Local Opportunities for Transit and Alternative Transportation

The American Public Health Association has a Transportation and Health Toolkit, which will help those interested and involved with transportation alternatives to explain and advocate for the public health benefits of transit and other community transportation, as well as zero-emission modes. The toolkit offers fact sheets linking public health to transportation choices in a community, outreach materials to the press, advice for dealing with local leaders, and archived webinar and factual material about public health consequences of the local transportation network.

Six Chosen Cities

Investing in Community Change reports that the Administration has selected six pilot cities for a new initiative. The Administration explains that it is encouraging local partnerships and empowerment.

Strong Cities, Strong Communities is a new interagency pilot initiative that aims to strengthen neighborhoods, towns, cities and regions around the country by strengthening the capacity of local governments to develop and execute their economic vision and strategies. Strong Cities, Strong Communities bolsters local governments by providing necessary technical assistance and access to federal agency expertise, and creating new public and private sector partnerships.

The six city pilot locations are:

Chester, PA - the Community Solutions Team will help Mayor Butler diversify the local economy, support small business development and revitalize the downtown.
Cleveland, OH - Strong Cities, Strong Communities will support Mayor Jackson in his efforts to coordinate workforce and economic development and to maximize the economic potential of the Cleveland Port.
Detroit, MI - the Community Solutions Team will partner with Mayor Bing and Governor Snyder to increase coordination and alignment on workforce and economic development issues, and to leverage U.S. DOT's investments in High Speed Rail and the Woodward Avenue light rail project to spur economic revitalization in the downtown corridor.
Fresno, CA - Mayor Swearengin and the Community Solutions Team will work to capitalize on the coming high-speed rail station to improve the downtown area, and will also build on a successful neighborhood development program.
Memphis, TN - Strong Cities, Strong Communities will partner with Mayor Wharton and his team to pursue his vision to strengthen the education system and attract new industries.
New Orleans, LA - Mayor Landrieu and the Communities Solutions Team will work to integrate existing federal resources to improve the delivery of health services, manage public safety and rebuild public infrastructure.

Potential for Transit and Mobility

The highlighted text shows just a few places where there is potential for transit and other mobility components to larger development and revitalization projects.

And here is more from Ray LaHood, the Secretary of Transportation, about how the pilot programs will be conducted.

Earlier this week, Deputy Secretary [of Transportation] John Porcari traveled to Memphis to announce that as part of this new initiative, the Obama Administration will send five full-time federal staff people to Memphis. Their job will be to listen to local leaders, learn what they need from the federal government, and help them secure that assistance or expertise. And the Obama Administration will also work with private partners to create a fellowship program that will connect new graduates looking for jobs with city governments looking for well-trained professionals.

This seems like the kind of technical assistance that many in our network are involved in, with perhaps an opportunity for networking with those new graduates to teach them about the link between a quality transportation network and a thriving town, small city, big city, and a metropolitan area.

[Central Park South with buses during morning rush hour.]

Within Our Network

One example of transportation technical assistance is Joblinks' list of case studies on its homepage. The list, with brief descriptions, gives visitors a good idea of the range of employment transportation programs, with links to detailed information.

Examples of planning in non-auto transportation are featured on NADO's Ruraltransportation.org among the Excellence Award Winners. The 2011 winners include planning for a Safe Routes to School program, sidewalks, bicycling, a volunteer driver initiative, and transit development.

Within our network, there are new events, initiatives, and even great website redevelopment. Feel free to send an email to Sheryl Gross-Glaser (grossglaser@ctaa.org) with information about your technical assistance center's great work.

[Morning taxi exodus from Central Park.]

Postscript: I promise to take transit pictures outside of New York during my travels this summer. I should have taken a photograph of one of the express buses I rode on while in the city, but I was in a rush to and from Queens.