Connecticut’s next governor will inherit a Department of Transportation that was halfway towards becoming a model of progressive reform when Commissioner Joe Marie resigned in June. To build on the gains that the state has made in sustainable transportation over the past few years, the new governor must institutionalize those policies and find the revenue
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A coalition of regional planning and transportation groups called Wednesday for gubernatorial candidates to create state transportation policy that fosters bus and rail projects and development around transit stations, along with raising new project revenues through tolls and offering tax credits to jump-start denser development in urban areas. As the Connecticut gubernatorial race heats up,
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Smart Growth America http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/ The Smart Growth America organization is a “coalition of national, state and local organizations working to improve the ways we plan and build the towns, cities and metro areas we call home.” To work on these issues, they helpful resources including planning for public transportation, sensible development plans, and maintaining open
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On Sunday U.S. Rep. Jim Himes (CT-4) welcomed Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer, Chair of the Livable Communities Task Force, to Norwalk for a discussion with area experts on developing and implementing a pro-growth transportation strategy for Southwest Connecticut. Blumenauer is a nationally-renowned expert in smart growth transportation policies. “Transportation plays a major role in quality
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New Haven, CT – Businessman and Democratic candidate for governor Ned Lamont unveiled a comprehensive plan to grow Connecticut’s economy by lowering energy costs, expanding renewable energy production and encouraging conservation efforts. “Connecticut’s high energy costs not only cost our families and businesses money, they cost us jobs,” Lamont said in a news release. “As
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As part of the nationwide celebration of National Trails Day, which was Saturday, June 5, Gov. M. Jodi Rell commended 13 individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to the promotion, development and enhancement of Greenways — linear open space in Connecticut. Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection Deputy Commissioner Susan Frechette joined Connecticut Greenways
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Forty years ago, downtown Portland, Oregon was losing residents and businesses to housing developments, shopping malls, and business parks in the suburbs. Sound familiar? But then Portland made a series of decisions: They decided not to build a new freeway. They decided to eliminate a freeway along the Willamette River. And then they went to
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Unless I’m missing something, the 11-story, 296,000-square-foot, LEED Platinum office/retail building proposed for Constitution Plaza is the most promising project on Hartford’s drawing board. It has all kinds of things going for it — technology, sustainability, jobs, smart growth, even a tie to local schools. What it may not have in its favor is timing.
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Connecticut Project Pits North Haven vs. Developer; Issue: Is It Truly Smart’? Developers in Connecticut, including a subsidiary of luxury-home builder Toll Brothers, are watching a “smart growth” battle involving Indian Ridge, a stalled development project in the middle-class suburb of North Haven. via ‘Smart Growth’ Battle Rages in Connecticut Court – WSJ.com.
Progress has been made on the North Branch Park River Watershed Management Plan. Two years of background research (Baseline Assessment and Field Surveys) along with a table of DRAFT Goal/Objective Action Items are now posted on the North Branch Park River Watershed Management Plan project website: www.NorthParkPlan.net.
The legislature passed an ambitious energy bill that aims to lower electricity rates, creates innovative financing mechanisms for energy efficiency and renewables, increases efficiency and solar energy, and restructures the state’s energy department. The bill will save money for ratepayers, create jobs, and prepare Connecticut to be a leader in the clean energy economy. Connecticut
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Earlier this year, Governor Rell proposed canceling plans to bond for $389 million worth of capital projects as a way to curb Connecticut’s deficit and maintain its bond rating. Unfortunately, the plan impacted a variety of projects that would have promoted more bikeable, walkable and smart growth oriented initiatives. This week, the Connecticut General Assembly
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A knot of interested people gathered in front of Coltsville’s vacant but still stately East Armory Friday to hear a congressman and a senator give Colt’s developer, his lenders, and a Rolodex full of city and state agencies what amounted to a nudge.
It is imperative to increase the state’s share to rectify the imbalance between state and local contributions to support local education. First, we need to acknowledge that the rules of the game are stacked against us. Whether you are for increased education budgets, lower property taxes, or the preservation of open space, we are all
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A decade ago, Canton’s lovely old golf course on Route 44 had just been rezoned for commercial development, and no one was sure what would be developed there. A historic farmstead built by a founder of the town was in the cross-hairs of a big-box development.
Randal O’Toole has visionary ideas about how to fix the state and the nation’s traffic problem. O’Toole, an author and a fellow at the Cato Institute, is a self-described “anti-planner.”
The Mixed Income Transit-Oriented Development Action Guide is an online tool designed to help local jurisdictions and planners develop strategies to create mixed-income, transit-oriented development (MITOD) around planned transit stations. This interactive site was developed by the Center for Transit Oriented Development in cooperation with the Federal Transit Administration and the U.S. Department of Housing
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“Plowing Ahead: Farmland and Preservation in 2010 and Beyond” took place Saturday, March 27, 2010, at Yale University’s carbon neutral Kroon Hall. More than 200 farmers, conservationists, anti-hunger advocates, students, locavores, and others interested in farmland preservation from across Connecticut attended the conference hosted by the Working Lands Alliance (WLA) coalition, to consider ways to
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A look at the March 18th 1000 Friends of Connecticut third annual statewide Smart Growth conference in Hartford entitled Old Challenges, New Opportunities Perhaps the best way to illustrate these old challenges and new opportunities are two photos of Hartford. One was taken before the construction of the interstate, and the other after (the views
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More than 200 farmers, conservationists, anti-hunger advocates, students, locavores, and others interested in farmland preservation from across Connecticut will gather for a conference hosted by the Working Lands Alliance (WLA) coalition to consider ways to improve farmland access, grow community farms and link farmland protection with economic development, smart growth and public health goals. The
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