HUD officials were in town last week explaining how Greater Cleveland could tap into a $150 million Sustainable Communities Initiative for walkable, affordable, green and transit-accessible development at a regional scale. But does the program’s requirement that metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) receive the funds put Northeast Ohio behind the proverbial 8-ball?
Unless the feds decide to change the rules, the only shot we would have is NOACA, the region’s transportation MPO. That didn’t sit well with city of Cleveland officials, who note that the region and NOACA in particular have a dismal track record coordinating regional land-use and transportation planning.
“Sustainability in regional plans tend to get watered down,” remarked Cleveland Planning Director Bob Brown. “NOACA’s policies are so broad, they can justify most projects, even those that induce sprawl. I think a plan that strengthens the urban core and doesn’t have to please so many constituents would work better.”
Applicants would have to explain why regional partners are not involved, said Dwayne Marsh, HUD Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities. Otherwise, Cleveland would have to wait and see if it can apply to HUD’s Catalytic Grant program – a proposed portion of the Senate $4 billion Livable Communities Act -- geared to strengthening the urban core.
“For (the federal government) to be in a dialogue about enhancing economic competitiveness through environmental and housing concerns is a break through,” Marsh said. “The vision is for opportunity-rich neighborhoods, free from discrimination. As (HUD) Secretary Donovan says, ‘sustainability without equity is not sustainable.’”
How will Northeast Ohio capitalize on opportunities to collaborate and tap new resources flowing from Washington for sustainability and regionalism?
HUD will publish its final decision on rules next month. If the rules don’t change to allow an NGO to apply, is there a group that wants to work with NOACA on a grant proposal?
- Cleveland City Council is expected to introduce a resolution of support for a bike-pedestrian path on the Innerbelt Bridge tonight (Monday, March 15). If passed, city council will join Cleveland City Planning, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Senator Sherrod Brown, Governor Ted Strickland, and hundreds of citizens in support of a multipurpose path on the bridge.
- Google Maps' newest feature is bike maps. Enter a start point and destination and select "Bicycling" from the drop-down menu. You will receive a route that is optimized for cycling, taking advantage of bike trails, bike lanes, and bike-friendly streets and avoiding hilly terrain whenever possible.
- What’s happening with the Sustainable Cleveland 2019 summit? Get updates on what the volunteer Work Groups have been doing since the 2009 summit on GCBL’s 2019 section, including the 2019 blog.
Opportunities for Cleveland in Regional Planning
Jeanette Corlett Says:I have done some earlier research on Ohio's MPOs and provide it here for background. There are currently 21 Regional Councils in Ohio representing about 75% of the state’s population. A few of the councils, including MORPC (Columbus), OKI, (Cincinnati) and TMACOG (Toledo) are organized as Councils of Governments (COGs) as authorized under Chapter 167 of the ORC. The other agencies are formed through local intergovernmental agreement and formal agreement with USDOT to serve as regional Metropolitan Planning Councils (or MPOs). Transportation is the largest functional area of the Councils as federal funding provides a resource for regional agencies to serve as the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for these regions. Some focus exclusively on personal transportation while others include personal and freight. Some do surface only; some play a role in surface, maritime, aviation. Other functions include watershed preservation/clean water planning and funding, regional land use guidance/planning, economic development coordination and related
The National Association of Regional Councils (NARC)is the trade association for councils of government (COGs) and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs). As an aside, NARC is hosting its annual conference here in Cleveland, June 15-17, 2010. NARC has some interesting data on regional planning strategies including a report on Best Practices for Integrating Land Use and Transportation, see: http://narc.org/uploads/landuseorkshopsummary0908.pdf
Until a few years ago, Chicago's MPO was created and managed largely by the Illinois Department of Transportation. A separate agency, NIPC, functioned as the six county region's land use and water quality planning agency It took about a decade of activism to achieve legislative restructuring of the Chicago area's MPO resulting in the creation of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, with its more independent source of funding. See: http://www.cmap.illinois.gov/default.aspx
We certainly should be looking at more strategic regional land use/transportation approaches to planning/implementing development strategies for the greater Cleveland region. Some of the states with strong regional planning bodies include: Washington, Oregon, California. Others that have strengthened regional planning include: New Jersey, Maryland. MORPC does a great job and I have admired their work for some time. We really deserve a much better regional planning agency that can take on the tough priority issues, perhaps with County reform, we have some opportunities to pursue.
Change NOACA not HUD
Susan Miller Says:Cleveland Planning Director Bob Brown: “NOACA’s policies are so broad, they can justify most projects, even those that induce sprawl. I think a plan that strengthens the urban core and doesn’t have to please so many constituents would work better.”
When will NOACA get with the program that a strong urban core enriches the entire region? It is ludicrous. Like Thomas Mulready said years ago, when you step off the plane in LA, you don't say you're from Mayfield Village, Ohio, you say you're from Cleveland. Without a sustainable central city at its core, the region continues to sink. Let all those privileged to live in Hunting valley and Pepper Pike recall that the money they made or their forefathers made came largely from polluting industries that they left like so much junk in the city of Cleveland on the banks of the Cuyahoga and the shores of Lake Erie.
Everyday, businessmen who work in energy wasting downtown high rises litigating this and selling that, doctors who practice making folks well by treating the numerous diseases their car exhausts cause, professors who 'study' what needs to change drive their cars to and fro through the donut of poverty with nary a care. Now largely focused on seeking a way to make the sick they have abandoned well at a huge cost. Make the city healthy, make its people healthy. But do the people who live out there give a damn or do they just want to use Cleveland like a dump? "I'm OK, fine in fact, in the safety of my parking garage and office. Poverty, despair and desperation is just something I can bypass on the freeway or on a city boulevard that I zip along while listening to drivetime radio. No problem."
Discussions of regionalism languish and the city's services, schools and real estate market die on the vine while NOACA can barely send out an ozone advisory until the day the advisory is in effect is through (2:30pm).
NOACA is not too big to fail, but it appears it may be trying to serve too many masters. What other municipalities in NOACA's service area have launched a sustainable city effort? How many are reliant on their county governments to 'suggest' overarching toothless sustainability measures?
There are more potential walkable neighborhoods in Cleveland and the inner ring suburbs than in any of the outlying exurbs. When, as James Howard Kunstler pointed out in his talk at CPL on Sunday, exurbs die, folks will be seeking walkable tightly knit neighborhoods in the city.
Let's be a little forward thinking here, NOACA. What say you? Can you see the forest for the trees?
Improving our MPO: Lessons from Columbus
Marc Lefkowitz Says:How are other Ohio regions bringing accountability or at least some transparency to their transportation MPOs? MORPC, the MPO for Greater Columbus, has “taken a giant leap forward in democratizing planning for transportation,” John McGovern writes here. MORPC is installing a Citizen Advisory Committee and is seeking individuals who are not elected officials or representatives of local governments to serve as watchdogs. “You will not only have the opportunity to influence how transportation funds are spent in the region,” MORPC promises, “but also learn how decisions are made that determine which transportation projects are funded.”
Back in January, Ohio Department of Transportation hired a new bike/pedestrian coordinator, Heather Bowden, who suggested NOACA and other MPOs can plan creatively but also reminded them that bike and pedestrian accommodations can tap existing federal transportation programs. At the time, I suggested that NOACA bring on an ombudsman to review its processes and policies for championing better roads for biking, walking and transit. Now MORPC steps strongly into that space by offering its Citizen Advisory Committee (which I like even more than an ombudsman). Is NOACA interested in building roads that serve everyone, or just those behind the wheel? Are they listening to the growing ranks of transportation cyclists, pedestrians, those who cannot afford to own a car or who prefer to take transit when they speak up for mulimodalism? Isn’t it time, NOACA, to install your own Citizen Advisory Committee—and to give citizens a real voice in the process?