To view 2002 Summit photo gallery,
click here.
On Saturday, March 23 the Coalition hosted our 5th Annual Summit entitled Last Chance for Smart Growth? at Oakland’s
Laney College Forum. Despite the rain, over 270 people attended this year’s
event! Featuring speeches from Local Smart Growth Heroes, Breakout Sessions,
and an Awards Ceremony, the Summit brought activists together from all over
the Bay Area, including San Jose, Livermore and Sonoma!
Stuart Cohen, Coalition Director, kicked off the event with a presentation
on the benefits, shortfalls, and key next steps of the Regional Smart Growth
process. Local Heroes followed with presentations on their recent Smart Growth-oriented
work, including:
Local Heroes
Transit: Tom Radulovich - BART Board President
A champion of Smart Growth for many years, Mr. Radulovich
was elected a BART Board Director in 1996 and re-elected in 2000. Representing
the 9th district, he advocates improving transit-oriented land use and pedestrian,
bicyclist, and disabled access. He also advocates system-wide renovation;
design excellence; closer coordination between BART and local transit agencies,
for seamless regional public transit; and creating BART's Strategic Plan,
including station-area planning. One of just 30 leaders invited to participate
in the Urban Land Institute's Regional Leadership Forum on Smart Growth in
March 2000, he is Chair of BART's SF County Transportation Authority Liaison
and Vice-Chair of BART Public Affairs Access and Legislation Committee. In
1999 he was co-author of the Proposition H initiative, garnering nearly 70%
of the vote, calling for improved public transit in the Bay Area.
Rural/Suburban: Rischa Slade, Councilwoman in Vacaville, chair
of the Solano Transportation Authority
Councilwoman Slade has served on the Vacaville City Council
since 1996 and is a former Chair of the Solano Transportation Authority. She
has over 12 years' experience as a local advocate and administrator for Solano
County's very low-income residents, most recently as Executive Director of
the Vacaville Social Services Corporation.
She serves on the boards of the Solano Affordable Housing
Foundation, the Vacaville Social Services Corporation, and the Vacaville Community
Welfare Association. Councilwoman Slade holds a law degree from Hastings College
and a bachelor's degree in political science from Stanford University.
Social Equity: James 'Tim' Thomas, Emergency Services Network
of Alameda County
Mr. Thomas has emerged as one of the region's leading voices
on behalf of maintaining a strong social equity focus in Smart Growth planning
and implementation. Through his participation in the Working Group governing
the Regional Smart Growth Strategy, and as a Board member of the Urban Habitat
Program/Social Equity Caucus, Mr. Thomas has done more than any other person
to ensure that low income and communities of color have a place at the table
when Smart Growth is discussed.
Mr. Thomas has over 25 years experience in community organizing
for social justice. He served as an organizer for the Rainbow Coalition during
Jesse Jackson's 1988 Presidential campaign, is the former Board President
of ESN, a coalition dedicated to ending hunger and homelessness, and served
for six years as Director of the Men's Shelter Program of the Berkeley Emergency
Food and Housing Project.
Bike/Pedestrian: Amanda Jones - Bike Coordinator, City of Palo
Alto
Ms. Jones coordinates Palo Alto's bicycle and pedestrian
programs, and is widely recognized as one of the Bay Area's most effective
bicycle advocates. Ms. Jones helps Palo Alto employers to implement Transportation
Demand Management programs for employees; manages the city's employee commute
program; oversees a citywide traffic safety and education campaign; coordinates
regular meetings of regional Employee Transportation Coordinators; and coordinates
Walk to School, Bike to School, Bike to Work and school trip reduction programs
throughout the City of Palo Alto.
Ms. Jones has been an effective leader of the bicycle advocacy
movement in California since 1996. Prior to assuming her current position
in 1999, Ms. Jones helped the City of Palo Alto and the Bay Area Air Quality
Management District to open and operate the first Northern California commuter
bicycle storage facility at the University Avenue Caltrain Depot. She serves
as an active member of numerous boards, associations and committees including
the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals, the Association of
Commuter Transportation and the new Regional Bicycle Advocacy Coalition.
Ms. Jones received the 2000-20001 Clean Air Champion award
from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Ms. Jones holds a master's
degree in human resources and organizational development from the University
of San Francisco and a bachelor's degree from the University of New Mexico.
Urban: Patricia Walkup, past President, Hayes Valley Neighborhood
Assoc
- Not in Attendance -
Patricia Walkup is a community activist who has been working
for the past ten years to revitalize San Francisco's Hayes Valley neighborhood.
She founded the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association, which has been responsible
for transforming this once crime-ridden, inner-city neighborhood into one
of the most livable communities in San Francisco. In 1998 she co-chaired the
successful initiative campaign to replace the elevated Central Freeway (U.S.
101), that terminated in Hayes Valley, with a European-style surface boulevard.
She is currently working with the community and the San Francisco
Planning Department to plan for the development of 750 to 1000 new units of
high-density, mixed-income, pedestrian-oriented housing on land to be made
available by demolition of the freeway.
Breakout sessions
Breakout sessions were held in nearby classrooms, where participants discussed
the Smart Growth Zones concept, issues and ideas, and priorities for the future
of Smart Growth in the Bay Area.
* Smart Growth on the Edge
Rural
and Suburban Issues |
* Building a Smart City
Urban
Growth Issues |
* The Walkable, Bikeable Neighborhood
|
* 'Just' Smart Growth
Ensuring
Social Equity |
* Transit: The Next Generation:
Blueprint
for a Livable Region |
|
Smart Growth Zones:
Ideas from the Coalition Annual Summit 2002:
In four of the breakout groups participants endorsed the concept of Smart
Growth Zones (SGZones). The fifth breakout, Transit: the Next Generation,
is excluded. After some discussion, participants decided on the following
priorities for criteria by which the zones could be defined, and benefits
that should accrue within those zones. These are broken down into "Criteria"
, or what would be required to qualify as a SGZone, and "Benefits". This summary
hits on some of the highlights, except those from the Bicycle/Pedestrian breakout.
In general, groups started with the understanding that SGZones must:
· be close to transit hubs or "pedestrian villages"
· have mixed-use zoning, including significant housing
· plan for convenient and safe access by bicycle
Key Social Equity Issues:
· Smart Growth Zones must be located in a city/county with policies to encourage
mixed-income housing, such as inclusionary zoning.
· SGZones should support development of locally-owned businesses, either
by setting aside a percentage of new development that must be locally owned
OR by using planning dollars to help local business owners to set up shop.
The latter could be through support services such as co-op purchasing or assistance
in securing access to capital.
· Planning in SGZones must be inclusive and bottom-up, with planning conducted
not only by city/county staff but in a real partnership with local residents
through community-based organizations.
· SGZones must be in a city with "just-cause eviction" or other renter protections
to prevent displacement.
· SGZones fund should support wealth creation by local low-income residents,
either by allowing them to use "sweat equity" to become homeowners, or other
methods.
· SGZones should include senior housing in close proximity to BART, high-frequency
bus routes, and other rapid transit.
· Some SGZone funds should be set aside as planning funds for community organizations.
For example, this could fund community organizers efforts to help residents
learn about and participate in planning processes.
Key Urban Issues:
· Regional agencies should work with local governments, developers, and environmentalists
to fund smart-growth zones with 15%-20% affordable housing and 75% ground-floor
retail.
· A Smart Growth Zone should have advance community feedback.
· To speed development, protect from challenges, and assure balking politicians,
it could be endorsed by organizations like BATLUC and Urban Ecology or an
endorsement-panel of experts.
· Instead of parking lots, stores could give a discount if you don't park.
Streets would be restructured for bikes and pedestrians.
· To encourage people to live in a Smart Growth Zone in an inner city, public
schools should be on a par with those in the suburbs, and there should be
mortgage and rent incentives.
· Funds could be restricted outside of a Smart Growth Zone.
· There should be transit nodes.
· Housing should be fairly dense. According to the Sierra Club, it would
need to be at least 100 units per acre to be efficient.
Key Rural and Suburban Issues:
· A key approach is to be incremental, and to gain acceptance by providing
good examples.
· Growth should be located near downtown and near jobs and transit. Density
should be 12-25 dwelling units per acre (D.U.A.) - good design is critical
to acceptance.
· Subdivisions need alternate visions. There needs to be income diversity
and good design. There should be diversity of density. We must acknowledge
the need for single-family housing -- that is for housing choice and for a
mixed-use neighborhood. Our strategy here should be an ascending strategy;
one step at a time. Swing "voters" have the most effect in small cities, which
means that alternate visions are typically harder to promote in the smallest
cities.
· There should be a ten-minute walk to green space. Thirty percent of housing
should be affordable to those below the county medium income (low income),
and 10% should be affordable to very-low-income families.
· Distant areas such as Tracy and Stockton have undergone huge changes from
agrarian to city. Sustainable agriculture should be zoned on the fringe in
these areas.
___________________________________________________
Awards Ceremony
The Summit also marked our first-ever Annual Awards Ceremony, honoring Bay
Area groups or individuals who contribute to improving the Bay Area while
supporting our mission.This year’s awardees were:
