Statewide News

During the week of June 14-18th, the New York State Legislature overwhelmingly passed the Empire State Future Coalition's top priority legislation -- the Public Infrastructure Priority Act (A8011B/S5560B). This groundbreaking bill instructs State Agencies, Authorities and Public Corporations to align their spending on infrastructure with stated smart growth criteria. These agencies must form advisory committees that include environmental and community stakeholders to advice them in regard to smart growth compliance. The agencies are further instructed to issue written Smart Growth Impact Statements in regard to their project choices and that includes issuing written justifications for projects deemed vital that do not meet smart growth criteria.

The bi-partisan bill passed the New York State Assembly 138-2 and the New York State Senate 56-2. It was sponsored by Sam Hoyt of Buffalo in the Assembly and by Westchester's Suzi Oppenheimer, Brooklyn's Velmanette Montgomery and Long Island's Carl Marcellino in the Senate.

Empire State Future views the bill's passage as a giant step toward New York's sustainable economic revitalization. New York may soon be a Smart Growth State! The bill now goes to the Governor who is expected to sign.

      A bill requiring state agencies to fund infrastructure investments in a manner that is consistent with Smart Growth criteria has gained final legislative approval in Albany, and will be sent to Governor David A. Paterson for action. Passage of the "Smart Growth Infrastructure Policy Act" was hailed by proponents as a major step away from uncoordinated, sprawl-inducing capital spending decisions by state government.

       "It's a significant advance for Smart Growth principles, fiscal rectitude, and better land use practices in New York," said Peter B. Fleischer, Executive Director of ESF.

       The amendment to the state's Environmental Conservation was sponsored by Senator Suzi Oppenheimer of Westchester and Assemblyman Sam Hoyt of Buffalo. It establishes a Smart Growth Advisory Council in state agencies, authorities, and public corporations that are charged with evaluating proposed or existing projects according to established Smart Growth criteria. Support for the measure was overwhelming in both houses of the legislature.

Peter B. Fleischer, Executive Director of Empire State Future, and others make the case for the Public Infrastructure Policy Act at a press conference in Albany today, June 17, 2010. Peter begins at 21:00.

       More than 250 people gathered in Albany at the New York State Rail Summit recently, discussing the need for high-speed service and how to pay for it.  "We need to move into this century in this country," said U.S. Representative Louise Slaughter of Rochester, a leading congressional advocate for high-speed passenger service, according to a page one story in the Times Union of Albany.

      One impetus for the summit was the $151 million in Federal stimulus funds coming to the state for rail improvements, part of a national pool of $8 billion dedicated to high-speed rail corridors around the country. New York was well behind California and Florida and other states in the competition for funds, but officials here have said they hope to better in future funding rounds. 

      Economic development in a high-speed corridor was a topic of discussion at the summit, as was the feasibility of using the existing routes shared between passenger and freight, or establishing a separate dedicated track in a "secure corridor." CSX, the private freight carrier which owns the tracks, has made it clear it doesn't believe mixing passenger trains and freight on the same tracks is safe, according to the paper. The railroad's position on high-speed passenger rail was said to be improving, however, according to Karen Rae of the Federal Railroad Administration, who was quoted in the piece.

 

     New York has been awarded a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency funded grant from the Smart Growth Leadership Institute to promote sustainable land use reform that relates to water quality efforts, according to Governor David A. Paterson's office. It's intended to help states align land use and drinking water protection, according to former Maryland Governor Paris Glendening, President of the Institute.

 

      Peter Fleischer, Executive Director of Empire State Future, said the group, New York's statewide Smart Growth advocacy coalition, "is pleased to see the continuing effort and creativity stemming from the Smart Growth Cabinet to address critical aspects of Smart Growth -- namely the link between residential sprawl, land use, and the quality of the water upon which we depend."

 

      Governor Glendening said "We are eager to work with New York's Smart Growth Cabinet, which we see as a national model for the kind of innovative, problem-solving government we need to tackle complex environmental and economic issues."

      A broad statement of principles designed to guide New York State and CSX Transportation, Inc. in establishing enhanced intercity and high-speed passenger rail services has been signed, according to a news release from Governor David A. Patterson. The agreement will allow the state to proceed with environmental impact statements for projects on the 463-mile Empire Corridor between New York City and Buffalo and Niagara Falls, according to the release, and move toward construction on $151 million in Federally funded stimulus projects that were announced earlier this year.

       "The state's agreements with CSXT are a significant step toward bringing high speed passenger rail to New York on the Empire Corridor," the Governor said in the release. "The deadlock has been broken allowing the program to go forward."

       A Federal grant of $1 million from the Federal Railroad Administration was also announced, and will be used to cover about 20 percent of the estimated $4.5 million needed for the environmental reviews. High-speed rail enhancements are designed to improve reliability and reduce travel time of passenger rail service in New York, and the planning studies required for the projects to move forward are expected to be complete by mid-2012, according to the release.

Travel not only to downtown Buffalo, but to many of its older suburbs and you'll find decaying sidewalks, half-empty shopping centers, vacant lots and abandoned homes. But travel a few more miles into what was until recently open countryside, and you'll find big new suburban homes on former farm fields. Meanwhile, the population of Erie County as a whole continues to decline.

This odd combination of declining population and accelerating sprawl is actually quite common across upstate New York -- the vast area north and west of the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge. It's the Upstate Paradox. And for the past two years, as I've crisscrossed the state seeking ideas for making our communities more economically and environmentally sustainable, no land use challenge, among the many in New York, seems more problematic.

While some would argue that high taxes and excess regulation are the cause of this hemorrhaging, inefficient land use and development are key causes, too.

However, land use and infrastructure policy is the big ticket item about which we can and must do something meaningful now. Our state legislators can approve the Public Infrastructure Policy Act (A-8011/S-5560) in this legislative session. The bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo, and and Sens. Susan Oppenheimer, D-Westchester County, and Velmanette Montgomery, D-Brooklyn, seeks to align the planning, grant-making and capital funding efforts of state entities with smart growth criteria. It would direct and redirect funds to projects or places with existing investments in public infrastructure.

Why must we pass the Public Infrastructure Policy Act?

Simply put, upstate cannot afford its current pattern of sprawl without growth. The population trends and fiscal reality upstate suggest that we need to use public funds to catalyze community economic revitalization within the bounds of already developed areas. If state policy does not curtail upstate's sprawl without growth patterns, higher property taxes and service cuts may well continue.

       Over the past few weeks I spent four days in Rochester, drove from the capital District to Tarrytown in Westchester, spent an afternoon touring industrial parks near Coxsackie, went to Kingston to noodle on how to create a "Knowledge Network" among the Hudson River communities with Sustainable Hudson Valley, and in Troy, learned about Hudson River dredging, while continuing to monitor the progress of legislation in Albany.
 

      In Rochester (population 207,000) I stayed in the East Avenue section of the city.  For those who don't know Rochester, it's the city's historic grand esplanade -- flanked by expansive mansions, including Kodak founder George Eastman's mansion, now a leading international museum of photography and film. Parallel to East is Park Avenue, home to boutiques, trendy ethnic restaurants, and considerable on-street residential and cultural activity.  Of course, not all of Rochester is like this.   

      Though I usually take Amtrak to Rochester and Buffalo, I drove this time and a bit to my consternation (as I am a big fan of rail), it was a fast and easy drive. This was my fifth trip to Rochester in two years. 

      My first meeting was with Eric Van Dusen, Chief Operating Officer of ESF Coalition Member NeighborWorks Rochester. NeighborWorks assists families into homeownership and helps to ensure their long-term success as homeowners.  They do do this in or near communities that have high and stubborn concentrations of poverty.  I could not help but ask Eric how NeighborWorks had weathered the recent mortgage/debt/energy crisis.  To my surprise, he noted that stringent rules and careful selection criteria (read: quality not quantity) enabled his organization to come through with acceptable default rates with his clients and their neighborhoods achieving positive outcomes.

      

 By Peter B. Fleischer

 

      Over the past five weeks, beginning in late January, I have made several visits across the state to meet with community and civic leaders and Empire State Future coalition members.  In each case, I learned a great deal about distant parts of the state and new matters of policy.

 Mohawk Valley Visit

      In Fonda I met with Doug Greene, chief planner for Montgomery County. Doug is also a key player in the American Planning Association's Upstate Chapter. He showed me GIS maps of how Montgomery County (population 47,000) is trying to build around its town centers using the Mohawk River as both a theme and a connector of much of the county's population. He is also leading efforts to develop the town of Fonda around a state-supported waterfront revitalization effort. I met Doug in the County offices, which are located in a wonderful, 1840's classical-revival building which unfortunately is cut-off from the rest of Fonda by the fences and tracks of the Albany to Buffalo rail line. The train, btw, does not stop in Fonda. 

 Sullivan County

       On a very cold and snowy day, I addressed the economic development advisory council for Sullivan County (population 75,000), at the restored barn that was the beating heart of Yasgar's farm in Bethel Woods. Yes, I went to "Woodstock."  I toured an exceptionally well-done museum dedicated to that seminal event of 40 years ago. The displays were excellent, as was the music, by the way. Bethel Woods is now both an outdoor, seasonal concert venue and a state-of-the-art conference center.  Luiz Aragon, formerly a housing and transportation official in New York City, has relocated to the area.  He is attempting to bring smart planning, sophisticated GIS, and his characteristic high energy to the task of growth in the Monticello/Delaware River area. Monticello has a struggling main street, and is to some extent dominated by the "Racino" at the edge of town.

The RevitalizingNY statewide summit on sustainable development, sponsored by Empire State Future and the New York Department of State, was held October 7, 2009 at downtown Schenectady's historic Proctors Theater. Almost 200 participants--including over 40 expert, experienced presenters and panelists-- attended from across the state and across professional and political persuasions. Here, you can download a document containing the event proceedings; it includes an executive summary as well as complete transcripts of the summit's ten panel sessions.