Barack Obama is creating the first Office of Urban Policy. What are the top priorities?
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6 votes
Start "living laboratories" for implementing smart growth
Create a streamlined process for starting city- and neighborhood-scale "Green Economy Flagship" buildings. These incubator buildings can house green businesses, green job training, non-profit and community groups, residential spaces, art and cultural facilities. Shared production facili... more
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3 votes
Provide the same subsidy for bicycles as for electric cars
We currently subsidize electric cars, solar and other great changes for energy efficiency.
Bicycle commuters are not only conserving energy, they are improving their health and reducing their costs on our health care system as well as improving community by interacting with their neighborhood ... more
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3 votes
Encourage and subsidize car-sharing programs in urban areas
Companies like Zipcar provide valuable services through car-sharing, but the absorption of rival company Flexcar into Zipcar indicates that car-sharing services need help to become viable alternative options for transportation. States and localities should be able to encourage car-sharing servic... more
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3 votes
Restructure Federal Grants to Support Metro Collaboration
Many federal programs are structured to direct funding to individual units of government rather than catalyzing regional cooperation by prioritizing investments in projects that focus on metropolitan-wide challenges. Environmental concerns, affordable housing, transportation and many other issue... more
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3 votes
Stop hwy widening & narrow existing urban roads (road diet)
Hwy widening bankrupts government & is ineffective in reducing congestion. Huge roads also fuel sprawl, subsidize car travel, make non-auto travel more difficult & ruin quality of life. "Road diets" effectively improve cities & improve the health of small businesses.
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3 votes
I suggest that Matt Lerner keep this crap off the internet.
Yea...title says it all.
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3 votes
"City of the Future" incubator
Use the same model that has been applied to software startups and other high-tech industries to coordinate grants and provide common services to companies developing services for the "City of the Future": sustainable, energy-efficient, less dependent of non-renewable resources, able to... more
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2 votes
Install green infrastructure to fight heat islands
This can include planting more trees, reducing hard surfaces, creating more shade, using water features to cool urban areas, and more.
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2 votes
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2 votes
Location efficient mortgages and interest deduction cap
I think one of the most important policy mechanisms to accomplish this is by reforming the residential mortgage market. There are two major elements:
1 - Location efficient mortgages should be expanded so that housing and transportation costs are both considered in the underwriting
2 - mortgage... more -
2 votes
smoke detectors
Give every household in the USA 2 smoke detectors. This will be a step decrease in the number of fire fatalities as distribution rolls out.
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3 votes
embrace the "No Child Left Inside" vision
For years, children have increasingly lived their lives inside four walls -- doing what can be done within those walls. "Free range kids" are rare; when they get outside, it's often as participants in organized activities. Fortunately, there's a fast growing movement to reverse the tren... more
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3 votes
Protect Individual Freedom -- Oppose the Office of UP
The Office of Urban Policy will work very hard to deny you your individual freedoms. It should never exist. Freedom cannot be protected with government stepping into every nook and cranny of your private lives. Oppose this office and instead live free.
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3 votes
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6 votes
Create world-class cycling networks from local lto national
Funding and policy support (including Complete Streets legislation) should ensure that every U.S. metropolitan area will benefit from state-of-the-art bicycle networks, consisting of surface street lanes and separated cycle facilities, with supporting bike facilities, such as parking. The goal wo... more
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6 votes
Implement car 'feebates' nationally
With a feebate system, fees would be imposed on the purchase of less fuel efficient cars to finance rebates for more efficient cars. Because the fees and rebates balance each other out, the system costs the government nothing while encouraging both car companies and consumers to pay attention to... more
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6 votes
Support cities in moving toward zero waste
Americans produce more waste per capita than anyone other group on the planet. This waste is a great loss of value and resources. Landfills and incineration are not sustainable solutions. Cities like San Francisco have learned how to dramatically reduce their waste and are working toward a zer... more