On Tuesday, Governor Spitzer announced an executive order that created a Smart Growth Cabinet charged with “reviewing state agency spending and policies to determine how best to discourage sprawl and promote smart land use practices.”
Congratulations to groups like the New York League of Conservation Voters, Regional Plan Association, and Vision Long Island for their work to make this announcement happen.
The Cabinet will be chaired jointly by the Governor’s Deputy Secretary for the Environment Judith Enck and the Deputy Secretary for Economic Development and Infrastructure Timothy Gilchrist, and will include heads of various state agencies, including NYS DOT Commissioner Astrid Glynn. So far, the Governor has given $2 million, from the state’s environmental protection fund, towards three separate smart growth initiatives.
The Cabinet should certainly focus on reform at the Department of Transportation. With a large capital budget and projects throughout the state, NYS DOT has power to invest dollars into towns and villages willing to design land use policies that seek to reduce sprawl and the future growth in driving. Projects like Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 and Route 347 in Brookhaven are ripe for a coordinated and collaborative approach that considers local visions and land use plans. In fact, last year municipalities along the I-287 corridor asked the NYS DOT for grants and technical assistance to help them plan for the future of the corridor with a new transit service. Unfortunately, the DOT never responded.
The Cabinet will hold its first meeting in January.
[...] Commuters to Admire $1M Fish While Waiting for Ferry (News)Spitzer Creates Smart Growth Cabinet (MTR)Time to Give It Up for Penn Station Pedestrians (MTR) Rome’s Chief Parking Enforcer Fired for [...]
[...] more about Spitzer’s executive order from the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. Share or email this [...]
[...] decisions and projects. But that may change with Governor Spitzer’s recently announced “Smart Growth Cabinet,” which promises to bring together different state agencies to “review state agency [...]
[...] Governor Spitzer Creates Smart Growth Cabinet Earlier this month, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer signed an executive order creating a Smart Growth Cabinet for the state, which will work to “coordinate cross-agency activities and develop smart growth policies that cater to New York’s unique regional needs.” The cabinet, co-chaired by the state’s Deputy Secretary for the Environment and Deputy Secretary for Economic Development, will be composed of high ranking officials from a number of state agencies working together to meet smart growth goals. Lauded by the Regional Plan Association, a Restoring Prosperity partner, the cabinet will meet for the first time in January 2008. For more information, check out the official announcement or the Tri-State Transportation Campaign’s website. [...]
[...] Gov. Spitzer announced both a Lower Hudson Valley Smart Growth Initiative and the creation of a smart growth cabinet, and NYSDOT began to take a greater interest in land use. It will be interesting to see whether [...]
[...] Working Group meeting was Paul Beyer, director of New York’s Smart Growth Cabinet, which was created last year to review how state agency policies could be adjusted to discourage sprawl and encourage smart [...]