Last week, President Obama was in Fort Myers, Florida, a city that is largely devoid of transportation options and has been extremely hard hit by the recent economic downturn. At a town hall meeting there, President Obama offered a clear mandate: we need to rethink our land use planning and transportation systems to provide innovative and energy-efficient choices for how we get around.
Last Monday - February 9 - Senator Scott Dibble introduced the Building Sensible Communities bill (pdf summary) as SF 549. Joining Senator Dibble as co-authors for the bill are Senators Rest, Olseen, Carlson, and Dille. The interest in the bill was immediate, shown by a quick request to be heard in the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee.
On January 9, the Minneapolis City Council approved a significant overhaul of the city's parking requirements. The changes will make it easier for developers to build compact and mixed-use buildings that support walking, biking, and transit. These changes are an important step toward addressing global warming pollution because they will help reduce the need to drive in Minneapolis.
Fresh Energy will co-sponsor "
Growing Cooler: How Land Use Can Help Minnesota Reach Its Greenhouse Gas Reduction Goals" on January 5 at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. The event is open to the public. To RSVP, contact Steve Peterson at 651-259-1922 or
smpeterson@flaherty-hood.com.
The conference is geared toward informing legislators about the important relationship between development patterns and global warming and the related key strategies recommended by the Minnesota Climate Change Advisory Group. The
conference agenda 
includes Dr. Reid Ewing, the coauthor of the book
Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change, which shows how changes in development patterns can help reduce transportation-related global warming emissions.
The event will be hosted by the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities and the Humphrey Institute; in addition to Fresh Energy, co-sponsors include 1000 Friends of MN, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, BlueCross BlueShield of Minnesota, League of Minnesota Cities, and Urban Land Institute Minnesota.
Minnesota and the Twin Cities were once on the cutting edge for connecting regional land-use planning with environmental impacts. No longer...California is now the model after Tuesday when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger took a bold step toward refocusing land-use planning in the state.
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