Working at the Regional Level: 2011 Year in Review
CSG remains deeply involved with significant regional initiatives that are advancing smart growth. The commitment to smart growth in the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments' (COG) "Region Forward" vision is reflected in COG's application for a HUD Sustainable Communities grant linking affordable housing and transit. We serve on the Region Forward Coalition and helped to shape the grant, ensuring a rigorous focus on local implementation and participation.
We continue to fight for more sustainable transportation planning for the region through the COG Transportation Planning Board, including moving toward a regional plan focusing on projects that support a transit-oriented future. We also influenced the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority and Northern Virginia Transportation Commission.
In keeping with our focus on more sustainable priorities, we joined with our Maryland partners to argue that any increase in the Maryland gas tax should only be approved if it supports these priorities: maintenance of roads, bridges, and transit; major transit initiatives like the Purple Line, MARC, and the Baltimore Red Line; and the local street networks needed for suburbs and rural towns.
We continued our participation in the Choose Clean Water Coalition (CCW), fighting for cleaner streams and a cleaner Chesapeake Bay. We completed the first ever joint statement of smart growth and stormwater principles, showing how smart growth is a key component of saving our streams and the Bay. The principles are now circulating for review by the CCW members.
