President hosts urban affairs summit

"For too long, federal policy has actually encouraged sprawl and congestion and pollution, rather than quality public transportation and smart, sustainable development."

Those are the words of President Barack Obama at yesterday's urban affairs summit. Among other topics, the President talked about the 3-agency livable community partnership between DOT, HUD, and the EPA as part of his "new, imaginative, bold vision," for the nation's cities. "Housing, transportation, energy efficiency -- these things aren't mutually exclusive; they go hand in hand."

As he indicated, we are taking a hard look at urban practices around the country to identify best practices in housing, transportation, and sustainability.

The nation's cities should also welcome the President's request to the Office of Urban Affairs and other agencies to review federal infrastructure and transportation policies and "how Washington helps or hinders our cities and metro areas."

“What we’ve heard," said new Office of Urban Affairs head Adolfo Carrion, “is that there are too many bottlenecks in the way for cities to have the latitude to invest in smart ways and make the connections for the way people live.”

I assure you, the DOT is on-board the movement to ease those bottlenecks where we can and to streamline transportation funding to urban areas.

Comments

[Andrew]

If we were to study why European city design is so much more conducive to mass transit.

I'd also like to see small, locally managed rail systems connecting outlying villages and towns to their local cities, Not just a railway that passes through on the way elsewhere.

In the absence of rail service perhaps bus rapid transit connecting the major shopping hubs, the downtown areas of the city and outlying villages without any stops between with greater frequency than the current bus companies provide.

Subsidize the fares so that people leave their cars at home because its so much cheaper to ride the bus or train. Subsidizing the fares and reducing traffic on roads should save much more than it costs (it certainly does in other countries).

I personally support scenic rail run by local train clubs together with local business that provide safe and quick transport from outlying villages in to shopping centers. You get economic stimulus by getting people to spend the money they would have on gas at shops instead (that should attract support from local business), people who wish to live in the country can do so as long as they are in a community with a rail station (and electric cars that only have to get you to and from a station become more viable). Instead of metropolitan areas that are just one massive city they start to consist of chains of smaller more diverse communities along a railway or bus rapid transit way.

Bus rapid transit of course is like a train traveling station to station but travels on tires instead of rails. As they approach traffic lights the lights change to favor them. Special lanes are designated for them that other vehicle traffic have to stay out of. In areas where tracks have been torn up (or railways have never been built) and the available infrastructure are roads they provide a fast and inexpensive alternative.

[Cheryn Fogarty]

Consider the importance of the community planning process that seamlessly integrates of all the elements that make up the sustainable/livable community. The funding process currently separates each element (transportation, housing, environment)into planning processes that then need to be woven together, leaving a puzzle that doesn't alway complete the community picture. In fact, in many cases inadequate funding of some planning element, hinders the necessary integration and produces missing links, and an ill conceived community plan. If we are to pursue this comprehensive approach, we need to think of community-first and fund the comprehensive package to achieve the expected goals and policies. This would take a whole restructuring and rethinking an integrated planning process and funding under one program element.