Equitable TOD refers to livable, mixed-use neighborhoods
near transit, providing housing for all income levels. Over the years,
planners, developers and affordable housing advocates have worked to realize
the potential for equitable TOD. As a recent story from the Washington Post uncovers though, mixed-income housing requires more than award-winning plans. It requires a long-term commitment to action and to the people living in these neighborhoods.
How are we doing as urban planners to
engage youth in the visioning, planning and design of the cities and farms that
they will inherit? As the dog
days of summer get underway, there are ample opportunities for planners working
on site plans, station area planning, long-range or comprehensive planning to
engage youth and take advantage of the fresh ideas and eagerness which the next
generation brings to these issues. Engage kids and you may be surprised by what ideas emerge, including a burgeoning rural urbanism.
Today marks the one year anniversary of MZ Strategies, LLC, which I founded as a way to work directly with communities and organizations in developing and implementing strategies to create thriving, inclusive communities. Thanks go out to many people for their support, readership, collaboration, and encouragement!
Read More…Cities are evolving, dynamic organisms. This is what makes them so incredible to those of us in the planning and design professions. They are a constantly changing experiment, but what I love is what they also say about American ingenuity and tenacity. No other country abandoned their cities as fervently as in the US, but no other country can show the types of successful transformation of urban neighborhoods particularly in the face of relatively minor federal support.
Read More…MZ Strategies, LLC and the National Association of Regional Councils (NARC) released a new report entitled “Planning for Regional Competitiveness.,” funded by the McKnight Foundation to help inform efforts underway in the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. The report highlights best practices that strengthen regional economic competitiveness. Building upon lessons learned from the greater Denver, Seattle-Tacoma, and Kansas City metropolitan regions and a national survey of regional planning councils, the report provides recommendations to improve regional economic competitiveness and improve cooperation to grow economies and reduce economic disparities.
Read More…Two new updates worth spotlighting: 1) The Obama Administration has finally released its FY2014 budget proposal which includes a re-branded $75 million Integrated Planning and Implementation grant program at HUD (formerly the Sustainable Communities Initiative) ; and 2) a new State Transportation Funding Proposal tracker by T4America to help follow the evolving set of proposals by Governors and State Legislatures to fill the funding gap created by insufficient federal support for highways, transit, bike and rail projects.
Over the past decade I have worked with many communities to help realize their local transit and development aspirations. During this same time, Arlington County, the community I am proud to call home, has been taking a painstakingly thorough path to re-introduce streetcar service along Colombia Pike. Funding remains elusive as sequestration threatens the proposed federal share, and local critics smell blood in the water. The current threat to Arlington’s own streetcar desire, is a reminder to me of the importance for transportation professionals to engage in these same issues when they are happening in our own backyard.
Read More…It’s March in Washington, DC. The time of year when cherry trees start to blossom and the city is invaded by people of every political persuasion here to lobby Congress and the administration about any and everything having to do with the budget. Knowing what to say to Congress this year feels a little harder. We find ourselves in a politically-made quagmire happening at the same time that states and cities have identified an incredible set of projects to create jobs, support economic growth, address environmental challenges, and make our communities great places to live.
We cannot depend too much on federal funds to solve our problems. But we also cannot continue to let Congress kick the can, or worse, kick us when we’re down. Individual voices make a difference. If you care about these issues, make your voice heard!
Read More…MZ Strategies, LLC has been certified by the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Minority Business Enterprise as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE). The DBE certification qualifies MZ Strategies to work on projects throughout the Commonwealth in the following categories:
MZ Strategies, LLC is a woman-owned small business based in Arlington, Virginia offering policy and planning consulting services.
Read More…Density without design may fail to
generate anticipated return on investment -- both in terms of creating new riders and in
transforming neighborhoods. A common mistake
for planners and transit officials is to pursue TOD projects with a belief that
building near transit will automatically create significant new ridership and
increased property values. Too little attention is paid to the smaller scale
strategies that can help to make TOD a success. Included in this category are smaller scale strategies that
focus on improving the safety, convenience, and feel of a place to signal that
people are welcome and transit is a preferred way to travel. Apart from design, top of the list should be education and outreach to enlist those who would be your obvious allies if only they knew it. Included in this category are hotels and convention centers located near transit, as evidenced by my recent trip to Miami, Florida.
In just the first two months of 2013, we’ve seen a surprising array of ideas being advanced by Governors seeking to overcome the most pressing transportation challenge of our time: how to pay for the system we have and the system we need? Federal rigor mortis is pushing the transportation fiscal canyon to states and localities. It also lends credibility to questioning the continued existence of a federal program or user pay model if it is insufficient to the task, and is more burden than benefit in terms of adding regulatory requirements that come without the funding to pay for them. The implications for states and localities are significant.
Read More…Transit-oriented development brings unique challenges in securing financing and turning a profit. For developers and communities hoping to see a mix of income levels in TOD housing, additional challenges must be overcome. I appreciated the chance to write a guest blog on this topic in response to a recent Living Cities-sponsored webinar by Enterprise Community Partners and the Low-Income Investment Fund (LIIF). Despite challenges, there are indeed silver linings to the emerging TOD financing environment.
Read More…The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) opened 2013 by releasing a set of game-changing documents for transportation and community development. In its newly published New and Small Starts Final Rule and Proposed Policy Guidance, FTA proposes that smart land use and affordable housing be viewed as key components of good transit projects, and good economic development policy.
Read More…This past year I traveled to a number of communities and was inspired by the great work that is happening in
places large and small to create thriving, healthy and economically
strong places. I saw a number of transportation and urban planning
inspirations, but also a few examples where folks had missed the mark or
have significant work on improving in 2013.Here is a look at the highs and lows, I witnessed, for Political Action, Social Equity, Transportation Choice and Placemaking.
Six months ago today, I launched MZ Strategies, LLC to focus
on the two areas where I believe communities and advocates need more effective
strategies to create lasting change: 1) Strategic alignment of resources (human and fiscal) to implement
and maximize sustainable results from public and private sector investments; and, 2) Navigating the state and federal policy and rule making
path to make equitable sustainable development easier. Enormous thanks to each of my clients for their financial support, collaborative
spirit and enthusiasm for my approach.
