Transportation and Community Development News
Wednesday, March 16th, 2011
CNT staff have racked up frequent flyer miles in recent days as they share our research and initiatives to audiences from coast to coast.
Economic Development Planner Kyle Smith presented CNT’s BUILT In Ohio work to the Local Employment Dynamics (LED) Partnership Workshop in Arlington, VA on March 9.
The BUILT in Ohio project, completed in summer and fall 2010, brought together regional leaders in Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati to assess strengths and weaknesses in regional growth patterns and identify infrastructure investments that could spark a more sustainable pattern of economic development. Using Locational Employment Dynamics (LED) data, CNT characterized how these three urban centers anchor the economy of the state. Read more »
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Wednesday, March 9th, 2011
Gas prices got you down? How about tax-free transit passes? CNT is administering the Transit Ridership Improvement Program (TRIP) for the Regional Transportation Authority and Cook County Department of Environmental Control, which provides up to $1,700 to Cook County businesses that enroll employees in a pre-tax transit benefit program. Commuters can save between 30 percent and 40 percent on their commuting costs by purchasing transit fares before taxes. The incentive program has $250,000 made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), and the limited funds will be disbursed to employers on a first come, first served basis. Read more »
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Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
A new study released today by CNT and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) reveals how small, medium and large metro regions across the country have become leaders in providing affordable and accessible transportation options for their residents.
Fifteen U.S. cities are profiled for their leadership in innovative transportation policies and practices, based on metrics drawn from the U.S. Census and CNT’s H+T® Affordability Index, which quantifies transportation costs by location. Read more »
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Tuesday, February 15th, 2011
On Monday, President Obama proposed a budget to guide the nation’s public investments over the coming six years. CNT welcomes and supports the president’s transportation investment proposal. By investing in America’s infrastructure, the president’s proposed budget will bring home the benefits of sustainable transportation and build our local economies.
CNT’s analysis of the president’s proposed transportation budget finds that it does indeed combine common sense reforms with the transformative investments necessary to keep America globally competitive and economically secure.
The President’s announcement coincided with the release of a new poll from the Rockefeller Foundation examining American sentiment toward transportation infrastructure investment. The data show that Americans recognize a vibrant transportation system as essential to household, community and national economic security. But the polling also indicates that investment must come with meaningful reform of how the decisions are made. Read more »
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Friday, February 11th, 2011
Last summer, I-GO Car Sharing tested the i-Miev and added a charging station at our headquarters.
The Chicago Tribune’s Julie Wernau recently covered the city’s near-term plan to bring electric vehicles (EV) and infrastructure to Chicagoans. CNT’s I-GO Car Sharing has been working hand in glove with city government to bring the initiative to fruition. I-GO will have 36 electric charging stations dedicated to its car sharing vehicles, and this spring I-GO is taking the green EV project a step further by installing solar canopies at 15 stations so its electric fleet will run on clean solar power. Read more »
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Monday, January 31st, 2011
Chicago is northeastern Illinois’ historic center of commerce and employment, yet over the last half century, economic activity has continuously dispersed to outlying suburbs. For the most part nationally, the attention to neighborhood development around transit has focused on mixed-use development with residences, street-level retail and, occasionally, office space.
This paradigm ignores the fact that much vacant land within station areas is strictly zoned for manufacturing or commercial purposes that could attract businesses offering living wages. Next Stop: New Jobs, a new analysis by CNT, addresses these disparities by identifying opportunities to create transit-friendly employment in Chicago. Read more »
Posted in Featured Portfolio News, Location efficiency, Transportation and Community Development | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, December 21st, 2010
Clean-up has begun on 40 acres of prime industrial land straddling Chicagoland’s Dixmoor and Harvey
A ribbon cutting ceremony to mark the environmental remediation of 40 acres of prime industrial land straddling Chicagoland’s Dixmoor and Harvey was held on Monday with dozens of stakeholders in attendance. U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr.; Illinois Rep. Will Davis; Dixmoor Mayor Keevan Grimmett; and Harvey Director of Planning and Community Development LaTonya Rufus spoke about the benefits of returning the site to industrial use: job creation, increased tax revenue for the towns, and a renewed sense of pride.
The political leaders also acknowledged the important contributions of CNT, the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association (SSMMA), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Land Resource Management Group to make the clean-up possible. Read more »
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Thursday, December 16th, 2010
A new guidebook by the Center for Transit-Oriented Development (CTOD) provides information to help planners create high-quality transit-oriented developments (TOD) that reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) while creating a host of community benefits. CTOD is a national coalition group that includes CNT, Reconnecting America, and Strategic Economics.
The guidebook builds off of the TOD Database, a web tool that provides economic and demographic information for every existing and proposed fixed guideway transit station in the United States. Read more »
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Friday, November 19th, 2010
CNT’s involvement in the USGBC’s annual Greenbuild conference this week was a resounding success, capped off by U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan highlighting CNT in his closing plenary remarks. To the crowd of more than 25,000 attendees, Donovan said:
Right here in the Chicago Metro area, a diverse consortium including the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, local business and civil rights leaders, and the Center for Neighborhood Technology, which has done extraordinary work on housing and transportation costs, have proposed a plan to create jobs, more walkable neighborhoods and affordable housing by capitalizing on this region’s rich public transportation system.
Using a $2.3 million grant from HUD, the partnership estimates the transportation savings of 2,500 households living in housing near transit will add over $6.8 million per year to the wealth of the region, with energy-efficiency measures and improved building codes reducing household expenses even further. Read more »
Posted in Featured Portfolio News, H+T, Transportation and Community Development | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010
CNT applauds the proposed Transportation Housing Affordability Transparency (THAT) Act, introduced recently into the House of Representatives by Representative Earl Blumenauer of Oregon (HR 5824).
CNT supports the THAT Act unequivocally! We hope HUD will take advantage of several years of CNT research that culminated in the creation of the H+T(R) Affordability Index. CNT’s H+T Index would serve as an excellent base for the index that the legislation calls for, with the added benefit of funding for expansions, refinements, updates, dissemination, and technical assistance for implementation. Read more »
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