News for September, 2010
Wednesday, September 29th, 2010
Are more highways and roads the solution to congestion? A new report says no.
A new analysis by CEOs for Cities finds that congestion has much more to do with how we build our cities than how we build our roads. By challenging the long-promoted measure of what causes traffic, the report reveals the inaccurate assumptions that have directed transportation spending to building more highways and roads rather than creating more compact development.
Driven Apart closely re-examines the accepted metrics used to measure traffic systems—long perpetuated by the Urban Mobility Report (UMR) published by Texas Transportation Institute—that overlook travel distances, exaggerate travel delays, and inaccurately estimate travel speeds. Read more »
Posted in Featured Portfolio News, Transportation and Community Development | 1 Comment »
Friday, September 24th, 2010
Over-the-Rhine in Cincinnati, where the density and variety of building stock give it a unique sense of place as well as an opportunity to build on its existing assets.
Earlier this month, CNT convened key civic leaders in the Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus regions to discuss the economic sustainability of recent transportation, housing and job development investments. As part of the Broadening Urban Investment to Leverage Transit (BUILT) in Ohio partnership with the Office of Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, CNT explored the impact of recent development trends and identified key market opportunities in transit-oriented development (TOD) and cargo-oriented development (COD) that will keep each region economically competitive.
CNT contrasted recent infrastructure investment decisions with an overbuilt housing market, rising transportation costs for households, escalating foreclosures in automobile-dependent communities, employment growth, and the spatial mismatch between commuters and their jobs. For instance, CNT’s research shows that because of state investment in highways and greenfield development, homebuilders constructed 131,000 more units than the market could support, just since 2000. Our analysis also showed, among other findings, that residents spent $22.3 billion per year just to cover their transportation needs—an amount that overshadows the $1.8 billion spent by the public sector. Read more »
Posted in Featured Portfolio News, Transportation and Community Development | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010
Illinois EPA Director Doug Scott announced $5M in grants for Green Infrastructure projects around the state.
On September 17, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) Director Doug Scott announced the Green Infrastructure Grant (or GIG) Program for stormwater management projects. Green infrastructure uses natural systems—rain gardens, bioswales, trees, green rooftops—to manage stormwater, reduce flooding risk, and improve water quality. Scott made the announcement while standing in front of Aurora’s new police headquarters, where several cost-effective green infrastructure practices were installed to take advantage of the natural site drainage.
The IEPA has set aside $5,000,000 through 2011 to fund projects that meet their criteria. The competitive grant program is significant news for municipalities, non-profit organizations, universities, land management agencies, soil and water conservation districts and others that want to apply for state funding for design and construction of green infrastructure projects for stormwater management. Read more »
Posted in Featured Portfolio News, Natural Resources | No Comments »
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010
CNT’s dedication to producing ground-breaking data has earned us a ‘Data Innovation Award’ by the Metro Chicago Information Center for the ‘outstanding achievements CNT has committed to making data accessible, understandable and actionable in the Chicago region.’
We believe that people who have good information in a comprehensible format make good decisions. From our early work in the 80’s—creating the Neighborhood Early Warning System (NEWS) to make housing data on Cook County properties widely accessible to the H+T Affordability Index (a “datafest even by wonk standards”, as reported by The Washington Post)—CNT has been committed to compiling high-quality data, synthesizing and displaying in smart and meaningful ways for a variety of users.
Our newest tool, Abogo, powered by the H + T Index, lets consumers dig down into the nitty-gritty of housing and transportation costs while displaying the information in an easy-to-understand method. Today’s New York Times explains the necessity of the tool, “When you’re shopping around for a new place to live — whether you’re buying or renting — it’s easy to overlook how much it will cost to get around in your new neighborhood.” These are the sort of gaps in information that CNT has been striving to fill. Read more »
Posted in General News, H+T | No Comments »
