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Connecticut SMART GROWTH

  • Rail vs Bus

    According to a recent article in the Courant it looks as if there is going to be a showdown between advocates for the proposed New Britain-to-Hartford busway and those advocating for restoring passenger rail service from Waterbury to Hartford.  With federal money hanging in the balance, busway advocates are [...]
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    Posted: December 01, 2009, 10:52am EST

  • Quick Hits

    1. Growing Together -- The New England Environmental Finance Center recently announced the release of a 27-page guide to accompany its popular video entitled Growing Together: Consensus Building, Smart Growth, and Community Change.  The video offers an alternative to the discord and stalemate that too often occurs over how [...]
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    Posted: November 24, 2009, 10:17am EST

  • Mean Streets

    Six pedestrians have been killed on Connecticut streets in the last three weeks.  They can be added to the 76,000 Americans that have been killed while crossing or walking along a street in their community in the last 15 years.  That is more than the number of U.S. solidiers killed [...]
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    Posted: November 12, 2009, 2:14pm EST

  • What opportunities exist in your community?

    The Connecticut Fair Housing Center commissioned the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity to undertake a study analyzing the opportunities - such as access to quality education, affordable housing, open space, transportation, employment, and health care - available in communities across the state.  The maps produced as [...]
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    Posted: October 26, 2009, 10:19am EDT

  • The Sprawl Economy

    In his recent op/ed in The Day James Howard Kunstler makes the case that the underlying cause of last year's Wall Street meltdown was not so much bad lending practices, financial complexity, lack of regulation, and just plain greed, but the "economic model based on outfitting suburbia."

    It was' [...]

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    Posted: October 21, 2009, 3:29pm EDT

  • Quick Hits

    1.  The Road Always Taken -- It seems Derry, New Hampshire officials want to take the same road as rest of America has taken.  The town is actually considering zoning changes that could permit strip malls, fast food outlets, or big-box stores to rise a short distance from the [...]
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    Posted: October 13, 2009, 9:56am EDT

  • Former Griswold Airport Update

    The site of the former Griswold Airport will become 42 acres of open space instead of a 127-unit housing development.  I first discussed this issue on this blog in May of 2007 and again in January of 2008.  At the time I argued that despite the fact [...]
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    Posted: October 07, 2009, 9:20am EDT

  • Quick Hits

    1. Shift in Consumer Housing Preferences -- A new report released by the Victoria Transport Policy Institute suggests that a majority of consumers prefer living in smart growth communities.  Where We Want To Be
    Home Location Preferences And Their Implications For Smart Growth     concludes that :

    smart growth tends to [...]

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    Posted: September 28, 2009, 8:32pm EDT

  • Simsbury Charrette

    Simsbury took a large step in planning its future with the completion of its five day charrette last week.  After intensive hands-on workshops and input from a variety of town stakeholders, the final presentation focused on a variety of common issues:  housing, economic activity, pedestrian and bike safety, [...]
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    Posted: September 25, 2009, 9:51am EDT

  • I Found My Strategic Economic Planning Document

    16 days late, Jodi Rell has released the 550 page Strategic Economic Planning Document yesterday.  At least it's release spares us from having to hear the "dog ate my homework" excuse.  Lawmakers last week pressed Rell to release the document but her office claimed she couldn't because she' [...]
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    Posted: September 17, 2009, 9:10am EDT

  • Quick Hits

    1.  Yale Controversy --   Yale University's plans to build two new residential colleges by demolishing a number of historic buidlings has created a lot of commotion in New Haven.  Controversy over the extensive scale of demolition, and the limited amount of recent public dialogue, has ignited a fairly widespread [...]
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    Posted: September 10, 2009, 8:57pm EDT

  • Budget Analysis

    Budget Analysis from 1000 Friends of CT:

    Until the budget implementer is approved, we won't know the full extent of the cuts to smart growth programs. We do know transit funding, regional planning organizations, housing programs, and Main Street programs all are impacted. We also know the Departments of Environmental' [...]

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    Posted: September 02, 2009, 2:27pm EDT

  • Quick Hits

    1.  Wal-Mart in Brooklyn, CT Update --  The proposed Wal-Mart in Brooklyn has attracted two lawsuits while Brooklyn P&Z studies size cap.

    2.  PBS Story on Highways -- PBS looks at how America's highways are built and funded - often times at the expense of mass-transit development.

    3.  Roads Are [...]

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    Posted: August 26, 2009, 9:09am EDT

  • Dodd Introduces Livable Communities Act

    Recently, Chris Dodd (D-CT), along with fellow Committee members Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Dan Akaka (D-HI), today introduced legislation to help towns and regions across the country plan and implement development projects that integrate their community's needs for transportation, housing, land use, and [...]
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    Posted: August 20, 2009, 10:18am EDT

  • Mob Mentality

    Just back from vacation on Cape Cod and feeling refreshed enough to write another diary.  Sorry it has been so long, but summer and three kids have kept me busy and I have also been involved with the health care issue currently making headlines.  My involvement in this issue took [...]
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    Posted: August 11, 2009, 10:32am EDT

  • More Quick Hits

    1.  Boston Bike Sharing -- The city of Boston intends to roll out what would be the nation's first citywide bike-sharing system next spring, making hundreds of bicycles at dozens of stations across Boston available to anyone who can swipe a credit card.

    2.  Residents of Chatham fight back against [...]

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    Posted: July 30, 2009, 9:15am EDT

  • Quick Hits

    1. Living Streets -- Great video on Denver, Colorado's efforts to create living streets.

    2.  Are America's state governments becoming obsolete? -- Interesting editorial in the Seattle Times that ponders some very interesting questions:  If we were organizing the United States for the first time right now, would we [...]

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    Posted: July 20, 2009, 9:35am EDT

  • Want to Relieve Traffic Jams? Tear Down the Highway

    The Texas Transportation Institute just released its annual Urban Mobility Report. Based on datat from 2007, the report concludes that economic factors produced a slight reduction in overall traffic congestion, however,experts warn that the slowdown in congestion growth will be temporary. When the economy rebounds, expect traffic problems to [...]
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    Posted: July 09, 2009, 10:51am EDT

  • Zero Percent

    Smart Growth America marked yesterday's 120-day "use it or lose it" deadline for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act by reviewing the stimulus spending on transportation.  Overall, the report found that 62.9 percent of funding had gone to highway repairs, and 31.3 percent, or $6.69 billion, was dedicated to [...]
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    Posted: June 30, 2009, 9:15am EDT

  • Quick Hits

    1.  The Big Rigs Are Coming -- Just what we need, bigger big rigs.  Debate is heating up in Congress over whether federal laws that govern truck weights and lengths should allow heavier, longer trucks, or whether the current limits should stand and be extended to even more roads. [...]
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    Posted: June 19, 2009, 11:41am EDT

  • Rell Misses the Train

    As the op-ed in today's Courant accurately states, Jodi Rell's propsal to raise the tranist fares is "unfair, unimaginative and unwise."  At a time when gas prices are once again rising and people are looking for alternative transportation, when global warming solutions are needed now more than ever, and [...]
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    Posted: June 11, 2009, 12:53pm EDT

  • Legislative Update

    From 1000 Friends of CT:

    Congratulations and thank you!

    All smart growth bills passed, most by strong majorities!!

    The General Assembly moved the smart growth agenda leaps and bounds defining smart growth, encouraging regionalism, creating a tax credit for green/transit oriented development projects, saving dairy, protecting the community investment account, [...]

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    Posted: June 04, 2009, 12:16pm EDT

  • Quick Hits

    1.  Newington Considers Smart Growth for Downtown --  at a presentation to residents, "[Mayor Jeff] Wright painted a picture of smart growth with a walkable, livable community, complete with condominiums, shopping and a restaurant district," reported the New Britain Herald. Still awaiting local and state approvals, the project will [...]
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    Posted: June 01, 2009, 10:07am EDT

  • Children Prescribed Livable Communities by Doctors

    Advocates for children and the elderly are beginning to understand the link between sprawl and the detrimental social and physical impacts  it has on these often isolated segements of our society.  Earlier this week, the American Academy of Pediatrics adopted a ground-breaking policy statement on the link between how [...]
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    Posted: May 28, 2009, 11:14am EDT

  • Quick Hits

    1. TOD GRANTS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND -- Great post over at the Tri-State Transportation Campaign site about the fact that over a year and a half after the Connecticut General Assembly included $10 million for Transit Oriented Development (TOD) grants in a two-year bonding bill, none of that [...]
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    Posted: May 20, 2009, 9:52am EDT

  • A Bad Smart Growth Bill

    THe CT Sierra Club has some concerns about an amendment that was added on to HB6467 AN ACT CONCERNING SMART GROWTH AND PLANS OF CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT that passed the House recently.  The amendment was not distributed until shortly before the vote.

    The bill generally defines smart growth, delays the next [...]

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    Posted: May 18, 2009, 1:40pm EDT

  • Bike Rally at the Capitol

    From the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters:

    Join your friends and fellow cyclists on the East Side of the Capitol to show your support for SB 735 and the economic, environmental and health benefits of cycling in Connecticut.  The rally is sponsored by the Central Connecticut Bicycling Alliance.

    DATE:  Wednesday May [...]

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    Posted: May 12, 2009, 4:38pm EDT

  • Quick Hits

    1.  H/T to Sue over on exposing how an 23 acre open space parcel in Trumbull in being systematically destroyed.  Check out her post and photos over at My Left Nutmeg

    2.  Legislative update from Heidi Green over at 1000 Friends.  Does not sound promising.

    3.  New Haven Mayor John [...]

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    Posted: May 11, 2009, 9:39am EDT

  • Smart Growth and Healthy Communities

    A few weeks ago I wrote about the physical and social of impact of sprawl on our communities.  Since that time, I has the pleasure of attending a community dialogue, sponsored by the Canton Community of Concern, about the health needs of today's children, and specifically, the role of [...]
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    Posted: May 05, 2009, 2:59pm EDT

  • It's the Property Tax Structure Stupid

    With spring in the air, I thought I would trot out this op/ed I wrote for the Courant two years ago.  Nothing has changed of course: property taxes continue to spiral upward, budgets are getting tighter, and people are getting angrier, yet we continue to play by the same rules [...]
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    Posted: April 30, 2009, 12:55pm EDT

  • Quick Hits

    1.  Jobs Sprawl --According to a new report released by the Brookings Institution,since 1998, almost every major American metro area has seen a drop in the share of employment located downtown as jobs have increasingly moved into farther-out suburbs, exacerbating "job sprawl."  Between 1998 and 2006, 95 out of [...]
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    Posted: April 22, 2009, 12:11am EDT

  • Channeling Joe McCarthy

    In my hometown I have been pushing for a charrette for over a year now.  While some people are excited about the idea, the powers that be are leary of harnessing the talents and energies of all interested parties and citizens in the community to create and support a [...]
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    Posted: April 16, 2009, 10:34am EDT

  • Quick Hits

    1.  The Campaign to Grow Connecticut Smart will be hosting an educational forum on the legislative history, present and future of smart growth in Connecticut on Tuesday, April 21, 2009 from 10:00am - 12:00pm at the 2A Legislative Office Building in Hartford.  Sharing their insights will be Steve Kliger, CCSU; [...]
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    Posted: April 09, 2009, 2:24pm EDT

  • Social and Physical Costs of Sprawl

    It is indeed heartening to read a blog post from the U.S. Secretary of Transportation that states the following:

    The way we design our communities has a huge impact on our citizens' social, physical, and economic wellbeing...Therefore, one of my highest priorities is to work closely with Congress, other Federal' [...]

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    Posted: April 02, 2009, 10:03am EDT

  • Social and Physical Costs of Sprawl

    It is indeed heartening to read a blog post from the U.S. Secretary of Transportation that states the following:

    The way we design our communities has a huge impact on our citizens' social, physical, and economic wellbeing...Therefore, one of my highest priorities is to work closely with Congress, other Federal' [...]

     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: April 02, 2009, 10:03am EDT

  • Stimulus Spending

    The funds that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) sends to the Surface Transportation Program (STP), and then to states and cities, are eligible to be spent on many different kinds of transportation projects. Smart Growth America has put together a report entitled Spending the Stimulus: How Your [...]
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    Posted: March 25, 2009, 9:19am EDT

  • Stimulus Spending

    The funds that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) sends to the Surface Transportation Program (STP), and then to states and cities, are eligible to be spent on many different kinds of transportation projects. Smart Growth America has put together a report entitled Spending the Stimulus: How Your [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: March 25, 2009, 9:19am EDT

  • No More One Story Strip Malls

    Last Wednesday the Norwalk Zoning Commission approved the extension of the city's minimum two-story building height from SoNo, Wall Street and other core urban areas, to Connecticut, Westport and Main avenues.  The new rules are intended to control sprawl, and encourage mass transit use and more efficient land use [...]
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    Posted: March 23, 2009, 9:54am EDT

  • No More One Story Strip Malls

    Last Wednesday the Norwalk Zoning Commission approved the extension of the city's minimum two-story building height from SoNo, Wall Street and other core urban areas, to Connecticut, Westport and Main avenues.  The new rules are intended to control sprawl, and encourage mass transit use and more efficient land use [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: March 23, 2009, 9:54am EDT

  • Action Alert

    Please take the time to read the following action alert from 1000 Friends of CT and then get busy calling your representatives and urge them to support Smart Growth legislation.

    It's time to take action.

    1.  Contact members of the Planning and Development Committee today. Help them understand that we must' [...]

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    Posted: March 16, 2009, 9:12am EDT

  • Action Alert

    Please take the time to read the following action alert from 1000 Friends of CT and then get busy calling your representatives and urge them to support Smart Growth legislation.

    It's time to take action.

    1.  Contact members of the Planning and Development Committee today. Help them understand that we must' [...]

     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: March 16, 2009, 9:12am EDT

  • Time to Hop on the Train Wave

    Sorry for not posting in awhile.  I am doing renovations to our house and it seems to have taken up all my spare time.

    Anyways, over the past week or so I am read a lot of articles/reports on the approaching wave of a mass transportation revolution in this country.  Now, [...]

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    Posted: March 12, 2009, 4:42pm EDT

  • Time to Hop on the Train Wave

    Sorry for not posting in awhile.  I am doing renovations to our house and it seems to have taken up all my spare time.

    Anyways, over the past week or so I am read a lot of articles/reports on the approaching wave of a mass transportation revolution in this country.  Now, [...]

     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: March 12, 2009, 4:42pm EDT

  • Housing and Sprawl

    The Partnership for Strong Communities will be hosting an event entitled Housing to Solve Transportation and Environmental Problems on Friday March 6th at the Lyceum, 227 Lawrence Street, Hartford, CT from 8:30am to 11:00am.  The event will tackle issues like sprawl, traffic congestion, pollution, energy use and more through [...]
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    Posted: February 28, 2009, 9:07am EST

  • Housing and Sprawl

    The Partnership for Strong Communities will be hosting an event entitled Housing to Solve Transportation and Environmental Problems on Friday March 6th at the Lyceum, 227 Lawrence Street, Hartford, CT from 8:30am to 11:00am.  The event will tackle issues like sprawl, traffic congestion, pollution, energy use and more through [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 28, 2009, 9:07am EST

  • Quick Hits

    1.  If you clean it crime with drop -- In 2005, researchers from Harvard and Suffolk University identified 34 crime hot spots in Lowell, MA. In half of them, authorities set to work - clearing trash from the sidewalks, fixing street lights, and sending loiterers scurrying. Abandoned buildings were secured, [...]
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    Posted: February 23, 2009, 8:16pm EST

  • Quick Hits

    1.  If you clean it crime with drop -- In 2005, researchers from Harvard and Suffolk University identified 34 crime hot spots in Lowell, MA. In half of them, authorities set to work - clearing trash from the sidewalks, fixing street lights, and sending loiterers scurrying. Abandoned buildings were secured, [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 23, 2009, 8:16pm EST

  • One Stop Stimulus Shopping

    Below are some great links and information regarding the recently passed federal stimulus package:

    1.  Nestled in the Feb. 17 stimulus package is a provision letting employees use more of their pretax income to pay for mass transit. Previously, people employed at companies offering "Tax-Free Commuter Benefits" could use up [...]

     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 19, 2009, 7:20pm EST

  • One Stop Stimulus Shopping

    Below are some great links and information regarding the recently passed federal stimulus package:

    1.  Nestled in the Feb. 17 stimulus package is a provision letting employees use more of their pretax income to pay for mass transit. Previously, people employed at companies offering "Tax-Free Commuter Benefits" could use up [...]

     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 19, 2009, 7:20pm EST

  • 2009 Legislative Agenda

    The Smart Growth 2009 Legislative Agenda is posted on the left side of the screen.  It is an easy way to keep track of the various pieces of Smart Growth legislation that will wind their way through the process.

    From 1000 Friends of CT:

    It's a big year for smart growth in [...]

     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 16, 2009, 4:29pm EST
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