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T4America’s creative placemaking work gets another boost from the NEA

T4America is pleased to announce that we’ve received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to support our ongoing work to help transportation professionals learn how to engage with artists and design better transportation projects that better reflect and serve local communities.

“The American people are recognized for their innovative spirit and these grants represent the vision, energy, and talent of America’s artists and arts organizations,” said NEA Chairman Jane Chu. “I am proud of the role the National Endowment for the Arts plays in helping advance the creative capacity of the United States.” This grant comes from the NEA’s “Our Town” program:

Our Town is the NEA’s signature creative placemaking program that supports partnerships of artists, arts organizations, and municipal government that work to revitalize neighborhoods. This practice places arts at the table with land-use, transportation, economic development, education, housing, infrastructure, and public safety strategies to address a community’s challenges. Creative placemaking highlights the distinctiveness of a place, encouraging residents to identify and build upon their local creative assets.

Within the transportation sector, creative placemaking is an approach that incorporates arts, culture, and creativity to allow for more genuine public engagement in planning processes. This can be a particularly impactful tool for historically underrepresented communities, providing a platform and process to more directly involve community members in the systems that impact them. This produces transportation projects that better serve the needs of the local community and reflect the local culture and heritage of the populations that these projects serve.

For nearly two years, T4America has been on the leading edge of translating this emerging topic area and explaining its benefits to transportation professionals (planners, engineers, local elected officials and others). This grant will help us continue a transition from defining how this approach works in transportation, into actively equipping and training both transportation professionals and artists to work with each other on transportation projects.

Our arts & culture team is currently wrapping up a field scan — a rigorous national examination of creative placemaking in transportation — to better understand how and where artists, designers, and cultural workers are collaborating with local governments and community partners to solve transportation challenges.

Through this grant — and incorporating what we learn from the aforementioned field scan — we’ll be partnering with Americans for the Arts to actively train transportation professionals to engage with artists and arts organizations and vice versa, equipping them with the requisite skills to complete creative placemaking projects. (Stay tuned soon for more on this training opportunity.)

We’ll be holding trainings in three competitively selected cities on specific transportation issues, such as improving pedestrian safety or reducing disruptions caused by road construction, all while working to reflect local culture and bolster local capacity. We’re aiming for the trainings to lead to tangible policy improvements that will facilitate more collaborations between artists and transportation professionals. As a product of these trainings, we will also produce web-based toolkits to help others lead similar efforts in their own communities.

“We have increasingly heard both from transportation professionals who are interested in creative placemaking, and from arts and culture practitioners who are eager to deepen their civically engaged practice,” said Ben Stone, Director of Arts and Culture for Smart Growth America/T4America. “These two fields have a lot to gain from working together to better engage communities in transportation planning processes, and this generous grant from the NEA will allow us to help make that happen.”

Stories You May Have Missed – Week of June 9th

Stories You May Have Missed

As a valued member, Transportation for America is dedicated to providing you pertinent information. This includes news articles to inform your work. Check out a list of stories you may have missed last week. 

  • President Trump and the bipartisan infrastructure plan?  (Washington Post)
  • President Trump’s infrastructure plan relies on public-private partnerships. (Politico)
  • “Australia’s Tantalizing Lessons on Privatizing Infrastructure.” (CityLab)
  • The Columbus Dispatch covered President Trump’s speech on his infrastructure plan and how his plan may not help Ohio that much. (Columbus Dispatch)
  • “Uber Weighs Leave of Absence for Chief Executive.” (NY Times)
  • “NACTO Wants to Find Out How Cities Can Design Better Streets, Faster.” (Streetsblog USA)

We All Have a Role To Play in Winning More Transportation Funding

Last week, I attended the Center for Transportation Excellence’s (CFTE) bi-annual Transit Initiatives and Communities (TIC) Conference in Seattle. The conference focused on how to win local ballot measures to fund transit, but many of the lessons can be applied to different transportation ballot measures. The big take home message was this: everyone has a different role to play.

The reason for holding the conference in Seattle is pretty obvious to those familiar with the recent ballot measure victories for the county, city and region. Speakers were on hand to tell those stories, including T4A members like Tacoma, Seattle, King County, Transportation Choices Coalition, Move LA, and the Metro Atlanta Chamber. We also heard lessons learned from places big and small, including: Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Spokane, and Ellensburg.

So, what do I mean by “Everyone has a role to play”? Agency staff, local politicians, business leaders, labor leaders, and advocates all have very specific roles in bringing a ballot measure across the finish line. As we heard T4A Advisory Board member Denny Zane say at Capital Ideas last fall and again here at TIC, you need to pull together this broad coalition early to ensure everyone is bought into winning. Assuming you’ve already done that, here is what each player can do in their role:

Agency Staff often feel disempowered because the law tends to prohibit advocating for a measure that will benefit the agency on agency time. We learned from Steven Jones at AC Transit that many agencies could do a lot more. With the caveat that agency staff should check with their legal council, Steven told the story of being very aggressive in sharing information about their ballot measure, reminding transit riders about the registration deadline and election dates, and even registering new voters while making sure they never told anyone to vote a particular way. “The bus is your friend. Use it!” said Steve. They used bus marquis, and pamphlets on buses to communicate about election dates and voter information. They even dedicated a bus to voter registration, bringing it to events and festivals. Another key role for agency staff: delivering on the promises of the campaign. “The way to change perception is to be effective every day,” said Rob Gannon, general manager of King County Metro, a T4A member.

Local Politicians tend to step a bit farther forward than is optimal in many campaigns. Yet, can be a very powerful source of support if they are restrained about elbowing their way into the limelight, according to Jay Schenirer, a Sacramento City Council member. Jay informed us that politicians are better off leaving the campaign organizing to community groups as stakeholders have reason to not be honest about their positions with politicians while lobbying other issues. Politicians can do a number of critical things to lay the groundwork for a successful campaign. These include: polling, education, raising money and providing infrastructure like mailing lists and campaign volunteers. Local elected officials can also sometimes be helpful in bringing certain groups on board like the business community. Perhaps most important, politicians can “rig the election” by adjusting the geography and timing of a ballot measure to maximize the prospects of success.

Business leaders typically get less engaged in the exact contents of a measure. They can provide funding for the campaign, and can bring effective spokespeople in the right context, especially from the healthcare industry. “The business community doesn’t knock on doors, but they do raise money for campaigns,” said Hilary Norton of Fixing Angelenos Stuck in Traffic (FAST).

Labor has some capability to raise funds, but their biggest strength is boots on the ground. “Labor is good at knocking on doors and making phone calls,” said Rusty Hicks from the LA County Federation of Labor. Labor groups have big memberships that represent a voter and volunteer base. They have the organizing infrastructure like call centers and newsletters to members. Rusty cautioned organizers to acknowledge diversity of labor membership and tailor the message and approach accordingly to recruit support from service sector, building trades and government worker unions. “Thirty percent of union members are Republican so you need some labor spokespeople to reach those voters,” he said.

Advocates by contrast care a lot about what’s in a package. This type of group can bring legitimacy of the measure from a particular perspective such as transit or biking and walking, and expertise in building coalitions and running campaigns. Shefali Ranganathan of Transportation Choices Coalition, a T4A member, who led the successful ST3 campaign for $54 billion-worth of transit investments in the Puget Sound region, talked about using polling data and modeling to identify a group of persuadable voters on which they could focus messaging and outreach efforts.

There were several overarching messages that participants took from the conference. Denny Zane admonished participants to make big plans, telling us, “Fortune favors the bold.” Furthermore, the work does not end when the campaign ends. In reference to the successful passage of “ST3” in the Puget Sound region last November, Tacoma mayor Marilyn Strickland said, “The campaign didn’t end in November. It began in November. Sound Transit needs to deliver because someday there will be an ST4.”

Stories You May Have Missed – Week of June 2nd

Stories You May Have Missed

As a valued member, Transportation for America is dedicated to providing you pertinent information. This includes news articles to inform your work. Check out a list of stories you may have missed last week.

  • President Trump has kicked off a week-long focus on infrastructure that the White House is calling infrastructure week. (Washington Post)
  • “President Trump Launches $1 Trillion Initiative to Fix America’s Infrastructure.” (Time)
  • “Trump Plans to Shift Infrastructure Funding to Cities, States and Business.” (NY Times)
  • “Trump ‘Self-Help’ Infrastructure Plan Irks State, Local Leaders.” (Bloomberg)
  • Oregon Legislators release a proposed 10-year $8.2 billion transportation spending plan. (Statesman Journal)
  • Bill to raise the gas tax dies in the Louisiana House of Representatives. (WBRZ)
  • San Jose, California released an autonomous vehicle (AV) request for information as part of an effort to launch AV pilot projects in five city corridors. (Govtech)

Oregon’s Transportation Package – 5 Things to Know

The Oregon legislature has just introduced a transportation package that – in addition to funding highway maintenance and expansion – takes steps to significantly fund transit, safe routes to school and implements forward thinking strategies like congestion pricing and active transportation management.

Oregon’s Joint Committee on Transportation Preservation and Modernization Committee (JTPM) held an informational hearing on HB 2017 on Wednesday evening. The JTPM was formed last year with the expressed purpose of developing a transportation package for the 2017 legislative session, and has conducted a tour of state to gather input and convened many meetings to develop and flesh out the details of the package over the course of this past year.

The package has too many moving parts to describe in this post, but here are five notable elements to Oregon’s proposal:

1) Five sources of revenue
The proposal includes traditional sources like gas tax and registration fee increases, and not-so-traditional sources like a bike excise tax, employee payroll tax and congestion pricing. These sources are so diverse in part because of a strong interest from legislators in seeing different user groups have ‘skin in the game,’ and because Oregon’s constitutional restriction prevents motor-vehicle user fees from being used on transit, off-road paths, or non-highway freight infrastructure. Add in tolls and you get to six sources of revenue!

2) Significant funding for transit operations
The state of Oregon only supports 3% of transit operations in the state while nationally, states cover about 24% of transit operations funding. The 0.1% statewide payroll tax on employees would significantly change that, dedicating 85% of about $107 million to transit operations annually. This would bolster transit service in small towns and large cities across the state improving access to jobs and other services.

3) Freeway widening is not the only congestion solution offered
Like other recent state transportation funding packages, Oregon’s includes funding for freeway expansion – namely freeway projects addressing 3 bottlenecks in the Portland region. But an earlier presentation outlining the proposal acknowledges that we “cannot tax our way out of congestion” and “cannot build our way out of congestion relief.” The bill calls upon the Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC) to implement – where possible – pre-construction tolling, congestion pricing, “zip lanes” (we take this to mean high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes) and active traffic management. While the benefits of freeway widening are often lost to induced demand, congestion pricing can more effectively address congestion if coupled with investments in other traffic-reducing travel options like transit.

4) A “Regional Increment”
The main congestion challenges in Oregon are in the Portland metropolitan region. While business interests around the state are concerned about congestion in Portland since they move their goods through this port city and economic hub, it’s still a tough sell for the rest of the state to pay for big freeway projects in Portland. To solve this politically and financially, the package levies an additional “regional increment” on the Portland region with higher gas taxes, registration fees and title fees, and dedicates that funding to projects in the Portland region. This helps Portland fund its big projects and holds together political support from rural, more tax-averse parts of the state.

5) Significant discussion on accountability
Because of recent, expensive boondoggle transportation projects, legislators are anxious to show the public they can improve transparency and accountability in this bill. The proposal calls for giving the Oregon Transportation Commission greater power and capacity to oversee the Oregon Department of Transportation. It also calls for cost benefit analysis of future projects and communicating construction progress on an improved website.

We’ll be tracking this legislation as it develops, but this is already certainly a package that other state legislatures may want to keep an eye on.

Stories You May Have Missed – Week of May 26th

Stories You May Have Missed

As a valued member, Transportation for America is dedicated to providing you pertinent information. This includes news articles to inform your work. Check out a list of stories you may have missed last week. 

  • President Trump released his budget last week and his budget proposes to end federal support for new transit construction. Read T4America’s exclusive member summary here and T4America’s blog post here.
  • “The Phantom Infrastructure Proposal in Trump’s Budget.” (The Atlantic Magazine)
  • “Senate Democrats: Trump would cut more in infrastructure spending than he proposes to add.” (Washington Post)
  • “Trump, Congress head for fight over tolls” as President Trump proposes to lift the ban on tolling existing Interstate Highways. (The Hill)
  • The Treasury Department has indicated that the debt ceiling will probably need to be raised sooner than expected. This possibility threatens the entire FY 18 appropriations process and makes a yearlong continuing resolution far more likely for FY 18. (Politico)
  • The Louisiana House of Representatives will vote to raise the state’s gas tax by 17 cents on Wednesday. (Fox 8 Live)
  • Uber and Lyft are planning to head back to Austin, Texas after Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a statewide ride-hailing law superseding Austin’s finger print law that Uber and Lyft had objected too. (KXAN)

Webinar wrap: Creative placemaking grants informational session

Earlier this month we hosted an informational webinar detailing our expectations and tips for our Cultural Corridor Consortium (3C) grants. Transportation for America is accepting applications to support creative placemaking projects addressing transportation challenges or opportunities in three U.S. cities.

After our last round of 3C projects in San Diego, Nashville and Portland, Transportation for America is seeking to award $50,000 (each) to creative placemaking projects in three new locations that engage residents, attract the attention of local public works and transportation agencies, and spark new conversations that bring more people to the table to plan and implement new transportation investments.

We are especially committed to funding collaborative projects that expand transportation opportunities and local control for low-income people, recent immigrants, and people of color living in communities that have experienced disproportionate disinvestment. We are accepting applications from communities of any type and size, including indigenous, rural, urban, suburban.

A full recording of the webinar is available here, or through the video above.

Applications may be completed online via a form on the T4America website at https://t4america.org/creative-placemaking-grants/, and you can also download the full application form there for the full information or to submit via email.

Application are due by June 2nd at 5 p.m. EST

Note: Unfortunately, due to our previous work with projects in San Diego, Nashville and Portland, OR, proposals from those cities are not eligible.

More questions? Email 3CGrant@t4america.org

To learn more about arts and culture in the transportation sector, check out The Scenic Route, our introductory guide to creative placemaking in transportation released last year. http://creativeplacemaking.t4america.org

Good luck!

Avoiding displacement while making a vital Nashville corridor function better for everyone

As one of the fastest growing regions in the country, Nashville needs to make some intentional decisions about its future. Nolensville Pike, an auto-oriented corridor ripe for infill development running south out of the city, is ideally situated to meet the booming demand for more housing and small business space close to the urban core. But doing so without careful planning could displace the unique immigrant communities and long-time residents that have been living there for years.

This week, in partnership with Conexión Américas in Nashville, T4America released a new report that provides an analysis of this corridor’s assets, challenges to overcome, and a list of recommendations that Metro Nashville decision-makers could use to make the busy corridor safer for everyone and improve the economic prospects of the area while avoiding displacement of existing residents and businesses.

Nashville is booming

The Middle Tennessee region, anchored by the city of Nashville, is one of the fastest growing in the entire country, and there’s immense pressure to accommodate growth within the city while also preserving existing affordable neighborhoods.

One factor driving up prices is that demand for housing is mismatched with available supply. There’s growing, unmet market demand in Nashville for well-connected neighborhoods in close proximity to jobs, services, and good schools that have safe streets for walking or cycling, and/or public transportation. But there are only a small number of neighborhoods that fit this bill regionally, and they are mostly within Nashville’s urban core.

The result is that some of the neighborhoods that are most attractive to new residents are the same neighborhoods that are currently home to those most in need of affordable housing.

This brings us to Nolensville Pike, one of the many spokes connecting downtown Nashville with suburban areas, a typical arterial state highway funneling traffic in and out of the city while also serving adjacent commercial uses and residential neighborhoods.

The road itself is clearly auto-oriented with wide, straight lanes and intermittent sidewalks immediately adjacent to fast-moving traffic that make walking an unpleasant and often dangerous experience. But it’s also filled with traffic lights and scores of local uses that slow down the thru-traffic. As a result, it’s neither fish nor fowl, neither a street nor a road; it’s a street/road “stroad” hybrid that does a poor job of either efficiently connecting two distant places or serving as a framework for creating lasting value and effectively serving local trips. It’s also the anchor of the most diverse area of the city that’s home to the largest number of immigrant families in the region.

Preventing displacement in the corridor

Rather than attempting to prevent new development along Nolensville Pike, which could bring jobs, increase the tax base, and improve quality of life for existing and new residents alike, the goal should be to ensure that improvements to the corridor include housing and commercial opportunities for immigrants, minorities, low-income households, and long-term residents who have called the neighborhood home or operated businesses there for many years.

The corridor possesses numerous assets, like its unmatched cultural diversity, relative affordability, close-in location and available space.

But there are numerous challenges to overcome to improve life on the Pike, including a lack of transportation options, auto-oriented design and land uses, the fact that the existing infrastructure doesn’t serve any of the necessary functions particularly well, and a looming potential for greater displacement.

Redevelopment pressures can already be felt along Nolensville Pike, though not yet to the extent of other parts of the city. As the region continues drawing new residents, Nashvillians new and old will be looking for affordable homes, access to jobs, health care, and strong schools, walkable shopping and entertainment districts, and more alternatives to sitting in traffic. Nolensville Pike could be an important part of meeting that coming demand.

Our detailed analysis offers specific recommendations to help decision-makers in the city and region make the corridor safer for everyone, improve the economic prospects (and equity) of the area, and provide new opportunities for adding housing and jobs — all while avoiding displacement of the vital communities of residents and businesses that call the Pike home.

Now is the time to take proactive measures to prevent displacement and preserve the unique identity of the area, while simultaneously making Nolensville Pike safer for everyone, improving the economic prospects (and equity) of the area, and providing new opportunities to add housing and jobs. By tackling these issues now, before development pressures have driven large-scale business closures or widespread displacement of current residents, the region will have the best chance of seeing its future growth occur in an equitable way, shared by all.

Download the full report (pdf). Our thanks to the Convergence Partnership for their support of this project.

Statement on 2018 budget proposal: “Communities need a partner, not austerity measures”

press release

Yesterday President Trump released his proposal for the fiscal year 2018 federal budget. Geoff Anderson, President and CEO of Smart Growth America, issued the following response. (T4America is a program of Smart Growth America.)

“There’s a lot of puzzling logic in this budget, but one point stood out to me above the others. It was the budget’s justification for cuts to transportation. Despite a pledge of raising $200 billion for infrastructure spending, the budget explains that because cities are investing in public transportation, the federal government should stop doing so.

The fact that local governments are spending money on public transportation — or housing, or neighborhood revitalization — shows just how much cities value these things. Local governments and the private sector are willing to invest their own dollars to make these things happen. The federal government should follow their lead and help that work go farther.

Some places can’t raise enough money for transportation projects on their own. In these places, federal funds can be a crucial catalyst, and can help communities build up their local economies to a point where they can be self-sustaining.

This budget ignores why communities need federal community development and transportation programs. It’s not just that they need money or innovative tools — which, for the record, they do. They also need a reliable partner who can support their work, not austerity measures that punish them for taking action.

If the federal government quits being that partner — which this budget absolutely implies — it’s going to cause lasting damage to American communities at a time when they need greater security and opportunity, not less. Trump promised these very things, but this budget is a reversal on that promise. We urge Congress to reject this austerity budget and create a budget that reinvest and rebuilds America for the future.”

Trump admin’s full budget proposal makes clear their intent to end federal support for transit construction

The Trump administration released their full budget proposal for 2018, ending any possible uncertainty about their belief that highway projects are always inherently in the national interest, transit of any type is explicitly a local concern, and leveraging greater local and state investment in transportation is not a trend to be encouraged.

Update (5/24/17): Comments from Seattle added. In the full budget proposal from the White House, released this morning, the administration fleshed out the specifics of their “skinny budget” proposal from back in March. In this longer document that now includes line-item amounts for individual programs, the administration calls to end the TIGER grant program, cut all funding for new transit construction (other than projects that already have federal funding agreements in hand), and terminate the funding for long-distance passenger rail.

[member_content]Logged-in T4America members can view and download our more detailed members-only summary here.[/member_content]

The administration reiterates their belief that transit is just a minor, local concern.

“Future investments in new transit projects would be funded by the localities that use and benefit from these localized projects,” they write, making it clear that they see no benefit in providing grants to cities of all sizes to build new bus rapid transit or rail lines, or expand existing, well-used lines so they can carry more passengers.

Unfortunately, they provide an extremely misguided justification for eliminating this funding.

Several major metropolitan regions have recently passed multi-billion dollar revenue measures to fund transit projects, and the Administration believes that is the most appropriate way to fund transit expansion and maintenance efforts. Localities are better equipped to scale and design infrastructure investments needed for their communities. Several major metropolitan areas, including Denver, Los Angeles, and Seattle, have already begun to move in this direction by asking residents to approve multi-billion dollar bond measures to speed the delivery of highway and transit investments. These regions realize waiting for Federal grant funding is not the most efficient way to meet their local transportation needs.

They’ve taken note of the positive trend of voters approving scores of ballot measures to raise taxes or fees to invest in transit, but have sorely mistaken that trend to mean that federal funding is no longer necessary and that these metro regions can make these ambitious projects happen all on their own.

We were wondering how the local leaders from Seattle, Los Angeles or Denver felt about being used as examples for why federal transit funding is no longer needed, so we reached out and asked a few for their thoughts.

Here’s Denny Zane with Move LA, the organization that led the grassroots effort to pass last year’s successful ballot measure in Los Angeles. (Mr. Zane is also a member of T4America’s Advisory Board.)

It is shocking that the Trump administration would play so fast and loose with such a longstanding and effective local-federal partnership to build transportation infrastructure — and to call out for abuse cities in western states simply because we took that partnership seriously. Yes, we have each gained the support of our local voters — Americans all — for investment in our transportation infrastructure. We were successful in part because we could assure them that our larger, more significant projects like the Wilshire subway, or the Sepulveda pass light rail, or the West Santa Ana light rail would all be good candidates for federal partnerships. Suddenly, without notice, the federal partner wants to pack it in.  This is no way to unite the nation.

In Seattle, voters approved over $27 billion for transit at the ballot box last November. Seattle Department of Transportation director Scott Kubly made it clear that those voters were counting on using those dollars to leverage federal transit grants:

We are incredibly disappointed that President Trump’s budget proposal cuts infrastructure funding and is totally out of step with his administration’s rhetoric promising to increase infrastructure investments. He needs to put his money where his mouth is. Seattle voters have done their part. They have stepped up to provide local dollars to leverage federal resources. Our local funds are meant to complement federal investments, not replace them. His proposal slashes important city initiatives. We will work closely with our coalition, community partners and congressional leadership to ensure continued support for the Seattle’s transportation priorities.

In their justification for eliminating all funding for the extremely popular TIGER program, the administration describes all of the benefits as local, and direct the towns, cities or states seeking TIGER grants to other ill-suited federal programs. As we wrote back in March:

The administration blithely suggested in their proposal that local communities instead turn to other programs that are explicitly designed not to meet same needs as TIGER. ‘DOT’s Nationally Significant Freight and Highway Projects grant program, authorized by the FAST Act of 2015, supports larger highway and multimodal freight projects with demonstrable national or regional benefits. This grant program is authorized at an annual average of $900 million through 2020’ Well, sure, but only $100 million of that $900 million in any year can be used on projects that aren’t on the national freight highway network, so if your project is multimodal or otherwise not on a key national highway, you’re probably out of luck.

What about that “big” infrastructure package?

People from across the political spectrum were energized by candidate Trump’s promises to invest in infrastructure; excitement that ramped up after inauguration as Trump continued talking about a $1 trillion infrastructure package. Aside from the dissonant and jarring promises to invest in infrastructure while proposing to take an axe to vital transportation programs that support smart investments today, these promises have been slowly downgraded.

After starting with the mind-bending $1 trillion number, it was soon revealed to be an anticipated $1 trillion in total economic benefit (or combined investment/financing, including private dollars, depending on who was being quoted) with a total direct investment of around $200 billion. That’s nothing to sneeze at though — $200 billion would be a little over four times current federal surface transportation spending in any given year.

Today, those promises are further laid bare by this budget, as the $200 billion is revealed to be the total amount invested over ten years, with just a paltry $5 billion extra included in 2018. (The amounts are reported to be higher in later years.)

$5 billion is just 0.5 percent of 1 trillion dollars. Though if you want to be as charitable as possible and go with $200 billion as the number for the total direct federal investment, then 2.5 percent of the administration’s promised infrastructure investment is included in their budget for this upcoming year.

“Our nation’s infrastructure serves as the backbone for economic growth and prosperity,” We said back in March when the preliminary budget outline was released. Few details have changed since, and just like the outline did, this full budget “falls short of prioritizing investment in the local communities that are the basic building block of the national economy.”

UPDATE: Geoff Anderson, President and CEO of Smart Growth America, issued a statement on the budget. (T4America is a program of Smart Growth America.) 

This budget ignores why communities need federal community development and transportation programs. It’s not just that they need money or innovative tools — which, for the record, they do. They also need a reliable partner who can support their work, not austerity measures that punish them for taking action.

If the federal government quits being that partner — which this budget absolutely implies — it’s going to cause lasting damage to American communities at a time when they need greater security and opportunity, not less. Trump promised these very things, but this budget is a reversal on that promise. We urge Congress to reject this austerity budget and create a budget that reinvest and rebuilds America for the future.

Read the full statement here.

Detailed administration budget proposal to be released this week

Tomorrow (Tuesday, May 23), the Trump administration is expected to release their full budget proposal for all government programs in fiscal year (FY) 2018, which begins on October 1 of this year, and we wanted to provide our members an early update with what to expect.

Last week a spreadsheet that contained some details about funding levels leaked and was widely circulated in Washington. Overall, the numbers in this leaked budget proposal align with the topline numbers in the initial “skinny” budget proposal released back in March.

We expect this week’s full budget proposal to significantly cut funding for the transit Capital Improvements Grant (CIG) program and long-distance Amtrak service:

  • $1.232 billion is allocated for the CIG program, about half of the $2.4 billion the program received in FY 2017. These cuts seem to align with the Administration’s proposal in the skinny budget to only fund projects with existing full funding grant agreements.
  • $525 million is allocated to Amtrak National Network, less than half of the FAST Act authorized amount of $1.1 billion and less than half of the FY 2017 appropriation. The Northeast Corridor would receive $235 million, which is also a cut from the $328 million allocated in FY 2017.

The leaked budget is clearly a draft, as some line items are repeated, or missing altogether. Programs such as REG or TIFIA that are not listed or appear to be zeroed out may be a reflection on the incomplete nature of the draft.

However, as we’ve believed all along, significant cuts to Amtrak’s national network and the program for all new transit construction are likely to appear in the final version of the administration’s 2018 budget proposal. T4America will provide members with a detailed summary of the final budget once it is released. We’ll send you a copy but logged-in members will also be able to see it within our public blog post that goes up either Tuesday or Wednesday at https://t4america.org/news-and-blog

Please stay tuned for additional information.

Stories You May Have Missed – Week of May 19th

Stories You May Have Missed

As a valued member, Transportation for America is dedicated to providing you pertinent information. This includes news articles to inform your work. Check out a list of stories you may have missed last week.

  • The White House indicated that President Trump’s first budget, scheduled for release on Tuesday, will propose spending $200 billion in infrastructure spending over 10 years. (Reuters)
  • “The Trump Administration this week is set to release its first full budget proposal for 2018 with the future of public transportation funding very much in doubt, despite frequent election year promises for big investments in infrastructure.” (Fortune Magazine)
  • Ford ousts their CEO Mark Fields in an effort to catch up in the race to build self-driving cars and define a new era in personal mobility. Jim Hackett, the executive leading Ford’s autonomous vehicle effort, is now CEO. (NY Times)
  • Uber is changing their pricing strategy to start charging passengers more if Uber thinks they are willing to pay more for an Uber ride. (Bloomberg)
  • “Five roadblocks for Trump’s $1T infrastructure plan.” (The Hill)
  • The Senate confirmed Jeffrey Rosen by a vote of 56-42 to be U.S. DOT deputy secretary. (The Hill)

South Carolina legislature overrides governor’s veto to increase state gas tax

Last week the South Carolina legislature voted to override a veto from the governor to successfully raise the state’s gas tax and other fees to increase funding for state highway projects. South Carolina is the 29th state to raise new transportation revenues since 2012.

To view details on the all of the states that have new revenue since 2012, please see this page, along with the rest of our resources on state funding & policy.

South Carolina’s new law (H. 3516) will raise fuel tax rates by a total of 12 cents per gallon by increasing the rate by 2 cents each year until 2022. When fully implemented, the 12-cent tax increase will generate an estimated $486 million annually.

The funding bill adds a new five percent tax on vehicle sales, netting $73 million annually. It also increases registration fees by $16 (netting $26 million annually) and adds a new $120 biennial fee on electric vehicles and a $60 biennial fee on hybrid vehicles (for $1.5 million annually).

New funding will be directed to maintenance and new construction on the state’s transportation system and to the state infrastructure bank to finance new projects. The law does not make major changes to the state’s transportation priorities

To offset the impact of tax and fee increases, the law creates a refundable tax credit in the amount of either the increased fuel tax cost or the amount paid on vehicle maintenance (whichever is less). This credit expires in 2022.

The House voted 95-18 and the Senate voted 32-12 on May 10 to override the veto. The passage came after several years of debate over new road funding. The state chamber of commerce and local chambers from Charleston, Greenville, and Lexington counties campaigned for the tax hike, including by sending mailers urging constituents to call their legislators to show support for the funding bill.

South Carolina is the fifth state to take action to raise new revenues in 2017, joining California, Indiana, Tennessee and Montana.

Stories You May Have Missed – Week of May 12th

Stories You May Have Missed

As a valued member, Transportation for America is dedicated to providing you pertinent information. This includes news articles to inform your work. Check out a list of stories you may have missed last week. 

  • U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao said that President Trump’s infrastructure plan will propose $200 billion in direct federal spending to generate $1 trillion in private infrastructure investment. This $200 billion will be offset elsewhere in the federal budget so as to not raise the federal deficit. (CNBC)
  • “Five things we know about Trump’s infrastructure plan.” (The Hill)
  • Over 50 national and local conservative groups released a joint statement of what they want in any infrastructure plan from President Trump. (The Hill)
  • South Carolina’s legislature overrode Governor Henry McMaster’s veto of a bill to increase South Carolina’s gas tax by 12 cents. The first part of the gas tax increase goes into effect July 1st (Post and Courier)
  • “Lyft and Waymo reach deal to collaborate on self-driving cars.” (NY Times)
  • The Boston Globe looks at why the private bus ride sharing company Bridj failed. (Boston Globe)

T4America is supporting arts and culture projects that tackle transportation issues

How can cities and regions apply artistic and cultural practice to shape transportation investments planned for diverse and rapidly changing neighborhoods? How can they positively transform these places and build social capital, support local businesses, and engage the community to celebrate the stories, cultural history, and diversity of existing residents — rather than displacing them? T4America has new grants available to help communities answer these questions.

After working closely with Nashville, Portland and San Diego over the last few years, Transportation for America is seeking to award $50,000 (each) to creative placemaking projects in three new cities that engage residents, attract the attention of local public works and transportation agencies, and spark new conversations that bring more people to the table to plan and implement new transportation investments. We are especially committed to funding collaborative projects that expand transportation opportunities and local control for low-income people, recent immigrants, and people of color living in communities that have experienced disproportionate disinvestment.

Applications may be completed online via a form on the T4America website at https://t4america.org/creative-placemaking-grants/. The application deadline for this opportunity is Friday, June 2, 2017 at 5:00 p.m. EST.

Don’t miss the informational webinar happening on Thursday May 11 at 4:00 p.m.

Register now

This opportunity is made possible through the  generous support of the Kresge Foundation.

Stories You May Have Missed – Week of May 5th

Stories You May Have Missed

As a valued member, Transportation for America is dedicated to providing you pertinent information. This includes news articles to inform your work. Check out a list of stories you may have missed last week. 

  • President Trump signed the omnibus appropriations deal that funds the federal government through September 30th. (CNBC)
  • See T4A’s member summary for more details on the omnibus and how it affects transportation projects in your community. (T4A Member Summary)
  • Everyone is waiting for President Trump to release his infrastructure plan. (Real Clear Politics)
  • President Trump indicated a willingness to consider a higher gas tax if the money was earmarked for highways; the White House later clarified the President’s remarks and said that industry leaders had presented the idea to President Trump and that he was not endorsing a higher gas tax. (Bloomberg; Washington Examiner)
  • Congressional Republicans expressed opposition to President Trump’s openness to a higher gas tax. (The Hill)
  • President Trump said an “Infrastructure plan (is) ‘largely completed,’ coming in 2-3 weeks.” (CNN)
  • The Northeast Corridor Commission has identified a backlog of $38 billion in state-of-good-repair projects along Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor (NEC). (Progressive Railroading)

Summary of the FY2017 USDOT appropriations bill

As introduced on May 1, 2017

Early on May 1, Congressional leaders revealed a $1.163 trillion appropriations bill to fund the entire government for the remainder of fiscal year (FY) 2017. Somehow Congress has employed budget maneuvers that allow this appropriations bill to incorporate higher funding levels, without comparable funding cuts, and yet adhere to the budget cap of $1.07 trillion, which Congress agreed to in 2015. For example, tens of billions are allocated for either Overseas Contingency Operations or Global War on Terror, which does not count against the statutory budget caps. The bill also includes $8.2 billion in emergency and disaster funding.

The House Rules Committee is scheduled to consider the omnibus package on Tuesday, May 2, with the Senate to follow. Congress is expected to pass the bill within the week and before the current continuing resolution (CR) expires on May 5.

The appropriations bill has been held up for a number of weeks over a disagreement over funding a border wall, healthcare payments, and non-funding related policy riders. Recent concessions in the Administration’s demands allowed the bill to move forward. The full text of the bill can be found here. Summaries of the appropriations bill can be found on the Senate Appropriations Committee page here and the House Appropriations Committee page here.

Funding

The FY2017 omnibus appropriations package includes funding for all remaining 11 appropriations bills, (Military Construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations passed in the fall 2016), including the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) appropriations bill. Overall, transportation programs are mostly funded at levels consistent with the FAST Act authorized amounts. The bill provides $57.651 in discretionary spending, which is a $350 million increase from FY2016. Of this, $18.5 billion in discretionary spending is for USDOT.

Funding for both the federal-aid highways program and transit formula grants are consistent with FAST Act authorized levels. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is funded at $1.85 billion, an increase of $173 million above FY2016 level. The bill also provides $3 million for the National Surface Transportation and Innovative Finance Bureau that was created under the FAST Act to consolidate the administration of several USDOT programs.

TIGER

The FY2017 appropriations bill provides $500 million for the TIGER discretionary grant program, also known as National Infrastructure Investment grants. This is equal to what the program received in FY2016 appropriations and is equal to the amount that T4America, along with over 160 organizations, asked legislators to support the program at.

This round of funding must be obligated by September 30, 2020.

New Starts, Small Starts, Core Capacity (Capital Investment Grant Program)

Within the amount appropriated for the Federal Transit Administration, $2.4 billion is allocated to the Capital Investment Grant (CIG) program, which is slightly above the FAST Act level of $2.3 billion.

The FY2017 appropriations bill encourages the Administration to continue the CIG program by distinguishing funding between projects that have Full Funding Grant Agreements (FFGAs) with USDOT and those projects that have yet to sign an FFGA. By setting aside funding for projects that are in the pipeline to receive federal funding, Congress demonstrated a show of support for those local communities that have in many cases have raised revenues for projects and have gone through years of planning with USDOT.

Within the New Starts program, $1.5 billion is allocated for all current FFGA projects and $285 million is set aside for projects that are in line to receive FFGAs. For the Core Capacity program, $100 million is available for projects with signed agreements and $232 million is available for projects anticipated to enter into an FFGA in FY2017. The Small Starts program is funded at $408 million.

Even though this funding has been appropriated, each project must still obtain a signed grant agreement with USDOT before the funds may be released to that project. In addition, the bill allows FTA to allocate more than $100 million per project under the core capacity, small starts, and expedited delivery programs.

The FY2017 appropriations bill directs the Secretary of Transportation to administer the CIG program funding as directed in the tables below:

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amtrak, CRISI, State of Good Repair, and REG

The FY2017 bill provides $1.167 billion for the National Network, a slight increase over the FAST Act authorized amount, and $328 million for the Northeast Corridor (NEC), which is a decrease from the $474 million authorized amount in the FAST Act.

The Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) grant program is funded at $68 million, a decrease from the $190 million authorized under the FAST Act. Of this funding, at least 25 percent will go to projects in rural areas and $10 million will support the initiation or restoration of intercity passenger rail. Up to 1 percent of the funds may be used for project management and oversight. The federal match is 80 percent and the program can fund rail safety technology, including PTC, capital projects, grade crossings, rail line relocation and improvement, short-line capital project, and planning for regional and corridor plans; among others.

The Federal-State Partnership for State of Good Repair grants program is funded at $25 million and similar to CRISI, up to 1 percent of the funds may be used for project management and oversight. The FY2017 appropriations bill also directs FRA to consider the needs of the entire rail network when determining grant awards. This program aims to reduce the state of good repair backlog for publicly owned or Amtrak-owned infrastructure, equipment, and facilities. In addition to projects that target brining existing infrastructure into a state of good repair, activities that are eligible for funding also include projects that replace existing assets with those that increase capacity and service levels.

The Restoration and Enhancement Grants (REG) program is funded at $5 million, which is less than the $20 million authorized under the FAST Act. As with the CRISI program, up to 1 percent of funds may be used for project management and oversight of the grants. This program is intended to support the operation of new or expanded service. It can provide grants to six lines to support operating costs for three years on a tiered structure – up to 80 percent operating costs in year one, 60 percent in year two, and 40 percent in year three.

The bill also provides $98 million in rail grants to support the implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC), a decrease from the $199 million authorized in the FAST Act. Within 120 days of enactment of the bill, Amtrak is also required to compile a report comparing actual food and beverage savings for FY2016 with projections.

Analysis

By keeping transportation funding in line with the FAST Act authorized amounts and by doing so without devastating cuts to housing programs, T4America expects this bill will pass with wide bi-partisan support. Congress began negotiating the appropriations bills that collectively make up this omnibus package back in 2016, before the election in November and under a different political climate. Through all of the transitions since then and amidst pressure from the new Administration to make drastic funding changes, Congress engaged with a number of stakeholders and maintained funding for the programs that communities need. If Congress continues along this path, there may be broad support for FY2018 appropriations and the infrastructure package. However, it is not clear the extent to which Congress has additional budget maneuvers available to them to continue to spend so freely.

Avoiding a government shutdown, Congress moves to preserve TIGER and transit funding — for now

In a budget deal to fund the government through the end of September, Congress partially accommodated the President’s requests for more defense and security spending, but ignored his requests to eliminate funding for TIGER, new transit construction, and other programs vital for building strong local communities.

Congress agreed on a budget to fund the government through the rest of the current fiscal year, but they did so by increasing spending nearly across the board, avoiding any hard questions about what to cut to make room for the President’s desired defense increases (or tax cuts), performing some fiscal wizardry to keep the bill from scoring as if it won’t exceed the budget caps previously agreed to by Congress several years ago.

Though the President had urged Congress to make deep cuts to crucial transportation programs immediately this year, Congress responded to what they heard from state and local leaders of all stripes (and many of you!) and did not eliminate the competitive TIGER grant program or the funding that’s paired with local or state dollars to build or expand new public transit service.

“We applaud the appropriators in Congress for listening to the business leaders, local elected officials and advocates from across the country and protecting funding for these programs that are vital to the health and prosperity of their communities,” said T4America Interim Director Beth Osborne. “But we also know that this budget deal was underway before last November’s election and there will be real pressure in the coming months to make these same cuts when Congress considers the 2018 budget later this year.”

[member_content]T4America members, you can read our full summary of the 2017 appropriations bill, which includes the list of transit projects Congress recommends to FTA for funding this year.

USDOT 2017 Appropriations bill summary[/member_content]

Overall, transportation programs are mostly funded at levels consistent with what’s in the FAST Act, though Congress actually appropriated more ($2.4b) for transit capital construction than was proposed by the FAST Act for this year ($2.3b). They allocated the full $500 million for a ninth round of TIGER grants, though it’s unclear if USDOT will be able to move the process along fast enough to make grant awards this calendar year.

Despite the President’s previous request to completely halt the pipeline of transit construction projects immediately, the bill urges the Federal Transit Administration to keep it moving forward by writing checks for the transit projects that already have grant agreements, and — most importantly — to set aside funding this year for the scores of projects expected to sign grant agreements this year, like planned bus rapid transit projects in Albuquerque, Indianapolis, Everett (WA), and Kansas City, among many others.

This does not mean that the pipeline of transit projects is safe and back to normal — far from it. For the projects without signed grant agreements, they must still obtain them before any funds can be received, and there have been rumors that the Trump Administration would simply stop signing them — whether Congress allocates money for them or not.

Secondly, this budget only covers the rest of the year through September 30. President Trump’s blueprint for the 2018 budget is what made all the headlines a few weeks ago, in which he proposed zeroing out these vital programs. Congress largely avoided the tough questions by making Trump’s requested defense increases but not making other equivalent cuts to pair with them. How will Congress respond during negotiations on the 2018 budget?

We’ll call on you again to hold their feet to the fire then, but for now, we urge you to send all of your representatives a message of thanks for rallying on a bipartisan agreement to protect the transportation funding that local communities depend on.

Congress is expected to pass the bill before the current continuing budget resolution (CR) expires on Friday (May 5.)

Stories You May Have Missed – Week of April 28th

Stories You May Have Missed

As a valued member, Transportation for America is dedicated to providing you pertinent information. This includes news articles to inform your work. Check out a list of stories you may have missed last week.

  • Congress reaches agreement on budget deal through September; government shutdown avoided. (Politico)
  • Congress on Friday passed a one-week government funding continuing resolution to give them time to negotiate a budget deal. (Washington Post)
  • President Trump reveals tax plan; no infrastructure funding included. (The Hill)
  • “Delays dog ‘shovel ready’ projects in Trump’s infrastructure plan.” (Reuters)
  • Tennessee Governor Bill Haslem signs transportation legislation into law. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
  • “How Uber lost its way in the Steel City.” (Politico)
  • Op-Ed: Why President Trump’s infrastructure plan may run into trouble due to skilled labor shortages. (CNBC)

Arts and culture are helping three cities transform neighborhoods in a positive way

From new light rail systems to bus rapid transit lines, cities are planning major new transportation investments to spur economic development and better connect people to opportunity. But how can they ensure that these investments — often in diverse and quickly evolving parts of their cities — transform neighborhoods in a positive way by building social capital, supporting local businesses, and celebrating the stories, cultural history and diversity of existing residents rather than displacing them?

Through a generous grant from the Kresge Foundation, over the last two years we’ve worked alongside local partners in three rapidly changing, diverse communities around the country to explore how arts and culture and more creative forms of engaging the public can provide positive answers to the questions asked above.

We’re seeking to award $50,000 (each) to creative placemaking projects in three new cities for 2017-2018. Find out more about the grant opportunity and apply today.

Learn More & Apply

In three specific cities outlined below (and elsewhere), an approach known as creative placemaking has helped engage community members in a deeper way than traditional transportation and public works agencies have managed to do, enabling and empowering true community-led visions for the projects at hand. This approach demonstrates tremendous promise for transportation agencies and local governments at a time when many have historically failed to win deep public support for important projects, often delaying or derailing implementation.

Over the last two years of our Cultural Corridor Consortium project, as it’s called, we’ve witnessed artistic and cultural practice sparking deep public engagement, facilitating the difficult — but necessary — conversations required to create better projects that more fully serve the needs of these communities and reflect what makes them unique in the first place. The consortium consists of trusted local partner organizations working in transit corridors in neighborhoods just outside urban cores: the Nolensville Pike Corridor in Nashville, the University Avenue corridor in San Diego’s City Heights neighborhood, and Division Street in Portland’s Jade and Division-Midway Districts.

Here are brief versions of each of their stories:

Nashville

In south Nashville, the Nolensville Pike corridor is a thriving community of recent immigrants, primarily of Latin, Kurdish, Somali, and Sudanese origin. Today, Nashville welcomes more than 1,000 refugees a year, has the fastest growing immigrant community in the United States, and is home to one of the largest Kurdish populations outside the Middle East. Nolensville Pike, which has been dubbed the “International District,” serves as the focal point of these immigrant communities.

Nolensville Pike is also a congested, typical arterial highway that carries 60,000 automobile trips a day while also serving adjacent commercial uses and residential neighborhoods. Though it serves as the central commercial spine of immigrant life in south Nashville, it has eroded or non-existent sidewalks, few crosswalks, insufficient bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, and no bus shelters, making travel outside of a car a downright unpleasant and often dangerous experience.

In 2015, Conexión Américas began hosting community meetings — facilitated by artists — to solicit ideas for transforming the road and surrounding spaces. At these meetings, the public expressed their desire for unbroken, connected  sidewalks, artistic crosswalks, slower traffic, public art, and bus shelters. To bolster this work, we supported Conexión Américas and the Nashville Area MPO to facilitate community-based arts and culture public engagement to plan and implement improved bus service and, eventually, light rail.

Through a student-led bus shelter design/build project, an intergenerational oral history project, and dynamic “Creative Labs” community meetings, the community came together to dream about the future of Nolensville Pike. This work was documented in Envision Nolensville Pike and led to the creation of the city’s first-ever bilingual crosswalk, situated on Nolensville Pike.

Supported by new analysis that T4America and Conexión Américas are releasing in the coming weeks, these partners are producing a plan to avoid commercial displacement and cultural gentrification along the corridor while building a better Pike for everyone. The next phase of this project will bring some of these visions to fruition to test ideas, push boundaries, and further build relationships along the diverse corridor.

The Nashville MPO formally launched its creative placemaking efforts with the adoption of its most recent regional transportation plan, and recently hosted a Creative Placemaking Symposium that convened area elected officials, transportation planners and engineers to think through applying creative placemaking to transportation projects.

San Diego

Since the mid-1990s, the neighborhood surrounding the intersection of 50th Street and University Avenue in the eastern City Heights neighborhood of San Diego has been a landing pad for newly arrived refugees from Somalia and other East African countries. Nearly three decades later, the bustling neighborhood, often referred to as as Little Mogadishu or Little Somalia, continues to serve the Somali and other East African communities. It’s a regional hub for other East Africans from throughout San Diego, a neighborhood hub for those that have been living there for years, and continues to be a welcoming home to new refugees. Many of those who arrived in the 1990s have become established business and community leaders, pillars of a strong local social fabric. In the neighborhood you’ll find Somali businesses, mosques that attract and support new arrivals, and affordable housing apartment complexes, all which contribute to the rich sense of culture and home.

Despite the sense of community that the the neighborhood has nurtured, it’s a dangerous area to walk, with high rates of pedestrian fatalities and other safety issues. The City Heights Community Development Corporation (CHCDC) has been engaging the community to envision how they can integrate their art, culture and history with a safer streetscape. Picking up on that work, Circulate San Diego, alongside CHCDC, initiated new programs to engage with largely East African and Somali residents to define community assets, and discuss how these assets can be reflected in art to improve the overall transit ridership experience with bus rapid transit on El Cajon Boulevard.

All of this public engagement has led to the development of parklets, gathering spaces, a pop-up coffee shop, local farmers market and traffic calming murals that have helped solidify sense of place, strengthened community ownership, and increased pedestrian safety.

The neighborhood’s “Take Back the Alley” mural project brought community members together to create a mural near a BRT station. This public art piece, and the positive effects it has on the surrounding area generated inertia, encouraging a small business owner nearby to clean up an adjacent parking lot and repurpose it as a café space, now leased by a local start-up coffee cart business.

Our partners also spearheaded the new San Diego Neighborhood Placemaking Collaborative, a collection of five neighborhood-based organizations who meet regularly to advocate for creative placemaking in the region. Last year, Circulate San Diego produced A Place for Placemaking in San Diego as a roadmap to overhaul the regulations and permitting policies that negatively impact creative placemaking projects in San Diego.  The white paper is already helping to shape new permitting procedures by defining creative placemaking in San Diego’s Municipal Code and subsequently providing for a new process for community organizations and other applicants interested in pursuing neighborhood placemaking projects. Circulate San Diego and CHCDC also recently participated as key stakeholders in a city-led “Complete Boulevard study” to bring a complete streets design concept and creative placemaking elements to El Cajon Boulevard and this neighborhood in particular.

Portland

In Portland, arts-based engagement has helped build a positive dialogue between local agencies and the community to ensure that a new planned bus rapid transit line serves the residents of ethnically diverse, working class districts in the eastern part of the city. The Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon (APANO) and the Division-Midway Alliance, two nonprofits located respectively in the Jade and Division districts along Division street in Portland, have been empowering residents, businesses, and students through arts and culture to shape the evolving BRT project.

This area is home to many immigrant families that give the area a rich ethnic and cultural diversity that is increasingly rare in Portland. In a corridor with members from such diverse backgrounds, creative tactics allow the community to advocate, express, and communicate their needs and interests related to this new transportation proposal.

By building public awareness and pressure through placemaking work and community organizing, APANO and Division-Midway Alliance helped to pause construction of the BRT planning process until the Portland Bureau of Transportation, Trimet, Metro, and others made formal community benefit agreements by agreeing to mitigation measures to ensure that the new vital transit service would transform the community in a positive way.

Similar to Nashville and San Diego, our partners in Portland also developed a community-based vision — the Jade-Midway Districts Art Plan — to guide their arts and culture solutions to transportation challenges. To further build local capacity, our partners built a Placemaking Steering Committee comprised of eight civic, nonprofit, and government members to guide creative placemaking plans in the district. APANO also launched a creative placemaking project grant program, which funds the creation of cultural worker-led projects in the district. These cultural workers then participate in a cohort known as the Resident Artist Collaborative, in which they receive training to help prepare to produce community-engaged work.

One of the most exciting products of this work is the creation of a new community placemaking grant program at Metro, which will institutionalize this cultural work through the Portland area. Metro, the Portland region’s MPO, kicked off their inaugural Community Placemaking Grant last month, and we were on hand, and we were on hand.

Arts and culture contribute to the unique identity of a city and exert a powerful emotional pull. They’re intrinsic to preserving what’s great about the places people already love, and for creating new places worth caring about. We firmly believe that engaging the public through the arts and culture helps produce better projects, promote social equity, and is part of building better places that are loved and cared for by a more diverse community of people.

In all three of these cities we’ve seen a deep commitment to community-building between local organizations and municipal agencies lead to new institutional creative placemaking programs that will last long after these isolated projects are finished. The pilot projects have led directly to new funding programs and policy changes to build a sustained practice of creative placemaking in the three cities, while bringing new voices to the table.

Bring creative placemaking to your city through a new grant opportunity

After working closely with these cities over the last few years, we are eager to expand on this work — we’re seeking to award $50,000 (each) to creative placemaking projects in three new cities for 2017-2018.

Find out more about the grant opportunity and apply today.

Learn More & Apply

This post was produced by Mallory Nezam and Ben Stone on our arts and culture team.