December 14, 2002
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A publication of the Gulf Coast
Institute
"Never doubt that a
small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed,
it's the only thing that ever has."
- Margaret Mead
Next Meeting: January 22, 2003.
No meeting in December
Blueprint Houston Steering
Committee meeting
Blueprint Houston’s Steering Committee held its first working session
in which attendees participated in facilitated exercises and heard from guest
speakers Dr. Richard Murray, Director of the University of Houston’s
Center for Public Policy and Ms. Joy Mee, Assistant Planning Director with the
City of Phoenix. Dr. Murray spoke of the top three issues that Houston
has been facing for decades – transportation, economy, and safety –
and how transportation is currently the public’s top issue. He
added that “the timing for Blueprint Houston is excellent”
especially as several governmental seats, including the Mayor’s seat and
six to seven City Council chairs, are up in the coming November elections.
Ms. Mee talked about Phoenix’s planning process and mentioned three
reasons for any city to plan: 1) to solve big problems, 2) to prevent bad
things from happening, 3) to make good things happen. Blueprint
Houston is a civic-driven process that is building broad community support for
a planning process to improve Houston’s quality of life and place.
Its mission is twofold: to establish vision, values, and
goals of Houstonians and define the best approach to planning for
Houston’s future before next year’s city elections. http://www.blueprinthouston.org.
Save the date: Leadership Conference
The first public event of the Blueprint Houston initiative is tentatively
scheduled for Saturday, February 1, 2003. Blueprint Houston requests that
people interested in participating save that date. More information will be
forthcoming soon.
RDA Access, Mobility &
Place
The Rice Design Alliance recently hosted a civic forum entitled
“Access, Mobility & Place” that discussed transportation modes,
what makes “a place,” and how Houston can achieve a sense of place.
The forum’s presenters included David Crossley, President of the
Gulf Coast Institute; Kevin Shanley, Principal of the SWA Group; and Barry
Goodman, President of The Goodman Corporation. The presenters spoke of
how older US cities grew around transportation systems and how development
concentrated within walking distance of stations, transit stops, and corridors.
Now many US cities – especially Houston – have
developed around accommodating only automobiles, thereby sapping space that was
once a place for mixing and meeting. Suggested tools to increase a sense
of place included high speed transit such as monorail, electric buses, light
rail; waterways such as Houston’s bayous; and pedestrian-friendly
development.
Houston ranks 7th in pedestrian danger index
A recent study ranked the Houston region as the nation’s 7th most
dangerous place to walk. Houston followed smaller regions of Orlando,
Tampa, West Palm Beach, Memphis, Miami, and Jacksonville, but led all major
metropolitan areas. It was followed by the Phoenix and Dallas areas. The report
by the Surface Transportation Policy Project concluded that, “the most
dangerous places to walk are metropolitan areas marked by newer, low-density
developments, where wide, high-speed arterial streets offer few sidewalks or
crosswalks.” And ABC news story said “It is not simply that they
are Sun-belt cities; rather, organizers say they enjoyed spurts of growth in
the 1960s and '70s, when well-meaning engineers sometimes labeled pedestrians
as ‘traffic flow interruptions’.” http://www.transact.org/report.asp?id=202 and http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/walking021125.html
Houston ranks 10th on least-safe list
Houston ranks 10th on a list of least-safe US cities with a population of
500,000 or more. In the larger list of all cities, Houston doesn’t
appear in the 25 most dangerous, but among metropolitan areas, the Houston
region is 18th, indicating that the City of Houston is far safer than the
surrounding areas. The list was compiled by Morgan Quitno Press, an
independent Kansas research company using statistics from FBI databases. http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2002/12/02/daily45.html
New container port may cost less at Spillman Island
Constructing the new container port at the Spillman island location would
be cheaper than at the Bayport location according to a recent analysis by
transportation analyst Nancy Edmonson. Using projections supplied by the
Port of Houston Authority, she identified more than $209 million in extra costs
to taxpayers if a container port were developed at Bayport. Her analysis
was conducted for the Galveston Bay Conservation and Preservation Association,
and the full report can be viewed on the GBCPA website at http://www.gbcpa.org
PLANNING
US Federal Reserve Governor on smart
growth economics
“The application of smart-growth strategies over a twenty-five year
period could save as much as $250 billion, mainly in the form of infrastructure
investment,” said Federal Reserve Governor Edward Gramlich at a recent
forum in Cincinnati. The governor cited his data from a recent report out of
Rutgers University that examines the challenges of financing Smart Growth and
urban revitalization. The report, ''Linking Vision With Capital:
Challenges and Opportunities in Financing Smart Growth,'' is authored by
Robert W. Burchell and David Listokin of Rutgers University’s Center for
Urban Policy Research and is sponsored by the Research Institute for Housing
America. The report can be found at http://www.housingamerica.org/pub.html
Schools share with the public
Schools are making the most out of updating or adding onto existing
facilities by diversifying their users to the general public. One such
example is East Williston High School in Old Westbury, New York, which lacks a
public library. The school is building a large media center that will be
open to the public when school is not in session. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/10/realestate/10LIZO.html?pagewanted=2
Prospective politicians answer tough growth questions
SmartGrowth British Columbia recently held open forums in three cities to
let all local candidates answer tough questions directly and to educate voters
that their upcoming votes will strongly influence their traffic, housing, and
other quality of life issues. The group was created by the University of
Victoria Eco-Research Chair of Environmental Law and Policy and the West Coast
Environmental Law Association in December 1999. Source: Vancouver
Sun, November 5, 2002
From edge city to 24-hour city
Once just a place to work, edge cities such as Houston’s Galleria
area are turning into a place to live, work, and play. An article in a
November issue of Planning Magazine talks
about the history and future of edge cities. http://www.planning.org/planning/nonmember/default1.htm
US cities and suburbs more integrated
Neighborhoods are growing more diverse according to a recent study by the
US Census Bureau. The Bureau says that as minorities have more
opportunities to buy in the suburbs and single white professionals and married
couples are more attracted to downtowns, neighborhoods are growing more
diverse. The Bureau found that the most integrated urban areas are in
Orange County, California; San Jose, California; Norfolk, Virginia; Tampa,
Florida; and San Diego. http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/11/28/census.integration.ap/
Do sustainable projects require heroic behavior?
“The majority of sustainable development efforts fall into two main
categories—technology-oriented and behavior-oriented,” says Ralph
Brand, Ph.D. student in Planning at the University of Texas at Austin.
Brand’s article that was recently published in Planetizen examines the relationship between technology-oriented
projects and behavior-oriented projects. According to Brand, the latter of the
two often requires “heroic” choices. http://www.planetizen.com/oped/item.php?id=72
MOBILITY
Seattle votes for monorail
Seattle has decided to solve its traffic problems with monorail, after a
close and hotly contested election. The resulting $1.75 billion monorail
project will span 14 miles and alter the way people get from place to place for
decades to come.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/96425_monorail20.shtml
and http://www.monorails.org.
China to have the world’s fastest train
Chinese and German engineers are pushing to make the first test run in
early January of not only the world’s first magnetic levitation train,
but also the world’s fastest train. Construction is complete and
the train has been delivered for the service between Shanghai’s Pudong
International and the city's new Pudong financial district. A passenger
traveling on 19-mile Maglev route (slightly less than the distance between
downtown Houston and Bush Intercontinental Airport) will travel at speeds up to
250 miles per hour, making the trip in only seven minutes. http://europe.cnn.com/2002/TECH/industry/12/04/china.maglev.train.ap/
NYC Mayor shifts taxes to commuters
In an effort to resolve part of the $5 to $6 billion deficit next year, New
York City Mayor Bloomberg has proposed an income tax on commuters who work, but
don’t live, in the city. Bloomberg argues that even if
workers don’t sleep in the city, they still benefit from city services.
He added that this is an attempt to make the tax burden more equitable.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/14/nyregion/14BUDG.html?pagewanted=1
DC - Dulles International Airport rail unlikely
Top Federal Transit Administrator Jennifer L. Dorn recently advised
Virginia Congress members and state and local officials to scale down their
desire to build rail out to the Dulles airport. The suggestion came a few
weeks after Northern Virginians voted down the possibility of taxing themselves
for the project.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5589-2002Dec3.html
Fuel cell cars hitting the Californian streets
Both the City of Los Angeles and the University of California have begun
using fuel cell vehicles that they are leasing from Honda and Toyota. The
SunLine Transit Agency in Palm Springs already started using a fuel-cell
powered bus in mid-November. Fuel cell technology combines hydrogen and
oxygen to create electricity without creating emissions.
http://www.hondanews.com/forms/events/index.html?kw=fcx
http://www.toyota.com/about/news/index.html#environment
http://www.utcfuelcells.com/news/archive/111402.shtml
URBANISM
The leading smart growth city
Vancouver is the leader of smart growth cities according to Clark Williams-Derry
of the Elm Street Writers Group. The author refers to factors such as the
city’s natural boundaries, lack of an extensive highway system, and
long-term public policies as some of the reasons why it has succeeded in adding
more residents while remaining “one of the world’s most livable
cities.” http://mlui.org/growthmanagement/fullarticle.asp?fileid=16377
Cooling off a hot city
Phoenix is getting hotter – the average temperature recorded around
the city’s airport has risen 10 degrees since 1949. For the past 40
years, the number of hours per day when the temperature has surpassed 100 has
grown considerably. As a result, the city is looking to cool off using
tools such as lighter pavement and reflective roofs to mitigate urban heat
islands. http://www.azcentral.com/weather/monsoon/0611heatisland.html
HOUSING
HUD helping to restore brownfields
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is helping to restore
brownfields, or abandoned commercial areas requiring environmental cleanup.
They are guaranteeing almost $100 million in grants and loan guarantees
in the effort. According to a recent article in the New York Daily news,
restoring brownfields could lead to more development and progress in
surrounding areas. Bushwick Gardens in Brooklyn, New York, serves as the
latest example of HUD’s brownfield help. The 6.7 acre site used to
be a beer plant but had been abandoned for decades until HUD decided to step in
recently. The resulting site will have over 300 units of rental and for-sale
multi-income housing. Source: New York Daily News, November 6, 2002
D.C going “Home Again”
Mayor Anthony A. Williams of Washington D.C. recently announced that the
city’s “Home Again” program is moving forward on its goal to
clean up approximately 4,000 abandoned properties. The city government
has given preliminary approvals to six developers to rehabilitate 45 run-down
properties. The developers have pledged to sell 40 of the refurbished
units to low-to-moderate income families, exceeding the city’s
requirement of 33 percent. They are in the process of finding developers
for another 30 properties this month. The goal of Home Again is to
renovate about 100 units of housing annually. Source: Washington
Post, November 21, 2002
Latinos face more housing discrimination
Latinos are more likely than African-Americans to face housing
discrimination according to a recent report by the Department of Housing and
Urban Development. The report shows that while housing
discrimination against minorities overall declined significantly between 1989
and 2000, it declined less for Latino homebuyers and not at all for Latino
renters. The report can be found at http://www.huduser.org
ENVIRONMENT
Religious communities encouraging
fuel conservation
"Somebody's got to represent the long-term future, and the long-term
future doesn't get much market share. So we have to do it," says John
Briscoe, development director for the National Council of the Churches of
Christ. Religious groups such as Briscoe’s are worried about
long-term environmental problems and are running campaigns including one that
asks “What would Jesus drive?” Their aim is to
encourage church members to buy fuel-efficient cars. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A25595-2002Nov7¬Found=true
New environmental study ordered for Utah’s Legacy Highway
The 10th US District Court of Appeals in Denver recently ordered the Utah
Department of Transportation to complete a Supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement (SEIS) for the proposed 14-mile, four-lane Legacy Highway. The
Sierra Club, Utahans for Better Transportation, and Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky
Anderson challenged the original Environmental Impact Study for the proposed
highway in court saying that it didn’t sufficiently address other factors
such as alternate routes and likely effects of commuter rail slated for the
area around 2007. If built, the new highway would destroy 144 acres of
wetland in Southern Davis County, according to environmentalists. Source: Salt
Lake Tribune, November 22, 2002
"Environmental 'Magna Carta' Law Under Fire"
The White House is looking to streamline the 32-year-old National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which is considered the “Magna
Carta” of eco-law, according to an article in the Christian Science
Monitor. The law requires federal agencies to review all environmental
impacts that each proposed federal project could have, gathering public comment
and considering the alternatives before giving the green light. The Bush
administration has stated that it hopes to streamline the process in order to
bring it “into the 21st century”. But according to the
article, many say the administration will face a host of critics who claim NEPA
is the only legal recourse the public has to keep special interests and related
politicians from ruining the environment. Source: Christian
Science Monitor, November 7, 2002
New Partners for Smart Growth, Jan 30, New Orleans.
The main show in the Smart Growth movement. http://www.outreach.psu.edu/C&I/SmartGrowth
APA 2003 Planning Conference, Mar 29-Apr 2, Denver. The American Planning
Association’s 2003 National Planning Conference will feature over 15
sessions on Smart Growth and growth management. Visit http://www.planning.org to see the full
conference program and register.
Note to readers: If you have news to
share, have reports from events, or would like to add subscriber names, please
let us know at issues@gulfcoastideas.org
Prepared by Catherine Rentz Pernot
_____________________________
David Crossley
Gulf Coast Institute
3015 Richmond Suite 250
Houston TX 77098
Ph 713-523-5757
Fx 713-523-3057
http://www.livablehouston.org
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