This meeting was first announced at Sustainable Long Island's 4th Annual Sustainability Conference on June 4, focused on the Green Economy. Senator Schumer was a keynote speaker at the conference and specifically mentioned our February op-ed in Newsday (located below) as a key part of this initiative.
"Finally, Suburban
Problems Noticed"
By Sarah Lansdale - Executive Director of Sustainable Long Island
Deeohn Ferris - President of Sustainable Community Development Group
Ever wondered how governments make decisions? On the local, state or
federal level, who decides which projects are funded and in what order?
How much for each project?
The answers to these questions become
even more critical when all communities across the country are vying for
limited dollars to stimulate their local economies through projects
like road repairs, revitalizing blighted properties or installing
much-needed sewers.
Distributing resources for these
competing projects becomes a matter of prioritizing. In the past, this
has usually meant that Long Island - and particularly Long Island's
communities of color - haven't received a fair share of resources; our
two counties are often perceived as uniformly wealthy. But recent
changes through a federal initiative have the potential to reverse those
trends.
Last June, the
Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of
Transportation and the Environmental
Protection Agency joined together to form the Partnership for
Sustainable Communities. This unprecedented initiative coordinates
federal housing, transportation and environmental investments; protects
public health and the environment; promotes equitable development; and
helps address the challenges of climate change.
This initiative is a potential
game-changer for Long Island. For one thing, the suburbs are a specific
target for the partnership's resources. For years, federal and state
policies and programs have focused on central cities, and to some
extent rural areas, with a blind spot for the suburbs.
Long Island and other suburbs are
often mistaken as places with little need and an abundance of resources
to take care of things themselves. But as Long Islanders have known for
years - and the recent economic downturn has accentuated - there are
deep pockets of poverty here, and resources are stretched thin to cover
budget cuts and increasing needs.
The new partnership's focus on
sustainable development is also encouraging. The term "sustainability"
is thrown around a lot, meaning a variety of green things. The
partnership defines it to include economic competitiveness,
environmental health and equity - access to opportunities for things
like jobs and transit for minority communities - to help determine which
projects are funded. The inclusion of equity is critical to undo years
of neglect and to ameliorate disinvestment from these communities. Only
when there is a purposeful directing of dollars to communities of color
can we hope to create a region where your ZIP code and/or school
district doesn't dictate the value of your home and your future
prospects.
We've all experienced the feeling that
government agencies work in silos. The Partnership for Sustainable
Communities is a critical initiative to enable HUD, DOT and EPA to work
in a purposefully coordinated way. As a part of this, a number of pilot
programs are in the works. Earlier this month, the Clean Water State
Revolving Fund Pilot was announced. New York is one
of three states selected to receive assistance to ensure that water
infrastructure investments are coordinated with transportation projects
so roads don't need to be torn up twice. It's an important opportunity
for Long Island, which needs sewers to revitalize downtowns throughout
Suffolk County.
While hardly a cure-all for suburban
ailments, the Partnership for Sustainable Communities has the potential
to increase resources and support to Long Island's most distressed
communities. As areas across the country compete for funds, that's good
news for our too-long overlooked neighbors.