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Home Resource Center In the News Home Greenbelt Alliance in the News |
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Greenbelt Alliance In the News
July 13, 2006 A vision for growth Letter to the Editor BylineEditor -- The July 2 editorial ("How does your region grow?" -- in response to the new Greenbelt Alliance's "smart growth scorecard") serves as a clarion call to address Bay Area growth challenges. As the editorial suggests, the "scorecard" looks at only a piece of the picture -- namely adopted local plans and policies -- and challenges us all to improve our land-use policies. The adopted policies certainly are important because they capture and communicate a community's collective desire for the future. However, both the report and the editorial acknowledge that the policies don't always entirely reflect either the built environment resulting from past actions or what's happening "on the ground" with new development approvals. Many communities have taken positive steps to improve their policies along the lines suggested in the "scorecard" and merit special recognition. But, there is more to do. A new regional initiative, "Focusing Our Vision," answers the challenge to plan for a better Bay Area. Focusing Our Vision directly responds to the issues the editorial suggests as critical: Raising awareness about growth; developing a regional strategy about how to best accommodate the 1 million new people expected to arrive over the next 20 years; and providing greater coordination among local jurisdictions on land-use planning issues. Sponsored by the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), Focusing our Vision is bringing together local governments, community interest groups and other stakeholders in a series of planning meetings and public dialogues to identify regional and local priorities for where and how we should develop, as well as which areas we should preserve and protect. In addition, infrastructure bonds on the state November ballot offer opportunities to better connect state, regional and local planning efforts and infrastructure investment. This makes identification of regional priorities for development and conservation especially critical at this time, because it can help the Bay Area capture its fair share of state incentives. To learn more about Focusing Our Vision, go to www.bayareavision.org. JANET McBRIDE ABAG Planning Director Oakland ### |
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