The Hidden Beauty Of Pollinators

Stop the Walls Above Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls, Canada: The new high-rises will cast shadows on parts of Queen Victoria Park and Goat Island and will interfere with Niagara's trademark rainbow and the spectacle of the setting sun’s light on the Horseshoe Falls. More information and an online petition can be found HERE.

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Promoting Tourism Through Local Waterfront Revitalization Programs

Promoting Tourism Through Local Waterfront Revitalization Programs
By Lorraine Cortez-Vazquez, New York Secretary of State

New York’s waterfronts have shaped our heritage and way of life and are a major focus of the state’s tourism industry. It is for this reason that the Department of State, through the Office of Coastal, Local Government and Community Sustainability, has worked in partnership with communities across the state to make the most of their waterfronts. Through the Local Waterfront Revitalization Program (LWRP), we have helped more than 300 waterfront communities strengthen their regional economies, provide recreational access and protect natural resources—making these communities attractive places to visit.

The LWRP is a voluntary program that enables communities to establish a vision for their waterfront. The program helps residents identify uses and projects that bring people to the waterfront, promote sound economic development and protect natural and cultural resources. A critical part of the LWRP is a solid strategy to achieve results, and our staff provides guidance and expertise to help communities create a step-by-step implementation program. This is backed up with funding through the Environmental Protection Fund Local Waterfront Revitalization Program (EPF LWRP), which provides the important financial assistance needed to make revitalization a reality.

Under the leadership of Governor Paterson, we’ve had many successes in waterfront revitalization. Among them, the city of Oswego and the village of Clayton are two prime examples of how the LWRP promotes tourism through waterfront revitalization.

The heritage and economy of the city of Oswego, located at the confluence of the Oswego River, Oswego Canal and Lake Ontario, have long been associated with shipping and related industrial and commercial facilities. With the decline of industry in past decades, vacant buildings and abandoned industrial lands began to dominate Oswego’s waterfront and downtown. Recognizing the need to reinvigorate the city, civic leaders prepared an LWRP, establishing a vision of the waterfront as the focus of the downtown—rather than its back door—to which recreational boaters and anglers and other tourists would flock.

By implementing this vision, the city has undergone a striking renaissance. With expertise from the Department of State and funding through the EPF LWRP totaling $1.6 million, the city has completed the Oswego Esplanade, a 1.5-mile-long promenade along the Oswego River and Canal adjacent to the downtown and constructed docks for recreational boaters. The esplanade hosts numerous festivals and events and brings people to the downtown; since its completion, 15 restaurants and four hotels have opened and commercial vacancies have significantly decreased. The annual Harborfest alone now draws 200,000 visitors to the downtown and provides $7.5 million in direct expenditures. In addition, the public docks have established the city as a major harbor center for boaters, and last year, 1,600 recreational boaters passed through the city. The city has also been able to better accommodate anglers and fishing derbies, which now account for over $42 million in tourism revenues for Oswego County.

The village of Clayton, located in Jefferson County along the St. Lawrence River, has enjoyed success through the LWRP by enhancing its tourism. Working with Department of State planners, the village constructed a dock for excursion boats, renovated the historic Opera House as a community facility and completed a Riverwalk that links water front sites and the downtown. The Opera House is now a cultural center and destination for visitors—hosting 170 events last year. All of these projects were funded through the EPF LWRP; in all, Clayton has received nine awards totaling $2.25 million.

Building on its success in bringing people to the waterfront, the village is now working to redevelop an eight acre former industrial site for a new hotel and a variety of other uses, continuing community revitalization with a focus on strengthening its tourism industry.

Tourism development and waterfront revitalization go hand in hand, and successes like these can be found statewide. The Local Waterfront Revitalization Program – along with the expertise of the Department of State and funding from the EPF LWRP – are keys to further developing the state’s tourism industry.

Counties are eligible to receive EPF LWRP funding, and a strong partnership with counties will help us to continue to expand these successes.

Source: NYSAC.org

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Trails The Green Way for America Symposium - The Tennessee Riverwalk Revitalized Chattanooga

20th American Trails National Symposium
Chattanooga, Tennessee ~ November 14-17, 2010

Trails: The Green Way for America
This symposium's theme evokes the benefit of trails to America’s economy and environment. As we evolve toward a green economy, trails are the way for outdoor recreation and alternative transportation. Trails provide access and connections to many of this nation’s most incredible green spaces: parks, forests, and wildlands. Trails are a critical component of green infrastructure within communities, tying homes to businesses, schools, and workplaces, and empowering clean human-powered mobility. Trails support the new American dream which is built upon environmental and economic efficiency. Trails are, very simply, the green way for America.

Tennessee Riverwalk helped spur revitalization in Chattanooga.

By Jim Bowen, Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority, and Candace Davis, Chattanooga Convention & Visitors Bureau - Photos by Stuart Macdonald  Click Link HERE.

THE BIKE-PEDESTRIAN WALNUT STREET BRIDGE (FOREGROUND) AND THE
MARKET STREET BRIDGE IN THE BACKGROUND

Now into its second decade of development (initial segment opened May 1989), the Tennessee Riverwalk will form a 20-mile greenway through Chattanooga. It stretches from the Chickamauga Dam to downtown and out to Moccasin Bend, recently designated the country’s newest national park and very first archeological district. Along the way, the trail links parks, green spaces, museums, public art, shops, fishing piers, boating facilities, and miles of scenic Riverwalk along the Tennessee River.

The Riverwalk experience begins at Ross’s Landing Plaza, a novel combination of landscaping, art, and architecture creating a captivating public space that serves as the setting for the Tennessee Aquarium and the Chattanooga Visitors Center. The design incorporates exhibits, artifacts, and legends from Chattanooga’s history and geography.

The Riverwalk extends out over the river and up on to the Walnut Street Bridge, a steel truss bridge built in 1890 that has been renovated into one of the world’s longest pedestrian bridges. The bridge is perfect for strolling by day or by moonlight, and connects downtown to the numerous shops and restaurants along the north shore. The north shore is also home to Coolidge Park, which honors Charles B. Coolidge, a World War II Medal of Honor recipient. It features an antique carousel furnished with animals carved by students of Chattanooga’s Horsin’ Around carousel animal carving school. Children can cool off in the interactive water fountains featuring large animals.

Understanding Sense of Place

Cover of Discovering the Vernacular Landscape

Understanding Sense of Place by Nathaniel James, Spring, 2001 Link to document can be found HERE.

Defining sense of place
Sense of place is important in any discussion of land conservation and growth management because sprawl development tends to eliminate unique features of the landscape. This is clearly recognized by proponents of smart growth. As Daniels writes, "Community design is about place making. The physical layout of the community can and should connect people with each other, with the community, and with the surrounding countryside." (1)

Sense of place may appear a fuzzy or purely subjective concept, but there are clear definitions that begin to narrow its focus. The National Trust for Historic Preservation offers a straightforward approach, calling sense of place:

Those things that add up to a feeling that a community is a special place, distinct from anywhere else. (2)

Kent Ryden provides a more textured response that recognizes the necessity of inhabiting place:

A sense of place results gradually and unconsciously from inhabiting a landscape over time, becoming familiar with its physical properties, accruing history within its confines. (3)

Finally, the well-known geographer J. B. Jackson offers this elaboration:

It is place, permanent position in both the social and topographical sense, that gives us our identity. (4)

From these slightly different definitions, it can be seen that sense of place is primarily about the human landscape, our legacy of impact on the land, and, perhaps most importantly, memory. A number of other characteristics about sense of place might also be enumerated. Sense of place is:

* Difficult to quantify and abstract — place is frequently referred to as "fuzzy" or difficult to locate geographically. (5) In addition, one definition of place may not transfer across political or geographic borders.
* Comprised of natural features, patterns of human settlement, and social relationships — the connection between people is a key component of place.
* Determined by local knowledge — while it may be possible to broadly describe place as an outsider, intimate understandings of place are best expressed by natives.
* Embodied in folklore, personal narrative, and amateur history — intimate descriptions of place rarely show up in "official" documents, that is, those prepared by government or bureaucratic agencies.

Inventorying place
Descriptions of place can take many forms, but one of the most effective, with respect to municipal planning and smart growth, is an inventory of cultural resources. A comprehensive profile of the cultural landscape aids not only in preservation of existing resources, but can provide direction for future growth. Throughout this study, cultural resources can be thought of as comprising historic buildings, sites, and landscapes; scenic roads and viewsheds; and special places that have local cultural significance.

There are a number of guides to understanding and improving land use practices in rural communities. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, Scenic America, and individual publishers such as Island Press have produced manuals for documenting and preserving cultural resources. These guides advocate conducting environmental inventories that detail both natural and cultural features. (6) In Rhode Island, the Watershed Approach includes provisions for the organization of local Watershed Action Teams to monitor stream quality and perform community assessments. (7)

Typically, volunteers are advised to break into small groups, go out into their neighborhood with maps and perhaps cameras, and document the areas with visual, historic, or personal significance. Maps, pictures, and descriptions recorded on inventory forms are then compiled in either report or poster format. The data collected is usually qualitative. Local residents are attempting to document the features of the built and natural landscape that make their community unique and appealing. These techniques can be performed and led by volunteers and the costs are minimal. The quality of the data depends on the consistency of collection, the number of individuals involved in preparing the inventory, and the number of distinct resources surveyed. As Harker and Natter write, “This is not a science; it is an art. The bottom line is that the scenic quality of your area can add greatly to the quality of your life." (8)

The typical product of these efforts is hand drawn maps and reports. The manuals encourage the use of multimedia (usually images) representations of data and lengthy description. Because there are no guidelines for collecting data to be entered into a GIS, the development of GIS data layers based on citizen generated data is difficult.

Sense of place in South Kingstown
The New England landscape has a sense of place rooted in a long history of settlement. South Kingstown's Comprehensive Plan recognizes the importance of place in contributing the to Town's quality of life:

One of the major positive influences on the Town's historic settlement pattern has been it's strong sense of place. Much of this "sense" derives from those features that contribute to it, including the Town's small identifiable villages, New England architecture, natural and scenic areas, and agricultural tradition. As overdevelopment can ruin the Town's small character, it can also disturb and even eliminate its sense of place. (9)

Despite the language in the Comprehensive Plan, South Kingstown did not begin an inventory of place drawing on local knowledge until 1998 when the Coastal Resources Center at the University of Rhode Island initiated a project with the Planning Department to develop an inventory of important cultural features. The goal of the project was to involve residents in a proactive planning effort, the kind that is not frequently undertaken by an overworked planning board. The report, An Inventory and Analysis of the Village and Rural Qualities of South Kingstown, was produced by more than 140 residents over several months. According to one of the project's coordinators, community participation was overwhelming. (10)

Teams of residents were directed to map the boundaries of village, rural, and other areas as well as inventory the defining features of each district. The resulting report runs over 150 pages and includes maps from each of the eleven districts of the town. Although the Inventory represented one largest community planning efforts in the Town, little has come of the effort. With the help of an intern from the University of Rhode Island, the Planning Department produced a composite GIS coverage of the areas identified as village, rural, and other. However, none of the individual sites were mapped in the Town's GIS. The lengthy descriptions were not analyzed and the results of the report have not been included in amendments to the Comprehensive Plan.

1. Daniels, T. (1999). When City and County Collide. Washington, D.C.: Island Press: 87.
2. Stokes, S. M., Watson, A. E. and Mastran, S. S. (1997). Saving America’s Countryside: A Guide to Rural Conservation (2nd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press: 192.
3. Ryden, K. C. (1993). Mapping the Invisible Landscape. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press: 38.
4. Jackson, J. B. (1984). Discovering the Vernacular Landscape. New Haven: Yale University Press: 152.
5. Schroeder, P. (1997). GIS in Public Participation Settings. Retrieved 24 April 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://www.spatial.maine.edu/ucgis/testproc/schroeder/UCGISDFT.HTM
Parsons, E. (1994). Visualization Techniques for Qualitative Spatial Information. Fifth European Conference and Exhibition on Geographical Information Systems. Retrieved 20 April 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://spatialodyssey.ursus.maine.edu/gisweb/spatdb/egis/eg94046.html
6. Stokes, S. M., Watson, A. E. and Mastran, S. S. (1997). Saving America’s Countryside: A Guide to Rural Conservation (2nd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
O Say Can You See: A Visual Awareness Tool Kit for Communities (1999). Washington, D.C.: Scenic America.
Harker, D. F. and Natter, E. U. (1995). Where We Live: A Citizen’s Guide to Conducting a Community Environmental Inventory. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.
Copps, D. (1995). Views from the Road. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.
7. Kerr, M. (2000). Assessing the Character of Your Community.
8. Harker, D. F. and Natter, E. U. (1995). Where We Live: A Citizen’s Guide to Conducting a Community Environmental Inventory.
9. Comprehensive Community Plan (1992). South Kingstown, RI: Planning Department.: 37.
10. Personal communication with Steve Olsen, 9 March 2001.

Q.&A.: Transportation Secretary on Biking, Walking and ‘What Americans Want’ - Green Inc. Blog - NYTimes.com

Q.&A.: Transportation Secretary on Biking, Walking and ‘What Americans Want’ - Green Inc. Blog - NYTimes.com

Click the title for access to the article.

The Commons Movement

Commons movement: A growing social and political movement that believes the commons is a crucial sector of the economy and society and useful prism for talking about resources that should be shared. The commons offers not only an affirmative vision of a more equitable, eco-friendly society: it also serves as a countervailing force to keep excesses of the market and government sectors in check. Some speak of an emerging commons paradigm as a new way of looking at the world, one that opens up the competitive, mechanistic, profit-centric mindset that has ruled Western civilization since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, with a more humanistic, environmentally aware and holistic world view. A wider appreciation for the enduring importance of the commons has developed over the last eight years, especially among people deeply involved in the politics of water issues, the internet, the over commercialization of culture and public spaces. This world view is now reaching into many other arenas, including economics, the environment, social justice and numerous citizens movements around the world.

"If you don't have safe streets, all the light rail lines in the world aren't going to save your city."

This Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) sidebar note caught my attention: "If you don't have safe streets, all the light rail lines in the world aren't going to save your city."

The article and another longer one can be found here.

Will NYS Senator Maziarz Prevent the Revitalization of Niagara Falls and Niagara County?

Yesterday, disquieting political actions by the senator and a former mayor occurred during the Q & A portion of a Niagara River Greenway Standing Committee presentation.

One presenter provided everyone in the room with two handouts. The first briefly captured a March, 2009 direction plan New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (NYS OPRHP) intends to implement statewide. "The NYS OPRHP pre-publication final plan was approved by the National Park Service on March 27, 2009." The second document contained information compiled from 10 cities, National Park Service, and The Trust for Public Land.

Printed below, it lists 52 compiled facts, lessons learned. The NYS OPRHP handout will be a separate post.

Case Studies in Urban Road Removal - The Benefits and Impacts - LESSONS LEARNED

SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS
1. Reduction in greenhouse gas

2. Spillover traffic’s absorbed

3. Traffic finds alternate routes and travelers choose the most convenient mode or travel at different times or different locations

4. Removal is most effective when it is one element of a comprehensive, clearly articulated civic vision for enhanced quality of life, sustainability, and economic development that leverages the opportunity made available by removal

5. If the public is forewarned, traffic is adequately redistributed.

6. Removal for all its benefits is a means to advance greater goals and objectives:

a. In Niagara Falls – for example—Road Removal would support
[i] North Star Project, and
[ii] Olmsted’s Vision for Niagara,
[iii] Economic revitalization and growth,
[iv] Quality of life,
[v] New jobs and business,
[vi] Creative Tourism destination initiatives

Portland, Oregon
7. Removal in Portland, Oregon was a catalyst in the redevelopment of the downtown waterfront as it opened up access to the River and 309 acres

8. Development around the waterfront amenities had positive impacts within the city as a whole:
[a] Provided public good and improved quality of life
[b] Financial benefits:

[i] Property values tripled
[ii] Growth in this area outpaced growth in the city as a whole by 7%

[c] Crime reduction in Portland declined by 65% in the waterfront area and declined 16% in the city as a whole. Attributing factors:

[1] New visibility
[2] Increase in pedestrian eyes on the street

San Francisco, CA
9. Crime reduction in San Francisco occurred when the street transformed to one of stylish shops, restaurants, and galleries.

10. Removal provided a range of benefits without substantial negative impacts for commuters.

11. In the years following removal:

[a] New neighborhoods were established
[b] Major new civic amenities and tourist attractions were opened and
[c] The existing tourist destinations remained major destinations
[d] Merchants said they didn’t lose their core customers despite the new competition and the removal of the road 9 years ago.
[e] Tourism grew impressively in the years following removal and reclamation
[i] In 2006, visitors to San Francisco spent $7.6 billion – the highest in the city’s history
[f] Removal did not negatively impact the economics of nearby neighborhoods
[g] The removal for the area and the city as a whole was positive.

Boston, MA
12. Benefits are aesthetic and commercial
[a] If downtown is a more pleasant destination people linger longer and spend more money

13. The value of their commercial properties near their greenway increased by $2.3 billion, up 79%

14. In 2006, the Boston removal project attracted an unprecedented level of private investment in new development downtown
[a] $5.3 billion worth in projects completed or underway within a 5 minute walk
[b] An estimated generation of nearly 36,000 new jobs

Seoul, Korea
15. Road removal and stream restoration restored to a 3.6 mile linear park

16. 15 months after opening, they had 90,000 visitors of which 30% came from outside the area

17. The restored water and open space access enhanced recreational amenities widely viewed as having improved the quality of life of center city residents, workers and visitors

18. Restoration was part of a much larger development strategy with local and global components
[a] Local level – project rationalization had to do with revitalization of historic downtown which lost much of its market share as the city’s economic center shifted
[b] Global level – removal and restoration of the landscape has been described by officials as rebranding or repositioning of Seoul’s image internationally

i. A meaningful, symbolic gesture for a 21st century city

19. It projected long-term economic benefits of
[a] Between $8.5 - $ 25 billion (US) and
[b] 113,000 new jobs

20. The Seoul project illustrates the tangible economic and environmental benefits that can flow from urban design that is richly symbolic and driven in large part by quality of life perceptions.

Trenton, NJ
21. Removal was undertaken to
[a] Promote redevelopment downtown
[b] Improve safety
[c] Remove a barrier to the city’s waterfront

Vancouver, Canada
[22] Removal achieved results with a progressive “Living-First” strategy and subsequent plans and policies that emphasized a shift away from automobiles as a dominant form of transportation

Toronto, Canada
23. Removal Benefit Strategies
[a] To beautify the city
[b] To improve a sense of place in neighborhoods
[c] To maximize the benefits of waterfront revitalization efforts

Milwaukee, Wisconsin
24. The estimated cost to rebuild an aging freeway was $100 million

25. The road elimination came at a much lower financial cost of $25 million ($20 million was paid for with federal funds)

Chattanooga, TN
Reasons why they removed the Riverfront Parkway:
26. In late 1960’s its economy’s manufacturing base contracted, eliminating thousands of jobs

27. Its air was declared the most polluted in the nation

28. The construction and configuration of roads intended to move traffic hurt the downtown business environment and hastened the decline of a once vibrant city center.

29. Their parkway no longer had a purpose; its physical location blocked the city from its waterfront

30. Their parkway was a far larger piece of infrastructure than the city needed

31. Removal benefits:
[a] Pedestrian connection to the River waterfront

The Benefits of Parks and Open Space – National Park Service
32. Increased value in neighboring residential properties

33. Similar increase benefit on commercial property

34. Important quality of life factor for corporations choosing where to locate facilities

35. Important for the well-educated in choosing where to live

36. Provides substantial environmental benefits

[a] Trees reduce air and water pollution
[b] Trees keep cities cooler and
[c] Trees are an effective and less expensive way to manage storm water runoff

Open space - Social and Community Development Benefits
37. Make inner city more livable

38. Provides places where low-income neighborhoods feel a sense of community

39. Access to public parks and facilities strongly linked to reductions in crime

40. Contact with the natural world improves physical and psychological health

[a.] Such settings are associated with enhanced mental alertness, attention and cognitive performance
[b] A 10% increase in greenspace was found to decrease a person’s health complaints in an amount equal to a 5-year reduction in a person’s age

Open Space – Economic Benefits
41. People are willing to pay more for property located close to open space
[a] This translates into city revenue – in some cases the additional taxes are enough to pay the annual debt charges on bonds used to finance acquisition and development of the open space

[b] In one study, a greenbelt added 5.4 million to the total property values of 1 neighborhood. That generated $ 500,00/year in additional property taxes—enough to pay for a $1.5 million purchase price in 3 years

Commercial Effects of Open Space
42 Atlanta – Property values rose from $2 per square foot to $150 per square foot

Economic Revitalization Effects of Open Space
43 Boeing, chose Chicago over Dallas and Denver because of the city’s quality of life, its downtown, and urban life

44. In using greenspace to revitalize, Dallas emulated Portland, Oregon—a city with a reputation as one of the most livable

45. Companies like Hewlett-Packard, Intel, and Hyundai were drawn to the forests, orchards, and creeks on Portland’s outskirt urban area

46. The real estate industry calls quality of life a litmus test for determining the strength of the real estate investment market

47. If people want to live in a place, companies, stores, hotels and apartments follow.

St. Louis, Missouri
48. In Missouri, the 2004 bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition launched an ambitious effort to revitalize St. Louis and the nearby region

49. Improving quality of life was a major goal with a central emphasis on keeping well-educated young people in the region

50. A cornerstone to their plan was their greenway, a 200 square mile area, stretching 40 miles

51. Their greenway traces the first stretch of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

52. Other city and region benefits
[a] Tourism
[b] Pollution abatement
[c] Storm water run off control
[d] Crime reduction
[e] It created stable neighborhoods with a strong sense of community

After witnessing the blatant undermining attempts by the senator inquiring minds want to know, in the face of sound economic facts and clear public benefits provided by cities across the United States and the world,

Why did Senator Maziarz and the former Mayor of Lewiston, NY, lobby against funding the proposal "Regional Economic Growth Through Ecological Restoration of the Niagara Gorge Rim?"

Framework for Regional Growth - Part 3 – Final Highlights

Growth and Investment Guidance. The last chapter suggests strategies for development in developed areas (cities), developing areas (sparsely settled), and rural areas. It categorizes those as Prime Policy and Policy Sub areas and offers economic development and public investment strategies. Some examples:

Developed Areas – (Cities)
Bullet point 3:
“ Explore the feasibility of creating a regional “Main Street” organization modeled after successful programs of the National Main Street Center.” and

Bullet point 9:
“…improve local accessibility, encourage sidewalks, and pedestrian/bicycle trails…and continue to promote public transit use, walking, and biking as alternatives to automobile use.”

Developing Area Policies & Strategies (Sparsely settled)
Development Guidance Strategies
Bullet Point 3:
“Minimize conversion of significant open space, agriculture lands, and natural systems.”

Natural & Cultural Overlay Policies and Strategies.
Bullet point 1:
Establish priorities for the conservation of regionally, nationally, and internationally significant natural and cultural heritage resources including the Lake Erie and Lake Ontario waterfronts, the Niagara River Greenway, the Erie Canal National Heritage Corridor, and the Buffalo Olmsted Parks System.

Bullet Point 3:
Support regional initiatives to indentify potential greenway, open space, and trail linkages within and between regionally significant natural and cultural heritage corridors; support public and private efforts to preserve rights-of-way and complete appropriate improvements…”

Erie-Niagara Framework for Regional Growth, Part 2, Principals

Framework for Regional Growth. The Seven Principals are a quick summation of the concepts behind the 2006 document. It clearly states the guidelines are "conceptual, intentionally drawn loosely." It ignores municipal boundaries. The following excerpts are from the beginning of Chapter 3, pages 30-32. Additional details and subsequent chapters will be made in upcoming posts.

Guiding Growth & Investment

Section 3.1

A Vital Economy
…the region's prosperity is dependent upon the vitality of its downtowns and urban waterfronts.

Sustainable Neighborhoods
…improve livability of the region’s urban neighborhoods…create more compact, walkable communities in developing areas, ease pressure of road network.

Strong Rural Communities
…protection of sensitive scenic and natural areas, wildlife habitat and open spaces.

Improved Access & Mobility
…support transit use, walking, ride-sharing, more efficient commuting patterns.

Efficient Systems & Services
…encourage preservation and adaptive reuse of historic sites and buildings

Effective Regional Stewardship
… Erie and Niagara Counties recognize as a liability the absence of a forum for addressing pace and quality of development, efficiency and effectiveness of infrastructure and the conservation of sensitive resources.

Conserve Natural and Cultural Assets
…the region’s unique natural, historic,and cultural heritage represents an important though under-appreciated asset. The counties support efforts to preserve historic sites and landscapes, conserve and improve access (as appropriate) to natural systems and resources…the counties encourage the conservation and protection of the region’s most sensitive natural systems-the lakefronts and escarpments; rivers, creeks and streams; wetlands and floodways; and forested lands are recognized as regionally significant resources worthy of protection and conservation.

Framework for Regional Growth - Erie and Niagara Counties, NY. Part 1. 2006

In May 2006, a bi-county steering committee drafted a document, Framework for Regional Growth. The acknowledged members on page 5 are key development people from both Erie and Niagara Counties. The entities they belong to include chairpersons from each county legislature, as well as planners from both counties.

The consultants listed include the Greater Buffalo Niagara Region Transportation Center (GBNRTC), two county economic development divisions, the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, several members of Niagara River Greenway Plan design team, the Urban Design Project, and one Niagara County Chamber of Commerce, the Niagara USA Chamber. There are other organizations and individuals listed, but this will provide a broad general sketch of the document's major stakeholders.

The Framework for Regional Growth mission statement notes that this document

"is to be utilized as a blueprint to support the actions of county and regional agencies relating to the area’s physical development.

It will also be used to inform state and local governments, private developers, and non-profit organizations about the process and actions County government could undertake when making decisions affecting the region’s development.

It will establish a framework for development within the region, and describe policies, programs, and projects that will encourage and facilitate development that is consistent with such framework.

The Plan will help local officials coordinate their decisions so they can anticipate how one decision may affect another.”

Section 1.4 Home Rule Context:
“While the counties review and comment on many local land use decisions, the authority to approve or disapprove proposals is in the hands of the Region’s 64 independent municipal governments—3 cities, 25 towns, and 16 villages in Erie County and the 3 cities, 12 towns and 5 villages in Niagara.”

Flash Notes lifted from the 71 page report
Page 15 - little growth, lots of sprawl, declining population shifts

Page 26 – declining densities, single use development in rural areas and fragmented employment centers has increased the daily vehicle miles traveled (VMT). Increases in VMT results in greater stress on the environment. Pollution from motor vehicles contributes to the declines in air quality, paved surfaces increase urban runoff and threaten water quality, and transportation infrastructure can fragment agricultural and forested lands and wildlife habitat.

2.9 Threats to Natural Systems
page 28 – without careful management, the region places at risk the region’s best agricultural lands, major riparian corridors, wetlands, floodplains, and forests.

to be continued…

ViewPoint: Western NY Elected Are Uninformed, Oblivious

Partners for a Livable Western New York Newsletter

David McCollough, author and historian in speech at the Chautauqua Institution in August 2009. Comment: this quote brings to mind the recent comments about Western New York elected officials made by noted government experts David Rusk who said Western New York elected officials were “isolated” because they did not make the effort to find out what is going on elsewhere in the United States and William Hudnut who said "Western New York elected officials were “oblivious” to steps taken by other regions in the U.S. to improve themselves.

As noted architect and planner Andres Duany has stated:

“It is the duty of elected officials to educate themselves on the matters on which they are to legislate rather than merely listening to the [mostly uninformed] public.”

We still have a long way to go in our community when it comes to improving land use as evidenced by the failure of our public officials to educate themselves on the benefits of an Erie County Planning Board. If our elected official s had visited other places or found out about what is going on elsewhere they just might learn more about how to improve land use policies and practices here in Western New York.

Subscriptions to and information about the Partners for a Livable Western New York newsletter may be directed to: ggrasser@irdprojectmanagers.com.

Debunking Local Myths: Facts for Removing The Robert Moses Parkway

MYTH:
The Parkway Preservation Committee was created to generate awareness and understanding of the significant economic, social and environmental impacts the Robert Moses Parkway has on the community fabric of the Greater Niagara region. (Source: The Parkway Preservation Committee)

FACT:
Bureaucrats banded to counter the group of concerned citizens, The Niagara Heritage Partnership, who advocate the preservation and restoration of the region's natural environment and encourage socially responsible development. Currently, the Niagara Heritage Partnership is advocating the removal of the 6.5-mile section of the Robert Moses Parkway which runs along the Niagara Gorge from Niagara Falls, New York to Lewiston, New York, and restoring the natural environment (indigenous trees, grasslands, wildflowers) and creating a hiking and biking path.

FACT: Removing Freeways — Restoring Cities
Even Gaming Magazine—a house organ of the gambling industry, which we would not expect to be aware of city planning issues—said in its article about revitalizing Niagara Falls that the Robert Moses Parkway is "widely held as a mistake in planning," whose result is "simply directing people through the city and into Canada."

FACT: Revitalizing Niagara Falls: Recovering from the Legacy of Robert Moses
"In today’s climate it should be understood that the urban parkways built during the post-World War II era were misguided. Property values plummet, pollution increases, vandalism and crime multiply, and traffic congestion grows. Many cities across the world acknowledge these pitfalls and have torn down major highway systems from South Korea to France, Canada, and even the United States." Souce: M. Andreini, www.niagaraheritage.org

to be continued...

The Roads to a Smarter Planet

Another case for reducing the impact of cars can be found here and below.


In 2007, the world crossed an epochal threshold. For the first time in history, the majority of the human population lived in cities. And this urbanization is accelerating. By 2010, there will be 59 metropolitan areas with populations greater than five million – up 50% from 2001.

Many of those city dwellers will be driving cars, and the products they consume will be arriving in trucks. So if you think your day is plagued by gridlock now, what might the future hold?

Quite simply, our transportation infrastructure and management approaches can’t handle the world’s traffic. In the U.S. alone, 3.7 billion hours are lost every year to people sitting in traffic, and 2.3 billion gallons of fuel – enough to fill 58 supertankers – burn needlessly, at a cost to the economy of $78 billion per year.

This isn’t smart – but it can become so. The systemic nature of urban transportation is also the key to the solution. We need to stop focusing only on pieces of the problem: adding a new bridge, widening a road, putting up signs, establishing commuter lanes, encouraging carpooling or deploying traffic copters.

Instead, we need to look at relationships across the entire system and all the other systems that are touched by it: our supply chains, our environment, our companies…the way people and cities live and work. Traffic isn’t just a line of cars: it’s a web of connections. “Smart traffic” isn’t yet the norm, but it’s not some far-off vision of
tomorrow. In many places, IBM is helping to make it happen today.

In Stockholm, a dynamic toll system based on the flow of vehicles into and out of the city has reduced traffic by 20%, decreased wait time by 25% and cut emissions by 12%. In Singapore, controllers receive real-time data through sensors to model and predict traffic scenarios with 90% accuracy. And in Kyoto, city planners simulate large-scale traffic situations involving millions of vehicles to analyze urban impact.

All of this is possible because cities can infuse intelligence into their entire transportation system — streets, bridges, intersections, signs, signals and tolls — which can all be interconnected and made smarter. These new traffic systems can improve drivers’ commutes, give better information to city planners, increase the productivity of businesses and raise citizens’ quality of life. They can reduce
congestion, shrink fuel use and cut CO2 emissions.

Our rapidly urbanizing planet depends on getting people and things from here to there. In the 20th century, that meant freeways from state to state and nation to nation. In the 21st century, “smart” traffic systems can be the new milestone of progress.

Let’s build a smarter planet. Join us and see what others are thinking
at ibm.com/think

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• Upside to the Economic Downturn: Less Traffic (wired.com)

Jane Jacobs Legacy by Howard Husock, City Journal 31 July 2009

Jane Jacobs Legacy by Howard Husock, City Journal 31 July 2009

But none of this might have mattered had Jacobs not made the intellectual case against high-rise housing, neighborhood clearance, and highways that ran through cities—indeed, against the profession of city planning itself. She was untutored except in the way celebrated by the Yogi Berra aphorism: You can see a lot just by looking.

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Niagara Heritage Proposal to Remove the Robert Moses Parkway Meets and Exceeds the Niagara River Greenway Plan - Guiding Principals- 2007

NIAGARA RIVER GREENWAY PLAN 2007 (page 21)

C. Principles for the Niagara River Greenway

The principles for the Niagara River Greenway represent the general values that will guide greenway planning into the future. These basic principles have been presented and discussed in various venues,and have received broad general support on the part of the wide range of groups that have been actively involved in the development of the Greenway Plan.

The focus of these principles is to facilitate the implementation of the vision established for the Niagara River Greenway. They promote high-quality, ecologically sensitive and sustainable activities and development. All actions within the Niagara River Greenway should be evaluated against these principles, not only to assess their validity, but to help improve the quality of efforts that move forward.
CHAPTER 3: VISION AND PRINCIPLES


(page22) NIAGARA RIVER GREENWAY PLAN

The guiding principles for the development of the Niagara River Greenway are:
Excellence – Existing Greenway resources are globally significant and Greenway projects will meet world class standards.

Sustainability – The Greenway will be designed to promote ecological, economic and physical sustainability for long-term viability and effectiveness.

Accessibility – The Greenway will be designed to provide and increase physical and visual access to and from the waterfront and related resources for a full range of users(youth, seniors, persons with special needs).

Ecological Integrity – The Greenway will be focused on maintaining and improving the health, vitality and integrity of natural resources and wildlife habitats. Emphasis will be placed on restoring and retaining ecologically significant areas and natural landscapes,both in and over the water and upland.

Public Well-Being – The Greenway will be designed to achieve and promote physical and emotional wellness through the experience that it offers to the public. Availability of
both land- and water-based recreational facilities, and access to both active and passive recreational opportunities should be considered in the development of Greenway assets.

Connectivity – The Greenway will increase connectivity and access (trails, pathways,parks, water access), promote the continuity of open space and habitats, and provide for connections to related corridors and resources across the region,including connections across the international border with Canada.


Restoration – The Greenway will be designed to encourage the restoration of ecological resources, the appropriate reuse of brownfields, and the revitalization of existing urban centers along the corridor.

Authenticity – The Greenway will establish a clear sense of “place” and identity that reflects the traditional spirit and heritage of the area. Projects and activities should have a connection to the character, culture and/or history of their location.

Celebration – The Greenway will be designed to celebrate local history, diversity,cultural resources, and the natural and built environments, and will seek to share this diverse tradition with local residents and visitors to the region. Projects that support education, interpretation are encouraged, as are events and activities that help build social interaction and shared experiences.

Partnerships – The focus of the Greenway will revolve around cooperation and reciprocal compromise. Relationships and partnerships must be formed and strengthened to achieve coordination and integration of efforts throughout the Greenway.

Community Based – Greenway planning will reflect the preferences and plans of the local communities, while respecting other stated goals and the communal vision of the Niagara River Greenway.

The above principles present a guide to actions and development within the Niagara River Greenway over the long-term, so that the cumulative effect of projects is to move toward achieving the shared vision for the Niagara River Greenway. The principles are applicable to municipalities without waterfront lands as well as those fronting the River.

They promote access and connections, including trail linkages. They support high quality, ecologically-sound projects throughout the region. They are fundamental enough to remain relevant over changing circumstances, providing consistency with flexibility.