The bill would prohibit the use of gasoline-tax revenue to support public transportation, a funding stream that has been in place for more than three decades. If the bill were to pass, it would introduce a level of uncertainty that will make planning for capital projects far more difficult and expensive.
Connecticut's transit system, already one of the busiest in the country, is about to expand with the addition of the New Britain-Hartford Busway and New Haven-Springfield Commuter Rail. These new services will spur commercial and residential development around transit hubs, increasing local property values and tax revenue -- but only if local governments and the state create the regulatory frameworks that enable transit-oriented development.
The Springdale neighborhood in Stamford recently adopted village-district zoning that enables walkable, mixed-use development near its train station on Metro-North's New Canaan branch. (mouse over to view photo simulation)
A new RPA proposal suggests how future station-area development could fund initial planning and improvements in communities with rail stations and contribute to future improvements to the transit network. The proposed program joins supportive planning policies with low-cost, flexible development incentives that can be implemented by municipalities to unlock development potential in their downtown station areas.
While high-speed rail has struggled to secure adequate financing in the U.S., Britain is moving ahead with plans to build the country's second bullet train. The U.K. government faced considerable opposition to the project, both within Parliament and from some residents along the rail corridor. But it worked aggressively to persuade the public on the long-term economic benefits of high-speed rail, a strategy that offers guideposts for the U.S. as pursues its own high-speed rail projects in California and the Northeast. Read more, and weigh in with your comments, in the latest edition of Spotlight.
Meanwhile, RPA's Jessie Feller looks at how financially strapped urban centers are tackling persistent infrastructure challenges with smaller and more localized solutions.
Long Island is at a tipping point, possessing tremendous innovation potential but hamstrung by a shortage of affordable housing, limited downtown development and gaps in science education, new research suggests.
Three studies issued by the Long Island Index, a 10-year-old research initiative, describe the opportunities and challenges facing the Island. Long Island Profile 2012, written by Regional Plan Association, documents the region's progression from America's poster child of postwar optimism to a place experiencing a midlife crisis of uncertainty. A new poll conducted by the Center for Survey Research at Stony Brook shows Long Islanders concerned about the future but more open to new ways to grow, such as building more apartments in Long Island's downtowns. And the Innovation Index, written by Collaborative Economics, points the urgency of connecting Long Island's research institutions, skilled work force and other assets to restore a high-wage, dynamic economy.
Long Island's economic competitiveness will be on the agenda at a town hall meeting in Hauppauge in Suffolk County on Jan. 31. Everyone is welcome.
New York and Montreal are only 330 miles apart, but their economic ties are limited. A corridor linking Montreal with New York City that combines energy transmission with high-speed rail and ultra-fast broadband would allow people and information as well as electrical current to make the journey from Montreal to Albany and then New York City.
In Europe and Asia, railroads, electric transmission and broadband corridors are commonly accommodated in the same shared right-of-way. The opportunity exists to do something similar in the U.S., strengthening the economic, energy and information links between Montreal, Albany and the New York area. Read more on the super-corridor's potential in Spotlight, RPA's newsletter, and see a report RPA prepared on the topic.
Over the past several years, Connecticut has bolstered investment in its intercity rail program with new service planned linking Hartford and New Haven and has approved funding to construct the state's first bus rapid transit system.
But Connecticut has significant repair costs ahead and future federal funding is uncertain. A significant gap exists to pay for maintenance projects and for improvements in transit and highway capacity. The state hasn't identified new sources of revenue to pay for these projects or prioritized these unfunded projects in a strategic plan.
Emil Frankel, director of transportation at the Bipartisan Policy Center, will keynote a forum in Hartford on January 20 exploring the state's transportation financing challenges.
Under the governor's proposal, everybody wins. The plan will create much-needed convention space for professional conferences and large trade events. It will generate revenue and jobs in New York through the creation of the largest economic-development project in the state, and it will provide new engines of growth for Queens and Manhattan's West Side. Read RPA's proposal on Javits, Unconventional.
Support is growing for more prosperous, livable communities.
Efforts to foster job creation, improve infrastructure and protect natural resources in New York and Connecticut got a big boost this month as Long Island and Stamford, Conn., won government grants aimed at promoting development around transportation hubs. At the same time, a consortium co-led by RPA kicked off a series of town halls in the region to listen to residents' ideas for transforming their communities. Read the full story here and see a video report on the Stamford town hall. Also, read a story in Planning magazine on RPA's work to create more livable, sustainable communities.
The Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, an initiative co-led by Regional Plan Association, won a $890,000 New York State economic-development grant to build a long-sought park at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. RPA and Brooklyn Greenway Initiative, a community-based nonprofit, have worked for the past decade to develop a 14-mile landscaped path along Brooklyn's waterfront.
Small neighborhood parks like this one and others in the works will enhance the greenway by creating open spaces and amenities along the route. The Navy Yard park will be built on a 1.7 acre site at the Navy Yard that once housed a hospital cemetery.
NEW YORK -- Today as part of a broader tax proposal, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced an agreement to scale back the MTA's payroll-mobility tax and to replace up to $250 million in tax revenue with other state funds.
The payroll-mobility tax, adopted by the New York legislature with the support of Regional Plan Association in 2009, produces 14.3% of the MTA's annual operating budget. In addition, the PMT has been seen by the MTA as a cornerstone of its strategy to close a $10 billion gap in the MTA's five-year capital program.
Helicopter tour flights are disrupting the tranquility of Governors Island. Tourist flights regularly cut across the island, creating noisy intrusions that interrupt conversations, drown out concerts and performances and prevent visitors from enjoying the park experience, Rob Pirani, RPA's vice president for environmental programs and executive director of the Governors Island Alliance, told a New York City Council panel. We hope city and congressional representatives can work with tour operators to reduce the impact of flights with steps such as staggering or limiting flights, increasing altitude and ensuring that flights stay over water. Read Pirani's testimony, see a DNAinfo story on the helicopter flights and watch a report on PIX Ch. 11.
The New Jersey Assembly is considering passage of a bill that, in its current form, will undermine the goals of the state's Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit program and weaken the state's long-term economic competitiveness. Regional Plan Association is joined by New Jersey Future, American Planning Association/NJ Chapter and Tri-State Transportation Campaign in recommending that the bill, A4306, be amended to avoid the erosion of the tax-credit program's capacity to level the playing field between urban and suburban markets and ensure that the program encourages truly transit-oriented development.
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