NATIONAL TRAIN DAY CELEBRATION

by: commonweal

Fri May 09, 2008 at 13:55:36 PM EDT

Rail*Trains*Ecology*Cycling, a grassroots, passenger rail advocacy
group, will be the sponsor of the only National Train Day event in Connecticut on Saturday, May 10, 2008 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at New Haven Union Station to commemorate the completion at Promontory Summit, Utah, of the first transcontinental railroad system on May 10, 1869. The event will celebrate that
anniversary and call on policymakers to renew their commitment to a national passenger train and commuter rail grid.

This gathering will be a speaker-driven event in which local and state
officials and grassroots leaders will impress the need for more
sensible investment in our train corridors, including the Northeast
Corridor and the New York, New Haven, Hartford, Springfield corridor
and stress the importance of integrating bicycles and trains, as a
strategic multi modal option.

Who:
Rail*Trains*Ecology*Cycling is hosting the National Train Day New
Haven in co-ordination with National Association of Rail Passengers.

Speakers include:
- State Representative Tom Kehoe, 31st Assembly District (Glastonbury);
- Michael Piscitelli, Director of Transportation, Traffic & Parking for the
City of New Haven;
- Mark Abraham, sustainability advocate associated with Elm City Cycling;
- Molly McKay, Transportation Chair, Connecticut Sierra Club

What:
Non-alcoholic drinks will be served

Where:
New Haven Union Station, 50 Union Street New Haven CT 06519, 2nd Floor
South Balcony - accessible by elevator (between station door entry
from pick-up, drop-off driveway and escalators to platforms.)

When:
Sat. May 10, 2008 4 to 5:30 p.m.

More Quick Hits

by: commonweal

Mon May 05, 2008 at 11:09:32 AM EDT

It's official!  Konover Development no longer has the option to build River Oaks on the 60 acre CL&P property!  This week the owner of the property told the SHARE Steering Committee that as of this past week he no longer has a contract with Konover Development and that he will now be taking direct responsibility for whatever gets built on his property and that he will only build something that both he and the town "can be proud of" (his words).  He will not build a Big Box store on his property!  Furthermore, he wants to work collaboratively with the town and the residents and he said that he supports the charrette initiative for his property stating that he will be an active participant in the planning process.

2. NEW DOT LEADER --

Connecticut is the third densest state in the country and 80 percent of its travel is by automobile, said Joseph Marie, the newly appointed Department of Transportation Commissioner. He said as commissioner, he will work to provide more attractive alternatives to the automobile. He will help commuters better predict transit travel times and provide more parking near transit.  Marie will be the first transit expert to head the beleaguered agency. Marie was appointed by the Governor in April. His confirmation by the General Assembly is pending.
Marie has extensive public and private sector experience. He worked on the Central Phoenix/ East Valley Rail System, METRO TRANSIT in Minneapolis and for Bombardier and Siemens.

3.  SMART GROWTH AND GLOBAL WARMING --

A new report by Environment Connecticut Clean Water Action of global warming trends in Connecticut and New England from 1990 to 2005 found that global warming emissions throughout New England increased by 10.9 percent. The study is the first of its kind to produce a thorough estimate of green house gas emissions.

In Connecticut, emissions from industrial and commercial sources declined 8.5 percent, but transportation emissions increased 20 percent between 1990 and 2005. Roads, parking lots and other impervious surfaces increased 22 percent in Connecticut between 1985 and 2002. On other words, there is a direct correlation between how and where we're developing and the amount of global warming gases we produce.  

Quick Hits -- retail saturation

by: commonweal

Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 09:49:26 AM EDT

1.  Wal-Mart has cancelled the opening of 45 stores because it is "reeling from its own self-inflicted excesses," wrote the chain's leading critic, Al Norman, in The Huffington Post. "Sam Walton explained that his growth strategy was 'to saturate a market area by spreading out, then filling in ...We became our own competition.' He once boasted that Springfield, Missouri, for example, had 40 Wal-Marts within 100 miles," wrote Mr. Norman. In additional to the usual demographic benchmarks the chain considers when proposing new stores, it also considers "'potential impacts on neighboring Wal-Mart stores.' This last metric - the cannibalization factor - has had a major impact on the deep-sixing of many superstore projects this year," wrote Mr. Norman.

2.  "Retailers' Struggles Mean Lean Times at the Mall" reported The Wall Street Journal. The Journal attributes the growing number of mall vacancies to slowing consumer spending and excessive retail development.

3.  Local opposition and the struggling economy " have led big-box retailers to drop plans to build in numerous communities," reported Stacey Mitchell of The Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Home Depot and Wal-Mart withdrew proposals in Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, North Carolina and more.

4.  UPDATE  Home Depot announced today that it will close 15 stores, the first time the world's largest home improvement store chain has ever closed a flagship store for performance reasons.  

So, given all this gloomy economic news about big box stores, coupled with the fact that numerous studies have shown the negative economic impact big box stores have on communities, what does the town of Middlefield want to do? Attract and build big box stores.  Another shining example of how our property tax structure encourages sprawl.  

Open Space Preservation

by: commonweal

Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 09:41:15 AM EDT

However, the decision was a no brainer once a cost benefit analysis was done by the town.  The results of the cost benefit analysis supports the results of numerous other studies on the economic benefits of open space preservation, and dispels as myth the assertions of the Connecticut Partnership for Balanced Growth, a front group for developers, that residential construction has a positive economic impact for towns.

Click here to read my own views on how to control residential development.  Also, to help you figure out the economic impact residential development will have on your town, here is the cost benefit analysis for the 140 acre purchase from Canton's Board of Finance:    

Simsbury Defeats Konover Proposal

by: commonweal

Tue Apr 22, 2008 at 08:32:21 AM EDT

Anyways, good news out of Simsbury:  last night the town's zoning commission denied Konover's PDD proposal.  Hopefully, town leaders will now embrace a charrette for the town so citizens can show Konover what a mixed use development really looks like.

Is Simsbury's decision another sign that towns are learning to play it Smart?

Legislative Update

by: commonweal

Tue Apr 15, 2008 at 09:35:48 AM EDT

Finally, property tax reform was on the minds and lips of legislators on both sides of the aisle this week. With an uncharacteristically dramatic flair, Finance Revenue and Bonding voted out of committee a bill that would fully fund payments to municipalities in lieu of taxes on state-owned property, private hospitals, private colleges, and other tax exempt properties. It would reduce property taxes by $60 million statewide.

The committee approved funding municipal reimbursements with unclaimed properties and a new tax on deliveries.  Unfortunately, any hope of meaningful progress on property tax reform quickly fell victim to all-too-typical squabbling nonsense.

This being first and foremost an election year, Republican legislators (See the story at CT News Junkie) lit into big city mayors (most of whom are Democrats) charging mismanagement. They also accused Democrats in the General Assembly with seeking to increase the taxes on small business.

Clearly, the committee wasn't obsessively diligent about doing its homework on these revenue sources. It didn't provide reliable estimates for how much unclaimed property is available or what the new tax on deliveries would generate annually. In the interest of sound policy, let's be clear about a couple of things though.

Residents in every city and town in the state except Bethlehem, East Hampton, East Haven, Griswold, and Haddam would benefit if PILOT were fully funded. This is not a big city issue. This is not a partisan issue. It affects every person who owns property in 164 cities and towns in Connecticut.    

Secondly, the property tax is Connecticut's businesses' biggest tax obligation. When we reduce our reliance on the property tax, we not only help Grand Ma, we also help the grocer, the dry cleaner, the hair salon, the printer, the insurer, the diaper service, the genetic researcher, the personal trainer, and every other property-owning Connecticut business.

Design New Haven

by: commonweal

Thu Apr 10, 2008 at 09:19:25 AM EDT

Of particular importance to me is the Route 34 corridor.  Built during the mid-1950s to initially connect the junction of I-91 and I-95 in New Haven through to Derby, the 1.1-mile, unfinished road cuts through the Oak Street neighborhood. More than 600 businesses and families (some of whom still gather at the annual Oak Street Reunion) were displaced to make way for the Rt. 34 Connector.

For me, this epitomizes the wanton highway construction that accompanied the urban renewal craze of the 50s, 60s and 70s.  Sold as transportation for the future, these concrete behemoths were primarily land developments schemes that made it easier for suburbanites to get into city jobs and for developers to get into new projects.  Small businesses and neighborhoods -- almost always poor or working class -- were inevitably disrupted and damaged.  I guess we were borrowing from our mission in Vietnam -- destroy the village in order to save it.

Recently, however, local activists and the City of New Haven have proposed a plan to redevelop the Route 34 Connector into a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood of workforce housing, retail, and open space. To rally support for the project, the New Haven Urban Design League and theTri-State Transportation Campaign are hosting a symposium highlighting the plan on April 16th from 6pm to 8pm at New Haven's Career High School. The event will be headlined by John Norquist, president of the Congress for the New
Urbanism.

John Norquist, President of the Congress of New Urbanism the former Mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin will lead the discussion. As Mayor of  
Milwaukee, Mr. Norquist  successfully removed Park East Freeway, the largest freeway removal project in the United States, and replaced it with a mixed-use development that included affordable housing, retail, office and open space.  The Milwaukee redevelopment has been lauded as an excellent model of how to remake cities destroyed by highway projects into more pedestrian friendly, economically self-sustaining and environmentally friendly spaces.

UPDATE
John Norquist also will be at the Hartford Public Library on Tuesday to discuss the future of the Aetna Viaduct -- the elevated stretch of Interstate 84 between Sisson and Asylum avenue.  Gotta love Mr. Norquist's quote about freeways running through cities:  "They're a real turd in the punch bowl.  You want to make a city ugly quick, put a freeway through the middle of it."

Overflow Crowd Postpones Zoning Commission Meeting

by: commonweal

Tue Apr 08, 2008 at 09:32:09 AM EDT

The meeting has been rescheduled for Thursday, April 10, and will be held at the Simsbury High School auditorium which can hold 900 people.  Stay tuned!

Smart Growth News from the State Capitol

by: commonweal

Sun Apr 06, 2008 at 19:23:26 PM EDT

With a month remaining in the 2008 legislative session, now is the time to pick up the pace of our legislative advocacy for smart growth!

The committees have reported and budget negotiations have moved behind closed doors.

Please take the time to ask leadership to relieve our reliance on the property tax by increasing the state's share of municipal healthcare costs; education costs, including special education; and fully fund Payments in Lieu of Taxes.

In this time of economic uncertainty, we need to be sure we are getting the highest caliber of governance from our state government. The following legislation professionalizes Connecticut's agencies by requiring an articulation of priorities and measuring progress.

Senate Bill 176 establishes a process and timeline for state long-term planning. It is sorely overdue!  This bill has been referred for fiscal analysis.

Senate Bill 285 would require the Commissioner of the Department of Transportation to rank project priorities, divulge their costs and disclose funding sources. In the past two years Connecticut's residents have funded two extensive reviews of DOT and transportation policy - we updated the Transportation Strategy and conducted a thorough review of the Department of Transportation. It's absurd that after all that, we don't know the agencies' priorities. If this bill passes, we won't know until January 2009, we shouldn't have to wait a minute longer. This bill is on the Senate calendar.

House Bill 5324 makes recommendations to strengthen regional organizations.

The most important recommendation is to reauthorize the regional incentive grant program. It was created a year ago and in its first year, demand far exceeded the $8 million surplus-funded program.  This bill is currently before the Appropriations Committee.

Senate Bill 39 defines responsible growth, tasks agency heads with coordinating large development projects, and advises vertical consistency in conservation and development planning.

This bill is on the Senate calendar. Ask your Senator to strengthen the bill with a floor amendment adopting the definition and principles of responsible growth unanimously approved by the Responsible Growth Task Force in its report submitted to the Governor in February.

Questions?  Need contact information or more details? Call Heidi at 860/523-0003.  

Konover PDD Application Rejected

by: commonweal

Thu Apr 03, 2008 at 09:46:55 AM EDT

For the record, I believe in mixed-use development.  However, a key component of mixed use development is human scale architecture.  Call me crazy, but big box stores are not what I think of when I hear the words human scale architecture.  Konover claims in their PR campaign for the PDD that the April 7 public hearing is not about whether one supports or opposes River Oaks, it's about whether one supports or opposes a PDD that is needed in order to bring mix-use economic development to Simsbury.  

The April 7th public hearing absolutely IS about River Oaks!  If the Konover PDD is approved it will provide the legislative framework in the form of a mixed-use zoning regulation under which Konover will submit their application to build River Oaks. I can't imagine that Konover paid substantial amounts of money in attorney and consultant fees to submit a PDD application just because they felt some form of civic duty to help Simsbury write PDD zoning regulations.  It is all about Konover's bottom line.  Building River Oaks will make them a profit, so they will do anything to make sure it gets built -- it is a simple as that.  

It's Deja Vu All Over Again

by: commonweal

Mon Mar 31, 2008 at 12:49:04 PM EDT

Another spring has arrived in Connecticut, and with it the obligatory haggling over town budgets. As usual, you have one side that stubbornly demands no increase in what it rightly perceives as already too high property taxes, and another side that decries what it views as draconian cuts to the education budget. Neither side ends up winning.

More Quick Hits

by: commonweal

Wed Mar 26, 2008 at 09:06:11 AM EDT

1.  Volunteer for Smart Growth

1000 Friends of Connecticut, a state-wide, non-profit Smart Growth advocacy group seeks concerned and motivated individuals who want to join our campaign to Grow Connecticut Smart.  Connecticut is at a critical crossroad and the time to act is now.  There are countless opportunities to get involved and your participation will make a tremendous difference.  Please contact us at 860.523.0003 or info@1000friends-ct.org. and we will give you all the details.

2.   Check Out the Events Calendar

I have added a few more events to the calendar.  Hope you can attend some of them.

3.   Legislation

Several Smart Growth bills will be raised this year.  I have added a few to the legislation box on the left side of the screen, more will be added soon.

4. Gray Fields

The Courant has an excellent story on the increase of "gray fields" in CT -- large, abandoned retail buildings and large movie theaters that have become eyesores in towns and cities across the state as developers struggle to think of feasible ways to re-use them.  A shining example of why we need to build within scale.

Quick Hits

by: commonweal

Mon Mar 24, 2008 at 21:16:20 PM EDT

1. SUCCESS OF OPEN SPACE REFERENDA

The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy has an interesting article on the success of using local ballot referenda to preserve open space.  Between 1998 and 2006 roughly 1,550 referenda have appeared on local, county or state ballot across the U.S.  Of these, approximately 80% have passed.  In CT, there have been 47 and 42 have passed.  Rhode Island, by the way, is 40/40.  

2. NO BIKES ON COMMUTER TRAINS

The CT DOT still doesn't get it.  Despite all the talk from Governor Rell about the dawning of a new era for the agency, they still continue to think with a one track mind (no pun intended).  On May 19, the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council voted against a resolution, which asked Metro-North and Connecticut DOT to provide bicycle parking on New Haven Line cars.  In fact, according to several people who attended the Council's meeting, a number of members on the Commuter Council appeared to be hostile toward cyclist's concerns and so did rail officials from C-DOT and Metro-North.  This decision was despite the fact that bicycle advocates received repeated assurances from CT DOT Rail officials that bicycle parking would be included in the M-8 rail car design and an e-mail from the Commuter Council chair that said "Metro-North is now telling me they're designing bike tie-downs forthe new M8 rail cars..."

Advocates are urging bicyclists to speak out in favor of setting aside dedicated space for bicycle parking on the new M-8 train cars and refurbished M-2 train cars at the annual President's Forum (Peter Cannito, President, Metro-North Railroad) this Wednesday March 26th from 5 to 7 p.m. You may sign up to speak starting at 4:45 p.m. The forum will take place at MTA Headquarters, 347 Madison Avenue, 5th Floor. That's between 44th & 45th Streets. Bring photo ID.

Konover is Back

by: commonweal

Sun Mar 23, 2008 at 15:53:01 PM EDT

I find it the height of arrogance and autocratic behavior that some elected officials in Simsbury are totally opposed to a collaborative, democratic process that provides a framework for creating a shared vision, otherwise known as a charrette, but are in favor of a corporation coming into town and proposing a zoning regulation that will benefit the bottom line of the same corporation.  How much thought do you think Konover gave to the impact this PDD will have on the town as a whole?  The answer is exactly none.  The only thought was about the almighty dollar.  Democracy has indeed been made a mockery by this entire River Oaks process!!  

If this PDD passes, the people of Simsbury will have, for all intents and purposes, lost any remaining shred of control they had over land use decisions in their town. Corporations, with their legal teams and money, will now rule the town.  Have a project that our zoning regulations -- regulations supposedly written by the people through their representatives -- don't allow? Just submit some alternative language that will make it acceptable and you will be bulldozing the land in no time.

Passage of this PDD will ensure that citizens will continue to lose faith in the process and in government in general at a time when we need more public participation and citizen involvement.  Rather than stand up for the democratic process and the decisions of the people, far too many Simsbury officials have simply abdicated their responsibility. Is it any wonder people have no faith in government anymore?  
 

Cooperation is the Key

by: commonweal

Mon Mar 17, 2008 at 13:36:08 PM EDT

The purveyors of the "commercial growth is our economic savior" myth believe that any type of commercial development is beneficial to a town because, unlike residential development, costs of services are supposedly so low as to be almost inconsequential.  Towns will reap a windfall of commercial property taxes which will help relieve increases in residential property taxes.  Developers of these behemoth projects love to tell citizens how their school budgets will be filled with money if we just approve their projects.  Sadly, people are all to willing to believe these myths.  I heard people say that the Shoppes, the lifestyle center that would be competing with the proposed lifestyle center in Simsbury, would be the "economic savior of Canton."  One person, who at the time was a member of Canton's Board of Finance, even told an audience at a League of Women Voters meeting that the town would incur no costs from the Shoppes.

To listen to the purveyors of the "commercial growth is good" theory is a lesson on how deep into our political and cultural subconscious these myths have been hammered.  People just echo them as the gospel truth with little or no thought to their veracity.  That is what I find so aggravating -- that people continue to believe these myths despite the overwhelming evidence, both from their own experiences and from academic studies, to the contrary.