March 2009

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    A Rail Line Toward Community Development

    Amid the growing acknowledgment that strong centers make healthier regions, it’s increasingly clear that the argument for providing opportunities for transit oriented development, or green development, is gaining major traction not only in community development circles, but neighborhood circles as well. But recognizing that TOD is good for communities is one thing, getting it done is another. At the third annual NACEDA Summit this week, we got a look at what’s happening on the federal level as well as in our communities when it comes to putting housing back in our cities and town centers and reforming spending practices by the federal government as related to financing transportation and TOD. An important subtext here is the efficacy of our system in increasing the access to jobs and schools, as well as giving people transportation choices. Ilana Preuss, outreach and field director for the Transportation for America Campaign illustrated the trend toward TOD arrives as the U.S. “is at a crossroads,” adding that federal and local governments should capitalize on the “unique opportunity for change” in the next transportation cycle. She also noted that while homeowners increasingly show a willingness to relocate to smaller properties, on smaller lots, located closer to regional cores, repairing existing infrastructure is paramount: Transportation is broke and broken. We have a world-class highway system built in the 50s and no one is fixing it and we have to maintain what we have. No one creates a world class something and lets it fall in disrepair. Fixing highways and bridges creates more jobs than new road construction. With federal transportation funding due for a much needed increase, the question now is: How will this huge investment address what our communities need? more

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    Strong Centers Make Healthier Regions

    The signs continue to mount that the housing market continues to move in favor of central locations, and away from sprawl. It’s all a matter of degree, of course, but the signals are real. Recently, I wrote about new data…

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    It’s Time To Adjust To The Metropolitan Reality

    One of the recurring themes of my writing (for example, here) has been that, to achieve sustainability in our cities, suburbs, and rural areas, we need to get beyond the accidents of history that comprise our local jurisdictions. Environmental, economic,…

  • Read All About It…While You Can

    Another major daily faces major cutbacks. This time it’s the Atlanta Journal-Constitution cutting its full-time news staff by about 90 people, or roughly 30 percent. Most of the cuts, according to the AJC article, will be in production and management.…

  • Missing Priorities In HUD/DOT Sustainable Communities Initiative

    At a US House of Representatives hearing last week on “Livable Communities, Transit Oriented Development, and Incorporating Green Building Practices into Federal Housing and Transportation,” HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan and Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced an new partnership.…

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    National Train Day (Trainiacs Unite!)

    I thought this was an interesting tidbit: in an effort to highlight trains as convenient, energy efficient, environmentally sound ways to travel, Amtrak will hold its second annual National Train Day in May to mark the 140th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad. The event, slated for May 9, Amtrak will host free events in four of its gateway stations across the U.S. — D.C., Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles. From The Washington Business Journal: The transcontinental railroad was officially created on May 10, 1869, when a golden spike was driven into the tie that connected the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railways at Promontory Point, Utah. At Union Station, festivities will include live music, interactive green exhibits, VIP appearances, a kids section, and model train and art exhibits. Communities across the U.S. will also develop and host their own events. Members of Amtrak’s loyalty program, which lets frequent train travelers earn points redeemable for free travel, can earn double points for any trip between March 16 and May 8 and quadruple points for any trip taken on May 9. Amtrak provides intercity passenger rail service to more than 500 destinations in 46 states on a 21,000-mile route system. more

  • Job Quality & The Stimulus Package

    The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — the Stimulus Package — passed by Congress in a painful process in February, proposes to create or retain at least 3.5 million jobs — green jobs, construction jobs, infrastructure refurbishment jobs. But with all the drama surrounding the bill’s approval, one central question failed to get a hearing: does the $787 billion measure offer any guarantees that the jobs it create offer decent pay, benefits, a career ladder? The answer(s): Yes and No. more

  • Get Your Green On

    In general, most efforts to develop “green infrastructure” at the neighborhood level have been volunteer-led, grassroots efforts. City governments don’t tend to take the lead on creating pocket parks and planting trees or developing bike infrastructure. Seattle’s Green Factor is…

  • An Inconvenient Greed (AIG)

    It was hard to pick a winner in The Chicago Sun-Times’ March 20, 2009 Acronym Test, “What Should AIG Really Stand For?” I’m casting my vote for the title of this blog posting. The outrage over AIG bonuses is certainly warranted and the outrageousness of AIG’s corporate decision merits public scrutiny. But the media and Congress have become inconveniently (or perhaps too conveniently) distracted from the root causes of our economic crisis — “too much speculation with borrowed money; too little transparency and disclosure; and too many insider conflicts of interest.” more

  • Going Mainstream With the Obama Vegetable Garden

    I’m a cynic when it comes to The New York Times and its reporting on culture, trends, dining, and style. Though I’m a fan of what is now seemingly one of the few print newspapers left in the world, normally,…

  • HUD & DOT Team Up To Promote Sustainable Communities

    This is awesome. Here is an excerpt from yesterday’s joint press release from HUD and DOT: “WASHINGTON — U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan and U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Ray LaHood today announced…

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    Just Because His Sleeves Are Rolled Up, It Doesn’t Mean He Means Business

    I’m a little late weighing on on this, but this retrial of Jon Stewart v. Tucker Carlson is not sitting well with me. Countless investors have lost life savings, IRAs, and more “skin” in any game that I’ve ever seen…

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    Giving Community Organizing A Good Name In East Hollywood

    Through the combination of my insatiable curiosity and the wonders of the Internet, I have stumbled upon a magic kingdom in Southern California. No, not that magic kingdom, but the vibrant, down-home, very Web-savvy, it’s-happening-here community of East Hollywood. East…

  • Foreclosure Crisis: How Much Blame Falls On The Media?

    If you still have not watched The Daily Show, stop what you are doing and go on the Internet and watch last week’s clips of Jon Stewart’s show. He was engaged in a weeklong battle with CNBC and Jim Cramer. What Stewart did was amazing. .cc_box a:hover .cc_home{background:url(‘http://www.comedycentral.com/comedycentral/video/assets/syndicated-logo-over.png’) !important;}.cc_links a{color:#b9b9b9;text-decoration:none;}.cc_show a{color:#707070;text-decoration:none;}.cc_title a{color:#868686;text-decoration:none;}.cc_links a:hover{color:#67bee2;text-decoration:underline;}The Daily Show With Jon StewartM – Th 11p / 10cCNBC Gives Financial AdviceDaily Show Full Episodes Important Things w/ Demetri MartinPolitical Humor Jim Cramer It started with a CNBC’s Rick Santelli’s populist rant against Obama for using our tax dollars to bail out neighbors who are in danger of foreclosure. Santelli, who reports from the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade, attacked Obama’s housing bailout plan because it will help homeowners refinance mortgages and avoid foreclosure. more

  • NLIHC Budget Chart Outlines HUD Appropriations

    Here’s a handy resource released today by The National Low Income Housing Coalition today assembled following last week’s Senate passage of H.R. 1105, the omnibus FY09 appropriations bill. The bill includes nine FY09 spending bills, including the Transportation, Housing and…

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    Donovan Eyes Change to Mortgage Credit System; Bringing HUD to the Forefront

    WASHINGTON, DC — HUD chief Shaun Donovan yesterday championed an overhaul of the existing infrastructure of the mortgage finance and economic system in allowing low- and moderate-income individuals to be approved for mortgage loans that remain affordable. Donovan pointed to…

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    Rep. Frank Promises an “Improved” Subprime Bill

    WASHINGTON, DC—House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) today announced a bill, slated for an April vote, that aims to impose tougher penalties on securitizers who have sold bad loans, along with other restrictions that said would limit the “possibility of incentives to brokers to steer people to higher interest rates.” Speaking at the 2009 National Conference of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, Frank also called for increased legal assistance for individuals whose homes are in foreclosure and who are involved in disputes with their lenders. Frank pointed to increased willingness to act on the legislation in the Democratic-controlled House. In 2007, he said, though the Democrats were in power then following the 2006 midterm elections, reform within the housing industry failed: “We didn’t have the political will – That’s changed.” The legislation, Frank said, will also stipulate that mortgage lenders absorb the first losses on any loans they sell off for securitization: “No one should be able to securitize 100 percent of anything — no one should be allowed to make loans, and then sell all of it.” Frank also acknowledged the benefits of CRA while criticizing its detractors: Republicans are saying that we are here because of the CRA — we want to help low-income people — that’s their argument. But if only institutions covered by the Community Reinvestment Act made mortgage loans, we would not have a crisis. We are going back to a reform agenda and they are terrified of that. They’ve got this myth blaming us — the coalition of people who care about social justice — for their failures of extreme deregulatory philosophy. They had 12 years to implement that philosophy, we’ve had two years to try to undo it. They are desperately trying to shift the blame and we’re not going to let them do it. more

  • NJ’s COAH: Finding Common (and Vacant) Ground

    As New Jersey’s Council on Affordable Housing, or COAH, continues to defend its plan to use a growth-share model to encourage towns to build working class and affordable housing, we’re reminded of one thing that became clear a long, long…

  • ACORN’s Home Defenders

    Should have posted this sooner, but here’s interesting news from ACORN=22533&tx_ttnews[backPid]=12387&cHash=933307a56f ACORN members in 16 kicked off the “Home Staying Campaign the week of February 23. These cities include San Mateo County, Calif.; Denver, Colo.; Bridgeport, Conn.; Wilmington, Del.; Broward…

  • Blog-Heavy, Link-Heavy, (and Some) Breaking News

    It’s now a regular exercise where we report the demise of another respected, long-standing, print media outfit and while news that the Hearst Corporation-owned The Seattle Post-Intelligencer will likely to turn into a Web-only enterprise does not fall into that…

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