The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recognized seven communities with its 2012 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement. The Smart Growth awards are given for creative, sustainable initiatives that better protect the health and the environment of our communities while also strengthening local economies.
The 2012 award winners are being recognized in four categories: Overall Excellence in Smart Growth, Equitable Development, Main Street or Corridor Revitalization, and Programs and Policies. This year’s winners and honorable mentions were selected from 47
applicants from 25 states. The winning entries were chosen based on
their effectiveness in creating sustainable communities; fostering
equitable development among public, private, and nonprofit stakeholders;
and serving as national models for environmentally and economically
sustainable development. Specific initiatives include improving transportation choices, developing green, energy-efficient buildings and communities, and providing community members with access to job training, health and wellness education, and other services.
The 2012 winners are:
Overall Excellence - Winner
BLVD Transformation Project, Lancaster, California
The redesign of Lancaster Boulevard helped transform downtown Lancaster into a thriving residential and commercial district through investments in new streetscape design, public facilities, affordable homes, and local businesses. Completed after eight months of construction, the project demonstrates how redesigning a corridor guided by a strategic vision can spark new life in a community. The project has generated almost $300 million in economic output and nearly 2,000 jobs.
Equitable Development - Winner
Mariposa District, Denver, Colorado
The redevelopment of Denver’s historic and ethnically diverse La Alma/Lincoln Park neighborhood is turning an economically challenged area into a vibrant, transit-accessible, district. The community’s master plan preserves affordable housing while adding energy-efficient middle-income and market-rate homes. Because of extensive community engagement, development will include actions to improve the health of residents, reduce pollution, and control stormwater runoff.
Main Street or Corridor Revitalization - Winner
The Cooperative Building, Brattleboro, Vermont
The Brattleboro Food Co-op, the town’s only downtown food store, made a commitment to remain at its downtown location by constructing an innovative, four-story green building on Main Street with a grocery store, commercial space, offices, and affordable apartments. The Main Street location provides healthy food, new jobs, and housing within walkable distances of downtown businesses and public transit.
Programs and Policies - Winner
Destination Portsmouth, Portsmouth, Virginia
The city of Portsmouth revised its comprehensive plan and undertook a broad review of its development and land use regulations. As a result, Destination Portsmouth prepared a package of new plans, zoning ordinances, and other development policies in collaboration with community stakeholders. The overhaul of the city’s codes encourages development in targeted growth areas and helps businesses to locate in the city while also protecting the character of Portsmouth’s historic neighborhoods.
Equitable Development - Honorable Mention
Northwest Gardens, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Through safer streets, job training and education programs, and high-quality, affordable homes, the once struggling Northwest Gardens neighborhood is rapidly becoming a model for economic, environmental, and social sustainability. The redesigned neighborhood offers a range of energy-efficient, affordable housing choices and is one of the first communities in the nation to receive LEED for Neighborhood Development certification. A local housing authority program also provides disadvantaged youths with construction training as they complete their GEDs.
Main Street or Corridor Revitalization - Honorable Mention
Larkin District, Buffalo, New York
Community organizations and a local developer partnered with the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning to help revitalize the Larkin District, an old manufacturing district located one mile from downtown Buffalo. Architectural students worked with the developer and the city to create a master plan for an urban village that now features new office space, restaurants, apartments, parks, and plazas. New sidewalks, lighting, crosswalks, bicycle lanes, and bus shelters reduce pollution from vehicles by making walking, biking, and public transit more appealing.
Programs and Policies - Honorable Mention
Bay Area Transit-Oriented Affordable Housing Fund, San Francisco, California
The Bay Area Transit-Oriented Affordable Housing Fund is providing loans for developers to build affordable homes near public transportation. At this point, the fund has provided loans for a 153-unit high-rise for low-income families located two blocks from a major transit station, and for a 64-unit building for seniors close to a light rail station that will provide free transit passes for all residents.
More information: http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/awards.htm
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
July 15-17 2011 "Carmageddon" Immediately Improves Air Quality 83%
An eye-opening glimpse of what the future could be like if we can move away from combustion engines
Matt Stevens, Los Angeles Times, September 28, 2012
Los Angeles shut down a 10-mile stretch of one of its busiest highways, the 405, for a weekend in July 2011. Drivers stayed away in dramatic numbers – not only from the 405, but also throughout the entire region.
Last Friday, Suzanne Paulson and Yifang Zhu of UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability released their research on air pollutants measured during "Carmageddon 2011".
Air quality near the closed 10-mile portion of the 405 freeway reached levels 83% better than typical weekends. Elsewhere in West Los Angeles, the improvement was equally dramatic. Air quality improved by 75% in parts of West Los Angeles and in Santa Monica, and by 25% throughout the entire region, suggesting that large numbers of residents stayed off the road in those areas as well.
The researchers found that particulate matter dropped significantly within minutes of the road closure (accordingly, it ramped back up the moment traffic resumed). There's little heavy industry around this stretch of the 405 freeway, underscoring that changes in transportation policy or vehicle technology could yield significant air quality improvements.
Read the complete article here, and another take here.
Matt Stevens, Los Angeles Times, September 28, 2012
Los Angeles shut down a 10-mile stretch of one of its busiest highways, the 405, for a weekend in July 2011. Drivers stayed away in dramatic numbers – not only from the 405, but also throughout the entire region.
Last Friday, Suzanne Paulson and Yifang Zhu of UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability released their research on air pollutants measured during "Carmageddon 2011".
Air quality near the closed 10-mile portion of the 405 freeway reached levels 83% better than typical weekends. Elsewhere in West Los Angeles, the improvement was equally dramatic. Air quality improved by 75% in parts of West Los Angeles and in Santa Monica, and by 25% throughout the entire region, suggesting that large numbers of residents stayed off the road in those areas as well.
The researchers found that particulate matter dropped significantly within minutes of the road closure (accordingly, it ramped back up the moment traffic resumed). There's little heavy industry around this stretch of the 405 freeway, underscoring that changes in transportation policy or vehicle technology could yield significant air quality improvements.
Read the complete article here, and another take here.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Bikes on BART
BART releases bike pilot survey results
A rider survey about BART’s commute period bike pilot, when blackout restrictions were lifted on five Fridays in August, found varied results.
Riders responding to the survey were equally split on what to do: 37% wanted to keep the blackouts; 37% wanted to end them; and 25% favored reducing the blackout periods to one hour from two. Other data from the survey suggest similarly divided feelings.
90% of respondents aware of the pilot who rode during the commute reported they did not personally experience any problems related to it. (Of the 10% who did experience problems, the most commonly cited problems were bikes blocking aisles, doorways and seats; bikes entering crowded trains; and bikes running into or brushing up against people.)
Asked how lifting the blackout affected their BART trip, 17% said it made their trip worse. (9% said it made their trip better, and 74% said it had little or no effect.).
The public will have an opportunity to discuss the results when the BART Bicycle Task Force has a meeting on Monday, Oct. 1, at 6 pm.
Additional details available on the BART website.
A rider survey about BART’s commute period bike pilot, when blackout restrictions were lifted on five Fridays in August, found varied results.
Riders responding to the survey were equally split on what to do: 37% wanted to keep the blackouts; 37% wanted to end them; and 25% favored reducing the blackout periods to one hour from two. Other data from the survey suggest similarly divided feelings.
90% of respondents aware of the pilot who rode during the commute reported they did not personally experience any problems related to it. (Of the 10% who did experience problems, the most commonly cited problems were bikes blocking aisles, doorways and seats; bikes entering crowded trains; and bikes running into or brushing up against people.)
Asked how lifting the blackout affected their BART trip, 17% said it made their trip worse. (9% said it made their trip better, and 74% said it had little or no effect.).
The public will have an opportunity to discuss the results when the BART Bicycle Task Force has a meeting on Monday, Oct. 1, at 6 pm.
Additional details available on the BART website.
Treasure Island Radioactive Waste Investigation Expands into Yards and Homes
Treasure Island Health Study Planned
Matt Smith, Bay Citizen, September 26, 2012
Navy contractors have been searching for and removing low-level radioactive waste at the former Treasure Island Naval Station since 2003, the legacy of an atomic warfare school and a warship repair yard.
But recently, the Navy has had to broaden its efforts after state health officials said military contractors had misidentified and mishandled potential radioactive waste sites.
Officials with the Navy and the state Department of Toxic Substances Control assured residents that they would have suffered no health effects from radioactive material.
Steve Woods, a radiation specialist with the state Department of Public Health, offered a slightly different message. He said that even though findings so far do not suggest there is a health risk, more studies are warranted. San Francisco health officer Tomás Aragón said his agency may step into the breach by collecting available health information about Treasure Island residents.
Read the complete article here, and the Bay Citizen's coverage of Treasure Island here.
Matt Smith, Bay Citizen, September 26, 2012
Navy contractors have been searching for and removing low-level radioactive waste at the former Treasure Island Naval Station since 2003, the legacy of an atomic warfare school and a warship repair yard.
But recently, the Navy has had to broaden its efforts after state health officials said military contractors had misidentified and mishandled potential radioactive waste sites.
Officials with the Navy and the state Department of Toxic Substances Control assured residents that they would have suffered no health effects from radioactive material.
Steve Woods, a radiation specialist with the state Department of Public Health, offered a slightly different message. He said that even though findings so far do not suggest there is a health risk, more studies are warranted. San Francisco health officer Tomás Aragón said his agency may step into the breach by collecting available health information about Treasure Island residents.
Read the complete article here, and the Bay Citizen's coverage of Treasure Island here.
The Social Cost of Carbon
Joanna M. Foster, NY Times, September 18, 2012
In 2010, 12 government agencies working in conjunction with economists, lawyers, and scientists, agreed to develop a common standard for the social cost of carbon. The reason was that, in calculating the costs and benefits of pending policies and regulations, the Department of Transportation was assuming that a ton of emitted carbon dioxide imposed a $2 cost on society while the Environmental Protection Agency plugged 10 times that amount into its equations.
Instead, they decided that all agencies would use the same baseline of $21 per ton as the standard in monetizing the social costs of the seven-plus billion tons of carbon generated by US power plants, vehicles, and factories each year.
But a new paper published in the Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences concludes that the costs of carbon pollution and related climate change are vastly greater — possibly two to 12 times as much. The authors argue that the federal government is not adequately taking into account the impacts of climate change on future generations.
At the heart of this debate is a disagreement about how to apply an economic concept known as the discount rate. Simply put, the discount rate is based on how much it is worth to us now to prevent that future damage. The governmental agency group looked at discount rates of 2.5, 3, and 5 percent, ultimately settling on 3 percent and putting the cost of one ton of carbon at $21. But the new study opts for discount rates of 1, 1.5, and 2 percent, ultimately putting the cost of one ton of carbon at anywhere from $55 to $266.
Read the complete article here.
In 2010, 12 government agencies working in conjunction with economists, lawyers, and scientists, agreed to develop a common standard for the social cost of carbon. The reason was that, in calculating the costs and benefits of pending policies and regulations, the Department of Transportation was assuming that a ton of emitted carbon dioxide imposed a $2 cost on society while the Environmental Protection Agency plugged 10 times that amount into its equations.
Instead, they decided that all agencies would use the same baseline of $21 per ton as the standard in monetizing the social costs of the seven-plus billion tons of carbon generated by US power plants, vehicles, and factories each year.
But a new paper published in the Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences concludes that the costs of carbon pollution and related climate change are vastly greater — possibly two to 12 times as much. The authors argue that the federal government is not adequately taking into account the impacts of climate change on future generations.
At the heart of this debate is a disagreement about how to apply an economic concept known as the discount rate. Simply put, the discount rate is based on how much it is worth to us now to prevent that future damage. The governmental agency group looked at discount rates of 2.5, 3, and 5 percent, ultimately settling on 3 percent and putting the cost of one ton of carbon at $21. But the new study opts for discount rates of 1, 1.5, and 2 percent, ultimately putting the cost of one ton of carbon at anywhere from $55 to $266.
Read the complete article here.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Vulnerability & Adaptation to Climate Change in California
The California Natural Resources Agency and the California Energy Commission have jointly released "Our Changing Climate 2012", the State’s third major assessment on climate change. This report highlights California's specific vulnerabilities, few of which will be a surprise to anyone:
Read the complete report here.
- The state’s electricity system is more vulnerable than was previously understood.
- The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is sinking, putting levees at growing risk.
- Wind and waves, in addition to faster rising seas, will worsen coastal flooding.
- Animals and plants need connected “migration corridors” to allow them to move to more suitable habitats to avoid serious impacts.
- Native freshwater fish are particularly threatened by climate change.
- Minority and low-income communities face the greatest risks from climate change.
Read the complete report here.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Stop Traffic Before It Starts
Found via the Daily Good...
Christian Brüggemann, 25, and two of his friends, all of them students at universities in Germany, have created a Windows Phone app called Greenway that aims to prevent traffic jams and get you from Point A to B in the shortest amount of time.
While existing mapping apps such as Waze and Google Maps show their users traffic jams and hazards and offer alternate routes, Greenway hopes to prevent backups from occurring in the first place by using software to predict where drivers are heading. The approach is part of a broader trend that has, for example, seen some insurers offer rates tailored to a person's driving habits—after tracking their movements via a GPS unit attached to the car.
The Greenway app, which is being tested by dozens of smartphone users around Munich, Germany, has already gained some recognition by clinching an environmental sustainability award (and a $10,000 prize) at Microsoft's annual Imagine Cup student technology competition in July. The Greenway group is now trying to secure funding to bring its app to iPhone and Android smartphone users.
Read the complete story here.
Christian Brüggemann, 25, and two of his friends, all of them students at universities in Germany, have created a Windows Phone app called Greenway that aims to prevent traffic jams and get you from Point A to B in the shortest amount of time.
While existing mapping apps such as Waze and Google Maps show their users traffic jams and hazards and offer alternate routes, Greenway hopes to prevent backups from occurring in the first place by using software to predict where drivers are heading. The approach is part of a broader trend that has, for example, seen some insurers offer rates tailored to a person's driving habits—after tracking their movements via a GPS unit attached to the car.
The Greenway app, which is being tested by dozens of smartphone users around Munich, Germany, has already gained some recognition by clinching an environmental sustainability award (and a $10,000 prize) at Microsoft's annual Imagine Cup student technology competition in July. The Greenway group is now trying to secure funding to bring its app to iPhone and Android smartphone users.
Read the complete story here.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Improper Waste Management Sends Three to Hospital
Three men were hospitalized after encountering five barrels of hazardous materials
that were illegally disposed in a dumpster.
Prosecutors are seeking cleanup costs and up to $200,000 in fines from Pellarin Construction Group, according to a lawsuit filed in San Mateo County Superior Court on Monday.
Two Recology garbage men and their supervisor were exposed to a gas composed of ammonia and hydrochloric acid after the containers exploded when they were compacted in their truck. They suffered eye pain, breathing difficulties, and extreme coughing attacks.
Read the complete story here.
Prosecutors are seeking cleanup costs and up to $200,000 in fines from Pellarin Construction Group, according to a lawsuit filed in San Mateo County Superior Court on Monday.
Two Recology garbage men and their supervisor were exposed to a gas composed of ammonia and hydrochloric acid after the containers exploded when they were compacted in their truck. They suffered eye pain, breathing difficulties, and extreme coughing attacks.
Read the complete story here.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Green Roof Trend
An interesting article popped up via LinkedIn today about the green roof trend. From the Engineering News Record:
The full article from ENR can be found here. Check out more great photos of the largest green roof projects in the world:
http://enr.construction.com/buildings/sustainability/2012/0709-10-largest-green-roofs.asp
It's an encouraging trend to see cities across the US, including Oakland, promoting urban greening strategies to mitigate serious environmental issues, including the urban heat island effect and waterway contamination from stormwater runoff. Cities may never be carbon sinks, but green roofs are just one example of the many creative ways urban areas are becoming more climate conscious and aesthetically pleasing places to live.
'Green roofs are gaining acceptance in dozens of countries, joining
other forms of green infrastructure that are being used to mitigate
environmental problems of urban centers.
For example, vegetated
roofs “are very good at managing stormwater. Most extensively planted
green roofs will hold the first inch of rainfall and slow any additional
rainfall, thus reducing peak flows and lowering the stress on combined
sewer overflows,” says Steven Peck, founder and president of Green Roofs
for Healthy Cities (CRHC).
The group is a professional
association with both corporate and individual members, ranging from
large manufacturers to contractors, nurseries, landscape architects,
structural engineers, roofing consultants and horticulturalists.
"Stormwater management has been a driver [of green roof construction] in
the U.S.," adds Peck.
"The Environmental Protection Agency is
working on rulemaking for municipal separate stormwater sewer systems
(MS4s). It's very clear there is going to be a very significant green
infrastructure component (green roofs and green streets)," says Nancy
Somerville, executive vice president of the American Society of
Landscape Architects.
Many cities throughout the U.S. and Europe
have green-roof mandates or incentives in place. Stuttgart, Germany,
requires green roofs on all new flat-roofed industrial buildings. In
2007, Pittsburgh enacted an law establishing stormwater volume reduction
standards for properties greater than 10,000 sq ft, including on-site
retention of the first inch of rainfall through any combination of
infiltration, evapotranspiration and rainwater harvesting. Portland,
Ore., requires new city-owned buildings and existing buildings in need
of a roof replacement to install a green roof on at least 70% of the
roof area.
Green Roofs for Healthy Cities' annual survey of its
corporate members found that the green roof industry in the U.S. and
Canada increased 115% between 2010 and 2011. The annual growth rate is
derived by averaging the square footage of green roofs installed by a
representative sample of corporate members.
"Increasing numbers of
building owners in the public and private sectors are recognizing they
can design, build and maintain green roofs profitably with a good return
on investment," says Peck.
"Green roofs have a higher cost up
front, but the payback over time is significant, not just in energy
savings. It's protecting your roof membrane—you can skip one or two or
three roof replacement cycles," says Somerville.'
The full article from ENR can be found here. Check out more great photos of the largest green roof projects in the world:
http://enr.construction.com/buildings/sustainability/2012/0709-10-largest-green-roofs.asp
It's an encouraging trend to see cities across the US, including Oakland, promoting urban greening strategies to mitigate serious environmental issues, including the urban heat island effect and waterway contamination from stormwater runoff. Cities may never be carbon sinks, but green roofs are just one example of the many creative ways urban areas are becoming more climate conscious and aesthetically pleasing places to live.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Port of Oakland Challenges: Competition and Labor Relations
Despite funding victories, challenges remain
Andrew Ross, San Francisco Chronicle, July 10, 2012
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood toured the Oakland Army Base this week, bringing news of a $15 million grant for the $1 billion redevelopment project scheduled to break ground next year. An $80 million rail yard expansion at the former Oakland Army Base is the first phase of the redevelopment project to transform the base into a state-of-the-art logistics center managing cargo flow at the Port.
The redevelopment project has been in the works for 15 years. Late last month, the Oakland City Council managed to save the $242 million in funding the state had threatened to cut off. A regional tax measure would provide an additional $275 million for further infrastructure improvements, including an overpass to separate rail and truck traffic near the port, if voters give their approval on November's ballot.
In addition to its money woes, the Port needs the cooperation of the Service Employees International Union Local 1021. Union members rejected a negotiated contract offer last month and there could be a strike at any time. Like many labor-management disputes, this one revolves around increased health and pension contributions, in part to help fill a huge unfunded pension liability.
Labor disputes could shift business through the new Panama Canal -- scheduled to open in 2014 -- and to east coast ports. The canal's business plan "explicitly assumes that a lot of the trade between Asia and America's east and Gulf coasts will be diverted from California's ports to the canal," the Economist magazine reported in January. The Oakland Army Base rail yard project is slated to begin during the fall of 2013 and be completed in 2015.
Oakland has its advantages, however. It can handle many of the larger containers that other U.S. ports cannot, including the massive, 1,200-foot-long MSC Fabiola, which recently passed through the Port in March. Also, the Port's main business is exports, including food and wine. It's often called "the last port of call leaving America for the Far East," said Jock O'Connell, an international trade analyst at Beacon Economics.
Read the complete article here.
Andrew Ross, San Francisco Chronicle, July 10, 2012
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood toured the Oakland Army Base this week, bringing news of a $15 million grant for the $1 billion redevelopment project scheduled to break ground next year. An $80 million rail yard expansion at the former Oakland Army Base is the first phase of the redevelopment project to transform the base into a state-of-the-art logistics center managing cargo flow at the Port.
The redevelopment project has been in the works for 15 years. Late last month, the Oakland City Council managed to save the $242 million in funding the state had threatened to cut off. A regional tax measure would provide an additional $275 million for further infrastructure improvements, including an overpass to separate rail and truck traffic near the port, if voters give their approval on November's ballot.
In addition to its money woes, the Port needs the cooperation of the Service Employees International Union Local 1021. Union members rejected a negotiated contract offer last month and there could be a strike at any time. Like many labor-management disputes, this one revolves around increased health and pension contributions, in part to help fill a huge unfunded pension liability.
Labor disputes could shift business through the new Panama Canal -- scheduled to open in 2014 -- and to east coast ports. The canal's business plan "explicitly assumes that a lot of the trade between Asia and America's east and Gulf coasts will be diverted from California's ports to the canal," the Economist magazine reported in January. The Oakland Army Base rail yard project is slated to begin during the fall of 2013 and be completed in 2015.
Oakland has its advantages, however. It can handle many of the larger containers that other U.S. ports cannot, including the massive, 1,200-foot-long MSC Fabiola, which recently passed through the Port in March. Also, the Port's main business is exports, including food and wine. It's often called "the last port of call leaving America for the Far East," said Jock O'Connell, an international trade analyst at Beacon Economics.
Read the complete article here.
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