Amid an increase in pedestrian and bicyclist deaths and injuries in Fairfax County, with particular risks being faced in some of the county’s immigrant communities, CSG and immigrant advocacy organization CASA are launching the Safe Streets for Bailey’s Crossroads campaign to engage and organize the local community in winning safer streets and improved access to walking, biking and accessing transit and services.
Category: Press Releases
JOINT STATEMENT: Fairfax County’s 13th pedestrian fatality in 2021
The Coalition for Smarter Growth, Fairfax Families for Safe Streets, and Fairfax Alliance for Better Bicycling are urging VDOT to address safety issues along the Leesburg Pike (aka Route 7) in the Bailey’s Crossroads area of Fairfax County after another pedestrian was struck and killed in December.
STATEMENT: CSG Responds to David Lublin of Seventh State
The Coalition for Smarter Growth issued the following statement in response to David Lublin’s Seventh State posts about Jane Lyons, CSG’s Maryland Advocacy Manager
RELEASE: MetroNow Bus Transformation Project Progress Report
In response to the region’s critical transit needs, leading transportation coalition launches the Bus Champions Roundtable, a series of targeted discussions with regional leaders to align priorities and accelerate bus transformation progress.
MetroNow Statement on Blue Line Derailment and Ongoing Service Disruptions
Washington, DC — The MetroNow Coalition—comprised of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, Federal City Council, Greater Washington Board of Trade, Greater Washington Partnership, Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, Prince George’s Chamber of Commerce, the 2030 Group, and Tysons Partnership—today released the following statement on the ongoing WMATA Metrorail service disruptions.
RELEASE: CSG Responds to Anti-Housing Protesters at Planning Board
Montgomery County, Md – “Montgomery County’s Thrive 2050 General Plan update is imbued with the progressive and creative spirit that has long been at the core of the community’s values,” said Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth (CSG). “This is why we are so saddened to see the strident opposition to the county’s efforts to address a housing crisis through Thrive 2050 and a separate study of Attainable Housing Strategies.”
RELEASE: COG’s Initiative for Equity, Smart Growth, Climate
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release:
September 23, 2021
Contact:
Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director, 703-599-6437
Cheryl Cort, Policy Director, 202-251-7516
CSG Applauds COG’s Initiative for Equity, Smart Growth, Climate
COG Proposal to Focus Development around DC Region’s High-Capacity Transit Stations Vote Scheduled for October 13
Today, the Washington Post reported that the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, composed of the region’s local elected officials, some state legislators, and state and federal representatives, are on the verge of agreeing to focus development around the DC region’s high-capacity transit stations. These include Metrorail, Purple Line, VRE and MARC commuter rail, and bus rapid transit stations. At the same time, COG intends to prioritize transportation, housing, trails, and other investments around stations within equity emphasis areas, which have high concentrations of lower income residents and high numbers of Black, Latino, or Asian residents.
COG also announced preliminary findings that show a combination of smart growth, electric vehicles, and pricing tools will be necessary for the region to slash its greenhouse gas emissions from transportation. Focused growth in transit communities is an essential part of this strategy.
“We applaud COG’s proposal which is to be voted on at their October 13 meeting,” said Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. “COG’s action is the natural outgrowth of the work and long-time advocacy by our organization and COG’s own studies and vision statements over the past two decades. But now this agreement must be followed by action.”
Founders of the Coalition for Smarter Growth first proposed a “network of livable communities” centered on the region’s transit hubs in reports released in 1992 and 1996, and in CSG’s 2002 Blueprint for a Better Region. It was a vision largely endorsed by the Urban Land Institute’s “Reality Check” conference in 2005, COG’s Region Forward vision of 2010, COG’s follow-on studies and plans, and by many local elected officials who have been approving transit-oriented developments.
“Anyone frustrated by sitting in traffic, or concerned about the growing evidence of climate change including frequent floods in the DC region, should support this COG initiative. Mixed use, mixed-income, walkable, transit-centered communities mean many more people will be able to drive less and reduce the air and climate pollution they generate,” said Schwartz.
“The region’s east-west economic and racial divide, first highlighted in the 1999 Brookings report ‘A Region Divided,” has persisted for too long. Accelerating investment in transit communities in Prince George’s, eastern Montgomery, and eastern Fairfax and Prince William would shorten commutes, reduce vehicle miles traveled, and improve access to jobs and opportunity,” said Cheryl Cort, Policy Director for CSG. “In fact, building out transit-oriented communities on the east side of our region and investing in affordable housing near transit throughout our region are key transportation and climate solutions.”
“But there was also sobering news from the meeting of COG’s Transportation Planning Board (TPB) yesterday,” said Schwartz. “Early findings from their climate scenario study confirm that neither the rate of adoption of electric vehicles, nor land use changes, will be enough to slash our greenhouse gas emissions sufficiently by 2030. We’ll need to move on a number of fronts – much faster adoption of electric vehicles, much stronger action to focus growth and reduce sprawl in order to reduce vehicle trips and vehicle miles traveled, increase telecommuting, and use pricing (congestion pricing or vehicle miles traveled fees, and parking pricing), if our region is going to reduce greenhouse gas emissions enough to do our part to address the climate emergency.”
“Electric vehicles alone can’t save us. We must stop sprawling outward where people have no option but driving, and create inclusive, walkable, transit-centered communities, in order to slash our greenhouse gas emissions. In the process, we will increase access to opportunity and address regional inequity, while improving quality of life for everyone,” concluded Cort.
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RELEASE: IPCC Climate Change Report
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
August 9, 2021
Contact:
Cheryl Cort, cheryl@smartergrowth.net
Jane Lyons, jane@smartergrowth.net
Sonya Breehey, sonya@smartergrowth.net
Today’s Alarming Climate Report – The DC Region Can and Should Do its Part
Today, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued what the U.N. Chief calls a “Code Red for Humanity” highlighting worse climate impacts to come unless we act without further delay to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. See today’s Washington Post story on the IPCC report. Lead author, scientist Claudia Tebaldi, is quoted in the article urging people to focus on what can still be done to quickly reduce our emissions footprint.
The Coalition for Smarter Growth therefore urges every local, state, regional, and federal official to make fundamental changes in our land use, transportation, housing, and energy policies to slash our emissions. The DC region has committed itself to a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. With transportation now our number one source of emissions, we need to commit to reductions in this sector in particular. Electric vehicles are essential for meeting our climate targets, but studies show that they are not enough and that our cities and suburbs must also reduce the need to drive for daily needs.
The good news is that by focusing on creating walkable, bike-friendly, mixed-use, transit-oriented neighborhoods, creating more housing and more affordable housing in these communities, expanding transit, and ending highway expansion, we can reduce the amount that we have to drive and slash our emissions.
In addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, walkable, transit-accessible communities provide a wide range of benefits including lower combined housing and transportation costs, cleaner air and improved health, and access to opportunity for all levels of our workforce.
We can do this! The smart growth climate-friendly solutions are:
- More transit that serves travel outside of traditional 9-5 office commutes;
- More transit-oriented centers and corridors;
- More housing and dedicated affordable units close to jobs and transit;
- Streets where walking and biking are priorities for safe travel;
- 15-minute neighborhoods where you can walk or bike to daily needs within 15 minutes, without having to get into a car;
- Stopping the never-ending and futile highway and arterial expansion that simply increases sprawling development, driving and traffic;
- Greener, more energy-efficient buildings;
- Switching to clean, renewable energy, and electric vehicles starting with buses, high-use fleet vehicles, and trucks for maximum emissions reductions.
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RELEASE: Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill
PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release
May 12, 2020
Contact:
Stewart Schwartz
703-599-6437 (cell)
CSG Released the Following Statement from Executive Director Stewart Schwartz
Senators Warner, Kaine, Cardin, Van Hollen Can Fix the Infrastructure Bill
“The bipartisan infrastructure bill would pour record amounts of money into transportation. But there are critical flaws which should be addressed. Fortunately, Senator Kaine and Senator Cardin are two of the Senators proposing critically needed amendments to ensure that the bill achieves our nation’s goal of fixing existing crumbling infrastructure, sets firm goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, and funds the reconnection of city neighborhoods torn apart by highways in the 1950s through 1970s.
We strongly support Senator Kaine’s “fix-it-first” amendment for highways and roads. The infrastructure bill has been sold to the public because of crumbling roads and bridges. While the bill does require aging bridges to be prioritized, and imposes strict fix-first requirements on transit, there is no similar requirement for roads. Senator Kaine’s amendment 2373 would address this and we applaud VDOT for supporting this.
We also strongly support Senator Cardin’s amendment 2465 to require states to set goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation. Transportation is the number one source of U.S. and DC regional emissions. Addressing this will take more than electric vehicles — it will also require reducing vehicle miles traveled through walkable, transit-oriented communities, transit, telecommuting and other demand reduction tools.
We also support Senator Klobuchar’s amendment 2301 to require states to reduce deaths on our roads, and Senator Warnock’s 2167 to invest more money into reconnecting and restoring city neighborhoods torn apart by highways, like those in DC, Baltimore, and Richmond.
While the package provides record amounts to intercity rail — an implicit endorsement of Virginia’s success with passenger rail, we are very concerned that the bill allocates less than 20% of the combined package to the transit upon which so much of our workforce depends. The transit share should be increased by at least $10 billion.
These are critically needed amendments if our nation and our region are going to truly fix its aging infrastructure, fight climate change, and create more sustainable communities.”
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