Thursday, May 15, 2008

Growing Awareness of Needed Change

As we are writing this message, oil has hit $126 a barrel.  We do not need to preach to anyone the implications of this development- four years ago, we were screening the movie, "End of Suburbia," which was the precursor to the book, "A Long Emergency," from James Kunstler.  In this issue is a link to a Newsday Editorial by Bob Keeler that outlines some of the challenges we face with gas prices and our love of large cars.

At our 2004 Smart Growth Summit, we put out the spector of $5.00 a gallon gasoline and were laughed at by many folks who thought we were fear mongering.  Unfortunately, the thought that we are going to have development patterns that sprawl all the way through Suffolk County continues to this day.  Clearly, there are many folks in various industries who benefit economically from sprawl development while the approval processes for alternatives to sprawl are still needlessly complex.

The good news is that we have more allies than ever and the folks fighting the creation and re-creation of downtown centers are begrudgingly starting to look at Smart Growth solutions.  The Long Island Index released a survey this week, outlining Long Islanders responses to this crisis and broader energy and climate change issues and we are seeing a growing awareness for changes.

The opportunities for Smart Growth development are out there now.  The question is how much progress is being made.  

A few bright spots this week...

Last week, I spoke glowingly about some movement on the State level to reform the NYS Department of Transportation as well as work with other State agencies to implement Smart Growth policies. This week, there was an announcement about a 200-unit project in Coram that follows the Middle Country Road Land Use Plan.  We are very proud of that plan as it represents a long and arduous visioning process and set of actions that have been taken by the community the local Councilwoman Connie Kepert and comprimises from the development community.  You will hear more about this project as it proceeds.

In Rocky Point we are seeing a new development with a the re-creation of Frank Cariola's Sundance.  For folks who remember many a night hearing great local and national talent, there will be an opportunitiy for live music in the heart of downtown Rocky Point.

Lastly, we need to acknowledge the hard work of the local community leaders, business leaders, and government officials that are working day in and day out on Smart Growth projects and policies. Many of them will be acknowledged at our seventh annual Smart Growth Awards this year on June 12th.  We will make it worth your time (and money) to attend, as this will be a can't-miss event.

Posted by Eric at 6:37:47 PM in Blog (23) | Comments (1)

Comments

1. Pandadoll said...

Sometime in the 1980's there was a COMPRESSED AIR vehicle developed the documentary aired on Public Television. The question is, what happened to that development for the CAR ENGINE?

6/14/2008

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