Centennial State Rallies around Smart Growth
Friends,
Call me Pollyanna, but as I consider the challenges facing our western states now, I see a bright future. For me, the glass is half full. If history teaches us anything, it is that naysayers rarely achieve their vision. The race to connect the East and West coasts by rail, FDR's New Deal, the Apollo project to put a man on the moon, even the recent presidential race are all testimonies to the power of a positive vision for the future.
It seems ironic today, but General Motors understood this in the 1930s. At the 1939 World's Fair in New York, GM used state-of-the-art showmanship to unveil its visionary "Futurama" exhibit. In their view, multiple lane motorways would crisscross our landscape to create a new and better world. With authority, the narrator for Futurama declares that, "Residential, commercial and industrial areas all have been separated for greater efficiency and greater convenience." Seventy years later -- mission accomplished!
We now know that we should focus on integrating -- not separating -- where people live, shop, work and play in order to create livable and sustainable communities. Vast changes in our nation's economy and housing needs, and our vulnerability to fluctuating gasoline prices, demand new ways of thinking about how communities grow -- something we call smart growth.
Over the past several months, Rich McClintock, our Colorado Policy Director, has helped transform smart growth principles into real policy measures for the State of Colorado. Rich made smart growth and livable communities "job one" during Colorado's recent legislative session, focusing on policies that support our project work in our Western Colorado Legacy program now led by Clark Anderson. Rich worked closely with Governor Bill Ritter, local officials and the business community to pass new transportation laws committing long-term state funding to transit projects.
FASTER is Better
The Funding Advancement for Surface Transportation and Economic Recovery (FASTER) legislation (SB-108) is expected to raise about $250 million annually in Colorado from increased vehicle fees. While most of the new funds will be used to repair and improve existing bridges and roads, at least $15 million annually will go to public transit projects and to bicycle and pedestrian safety projects -- a direct result of advocacy by the Sonoran Institute and our many partners and allies.
"The breakthrough in this bill was to have the state step up and fund a more balanced approach to transportation," says Rich. "Previously, Colorado was one of only five states providing no ongoing funding for alternative transportation. Our diverse coalition pressed legislators to support "complete streets" with multiple ways of getting around -- cars, bikes, pedestrians and transit -- where it makes sense. And they did."
New Focus on Rail and Public Transit
Promoting a positive vision for Colorado's transit future also resulted in passage of a companion measure that creates a rail and transit division within the Colorado Department of Transportation. Not only will the new division allocate transit money from the FASTER bill, but it also will position Colorado to be eligible for federal funding for local transit, intercity commuter and high speed rail projects.
"This represents a complete culture change in transportation funding," says Rich. "Colorado began with a Department of Highways and that became a Department of Transportation, but mostly in name only. Now, for the first time, we have a division of the transportation agency explicitly charged with expanding transit, including intercity rail along key transportation corridors from Denver to Vail and Fort Collins to Pueblo."
Sun Power
The Institute also played a vital role in another successful sustainability measure, HB 1149, which requires homebuilders to give home buyers the option of pre-wiring their homes for solar installation.
"Coloradoans from every walk of life joined to support these smart growth and alternative energy measures," Rich concludes, "but we still have a long way to go. Other smart growth land use bills did not pass this session, such as closing the 35-acre subdivision loophole that allows for unchecked ranchette development. We will be back next year to work on getting it passed into law."
The optimism shown in Colorado, and resulting smart growth measures, should provide encouragement about the change that is possible across the Intermountain West. Through collaboration and partnerships, we will continue to work together to inspire support for livable communities and open spaces. That is a western vision we can all share.
Sincerely,
Luther Propst
Executive Director | 
