Wednesday, August 11th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Money Magazine's "best places to live" cover story fails to take into account the cost of transportation.
Money magazine’s “100 Best Places to Live in America” is the most recent, high-profile example of how we need to re-think our definition of affordability when it comes to where we live. A quick scan of the communities that topped Money’s list suggests the magazine didn’t consider the cost of transportation in making their selections. Many of the places — suburban Minneapolis, suburban Baltimore, suburban Dallas, — are low-density, outer-ring suburbs that lack transit options and require households to drive most places and own several cars.
Like the Money article, many of us fall into the trap of thinking affordability boils down to the cost of our mortgage or rent payments. That encourages a “drive ‘til you qualify” mentality, where home-hunters pass over city neighborhoods or inner-ring suburbs and choose to live in outer-ring communities where housing is cheaper. However, these people soon learn that their new community is not as affordable as they thought, finding themselves stuck behind the wheel to get to work, school and the grocery store. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Featured Portfolio News, Transportation and Community Development | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 11th, 2010 at 10:53 am
Now that Congress has failed to pass strong climate legislation this year, the Obama Administration has the opportunity to demonstrate its leadership and re-tool its role in supporting state and local governments in creating better solutions to address climate change.
To respond to this missed opportunity at enacting a comprehensive climate policy, the Presidential Climate Action Project (PCAP) has drafted a fresh list of recommendations that President Obama can implement in the near term. As PCAP Executive Director William Becker, put it, “Congress has passed the ball back to President Obama. He should run with it.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Climate, Featured Portfolio News, PCAP | No Comments »
Thursday, August 5th, 2010 at 11:24 am
A partnership between HUD, DOT, EPA. Secretaries Shaun Donovan, Ray LaHood, Lisa Jackson, respectively. Photo: EPA
The U.S. Senate Banking Committee, chaired by Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), approved the Livable Communities Act on August 3. The legislation would create an Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities to encourage comprehensive regional planning and sustainable development by breaking down federal agency and department barriers.
The Livable Communities Act would strengthen communities and increase housing affordability for families by encouraging sustainable development. Grant money made available through the legislation, for instance, would fund projects that prioritize vibrant downtown business districts within walking distance of homes and transit stops, brownfield redevelopment in struggling industrial areas, and public transit options to reduce household transportation costs—the second highest expense for Americans after housing. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Featured Portfolio News, Policy, Transportation and Community Development | No Comments »
Friday, July 30th, 2010 at 12:26 pm
Our Lady Gate of Heaven Church in Calumet. Photo taken after a storm in the summer 2008. Before the bioswale was installed, the parking would be flooded for days after a big rain. The bioswale soaked up this rain after one day.
As Chicago-area residents continue to clean up from last weekend’s storms that dumped more than eight inches of rain in less than 48 hours, it is important to consider why such storms seem to be occurring more often and what we can do to lessen the damage as they happen in the future.
The overwhelming majority of climate scientists agree that human-induced climate change is already altering our planet. The effects of climate change will affect all parts of the planet, including the Midwest, where we can expect more extreme summer heat days, threats to agriculture, and more intense and frequent storms. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Featured Portfolio News, Natural Resources | 1 Comment »
Monday, July 26th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
Late last week Gov. Pat Quinn signed the Housing + Transportation Affordability Index Act, which will give state agencies the complete information they need to make wise investment decisions in housing.
The theory behind the bill is simple: Housing costs do not end when we sign our rent or mortgage checks. Where we live has other costs associated with getting around: to work, to school, to the grocery store. How much that costs depends on where we live and what options are available to move us from point A to point B. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Featured Portfolio News, Transportation and Community Development | No Comments »
Sunday, July 25th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
Next year, I-GO Car Sharing will add to its fleet 30 electric vehicles that run entirely on renewable energy. For the past two weeks, I-GO has been one of the few groups in North America to test drive the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, a zero-emissions electric vehicle (EV) currently sold only in Japan.
While I-GO had the keys to the i-MiEV, we invited political leaders, funders and journalists out to preview the car and take it for a spin. Check out who took it for a spin here. Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune transportation reporters Mary Wisniewski and Jon Hilkevitch recently wrote about I-GO and their impressions of the i-MiEV here and here. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Transportation and Community Development | No Comments »
Friday, July 23rd, 2010 at 6:21 pm
News that the Senate leadership in Congress has decided to indefinitely postpone passing comprehensive climate and energy legislation this year is tremendously disappointing. Though climate change regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, states and regions are still moving forward, many viewed this summer as the best opportunity for Congress to pass legislation that would create a national framework to transform our energy system and cut global warming emissions.
Today’s news from Capitol Hill underscores why CNT’s work is more important than ever. Since the day CNT opened its doors more than 30 years ago, our philosophy is that change comes at the neighborhood level. And although it is crucial for the United States to implement a federal-level strategy to improve our energy system and reduce our global warming pollution, many of the actions required to meet any national climate goal will occur at the local level. That means every community can and should continue to move forward and do its part. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Climate, Featured Portfolio News | No Comments »
Friday, July 16th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
As more companies like GE and Siemens delve deeply into the technological opportunities to be gained from a smart grid, CNT and other advocates stress that a smart grid will not be economically viable unless customer benefits are included as fundamental components.
As it stands, most discussions of infrastructure investment do not include customer benefits anywhere near the beginning of the discussion. Because many smart grid investments need to rely on consumer benefits as well as system benefits for a strong business case, lack of a robust consumer-oriented strategy weakens the argument for smart grid investments. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Energy, Featured Portfolio News, Illinois Smart Grid Initiative | 1 Comment »
Thursday, July 15th, 2010 at 3:04 pm
CNT has developed a new tool for individuals to find what a typical household spends on transportation in their neighborhood. “Abogo” is a more consumer-oriented extension of the Housing + Transportation Affordability Index, which offers the true cost of housing based on its location, by measuring the transportation costs associated with place.
Abogo measures the money a typical household, living in a given neighborhood, would spend getting around– including car ownership, car use, and transit use. It also provides the carbon emissions associated with using a car. CNT developed Abogo so that individuals can now measure the true cost and impact of where they live in 337 metropolitan areas in the U.S., in the same way that planners and municipalities have been using the H + T Index to better understand the combined costs of housing and transportation at the regional level, for example. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Featured Portfolio News, Transportation and Community Development | No Comments »
Monday, July 12th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
The White House Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force is holding a series of meetings to “hear local and regional ideas, questions and concerns about climate change impacts and to describe Federal planning efforts already underway.” Three (in Florida, Oregon and Hawaii) have occurred. On Thursday July 15, 2010, the Chicago meeting will be held at the Metcalfe Federal Building from 1-5 PM. CNT President Scott Bernstein will participate in the “Great Lakes Urban Infrastructure Panel” at 3:30 PM.
This session, organized and co-hosted by the EPA and HUD, will focus on local and regional ideas and concerns about climate change impacts in the Great Lakes region, including impacts to urban infrastructure and the Great Lakes ecosystem. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Climate, Featured Portfolio News | No Comments »
