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VHB
Become a Supporter of Smart Growth Vision Long Island prides itself on having a broad range of supporters. Become one today. A donation as small as $50 buys outreach materials to help a community build support for their vision. $500 sponsors an entire newsletter. $5,000 makes you a lead sponsor of our Smart Growth Summit, buying 10 tickets and a key branding opportunity for your organization.
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VHB, an engineering, landscape architecture, and surveying firm, has worked on Long Island and in the region for many years. Many of their projects support principles of Smart Growth and we thank them for their ongoing support.
Register now for the 2009 Smart Growth Awards! |
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Long Island Gets First Wave of Stimulus Funds Long Island is set to receive its first wave of funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the stimulus. NYMTC has posted a list of candidate projects slated to receive funding under the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), posted online here. Two standouts include $8 million for the Glen Cove Ferry Terminal and $5 million for traffic calming in the Town of North Hempstead. Brookhaven National Lab Gets $184 Million
Secretary of Energy Steven Chu (a graduate of Garden City High School) visited the Lab on Monday to make the announcement, and was given a tour with U.S. Congressman Tim Bishop. Bishop said, “These recovery funds will create jobs on Long Island, strengthen the economy and spur the innovations we need to make America strong in the future. What’s good for Brookhaven is good for Long Island and the nation. This recovery funding will put hundreds of Long Island construction workers, electricians and plumbers to work and allow the lab’s highly skilled and dedicated scientists to continue their cutting edge energy research.” Read more at Long Island Business News and the BNL website. Long Island Town Hall Meeting on Stimulus
Read more here or see a Powerpoint presentation here. |
One of the first major Long Island projects slated to receive federal stimulus dollars will be the Brookhaven National Laboratory. $184.3 million will pour into the facility as part of $1.2 billion going to 17 of the Department of Energy's national laboratories. The funds will primarily be used for a $912 million project called "National Synchrotron Light Source II," an electron storage ring that will produce the "brightest x-ray source in the world, helping to drive abundant, safe, and clean energy technologies." The stimulus funds will also go toward constructing a new interdisciplinary science building and general building upgrades.
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180th Lighthouse Meeting Draws Overwhelming Support
Speakers ranged from a 92-year-old man to a 6th grader who had gathered signatures at his school to support the project. Some of the concerns raised focused on transportation connectivity issues, the speed of the process, and the transparency of the progress. Bobby Nystrom, famed former NY Islander, said "The Islanders have to stay on Long Island. And we've got to have a place where people can go to be entertained, have dinner, gather, go to a movie--it's so important." Only a handful people in the huge room were openly against the project, which can only come from having such widespread public outreach. Read more about the event at Newsday, and learn more about the Lighthouse project at lighthouseli.com. Long Island 2035 Kicks Off With Visioning Workshop
Read Newsday's coverage of the event here.
DOT and HUD Team Up For New Task Force
Secretary LaHood testified to the House Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee that ''Livability incorporates the concept of collaborative decision-making." Secretary Donovan called the costs of housing and transportation intrinsically linked, but often underestimated. For example, he mentioned, many people who live in the suburbs fail to factor in the time and money spent on commuting or running errands. These people have actually traded ''relatively high housing costs for high transportation costs in their search for affordable housing.'' Subcommittee members applauded the new partnership, though some doubt was cast on whether the livable community initiative's focus on transit can help widely spread rural and suburban areas. In response, Secretary Donovan pointed out that sustainability is a flexible rather than a one-size-fits-all concept, which can be tailored to make both urban and rural lives better. Read more here. MTA Doomsday Has Come
See how much your peak LIRR tickets will increase here. Be prepared to be sad. The icing on the cake for Long Islanders is a 75% fare increase in Nassau Bus, with tickets set to be $3.50. The plan goes into effect on May 31st, so be prepared to pay more and wait longer as your commute becomes much more inconvenient. Read more in Newsday, and watch a funny video about the future of the MTA from Transportation Alternatives here. Time Magazine Encourages Recycling the Suburbs
Read the Time article here. EPA's National Award for Smart Growth Achievement
See here for more information and to download a nomination form.
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On Thursday evening, March 26th, an estimated 1,300 people gathered at the Long Island Marriott in Uniondale for the 180th public meeting for the Lighthouse project. As the crowd packed in, the hotel staff had to take down the removable walls to expand the room. Attendees included elected officials, labor leaders, civics, veterans, local residents, out-of-town residents, and most noticeably, Islanders fans. There were even some former Islanders in attendance. Several people brought posters to hold up that encouraged Lighthouse support.
Lighthouse Executives Charles Wang, Scott Rechler, Michael Picker, and Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi sat on a panel to answer questions and take comments from attendees. The panel began with Suozzi saying that the Lighthouse addresses the four major problems of Long Island: taxes, young people leaving, traffic, and pockets of poverty. Wang introduced a short video on the history and future of the project, and opened the floor by saying "let's keep this informal tonight." 
Many Long Island municipalities are currently undergoing visionings and master plan processes, but few are creating as much buzz as Long Island 2035. Essentially an Island-wide master plan, 2035 aims to develop public consensus around the land use patterns that are necessary to sustain growth by the year 2035, incorporating housing, jobs, transportation strategies, open space and environmental preservation, social equity, economic prosperity, and more. The New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC), which funds the project, predicts this growth at 500,000 more people and 250,000 more jobs. The task of distributing this growth is daunting, but in order to provide a sustainable future for the next generation of Long Islanders, we must begin to address this growth now.
On Thursday, March 26th, NYMTC, the Long Island Regional Planning Council, Regional Plan Association, Sustainable Long Island, and Vision Long Island collaborated to pull off a massive charrette at the Melville Marriott. Groups of 10-12 people each gathered around a huge map of Long Island, and were given sticky cardboard chips to represent predicted growth numbers. Each chip represented a type of housing or job development (single family house large lot, medium lot, or small lot; multi-family or infill housing; offices, industry, strip commercial, or mixed-use infill jobs), with a corresponding population number to each chip (1000-2000 people or jobs per chip). Participants were required to allocate all the chips, while keeping in mind the context of what Long Island looks like now. Exchanging chips was permitted (i.e. replacing McMansions with townhouses), but that bottom line of growth numbers had to be kept in mind as participants struggled to place down all the chips. 
About 200 stakeholders attended the session, including Town and Village officials, public agencies, business, civic, and environmental leaders. The groups were strategically chosen so as to represent a broad range of geographies and viewpoints, and hard as the organizers tried to keep the group members civil, some arguments inevitably broke out. "Zoning would never allow multi-family housing there!" and "Put all the big houses away from my neighborhood!" were phrases heard throughout the process. The arguments were actually part of what made the process so much fun! Some more serious strategies included infill development around existing rail lines, utilizing existing vision plans to anticipate growth centers, and incorporating new infrastructure including sewers and transit lines. Some ideas reached for the stars, such as a monorail stretching along the Long Island Expressway or a new North-South line on the LIRR. As each group reported, it became clear that the overarching strategies really centered around Smart Growth principles. 
U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan have formed a joint task force to involve the public in issues of planning. The task force will look at expanding transportation alternatives and transit-oriented development, and providing less expensive housing near jobs. Its goal is to coordinate federal investments in communities and encourage integrated housing, land-use, and transportation plans. The task force comes out of the Obama Administration's "livable communities" initiative for long-term sustainability and resource management.
Everyone in the tri-state region is talking about it: the MTA has passed its massive fare hikes and service cuts. The doomsday plan passed through the MTA finance committee on Monday, and on Wednesday morning passed with a 12-1 vote at the MTA board meeting. Earlier this week,
Time Magazine recently published a list of "10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now." Number 2 was "Recycling the Suburbs." The article states, "Thanks to changing demographics, including a steady decline in the percentage of households with kids and a growing preference for urban amenities among Americans young and old, the suburban dream of the big house with the big lawn is vanishing." Last year, an estimated 148,000 big-box stores closed, the most since 2001. As strip commercial corridors die, the conundrum arises to build the new suburbs. According to Kaid Benfield, director of the Smart Growth program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said "As much as possible, we need to redirect development to existing communities and infrastructure. Otherwise, we're just eating up more land and natural resources." It is encouraging that Smart Growth as a suburban development model is taking hold in the main stream!
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently accepting nominations for the 8th annual National Award for Smart Growth Achievement. The competition is open to public and private sector entities, including local and state governments and non-profits, that have successfully used Smart Growth principles to improve communities while simultaneously improving the environment. There are five award categories: Built Projects, Policies and Regulations, Smart Growth and Green Building, Smart Growth Streets, and Overall Excellence in Smart Growth. Nominations are due on April 23rd, and a ceremony will recognize the winners in Washington, DC in December 2009. 
Take action to stop the proposed transit cuts! Vision Long Island, in coordination with Tri-State Transportation Campaign, ACORN, Long Island Progressive Coalition, and other advocacy organizations, are calling on Long Islanders to oppose the massive budget cuts and fare increases proposed by the MTA. Call your State Senators and Assemblypersons to seek alternative funding mechanisms to fund needed transit services. The recommendations proposed in the Ravitch Commission report spell out necessary funding offsets such as payroll taxes and tolling of East River and Harlem bridges.
Tell New York State Legislators to protect open space funding! Long Island's last remaining open spaces are being replaced by strip malls, highways, and big box developments that are antithetical to livable neighborhoods. Open space protection includes protecting clean drinking water, recreational opportunities, and quality of life. It means protecting our beaches, forests, coastal areas, and groundwater recharge areas.
Clean up Greenport on April 6
Group for the East End has received grant funding to create walking and biking trails, educational signs, and to restore the native habitat here. Join the volunteer group around the corner from the Greenport School to work to restore this natural beauty. Collection bags will be provided, but please bring gloves. This work will continue in future weeks, with organized cleanup days on the first Monday of every month (April 6, 3:30-4:30). For reservations or more information, contact Jeremy Samuelson at (631) 765-6450 x209 or jsamuelson@eastendenvironment.org. For more information on the Exploration series, visit Group for the East End's website. Pedals for Progress - Used Bike Collection on April 4th
This year's collection will have a Long Island location on Saturday, April 4th from 11-2 at the Massapequa Public Library, Bar Harbour branch (40 Harbor Lane in Massapequa Park). It will be hosted by the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Long Island. Because the cost of shipping a bicycle is up to $35, those donating are asked to include a minimum $10 shipping fee. The program also accepts cash donations from corporate and community sponsors. For more information on Pedals for Progress, see their website and this article in Garden City Life. For more on the April 4th collection, call Bette Bass at 516-606-1400 or Linda Merola at 516-242-2041. Regional Plan Association Regional Assembly on April 17th
Speakers throughout the day include New York State Governor David Paterson, Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell, Chairman of the 2009 Assembly and Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Christopher Ward, Moody's Economy.com's Chief Economist and Co-founder Mark Zandi, and other national and state elected officials and regional leaders. RPA will recognize Richard Ravitch with a Lifetime Leadership Award, "for his extraordinary role in revitalizing the region's infrastructure...as a business leader, philanthropist, and champion of regional planning." Breakout workshops throughout the day will focus on the economy, energy, housing, transportation, and water. Tickets are $185 and $160 for members. Read more and sign up here. Reducing your home energy costs seminar from LI Sierra Club - April 18th
Presenters at the event will include a tour guide from the Heritage Center at North Shore Heritage Park, Chuck Schwarz from L.I. Green, Leah Sontag from Sun Power Systems, and Anita from Majestic Son and Sons. JANE JACOBS' LEGACY CELEBRATED IN JANE'S WALK MAY 2ND-3RD
Now, community lovers throughout the U.S. and Canada are coming together to celebrate Jacobs' ideas with "Jane's Walk." Jane's Walk began shortly after Jacobs' death in 2006, when a group of her friends and peers organized to honor her legacy. Anyone can join in for one of several free neighborhood walking tours, with the intention of fostering connection to the built and natural environment, as well as to one another. Jane's Walk promotes urban literacy by combining insights into urban history, planning, design, and civic engagement. The walks are accessible, fun, and free. "It's about getting out and walking, observing your city, meeting your neighbors, discovering new areas, and learning about civic institutions and agencies that shape our urban existence. Jane's Walk helps knit people together into a strong and resourceful community, instilling belonging and encouraging civic leadership." This year's Jane's Walk will take place on May 2nd and 3rd, with participating cities so far including New York City, Anchorage, Boston, Chicago, New Orleans, Ogden, Salt Lake City, and Washington, D.C. Tours are generally kept under an hour and a half. You can also create your own walk--all you need is an enthused tour guide, a knowledge base of your neighborhood, and the capability to plan a route that is logical and wheelchair accessible. You do not need to be an expert on your neighborhood, but rather need to be passionate about it (and have some stories to back it up). More details can be found on the Jane's Walk website. After all, as Jacobs once said, "No one can find what will work for our cities by looking at ... suburban garden cities, manipulating scale models, or inventing dream cities. You've got to get out and walk." Learn more about Jane's Walk here. African American Media Network Presents Strong Island Live
Three performance locations in the area will air on channel 18. Bands must be live: no background CDs! To register or for more information, call 516-478-4334 or 516-503-6282, or see the website here. |
Group for the East End, an environmental group dedicated to protecting the natural landscape on Eastern Long Island through public education and advocacy, presents its Explorations series, with many environmentally fun events hosted throughout the year. Build a bird box or go on an organized hike in some of Long Island's most beautiful land. In Greenport, you can help restore the Silver Lake area along North Street and Moore's Lane. With the help of Mayor Nyce and the Village Highway Department, volunteers have made tremendous progress removing couches, tires, batteries, trash, scrap metal, and televisions from this illegal dumping ground. 
Every year, Americans purchase 22 million new bicycles. Go Americans! From a planning perspective, biking is one of the best modes of transportation: zero energy emissions, support of local communities, and exercise. However, with new bicycles come old, unwanted bicycles, many of which end up sitting in storage space for years before ending up in a landfill. One group has found a win-win solution to this problem. Pedals for Progress is an international program that collects old bikes and ships them to communities in developing countries overseas. The poor communities are in need of inexpensive, non-polluting transportation to get to jobs, schools, and markets. The program also supports local bike repair shops by offering the first of a series of bike cargo shipments for free (money raised from selling those bikes pay for the next shipment). In its 6 years of existence, Pedals for Progress has collected 117,892 total bikes, with 6,628 in 2008 alone.
On Friday, April 17th from 8am-3pm, Regional Plan Association presents its 19th annual Regional Assembly, "America 2050: Building the Next Economy." It is likely that in the future, 2008 will be remembered as a year of economic infamy, similar to 1929. This year's assembly will focus on how our region's leaders can once again guide us through challenging times. How can we use these challenging times to plan for long-term sustainability? RPA's national planning initiative, America 2050, is shaping the national discussion by identifying specific transportation, energy, and water infrastructure investments and policies to power the nation's growth. It is time to think big again and this event will serve as a forum to begin those conversations. 
The Long Island Sierra Club will be hosting an upcoming presentation called “Reducing your Home Energy Costs.” On April 18th at 1:30pm at the Heritage Center in Mt. Sinai, come to this free, 2-hour community meeting to learn how to save money on your energy bills. The educational program will give you a tour of a very efficient public building and provide ways for you to reduce energy consumption while making your home more comfortable. The meeting will also explain how to become free from paying LIPA for all the electricity you use with no upfront costs, with monthly payments less than or equal to your current ones. You will also learn about energy audits and how to get one for little or no cost, as well as home-ready solar systems that are no more than what you currently pay. 
Jane Jacobs is a legend in the planning world. Some would call her the anti-Moses (Robert Moses, that is), a staunch advocate for pedestrianized communities and dense urban living. Build mixed-use, she said, and communities will flourish. Build smaller blocks, she said, and there will be more opportunity for commercial and residential development, not to mention walkable communities with high quality of life. Most importantly, Jacobs believed in a community based approach to planning. She organized grassroots efforts to block urban renewal projects that would have decimated communities, such as Moses' Lower Manhattan Expressway. In 1961, her masterpiece The Death and Life of American Cities was published, and remains to this day one of the most widely read and praised planning books.
The Long Island based African American Media Network will be hosting "Strong Island Live" music festival from June 24-28. Several days of live music performances will include gospel, rock, rap, R&B, jazz, blues, reggae, and salsa. These genres will compete for prizes including studio time, a music video, and cash. |
Earth Hour on March 28
Read more here and see a video here (scroll down). A series of Public Service Announcement television spots for World Wildlife Fund's EARTH HOUR were recently created and produced by Tony Harding Entertainment and Media (THEM), the Manhattan based Media Company owned by Merrick, Long Island's executive producer Tony Harding. The "Huge Turn Off" series of spots features Alanis Morissette and Jeanane Garofalo in scenes which humorously play on the words "turn off." The work was directed by THEM director Jim Tozzi, creator of Comedy Central's Wonder Showzen, and was brought to THEM by ad agency Leo Burnett, Chicago. THEM is a multi-disciplinary integrated media company producing content for television programs, commercials, corporate and branded content for web and mobile based media. View the videos here and here. The Comedy Club at Danfords This Saturday night, March 28th, come to Danfords in Port Jefferson for a night of comedy featuring three of Long Island's top comics. Performing that night will be Paul Anthony, official comic host of the annual Long Island Comedy Festival, the largest comedy festival ever presented on Long Island; Carie Karavas, who performs at comedy clubs across the country and is a regular in Atlantic City and Las Vegas; and Keith Anthony, ranked as one of the best comics to come out of Long Island and previously featured on Showtime, A&E, and Comedy Central. Showtime is at 8:30, which overlaps with Earth Hour (see article above), so remember to turn off your home electronic appliances before you leave! Tickets are $20. Call (631) 928-9100 for more information. |
Earth Hour is "the world's first global election, between Earth and global warming." Vote Earth! On Saturday, March 28 at 8:30pm local time, turn off your lights and electrical appliances and spend 60 minutes outside with friends and family. This will count as your vote for Earth! This global event is sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and is now in its third year. Over 1,500 cities in 80 countries throughout the world have already officially signed up to participate. The goal is to reach 1 billion individuals, including homes, businesses, and public landmarks (last year the Golden Gate Bridge and Sydney Opera House participated). That worldwide vote for sustainability will be used to leverage global climate change action at the 2009 Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, which will be meeting to replace the Kyoto Protocol. 
From infrastructurist.com: The Vocabulary of Sprawl: ALLIGATOR: Real estate that eats money – for instance, a plot that a developer has subdivided and is paying taxes on, but hasn’t yet developed.
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SMART GROWTH NEWS Newsletter Editor: Michelle Dutchen, Communications Director We strive to provide continued quality publications such as this each week. If you are interested in becoming a newsletter or news blast sponsor, please call the office at 631-261-0242 for rates and opportunities. If you have any news or events that you would like to add to our newsletter, submit them to info@visionlongisland.org for consideration.
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