate units in their projects.

Reconnecting America’s report displays the notable variety that exists in TOD programs across the U.S. today. This variety is largely due to the different political landscape, challenges, strengths, development market and key players that exist in each state, region or locality. Recognizing that TOD programs change and are adopted frequently, Reconnecting America aims to use the content from this report to develop an interactive web tool that will include a broader set of policies and can be updated by users, to ensure ongoing accuracy.

TOD 203: Transit Corridors and TOD

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0500

The Center for Transit-Oriented Development today released "TOD 203: Transit Corridors and TOD," the latest in CTOD's ongoing series of best practices guidebooks.

"This guidebook illustrates how planning at the corridor scale can help transit investments capture the benefits of TOD," said Sam Zimbabwe, director of the Center for Transit-Oriented Development. "Corridor planning can engage stakeholders, lead to more cost effective planning processes, and identify where along a new or existing transit line that the real estate market will be most active.”

Filled with real-world transit-oriented development lessons, the guidebook explains how corridor planning can facilitate not only successful transportation outcomes but also successful transit-oriented development.

"Corridor planning is a critical step toward making wise investments in transit that will spur economic development, reduce congestion and help connect people with work, school, shopping, health care, and other vital services," said Therese McMillan, Deputy Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration, the agency that funded the development of the guidebook. "Having a list of clear objectives and relevant examples at hand makes that critical planning step all the easier.”

The guidebook defines three corridor types (destination connector, commuter, and district circulator) and identifies the different implications for TOD associated with each type of transit corridor.

Putting the theory to work, the guidebook indentifies six objectives for transit and TOD at the corridor level from “Guide growth and development” to “Promote reinvestment and increase spending power” and pairs those with strategies to reach the objectives.

The guidebook contains numerous on-the-ground examples: Alignment considerations for the planned Southwest Corridor in the Twin Cities; engaging stakeholders along the Foothill Extension of the Gold Line; the shared planning process along Phoenix’s Valley Metro Light Rail that led to TOD zoning and pedestrian development guidelines for the entire corridor; Charlotte's development experience since light rail arrived in 2007; and the exciting collaboration between the housing authorities, planners, and city leaders in Denver and Lakewood along the West Corridor; the high ridership experienced by Houston’s Red Line due to the connections it provides between major destinations, not to mention lessons from Seattle, Boston, Cleveland, St. Louis, Washington, DC, the San Francisco Bay Area, Baltimore and Portland.

Performance-Based Transit-Oriented Development Typology Guidebook

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Today the Center for Transit-Oriented Development released its "Performance-Based Transit-Oriented Development Typology Guidebook,” a hands-on tool for identifying the different conditions that exist around transit stations and determining how that influences performance on a range of metrics.

"The compositions of our communities and the quality of transit have a great influence on how people choose to get around and the choices they have in their daily lives," said Sam Zimbabwe, director of the Center for Transit-Oriented Development (CTOD). "The Performance-Based TOD Typology is a user-friendly tool that gives interested people around the country the ability to evaluate the performance of the transit zones in their neighborhoods and towns."

Whether working locally or regionally, the guidebook provides easy to understand information to help guide efforts to create high-quality TOD that reduces vehicle miles traveled (VMT), a significant generator of our national greenhouse gas emissions, as well as creating a host of community benefits. The guidebook builds off of the TOD Database, a web tool released in October that provides economic and demographic information for every existing and proposed fixed-guideway transit station in the United States. (See URLs for the report below.)

"The analysis in this guidebook utilizes CTOD’s National TOD Database to take existing conditions from more than 3,700 existing transit station areas in 39 regions across the country," explained Linda Young, Research Director at the Center for Neighborhood Technology, a CTOD partner. “This means the performance metrics are based on real data from communities around the United States.”

In the past, mismatched decision-making structures, uncertain outcomes, and a lack of a common framework for measuring performance have been stumbling blocks in attempts to use TOD to address climate change and community development goals simultaneously. The Performance-Based TOD Typology gives stakeholders the ability to evaluate the performance of the transit zones in their neighborhoods.

This guidebook will be of use to policy makers, planners, employers, and residents interested in matters related to transit ridership, climate change, economic development, affordable housing, urban design, or other issues linked to transportation, employment, and place.

While this tool could be useful in guiding future planning decisions by a variety of stakeholders, there are three specific groups who could most readily use it to affect decision-making:

At the federal and state level, agencies can use the tool to inform funding and investment policies and in regional planning and decision-making.
At the regional level, Metropolitan Planning Organizations, transit agencies, and other stakeholders can use this tool to guide corridor planning and regional investments in housing and transportation.
At the local and neighborhood level, cities, community-based organizations and other stakeholders can use this tool to inform local planning decisions from long range plans to affordable housing locations.

The Performance-Based Transit-Oriented Development Typology Guidebook includes detailed case studies from Los Angeles, CA; Oak Park, IL; West Irving, TX; Pittsburgh, PA; Berkeley, CA; Gresham, OR; Jersey City, NJ; Atlanta, GA; and Rockville, MD. Each case study serves as an example of one of the different place types and acts as a template for stakeholders to create their own existing conditions analysis.

Congress For New Urbanism's Charter Awards

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0500

CNU is seeking submissions for the 2011 Charter Awards, its premier annual juried awards program. The awards recognize outstanding design, development and policy achievements from around the world that embody the principles of the Charter of the New Urbanism and expand our understanding of their role in transforming communities for the better.

Reconnecting America's book, "Street Smart: Streetcars and Cities in the 21st Century," won a CNU Charter Award in 2007. The book was recognized for its overall design quality, and for setting the standard for the New Urbanism.

In particular, "Street Smart" was recognized for the manner in which it advanced the CNU's Charter of the New Urbanism. Applying valuable lessons from the past to the modern world, the charter outlines principles for building better communities, from the scale of the region down to the block. The book was revised and republished in 2009 and is available for purchase here.

CNU is inviting submissions across the Charter's three scales, from broad regions to individual blocks and buildings. The deadline for applications is Jan. 12.

Project types highlighted in the early years of the Charter Awards program now represent major trends in real estate development and community renewal. As CNU explains, the Charter Awards demonstrate how today's urbanism strengthens communities by creating the physical setting for rich public life and promotes efficiencies that can be enjoyed by local governments and households alike.

The Charter Awards program is unique in its emphasis on the entirety of the built and natural environment -- from the function and sustainability of regions to the fine-grain architectural details that strengthen people's ties to a place over time. The Charter Awards look at how plans and projects integrate with their contexts and, consequently, how they improve both the human experience of place and the relationship between the built and natural environments.

Going into its 11th year, CNU's Charter Awards have generated more than 1,200 entries and recognized more than 150 projects from more than 100 firms and schools. This year, CNU will launch an inaugural cash prize for the best professional and student projects from among the 2011 Charter Award winners.

Chairing this year's jury will be CNU co-founder Elizabeth Moule, Principal of Moule & Polyzoides, Architects and Urbanists, Pasadena, California.

The CNU Charter Awards will offer a prize of $5,000 to the best professional project and $1,000 for the best academic project. These Grand prize winners will be selected from the group of final Charter Award winners and will be chosen by the jury due to its outstanding fulfillment of the principles of New Urbanism. The grand prizes have been made possible by the Fund for the Environment & Urban Life, which is committed to supporting communication programs that will create wider awareness of environmental and urban issues, innovations, solutions and behavior change.

CNU Charter Awards
Past Award Winners
Street Smart: Streetcars and Cities in the 21st Century (Reconnecting America, 2009)

Reconnecting America Releases Analysis Of Federal Sustainable Communities Grants

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0500

The past few months have been an exciting time as large and small communities, representing all corners of the country, have worked on developing collaborative planning processes that will address the unique conditions in their region and which will improve the quality of life for the diverse people that live, work and play there.

The impetus for this has been competition for grants springing from the unprecedented partnership announced last year between the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency.

In October, HUD and DOT announced the finalists of the Sustainable Communities Regional Planning (SCRPG), Community Challenge, and TIGER II planning awards. Reconnecting America staff has been busy reviewing successful and unsuccessful applications for innovative ideas, common themes and unique concepts. We have also compiled a list of finalists of all the awards with descriptions of the proposed activities.

Our primary focus was on collecting applications for the SCRPG grants since we have been involved in many regional efforts to implement equitable transit-oriented development. Prior to the announcement of grant recipients we were able to obtain 47 SCRPG applications from across the country through web research and outreach to our contacts at various metropolitan planning organizations. Seventeen (17) of these regions received awards. There was an overwhelming focus on transit corridors and equitable housing development in many of these applications, especially among applications from regions with an existing plan and looking to implement that plan or fill gaps. The following paragraphs summarize our key findings of this analysis, starting with our overall findings, followed by a review of overlapping award regions, and finally a look at common themes and concepts among successful applicants.

Overall Findings

HUD and DOT issued approximately 107 grants for planning-related activities through both Sustainable Communities and TIGER II grants. Forty-five regions and 61 individual communities received planning grants. DOT also issued another 42 TIGER II grants for capital projects with this round of funding, in addition to its previous award of 51 TIGER I grants back in February 2010. Approximately 199 awards have been given to 132 regions through each of these programs. Public transportation and transit-oriented development are key concepts in an estimated 72 of the 199 awards (36.1%). This is broken down as follows:

26 Regional Planning grants (11 Category 1, 15 Category 2)
17 Community Challenge grants
10 Joint HUD/DOT Challenge/TIGER II grants
15 TIGER II grants (11 planning, 4 capital) 4 TIGER I grants

Regional Analysis

Approximately 59 of the 100 largest metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) received some type of award. Of the 50 largest MSAs, 40 received an award. The largest regions to receive no awards were Phoenix, Baltimore, and San Antonio. The regions receiving the most awards were the New York City tri-state region (7), Dallas/Fort Worth (5), Detroit (5), and the San Francisco Bay Area (5). In terms of money, the New York City tri-state ($121.5 million), Chicago ($109.4 million), and San Francisco Bay Area ($89.3 million) regions received the most funding from all Sustainable Communities and TIGER grant programs.

The following table displays the top 10 regions receiving the largest sums of money.

Region	Total Amount	# Awards
New York Tri-State	$121.5 million	7
Chicago	$109.4 million	4
San Francisco	$89.3 million	5
Dallas/Fort Worth	$79.9 million	5
Detroit	$72.1 million	5
Seattle	$69.0 million	3
Tucson	$63.0 million	1
Washington, DC	$62.6 million	3
Kansas City	$54.3 million	3
Providence/New Bedford	$53.7 million	4

Note that regions awarded capital grants under TIGER I and/or TIGER II received more money than regions awarded planning grants, so some regions that did not receive any planning grants still rank highly on this list.

Overlap in Awards

Regions and communities that are disappointed about the award process should note that very few regions received grants under all three or even two of these programs. Only five regions received both a Regional Planning and a Community Challenge grant from HUD. In no cases, however, was the grantee the same.

Region	Regional Grantee	Challenge Grantee
Boston	MAPC	City of Somerville
Chicago	CMAP	South Suburban Mayors & Managers Association
New York City Tri-State	Regional Plan Association	Jersey City Redevelopment Agency*
Salt Lake City	Salt Lake County	Salt Lake City Corporation

*Joint HUD/DOT Challenge/TIGER II Grant

Nine regions received both a Regional Planning grant from HUD and a TIGER II planning grant from DOT. In all cases, the grantee for the TIGER II and Regional Planning grants were different.

Region	Regional Grantee	TIGER II Planning Grantee
Asheville	Land-of-Sky Regional Council	City of Asheville
Chicago	CMAP	Village of Barrington
Detroit	SEMCOG	Oakland County
Greensboro	Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation	City of Lexington
Kansas City	Mid-America Regional Council (MARC)	City of Gladstone
Madison	Capital Area Regional Planning Commission	City of Madison
Minneapolis/St. Paul	Met Council	City of St. Paul
New York Tri-State	Regional Plan Association	NYC DOT Jersey City Redevelopment Agency*
St. Louis	East-West COG	City of University City*

*Joint HUD/DOT Challenge/TIGER II Grant

Oklahoma City was the only region to receive both a Community Challenge grant and a TIGER II planning grant.

Region	Challenge Grantee	TIGER II Grantee
Oklahoma City	City of Oklahoma City	Central Oklahoma Transportation & Parking Authority

The following matrix displays the overlap between regions and the various grant programs, including capital award grants from both TIGER I and TIGER II: Matrix of Regions Receiving More Than One Grant

Common Themes & Interesting Concepts

From our review of the 47 SCRPG applications before the award announcement, several common themes and interesting concepts emerged. Once HUD and DOT released the official award descriptions, we reviewed these applications again to see which themes and concepts were predominant in successful regions. We also looked at the descriptions for Community Challenge and TIGER II planning grants to get a broad consensus of the types of activities that HUD and DOT were interested in funding. Overall, we identified nine themes: equity/affordable housing, corridor planning, station area planning, comprehensive planning, connectivity, economic development, zoning/land use reform, healthy eating, and data sharing & modeling.

Equity: Regions and communities that emphasized equity and affordable housing in their proposals were highly successful. The Puget Sound region in Washington, for example, proposed creating a Regional Equity Network among various agencies, community organizations, and foundations to promote equitable housing development. Regions around Cleveland, Ohio; Boston, Mass.; Charlottesville, Va.; Detroit, Mich.; Madison, Wisc.; and Salt Lake City, Utah, each proposed creating regional housing plans as part of SCRPG grant activities. At the county level, Augusta-Richmond County in Georgia won a joint Community Challenge/TIGER II grant to prepare a redevelopment plan for a 4.5-mile corridor through the heart of downtown Augusta, which will include an affordable housing component. The City of Cincinnati received a Community Challenge grant to study the feasibility of an inclusionary zoning ordinance. Several cities, including Somerville, Mass., and Dallas, Texas, proposed creating affordable housing land banks as part of their grants.
Corridor Planning: A predominant focus of both Regional and Community Challenge grants was corridor-level activities. The Regional award finalists heavily focused on multiple corridors while the Challenge award finalists were mostly related to a single corridor. Among grant recipients from regions with an existing plan (Category 2 grants), the emphasis was on transit corridors. In Seattle, the regional consortium will prepare a strategy for up to 25 transit corridors and 100 new transit stations planned for the year 2025. Boston will create corridor plans on its existing transit corridors and identify priority development, preservation, and infrastructure investment areas. The Twin Cities consortium in Minnesota will focus on transit corridor planning activities, and has developed a seven-phase continuum for planning and development strategies, with each corridor falling somewhere along this continuum. The Hartford, Conn., region will focus on a “Knowledge Corridor with its SCRPG grant” while Denver, Colo., will prioritize activities along the West Corridor with its joint Community Challenge/TIGER II grant.
Station Area Planning: Several regions have proposed conducting site-specific TOD planning activities in their successful Regional Planning grants, including Salt Lake City and the Twin Cities, both of which would prepare demonstration projects that could be replicable throughout their respective regions. Many communities also received Community Challenge or TIGER II grants for new or existing station areas, including the cities of Dallas and Santa Monica, Calif. Others would focus on downtown or neighborhood revitalization efforts.
Comprehensive Planning: The nature of the Sustainable Communities grants means that most regions and communities are focused on creating comprehensive plans at the regional or local level. Many award recipients from regions without an existing regional comprehensive plan (Category 1 grants) are working together for the first time to create a regional plan, and just getting all the right people to the table and attempting to work together will be the main focus of these efforts. In other more advanced regions, implementation of existing regional plans is the primary goal, or they plan on filling in gaps such as affordable housing, transportation, or sustainability.
Connectivity: Concepts such as complete streets, last-mile connections, and off-street trails were an emphasis of several Challenge and TIGER II grants. Burlington, Vt., St. Paul, Minn., and Dahlonega, Ga., will all use Community Challenge grants to prepare complete streets guidelines, while Pittsburgh, Penn., and the Pueblo of Laguna, N.M., will use TIGER II grants to build new trail systems.
Economic Development: Workforce development was a key goal of the Des Moines, Iowa, region’s Regional Planning grant, while international economic development was a priority for the South Florida region. The Rockford, Ill., and Helena, Ark., regions will both focus on economic revitalization in their Regional Planning grant activities.
Zoning/Land Use Reform: About a dozen communities received Community Challenge grants to reform their land-use regulations and zoning codes to foster more compact, mixed-use development. Somerville, Mass.; Indianapolis, Ind.; and Providence, R.I., all seek to rewrite their entire zoning codes. Cincinnati, Ohio; Flint, Mich.; and New Haven, Conn., will create mixed-use or TOD overlay zones. Glens Falls, N.Y., will conduct a feasibility study for reforming its current zoning codes.
Healthy Eating: Three places received grants to improve food access and healthy eating. The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission seeks to integrate the local food system in the Columbus area communities, while the Pittsfield, Mass., region will emphasize local food production in its regional comprehensive plan.
Data Sharing & Modeling: Several regions aim to use Regional Planning grant funding to promote data sharing between communities and create regional data depositories. Platteville, Wisc., and Austin, Texas, both emphasized this concept in SCRPG applications. The Houston and Greensboro, N.C., regions would use funds to engage in scenario planning activities as part of community outreach.

Conclusion

The first round of Sustainable Communities and TIGER awards went to a wide variety of communities and regions to fund a diverse array of planning activities. There was no “one-size-fits-all” approach to preparing a successful application, as communities and regions large and small received awards. While common themes such as equity and corridor planning predominated, there were many unique concepts as well that only one or two regions proposed.

Applications that contained more specific strategies and implementation efforts around these key themes were more successful than those that were more general. Many unsuccessful applicants proposed activities that were beyond their scope or they were too vague about how they would achieve their goals.

Overall, the process that went into creating many of these applications has resulted in new relationships within regions that will be tremendously beneficial as regions continue to plan for the future sustainability and livability of their inhabitants. Reconnecting America looks forward to continuing to support the planning and investment activities that build economic resilience, transportation choices, and housing opportunities for Americans across the country, in regions large and small through our research, technical assistance, and on-the-ground experience.

Reconnecting America has created a pair of maps that display all of the grants awarded by HUD & DOT under the Sustainable Communities and TIGER programs during FY2010.

The map below show grants by the political party of the member of the U.S. House of Representatives representing that district, or districts in the case of a regional award. (View map in separate window)

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Your browser does not support iframes.&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

The map below displays all of the grants awarded by HUD & DOT under the Sustainable Communities and TIGER programs during FY2010. (View map in separate window)

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Your browser does not support iframes.&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Reconnecting America Commends Obama Administration High-Speed And Inter-City Passenger Rail Grants

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Reconnecting America President and CEO John Robert Smith commended the Obama administration for the $2.4 billion in grants announced today for the development of high-speed and inter-city passenger rail corridors in the United States.

Reconnecting America believes that the nation is at a precipice. The economic and environmental challenges we face require a new way of thinking about how we create connections between cities and regions. Reconnecting America was founded with the mission of improving rail connections within and between communities, and remains committed to the principle that transit connectivity and supportive station area development will be essential components of our national high-speed and passenger rail network.

“A national high-speed rail system is not only an opportunity to redefine how we travel and how our regional economies grow – it represents the type of innovation and progress that can guarantee another century of growth and prosperity in America,” said Smith. “It gives people a choice in how they travel, something polls have shown Americans want.”

Over the last 50 years, the federal government spent more than $400 billion building our interstate highway system. The interstate system opened new territory for economic development and created the interconnected regional economies that drove our economic growth in the past and still play a role in it today. With an additional 100 million citizens expected by 2050, the nation needs new infrastructure with additional transportation alternatives that have the ability to move more people in more places at a higher speed. Reconnecting America believes high-speed rail will be this generation’s contribution to the continued mobility and future economic growth of our country.

“The diversity of grant recipients shows that communities large and small alike will benefit from investments in high-speed and inter-city passenger rail,” Smith said. “For example, the States of Iowa and Illinois received $230 million in grants today to support. the development of a new passenger rail connection between Iowa City and Chicago, which will help to revitalize a number of smaller cities along the route.”

CDFIs And Transit-Oriented Development

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0400

In October 2010, the Center for Transit-Oriented Development published a report exploring the role community development finance institutions could play in promoting equitable transit-oriented development. This document is an initial effort to frame the context of TOD and equity, and to encourage a more robust discourse on the connection between the agendas of CDFIs and TOD.

Below is the Executive Summary from the report

Introduction

Transit-oriented development (TOD) can provide households with more opportunities and choices. Ideal TOD communities are mixed-use neigh-borhoods with good-quality public transit that connect people of a variety of incomes to a wide range of economic, social, and educational opportunities. TODs incorporate access to human services such as child care facilities, fresh food stores, health care facilities, and cultural and educational institutions within a short walking distance of transit. Families living in transit areas can signifcantly reduce the time and cost spent on their daily commute to work, and the other trips required for their daily chores, allowing for more disposable income and leisure time. Compact and pedestrian-oriented environments also gen-erate demonstrated public health benefts by reducing obesity and preventing related health problems.

The benefts of living in pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use urban neighborhoods are growing increasingly evident, and the private real estate market has responded. Recent research by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows that an increasing share of new housing units has been built in central city locations, which generally have access to transit. Research by the CTOD indicates that a great deal of the recent new development has occurred in or near downtowns and major employment districts. Other types of urban and suburban neighborhoods along transit corridors have not benefted equally in terms of re-ceiving new investment.

The uneven nature of development in transit areas can partly be attributed to the fact that the implementation of TOD is often challenging and complex. TOD projects are generally costly and challenging to finance, especially in the current economic and financial environment. Dense mixed-use TOD projects generally have higher land costs, higher construction costs, and longer time frames for completion. All of these factors require sophisticated financing tools, and a high level of expertise on the part of the developer. The need to cobble together multiple permanent financing sources means that there is often a long holding period, in which the developer must pay for land acquisition, site assembly, and other predevelopment costs. Downtowns and other premium locations can generate higher returns, which can in some cases justify the longer term and higher cost of the investment. However, it is often impossible to find the patient capital that is required to bring a project to fruition, even in very desirable locations. Furthermore, many TOD neighborhoods do not have strong market appeal, and require substantive upfront investments in infrastructure, community facilities, and amenities in order to attract private development. While these investments are typically made by the public sector, many cities lack the revenues to fund these activities, leaving many neighborhoods with a defcit of facilities, amenities, and infrastructure to support TOD. Often, federal, regional, and state-level funding is absent or inadequate to fill the funding gap. The combination of these challenges has led to only a modest share of new housing and jobs occurring in transit and infill locations.

The challenge of bringing TOD to scale has important equity implications. Because of the strong market demand from affuent households, as well as the cost of building housing in high-value urban areas, new TOD housing is most often targeted to upper-income households. Low- and moderate-income households, for whom transit is often an essential service, are not as well served by the market. Furthermore, the introduction of new transit sometimes results in an increase in rental rates, making it diffcult for existing residents to remain in place as the neighborhood changes. In the few regions where the creation and preservation of affordable and mixed-income TOD has been effective, there has been proactive leadership and concerted efforts from a diverse set of actors, including the public sector, nonprofts, and philanthropy.

While community development finance institutions (CDFIs) have long provided financial services and other assistance to promote economic opportunities for low- and moderate-income individuals, and to support strong, healthy, and diverse communities. CDFI activity ranges from providing capital to nonproft housing developers, to investments in small businesses and community assets such as schools, health clinics, fresh food stores, and child care facilities. Some CDFIs are engaged in advocacy at the federal policy level, while others are working in part-nerships with community-based organizations, govern-ment, and foundations in community planning efforts. However, TOD has not been a focal point at the center of these activities. To date, most CDFIs have engaged in TOD in a somewhat limited and opportunistic way, providing capital and technical assistance to individual housing and mixed-use projects in neighborhoods served by transit. However, it is clear that CDFIs have a great deal to offer in advancing the TOD agenda in terms of technical expertise, creative financing tools, and advocacy.

As a first step towards identifying ways that CDFIs may deepen their involvement in promoting equitable TOD, the Center for Transit-Oriented Development (CTOD) has prepared this paper. Following a summary of findings, the paper contains the following elements:

A clear description of the benefts of equitable TOD and how this relates to the broad goals of the CDFI industry;
A discussion of challenges to the provision of equi-table TOD;
A description of the range of strategies employed to overcome these challenges;
A framework for understanding the potential role(s) of CDFIs in promoting equitable TOD.

This document is an initial effort to frame the context of TOD and equity, and to encourage a more robust dis-course on the connection between the agendas of CDFIs and TOD.

CDFIs and TOD: Principal Findings

To date, CDFI involvement in TOD has been primarily through the provision of financing and technical assistance to development projects in neighborhoods near transit. There are numerous examples of CDFIs partnering with community-based organizations to build and rehabilitate affordable housing and mixed-use developments. While there are many areas of convergence between CDFIs and TOD, there are also some areas of mismatch, identifed below:

Scale of involvement - CDFIs are generally involved in individual TOD projects, which are financed separately. However, implementation of successful and equitable TOD requires neighborhood level investments of all kinds, including built assets such as parks, plazas, streets, basic infrastructure, and community facilities that are diffcult to finance through traditional means.
Qualifying neighborhoods - CDFIs generally target their investments to low- and moderate-income places. However, there is also a role for investing in higher income TOD neighborhoods to ensure that they are equitable. For example, in many TODs, there is a need to introduce affordable and mixed-income housing so that all can beneft from the opportunities of living and working near transit.
Financing challenges - As discussed above, TOD projects are complex and can take a very long time to realize. However, private investors are typically not able to wait 10 to 20 years to receive a return on their investment.
Infrastructure and amenities - Neighborhood infrastructure and amenities such as sidewalks, plazas, parks, and sewer lines are not revenue generators, which makes them diffcult to finance through the lending tools available to CDFIs.
Lack of capacity at the neighborhood level - In order to implement projects on the ground, CDFIs must partner with strong community based organizations (CBOs) and community development corporations (CDCs), but in many neighborhoods, there is a lack of organizational capacity.

The most important prerequisite for a signifcant expansion of CDFI involvement in TOD is the presence of public sector commitment to fund these activities. This includes federal, regional, and local resources to acquire and assemble properties, conduct station area planning, provide technical assistance, fund infrastructure improvements, finance low-income and mixed-income housing, and fund other types of community facilities and services.

There is also a need for Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) and regional transit agencies to provide leadership at the metropolitan level urging cities to create TOD-supportive land use policies. Foundations and CBOs can also play the critical role of the central convener that brings various stakeholders to the table. Foundations can also provide patient capital and potentially equity to proj-ects and regional TOD acquisition funds.

CTOD has identifed opportunities for CDFIs to expand their role in TOD to include the following areas:

Provide short-term, unconventional financing for construction and rehabilitation/preservation of affordable housing projects - CDFIs have a proven track record of providing creative financing solutions that go beyond traditional sources for affordable and mixed-income housing.
Formation of additional regional structured funds to finance TOD projects - TOD implementation requires early and low-cost sources of capital to acquire properties in high-value TOD areas. Recent experiences with structured funds for property acquisition provide instruction on the key factors to consider when pursuing this strategy to develop affordable and mixed-income housing in TOD neighborhoods.
Inform federal policymaking - Based on CTOD's research, there is a potential role for CDFIs to provide a) Establishing a federal TOD requirement for LIHTC and NMTC allocations; b) Steering credit towards transit areas; c) Exploring new federal financing sources for child care facilities.
Engagement with metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) in regional TOD planning - CDFIs could assist MPOs to modify their station area planning processes to explicity include equitable development, going beyond affordable housing to reinforce the critical role that essential services (e.g., infrastructure, child care, health services, libraries, recreational facilities) play in building healthy communities.

In addition to the recommended areas of involvement above, CTOD also identifed other potential areas for CDFIs to explore for future engagement in TOD.

Providing financing to revenue-generating neighbor-hood infrastructure projects such as public parking garages and energy infrastructure;
Providing assistance to MPOs and/or local govern-ments in developing sound underwriting standards to evaluate grants and loans to finance TOD infrastruc-ture and projects;
Advising MPOs in the formation of regional infra-structure banks and/or revolving loan funds for TOD infrastructure investments;
Dissemination of best practices to educate public pol-icy-makers about ways to include the human services, like quality early care, education and health care, as components of equitable TOD into their plans.

Enhanced involvement in all of these areas would require a significant amount of "soft" funds from the public or philanthropic sectors.

Changing federal policy in the US to promote livable communities

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0400

International Association of Public Transport has published an article co-authored by Reconnecting America President and CEO John Robert Smith and Policy Associate Alia Anderson in its bimonthly joural, Public Transit International.

The International Association of Public Transport (UITP) is the international network for public transport authorities and operators, policy decision-makers, scientific institutes and the public transport supply and service industry.

Public Transport International (PTI) is the official magazine of the International Association of Public Transport (UITP). The readership of the magazine is international and includes top-level managers and decision-makers from throughout the entire sector. The circulation is more than 6,000 copies in more than 90 countries.

Reconnecting America Applauds TIGERII Grants

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Reconnecting America President and CEO John Robert Smith applauded today's award of nearly $600 million in Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) II construction and planning grants.

“This second set of TIGER grants continues the Administration’s commitment to infrastructure investment that creates more sustainable communities and strengthens America’s ability to compete in a global economy,” Smith said. “These projects will help to create regional integrated transportation solutions that will bring economic and societal benefits for years into the future.”

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's office received nearly 1,000 applications for more than $19 billion in projects around the country. Using merit-based evaluation criteria, the department selected 42 capital construction projects and 33 planning projects that address some of the nation’s most critical challenges.

Grant recipients represent both large and small communities, in all regions of the country. Under TIGER II, more than $140 million is reserved for projects in rural areas.

“These grants break away from the traditional, stove-piped approach to transportation investment, and reward regional cooperation and innovation," Smith added. "I urge Congress and the Administration to continue building upon this approach as they move forward on a multi-year, multi-modal transportation reauthorization bill. With the multiple benefits these projects will provide, we’re getting a lot of return for the dollar.”

The TIGER II follow last year's 51 grants under the TIGER I program.

“These are innovative, 21st century projects that will change the U.S. transportation landscape by strengthening the economy and creating jobs, reducing gridlock and providing safe, affordable and environmentally sustainable transportation choices,” said Secretary LaHood. “Many of these projects could not have been funded without this program.”

Roughly 26 percent of TIGER II grants go for transit, 20 percent for rail projects, 16 percent for ports, 4 percent for bicycle and pedestrian projects, 5 percent for planning projects and the remaining 29 percent for road projects.

The planning grants represent the first time the U.S. Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have joined together in awarding grants for localized planning activities that ultimately lead to projects that integrate transportation, housing and urban development.

Almost 700 applicants sought up to $35 million in TIGER II planning grants and up to $40 million in HUD Sustainable Community Challenge Grants. HUD’s funds can be used for localized planning efforts, such as development around a transit stop and zone or building code updates and improvements. The two Departments, along with assistance from the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, participated in the evaluation of the planning grant applications.

First-Of-Its-Kind National TOD Database Launched

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0400

The Center for Transit-Oriented Development (CTOD) today launched a first-of-its-kind web database to provide access to comprehensive information about more than 4,000 transit zones across the United States. The web tool will help developers, investors, and city officials make planning decisions that take advantage of development opportunities around transit nodes.

The TOD Database, available at toddata.cnt.org, provides information on density, demographics, occupation and transportation habits of households near 4,160 existing and proposed fixed-guideway transit stations, including commuter rail, streetcars, light rail, bus rapid transit and ferries. Spanning Honolulu to Portland, Maine, the database synthesizes 40,000 data fields at half-mile and quarter-mile buffers around fixed rail stations to create a user-friendly web site that allows people to view maps of various transit regions and choose data reports for stations of interest. Users can also query data by geography or demographics. The TOD Database is a product of the Center for Transit-Oriented Development, a partnership among Reconnecting America, the Center for Neighborhood Technology, and Strategic Economics.

“The Federal Transit Administration’s goal is to partner with communities that want to develop smart transportation solutions that will inspire new economic development, reduce congestion and our dependence on oil, and help connect people with work, school, or the doctor’s office,” said FTA Deputy Administrator Therese McMillan, the agency that funded the creation of the TOD Database. “Having the best data available at your fingertips will help cities, neighborhoods, and developers, achieve the goal of a more livable, walkable community that benefits all of their residents.”

“When talking to potential developers, this site will be great to give them detailed reports surrounding station areas, and the same is true for retailers who want to know about foot traffic in the area,” said Craig Sklenar, a city planner for Evanston, Illinois. “This will help any city develop really good TODs.”

When transit-oriented development is planned and implemented effectively, it is economically and environmentally beneficial to cities and families of all incomes. Dense, walkable, transit-rich neighborhoods can be more affordable, because a typical household owns fewer cars and drives less than a household in a dispersed, car-oriented community with no access to transit. TOD projects make economic sense for cities as well, since development around transit nodes make use of existing infrastructure, avoiding the expense required to install new infrastructure in greenfield locations on the urban fringe. Because they reduce transportation-related pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, TOD projects are better for the environment.

“We created the TOD Database as a one-stop shop for information on TOD to encourage more transit-focused communities in the marketplace,” said Scott Bernstein, president of the Center for Neighborhood Technology. “We’ve provided research on 4,160 transit-centered opportunities for smart development decisions that are good for people’s pocketbooks and the economy.”

“The web-based TOD Database is an exciting step for us,” said CTOD Director Sam Zimbabwe. “In the six-year history of the partnership, we have always sought to empower good decision-making and sound investment by communities large and small. We’re excited to take this step and look forward to incorporating more information over the next year as it becomes available through the U.S. Census.”

Our Year Of Transforming Promising Ideas

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Welcome to the Fall 2010 issue of Platform. The staff of Reconnecting America has been busy all year. We have gone through a rebranding process and are currently overhauling our website, and have a number of accomplishments in transit-oriented development and policy work. In addition, we have expanded our talent roster to fulfill our mission of transforming promising ideas into thriving communities.

2010 has been a great year for our issues — TOD, multimodal transportation links, livability, sustainability, equity and affordable housing. We have many advocates on Capitol Hill and in the Obama Administration. Under the direction of our chief of staff, Allison Brooks, staff has been advancing our cause both on Capitol Hill and in the administration, as well as in our expanded regional TOD work. We were delighted to receive news from the Federal Transit Administration that they will continue our partnership and have funded us for FY 2011. This will enable us to continue to help bring equitable TOD to scale across the country.

In March, I testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on the transportation challenges facing rural areas and the need to address these in the next transportation bill. In conjunction with our testimony, Transportation for America released a white paper titled, “Principles for Improving Transportation Options in Rural and Small Town Communities.” I am happy to report that our message has been heard on the Hill and an active rural strategy is now being pursued.

We were excited to see HUD release its Notice of Funding Availability for the Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grants. Reconnecting America staff provided guidance to several regions as they wrote their proposals and worked to build regional consortiums of local jurisdictions and community organizations. We have been reviewing the regional applications to get a sense of the activities each is proposing to undertake to help realize the federal livability principles.

Our technical assistance program continues to help facilitate innovative work. We recently completed an exciting effort in Portland, where we have been collaborating with Oregon Metro and Nelson\Nygaard to create an investment framework for Metro’s TOD program. (See the story here.) In the Bay Area, we have been working with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), and a regional collaboration called the Great Communities Collaborative to help create what is slated to be a $60 million dollar Affordable Housing Transit-Oriented Development Fund that is focused on preserving and producing affordable housing in key high-access locations across the region.

And last but not least, be sure to read the exciting news of the MITOD website. We are certain this resource will prove invaluable to jurisdictions and planners as they develop creative and innovative mixed-income communities around planned transit stations.

As our new tagline says, Reconnecting America is all about People, Places and Possibilities. We look forward to continuing our work and appreciate your support.

Investors For Sustainable Communities

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0400

A working group of major philanthropic and financial institutions, Investors for Sustainable Communities, has announced an effort to coordinate up to $150 million in investments to build stronger communities grounded in more resilient, regional economies that provide opportunity to all residents and that firmly embrace environmental stewardship.

Investors for Sustainable Communities is sponsored by Living Cities, a consortium of 22 of the world's largest foundations and financial institutions working to revitalize America's cities. Participants in Investors for Sustainable Communities include national philanthropies such as the Ford, Surdna and Rockefeller foundations, regional funders such as the McKnight Foundation, and financial institutions such as Citi and Morgan Stanley.

The effort will also benefit from the participation of national nonprofit organizations such as Reconnecting America and the Funders' Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities, a learning and action collaborative of national and regional foundations and other funding partners.

The working group's three-part approach, known in policy circles as equitable Transit-Oriented Development (equitable TOD), seeks to:

Develop healthier, more affordable neighborhoods that offer convenient and safe access to jobs, stores, schools and services.
Expand transportation options connecting these neighborhoods to the regional economy (e.g. job centers).
Ensure that all people—regardless of income, race, age, ability, and similar considerations, can participate in development decisions and share in the benefits.

From 2008 through 2010, participants in Investors for Sustainable Communities invested over $100 million in equitable TOD. Going forward, participants will coordinate their investments, aligning them as appropriate with federal grants such as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Sustainable Communities Planning Grant Program, and invite others to invest alongside them -- leveraging more than $150 million over the next three years.

"Transit-Oriented Development is a powerful way to make metro areas, the engines of our economy, more competitive, inclusive and environmentally sustainable," said Pablo Farias, Chairman of Living Cities and Vice President of Economic Opportunity and Assets at the Ford Foundation. "Just as important, it offers a chance for low-income people to contribute to and share in the benefits of metropolitan growth. The participants in this collaborative, and the members of Living Cities more broadly, are committed to making this agenda a pillar of our effort to strengthen American cities."

Economic growth is a critical dimension to the effort.

"As America begins to rebuild its economy following the Great Recession, we need to ensure we are laying the foundation for lasting and broadly-shared prosperity," said Lee Sheehy, Director of the Region and Communities Program at the McKnight Foundation and co-chair of the working group. "Our ability to innovate and create jobs depends on our ability to connect business, capital and talent as efficiently as possible. China and India get this, and are way ahead of us. We need to grow our options in order to compete."

Audrey Choi, Head of Global Sustainable Finance at Morgan Stanley adds, "Designing new, innovative ways to achieve growth by blending public, philanthropic and private capital will be critical to this work."

TOD is also a quality-of-life issue, noted Nick Turner, Managing Director at the Rockefeller Foundation. "Families must have more options to live in places where they can bike or walk to school or the grocery store, or take the bus or train to work," said Turner. "Providing more walkable and transit-oriented development would help hardworking Americans to save more of their time and money. This effort is one step in making sure people have those affordable options."

The working group is particularly interested in the equity dimension of TOD: ensuring that all people can participate in development decisions and share in the benefits and opportunities TOD creates. This means, for example: expanding housing options for working families and seniors near train stations and bus routes; using transit to revitalize distressed neighborhoods while taking measures to prevent low-income residents from being priced out; connecting local residents and businesses to the employment and contracting opportunities created by these investments; and intentionally engaging disadvantaged communities in decision-making to ensure that development meets their needs.

"Millions of working families, particularly those living in ‘first-ring' suburbs, have seen their combined monthly housing and transportation costs rise to more than half of their incomes," said Phil Henderson, President of the Surdna Foundation. "At Surdna, we believe there is an economic, environmental, and equity imperative to expand quality transportation options throughout the country, improving residents' access to available jobs, education and training, and other opportunities in their regions."

The working group's emphasis on equity and inclusion was a major factor in the AARP Foundation's decision to participate, according to foundation president Jo Ann Jenkins. "Equitable TOD can provide options for all people, regardless of age or income, so that access to auto transportation does not determine their ability to live independently, connect to their families and communities and access the job market," said Jenkins.

Participants' shift toward collaboration is an important one, stated Living Cities' CEO Ben Hecht. "Our members have been investing individually in this work for years," said Hecht. "But they recognize that no one institution has the means to achieve this agenda on its own. By working across sectors, coordinating their resources and pooling their influence, these organizations can move the needle far more effectively."

The name Investors for Sustainable Communities signals the working group's intent to reinforce the federal policy framework emerging from the recently established Interagency Partnership for Sustainable Communities. The Partnership, launched in 2009, consists of several federal agencies including HUD, the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency. Partnership agencies are working to align their rules and funding programs so that efforts in housing, transportation, environmental infrastructure and economic development reinforce and leverage one another. Many local and state governments are following suit. On Oct. 14, HUD awarded $100 million in new grants toward the partnership's goals.

The working group is taking measures to promote the successful adoption of the Sustainable Communities framework at the regional, state and local levels. In early 2011, it will sponsor a "Sustainable Communities Boot Camp" tailored to the needs of regions that will receive grant awards from HUD. The Boot Camp will help arm practitioners with the approaches and strategies they need to build systems that advance economic prosperity, equity and inclusion and environmental stewardship simultaneously.

"The emerging Sustainable Communities Framework is critical to our work," said Sheehy. "This is not a partisan issue. We want to see the Sustainable Communities approach become the way government at all levels does business. We welcome the opportunity to partner with the administration to advance our common goals."

Investors for Sustainable Communities is one of several efforts under way or in development at Living Cities that seeks to address issues affecting people, places and economic opportunity, such as access to education, housing, health care, transit and jobs, simultaneously. On Oct. 28, for example, Living Cities will announce the five urban regions selected to participate in the Integration Initiative, which will provide up to $80 million in grants, loans and Program-Related Investments (PRIs) to support game-changing, cross-sector efforts to create opportunities for low income people.

Investors for Sustainable Communities participants include:

AARP Foundation
The Annie E. Casey Foundation
Citi
Ford Foundation
The Kresge Foundation
The McKnight Foundation
Morgan Stanley
The Rockefeller Foundation
Surdna Foundation

For additional information on Investors for Sustainable Communities, please see the related program summary.

HUD Regional Planning Grants Praised

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Reconnecting America today applauded the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) award of nearly $100 million in historic Sustainable Communities Regional Planning grants. The program is part of an unprecedented partnership announced last year between HUD, the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency. These grants will allow public agencies and communities in 45 regions to plan for the integration of housing, transportation, infrastructure and environmental improvements.

“I commend the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Obama Administration for recognizing that the federal government needed a new approach to stimulate innovation and help jump-start regional efforts to plan for a better future," said John Robert Smith, president and CEO of Reconnecting America. "Federal support for coordinated, regional planning and implementation, will create more housing and transportation choices, a better quality of life, and stronger communities able to compete in a global economy.”

The Regional Planning awards build on successful efforts across the country that have brought together elected leaders, the business and civic communities, and the public to develop long-term strategies for growing their communities in a way that improves quality of life, grows local economies and improves environmental sustainability.

Reconnecting America has been engaged in supporting efforts for equitable transit-oriented development in several of the selected regions, and these awards highlight the strong local coalitions that have successfully developed the grant applications. In particular, Reconnecting America has been working with regional stakeholders in Minneapolis and St. Paul for six years helping to develop strategies and implementation tools for equitable TOD. In Boston, Reconnecting America has worked with community development corporations on developing ground-up equitable TOD around existing and planned transit corridors.

Allison Brooks, Reconnecting America's chief of staff, highlighted the diversity of places represented in the grants.

"Large and small communities, representing all corners of the country, are developing collaborative planning processes that will address the unique conditions in their region and which will improve the quality of life for the diverse people that live, work and play there," she said. “The tremendous demand for this new program shows the need to continue supporting regional innovation in coming years.”

Communities from every state in the U.S. competed for the awards announced Thursday. HUD has requested an additional $150 million in the 2011 budget to continue this program and has supported the Livable Communities Act, which would make HUD’s Sustainable Communities grant programs a more permanent part of its work.

Reconnecting America Lauds Obama Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment Proposal

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Monday, President Obama renewed the call for investment in our nationʼs infrastructure, bringing with him the voices of a bipartisan group of governors, mayors, and policy experts to underscore the urgency of action. The Miller Center for Public Affairsʼ Bipartisan Conference, led by former Secretaries of Transportation Norman Mineta and Samuel Skinner, and the Council of Economic Advisors along with the Department of Treasury, set the groundwork for this discussion with recently released analyses of investment options.

The Obama Administration laid out the contours of a proposal designed to deliver concrete benefits to the American people. For instance, the proposed investment in high-speed rail has the potential to remove existing geographic constraints, expanding opportunities for American families in communities both large and small.

“This bipartisan conversation about infrastructure has the potential to bring long-term economic benefits to our nation and provide substantial savings to middle-class families,” said Reconnecting America President John Robert Smith.

The proposal includes a National Infrastructure Bank that will provide a vehicle for the private sector to invest in infrastructure projects, to be selected through a rigorous review process so that the most meritorious projects will advance, regardless of size or location.

Reconnecting Americaʼs work in cities across the country has demonstrated the transformative power that investing in infrastructure can have on the economy, sustainability, and quality of life in our communities. The President has placed a timely focus on an issue that will help strengthen the economic viability of our nation.

“Americaʼs future ability to compete globally may well rest in our hands at this moment,” said Smith.

Rail~Volution 2010

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Reconnecting America staff, members of the board and Center for Transit-Oriented Development partners will be speaking at Rail~Volution in Portland, Oregon, Oct. 18-21

Monday

Reconnecting America program director Catherine M. Cox-Blair will moderate a "Transit Agency and MPO Peer-to-Peer Exchange." Partnerships between public transit agencies, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and elected officials and stakeholders are essential to both sustainable long-range plans and short-range programs. This roundtable discussion will focus on those partnerships, as well as institutional arrangements, transit-oriented development, street design, economic development, urban circulators and financing that support livable communities and other sustainable outcomes.

Reconnecting America board member Jeffrey Boothe, partner, Holland & Knight LLP, will participate in the "New Starts Symposium." Converting a vision for a New Starts project — or even extending an existing line — into reality can be filled with challenges and opportunities. Learn directly from professionals who have overcome the challenges in bringing rail transit and bus rapid transit to their communities. In addition, Federal Transit Administration representatives will share insights into their program objectives and explain how communities have successfully blended local and federal considerations to fast-track federal review.

Tuesday

Reconnecting America President and CEO John Robert Smith will moderate "Partnerships Big and Small." Meaningful partnerships are critical in today's economy. Finding ways to pool resources, leverage assets and coordinate processes is essential. Hear how stakeholders have come together to maximize opportunities and advance their projects and programs.

Center for Transit-Oriented Development Director Sam Zimbabwe will facilitate "Equitable TOD: Cities Peer-to-Peer Exchange." This peer exchange between advocates, elected leaders and planners from selected cities and regions will be the platform to share strategies for permanent housing affordability, gentrification, neighborhood revitalization and commercial redevelopment along proposed transit corridors and TODs.

Board member Boothe will facilitate "New Starts Working Group." The New Starts Working Group is a coalition of 60-plus transit authorities, local government entities, architectural and engineering firms and railcar manufacturers. The group currently is engaging Congress on climate change legislation in a number of areas.

CTOD partner Scott Bernstein, president of the Center for Neighborhood Technology, will be a panelist on the discussion, "What the Research Says: Gentrification and Displacement in Transit-Oriented Communities."

Wednesday

Reconnecting America Chief of Staff Allison Brooks will moderate "Not for the Faint of Heart: Affordable Housing TOD Property Acquisition Funds." Affordable housing TOD property acquisition funds can be a useful financing tool, but sometimes they can be a bit more challenging than other sources. This session will focus on acquisition funds across the country.

Reconnecting America New Media Director Jeff Wood will be a panelist on the discussion "Social Media Tools: Current and Cutting Edge." Panelists will discuss online tools to promote a cause, whether it's more light rail or bike lanes.

Later in the day, Wood will moderate the discussion "Blogging the Rail~Volution: New Voices Make Big Changes," a live internet session that will hit on the nitty gritty details of using blogs for local activism.

CTOD Director Zimbabwe will be a panelist in the discussion "Analytical Tools to Support Successful TOD Planning and Implementation," which will look at the newest strategies, analytical tools and approaches being used across the country to help ensure comprehensive TOD planning.

Board member Boothe will facilitate the "Community Streetcar Coalition Meeting." The Community Streetcar Coalition is a partnership of cities, transit authorities and architectural and engineering firms that supports development of the Small Starts program within the Federal Transit Administration.

In the afternoon, Boothe will be a panelist in the discussion "Streetcar Primer: Funding." Using a specific scenario for project development, the speakers will explore different strategies for securing federal support and developing state and local funding resources.

Board member Will Fleissig, President and CEO of TransACT, will be a panelist in the discussion "Private Investment in TOD: A Lender's Perspective." What are the critical ingredients for private investment in TOD? Successful developers will discuss what lenders need and expect.

Later, Fleissig will be a panelist on "TOD Marketplace," which will include elopers, investors, transit agencies, cities and property owners.

Board member William Millar, president of the American Public Transportation Association, will speak at a plenary session on "The State of Public Transportation," and discuss transit’s role in addressing the economic, environmental and demographic issues facing today’s communities.

Thursday

Reconnecting America Deputy Policy Director Darnell Grisby will be a panelist in the discussion "Who Pays? Federal Financing Options for Interagency Plans" about current thinking on financing transportation, affordable housing and other key elements essential for making regions and neighborhoods healthy.

CTOD Director Zimbabwe will moderate the discussion "Transit-Oriented Employment: Serving Suburban Job Centers," which will present cutting-edge research on the job-transit-housing connection.

CTOD partner Nadine Fogarty, principal, Strategic Economics, will be a panelist in the discussion "Value Capture in Today's Economy."

Board member Boothe will be a panelist on the discussion "New Directions in Public-Private Partnerships," which will discuss the Woodward Avenue Light Rail Project in Detroit. The project represents an innovative public-private partnership involving funding from the philanthropic community, the private sector, federal tax credits, local monies and federal funding.

Preserving Affordable Housing Near Transit

Mon, 11 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Reconnecting America Chief of Staff Allison Brooks will be participating in a webinar on Monday, Oct. 25, from 10 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Pacific time entitled "Preserving Affordable Housing Near Transit: Strategies and Tools for CDCs and Nonprofit Affordable Housing Developers."

The webinar will discuss the recent report "Preserving Affordable Housing Near Transit: Case Studies from Atlanta, Denver, Seattle and Washington, D.C.," which was released in September by Reconnecting America, Enterprise and the National Housing Trust. The collection of case studies examined what cities are doing to ensure that affordable housing isn't lost as cities pursue transit-oriented development.

The report built on Reconnecting America's work last year with AARP and the National Housing Trust in "Preserving Affordability and Access in Livable Communities: Subsidized Housing Opportunities Near Transit and the 50+ Population."

Joining Brooks at the webinar will be Melinda Pollack, director, Vulnerable Populations and Rental Preservation, Enterprise Community Partners; and Robert Richardson, development manager, Housing Preservation Initiative, National Housing Trust.

To register, click here.