July GLUE: Regional Transit & Milwaukee's SEWRPC Secession Question - Guest Speakers Jim Rowen & Gretchen Schuldt

Come learn and talk about regional transit, the Southeatern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC), and Milwaukee's future with two veterans in urban planning, environmental advovcacy, and citizen journalism:

James Rowen and Gretchen Schuldt @ GREAT LAKES URBAN EXCHANGE (GLUE - Milwaukee)
July Meeting - THURSDAY July 10 - 6:00pm - 7:30pm
Location: Bucketworks (1340 North 6th Street, Milwaukee, WI)

We'll probably have a couple other people attending who went to the recent UEDA conference on regional transit, so expect a good conversation!

Jim Rowen recently advocated for the departure of Milwaukee from the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission in a Journal-Sentinel Crossroads article. This stirred up a good deal of debate, and a resolution to take this step of leaving SEWRPC has been drafted by Milwaukee's Common Council.

Jim has worked for newspapers in Madison and Milwaukee (Isthmus of Madison, and The Milwaukee Journal & Journal Sentinel), and in senior positions for Madison Mayor Paul Soglin and Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist. He has freelanced on political and environmental issues frequently since 2004 and is a panelist on the Thursday, "Backstory" radio show on WMCS-AM 1290 hosted by Eric Von. You can find Jim's blog, "The Political Environment," at thepoliticalenvironment.blogspot.com.

Gretchen Schuldt has been on the indie investigative reporting beat for a long time, covering SEWRPC, WisDOT, and freeway expansion in Milwaukee County. Gretchen is a fiscal policy analyst, former reporter, and the current editor of milwaukeerising.net. She is co-chair of Citizens Allied for Sane Highways, a coalition opposing freeway expansion in Milwaukee. You can find Gretchen's blog, "Milwaukee Rising," at milwaukeerising.blogspot.com. [Update: Milwaukee Rising has moved to http://milwaukeerising.net/wordpress. You can still find Gretchen's old writings via the previous link to her old blogspot blog.]

Recent News of Note:

• A new report for a Canadian bank examining the economic impact of rising oil prices predicts that millions of Americans will be forced to give up driving as gas reaches $7.00 a gallon. http://www.planetizen.com/node/33807&rf=rss


• Private employers in the Seattle area are outpacing City Hall in providing incentives to employees not to drive to work in single occupancy cars. A state law even requires companies with 100 or more commuters to provide alternative commuting plans. http://www.planetizen.com/node/33807&rf=rss

From the Center for Neighborhood
Technology:

• Combating foreclosures and fostering sustainable "location efficient" urban neighborhoods by revealing hidden costs of inefficiently located housing: A bill has been proposed in the US House of Representatives -- the “Green Resources for Energy Efficient Neighborhoods (G.R.E.E.N.) Act” -- by U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO). According to the Center for Neighborhood Technology CNT), "The Bill provides incentives to lenders and financial institutions to provide lower interest loans and other benefits to consumers, who build, buy or remodel their homes and businesses to improve their energy efficiency. This timely legislation reflects foresight and the considered input of a broad coalition of housing advocates, financial institutions, government leaders, developers, and the environmental community." CNT is also suggesting that the bill expand the notion of efficiency to include “location efficiency” - "the importance of valuing location to transportation infrastructure as a function of energy efficiency." Learn more about this here.


• "CNT helped develop the Location Efficient Mortgage (LEM) — mortgages that help people become homeowners in communities where they can walk from their homes to stores, schools, recreation, and public transportation, saving them money by reducing their need to drive from place to place. LEM’s were available in Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco from 2001-2004. A recent survey of all the awarded LEM’s showed that one had defaulted. In Chicago, for example, of the 41 loans there were no defaults and 30 percent of the borrowers sold a car."


• For more information about transportation costs in 52 US Metropolitan areas, see http://htaindex.cnt.org.


• Reurbanization has been happening for many years now. According to research by CNT and Reconnecting America, the number of households near transit stations will soar to 15 million by 2030, from 6 million now. This research shows it is less of a trend and more of a desire for entire lifestyle change. The interrelated nature of housing and transportation means that locating oneself closer to amenities, with better access to different forms of mobility will make deeper impact monetarily than switching to a more fuel-efficient vehicle, for example. In tandem with the move toward more efficiently located living, the revival of the streetcar has been bubbling around the nation, and now is ever-more significant with the increase interest in urban living, and cities look for more options at providing more transit in often cheaper and quicker ways. Symbol of nostalgia for many, streetcars played an important role in urban cities all over in the early 1900's of moving people around. Now, they are viewed as a great benefit for places that need transit, in a more readily, cost-effective way.


• A recent Chicago Tribune article discusses the role that streetcars played in Chicago and the efforts to bring them back.

Congress for the New Urbanism:

CNU on CNN: Norquist Touts Location Efficiency on "Issue #1"

• CNU Video Shows How Walkable Urbanism Can Reduce Driving and Slash Carbon Emissions
  Like switching out all of your light bulbs thirty five times