On Thu, 01 Nov 2007 14:00:06 -0800, Robbie Webber said: < I'm going to guess that some people are mistaking the term "Smart Growth" for "New Urbanism" or some other specific land use pattern.
The state of Wisconsin's Comprehensive Planning legislation, sometimes called the "smart growth law" simply states that communities have a plan. The joke among many planners and urban design professionals is that the plan doesn't in any way have to be a "good" or "smart" plan. It just has to be a plan. Richard has stated that he thinks bicyclists should participate in land use planning decisions. I assume that others at least feel that bicyclists should speak up about what they want, including local plans. Well, if there is no plan or planning process, that's sort of though. So it would make sense to me to support the state law when it is under attack, as it has been for several years. As the deadline for having a plan draws closer - 2010 - I expect that the efforts to repeal the law will increase. It sure would be a shame to not have a requirement that communities plan for growth. Growth without a plan would truly be "dumb growth." < The smart growth law was too little and its implementation will be too late. Passed in 2000, the law gave communities ten years just to develop a plan. Even with a plan, reduced reliance on motorized travel is not assured. Motorized travel has increased by 4 billion vehicle miles traveled (VMT) yearly in the state since 1998, with much of that increase being the result of more people commuting by personal automobile, and longer distances (dumb growth). But the problem is not so much dumb land use but not enough attention being given by the state to encourage people to minimizing their driving miles. Instead, the state has contributed to that by building wider and faster highways, and plan to do more of that in the future. Talk about dumb! Drastic cuts in motorized travel in the state are needed now. Improvements in mass transit, bicycling routes and walking facilities will help but they will not be enough to bring about the needed change. Only Transportation (Driving) Demand Reduction measures can do that, and they must significant and broad based enough so that people will want to shift their travel choices from single occupancy driving to other more sustainable modes. But that takes courage by our governmental representatives, something that is sorely lacking in this day and age, unfortunately. Mike Neuman "We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of "now". In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late." - Martin Luther King, Jr. http://www.danenet.org/bcp2006/neuman_gw_letter.pdf http://www.danenet.org/bcp2006/neuman_gw.pdf http://www.danenet.org/bcp2006/vmr.pdf http://www.danenet.org/bcp2006/trans/neuman_vmt.html http://www.geocities.com/mtneuman/tribute_flag.html _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
