CNU Sustainable Communities 2008, Sept. 26 in San Francisco

As top politicians call for more drilling and the Congress contemplates drawing down the national oil reserve, CNU thought you might appreciate a more substantive discussion on how to pull America away from its dependence on oil.  Join CNU at Sustainable Communities 2008 for a discussion on how to transform our cities and town into walkable, transit-supported neighborhoods.

Sustainable Communities 2008 will bring together leading innovators Sim Van der Ryn, Paul Hawken, Peter Calthorpe, Stewart Brand, Jerry Brown, Jacky Grimshaw, Judy Corbett and Peter Schwartz for a rare one-day seminar on the past and future of sustainable communities.

This incredible group of people introduced and advanced many of the innovations that formed the backbone of the green building sustainability movements beginning in the 1970's.  They helped show that environmentalism must extend beyond quick technological and temporary fixes to encompass a comprehensive vision for human habitats - sustainable cities and towns.

Now it's becoming clear again that our future depends on designing communities that help us overcome fossil fuel dependency and limit our global environmental impact.  And it's becoming just as clear that California can lead the nation if it gets passage of SB375 legislation, implementation of AB32 and other key measure right.  Participants in Sustainable Communities 2008 are the ultimate guides to the transformation we must make to move forward the thrive.  Join CNU for this event's lectures and important interactive afternoon session devoted to the future of sustainable communities and the government policies that will support them.

Visit the website at http://www.cnu.org/sustainablecommunities08 and register today!

ILLUMINATED CROSSWALKS & BRICK PAVERS

The City of Sarasota will be improving the intersection at Orange and Pineapple by installing motion sensors which trigger the crosswalks to illuminate and flash.  In addition the area around the crosswalks will be brick paved.  The total improvement is around $300,000 and hopefully will be completed in time for our season.

Some discussion during the last meeting with the city engineering suggested that the Burns Square area property owners may have to create a BID to pay for the maintenance of the illuminated crossings.  How ironic that we do not get the improvement that we were willing to contribute to (roundabout) and instead we get this dumbed down design because of mainly Laurel Park neighborhood board members and then they actually suggest we may have to financially maintain it.

In addition this is the only traffic calming device the city has to maintain in the entire Burns Square district and therefore we feel it unreasonable to expect the property owners to contribute to its maintenance. While it may be above a normal level of service found in other areas of downtown, we would argue that this is a very dangerous pedestrian intersection and the city values this intersection as one of the most important gateways into our downtown core, therefore its safety factor and visual appearance would be of high priority.

We also learned the City of Sarasota maintains the crossing in front of Morton's Market and while the property owner installed the crossings, it is within close proximity of a traffic signal crossing.  So the city is maintaining two crossings for Southside Village which are within a throw of each other.

WITH GAS OVER $4, CITIES EXPLORE WHETHER IT'S SMART TO BE DENSE

Sacramento's 'Blueprint' for Growth Draws National Attention

Page A1, Wall Street Journal

SACREMENTO, Calif. -- Gasoline was less than $2 a gallon when Mike McKeever brought his gospel of bikes, light rail and tightly packed neighborhoods to this state synonymous with cars, freeways and suburban sprawl.

"The development industry was very concerned," says Mr. McKeever, head of Sacramento's regional planning agency.  "The environmental community was openly negative," concerned that it was "just more talk, talk."

Seven years later, with gasoline hurtling past $4 a gallon, Sacramento has become one of the nation's most-watched experiments in whether urban planning can help solve everything from high fuel prices to the housing bust to global warming.

"They're really the model," says Steve Winkelan, a transportation expert at the Center for Clean Air Policy.

For decade, backers of "smart-growth' planning principles have preached the benefit of clustering the places where people live more closely with the businesses where they work and shop.  Less travel would mean less fuel consumption and less air pollution.  Several communities built from scratch upon those principles, such as Celebration in Florida, sprouted across the country.  But they were often isolated experiments, connected to their surroundings mainly by car.

For the rest of the article...go to http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121538754733231043.htm

Rapid Transit Bus System

County project - Up and Running in 4 years!

Sarasota County has been working on securing a federal grant for a North-South Rapid Bus Transit system.  

The proposed project will improve service for several key markets, shorten times to key destinations and service from elsewhere will benefit from increased frequency and more efficient routing.

The Alignments being considered are US41, Rail Road Corridor, Old Bradenton Road and US301.  There are options available for the corridor treatment, such as dedicated busway corridor, exclusive bus lane, signal priorities and queue jumper lanes.  The Locations and Styles are to be determined but will have consistent rider amenities at each station.  The SCAT service does a good job connecting where the people are and major single employers are already covered well, but this proposed project links north and south to major employment areas.

A recent SCAT survey of riders asked detailed questions about orgin, destination, and trip purpose.  Best indicator of future ridership trends.  The key travel markets were SRQ to Downtown, SRQ to SMH area, Universities to Downtown, Universities to Southgate, Downtown to Pavilion/Stickney Point Area, MCC North Port to Sarasota, Venice to Downtown, Bee Ridge/Cattlemen to Southgate and MCC Bradenton to Sarasota.

The study time line so far where workshops Sept. - Oct. 2007, public eduction and participation June - Sept. 2008, complete data collection and analysis with technical input in Jan - Aug 2008 and then fall 2008 submittal to FTA, 2009 Complete National Environmental Protection Act Review, 2009-2010 FTA Project Construction Grant Agreement, 2011-2012 Initial Project Implementation.

To view the Ft. Collins Colorado Bus Rapid Transit line go to http://www.fcgov.com/mason/ that has similarities to Sarasota.

Higher-Density Development

MYTH AND FACT

http://www.nmhc.org/Content/ServeFile.cfm?FileID=4647

The National Multi Housing Council, Sierra Club, American Institute of Architects and the Urban Land Institute partnered to publish the book 'Higher-Density Development, Myth and Fact'.

This cooperative effort was organized and put into publication to help communities find new developing patterns for our growing and changing country needs.  This is another example of what I believe the downtown core city leaders support.

The Charter of the New Urbanism

The Charter of the New Urbanism is another example of principles I believe those of us in the downtown core community support.

We would be very interested in the principles the neighborhoods support.

Bill Dennis has put together a video of The Charter of the New Urbanism for those who would like to learn more.  

http://bdennis.com/Site/Charter/Entries/2008/4/1_Charter_of_the_New_Urbanism.html

The Original Green

Much has been discussed and written lately about an assumed conflict of opinions between our city core community neighborhoods and surrounding city neighborhoods.  

Just today, a reporter asked me what I thought the surrounding neighborhood leaders feel so threatened about from those in the downtown core; I responded that I honestly do not know exactly.  

I do know the conversations going on with the downtown groups.

I am posting an initiative that has been started by a friend of mine, Steve Mouzon.  He is a New Urbanist.  I believe those I work with in the downtown core believe in the principles and direction Steve is heading with sustainability. 

http://web.mac.com/stephenamouzon/Original_Green_Site/Home.html