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Monday Mailing

Year 23 • Issue 05 10 October 2016 1.

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Art of The Rural City Launches ‘Vision Zero’ to End Deaths on Eugene Streets Oregon to Transform Lakes Into Batteries to Charge Electricity Grid Oregon Dips in Energy Efficiency Ranking, But Still a Top-10 Performer Blame it on The Bike: Does Cycling Contribute to a City's Gentrification?

DSIRE – Database of State Incentives for Renewable and Efficiency UO Helps Cities through Innovation & Statewide Partnerships Compatibility Matters: Lessons from Around the Country on Compatible Infill Job Growth Focused on Largest Cities TGM Guide – Funding Biking and Walking Improvements Amazing Place: Six Cities Using the New Recipe for Economic Development

1. Art of The Rural As a digital platform, Art of the Rural elevates the rural arts field by facilitating rural-urban dialogue and cross-sector exchange. On the ground, we cultivate an organic manifestation of the digital mapping process by engaging the field in conversation, encouraging partnerships, while also activating participation in rural cultural policy and programming.

For more information, click here.

Quote of the Week: “Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.” ~John Ray

Oregon Fast Fact #8: The world's oldest shoes, 9,000-year-old sandals made of sagebrush and bark, were found at Fort Rock Cave in central Oregon in 1938.

2. City Launches ‘Vision Zero’ to End Deaths on Eugene Streets Eugene city officials formally launched the Vision Zero campaign Wednesday, nine months after the City Council declared that even a single death or serious injury on city streets is unacceptable.

To kick off the campaign, parents and school kids joined city officials and transportation safety advocates to form a “walking school bus” to Camas Ridge Community School, where Mayor Kitty Piercy and others made brief remarks from the Albertsons on Hilyard Street in south Eugene.

The kickoff event occurred about two weeks after a new task force met for the first time to develop a plan outlining how the city will reach the goal of eliminating deaths and serious injuries on Eugene streets.

The 16-member task force includes city, county and state officials, as well as representatives of schools, Lane Transit District and Wildish Cos. To access the full story, click here.

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3. Oregon to Transform Lakes Into Batteries to Charge Electricity Grid Swan Lake Valley is a patchwork of farm fields and grazing land about 20 minutes from Klamath Falls. The slopes of the surrounding juniper-scattered hills rise sharply from the valley floor, brown against the green of hay and alfalfa below.

About 5,500 acres of the valley is part of Edgewood Ranch. Lauren Jespersen’s family has been on this land since the 1970s, farming about half of it and making pellet livestock feed. But like many farm families, the Jespersens are trying to ensure their futures by doing more with their land.

“It’s hard to make a living in agriculture anymore unless you are an extremely large operation,” Jespersen says.

To access the full story, click here.

4. Oregon Dips in Energy Efficiency Ranking, But Still a Top-10 Performer Oregon is once again a national leader in energy efficiency, checking in at No. 7 in the latest rankings by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

The state totaled 35 out of a possible 50 points in the 2016 ACEEE State Energy Efficiency Scorecard ACEEE State Energy Efficiency Scorecard, 10 points behind California and Massachusetts, which tied for first with 45 points.

The annual report rates states in a wide range of categories, and one of Oregon’s best scores came in transportation policies (8 out of 10 points). ACEEE cited Oregon as an example of a state that does a good job setting targets for reducing vehicle miles traveled and for integrating land use and transportation planning.

To access the full story, click here.

5. Blame it on The Bike: Does Cycling Contribute to a City's Gentrification?

Hostility to cyclists and bike lanes often seems to be a proxy for wider anger at gentrification. But does this urban phenomenon really arrive on two wheels – or is new cycle infrastructure a sign the street has already transformed?

In 1996, San Francisco’s department of parking and traffic published a draft of what was to be the city’s first bicycle-specific transport plan. Almost immediately, cyclists in the city noticed something amiss: there were no bike lanes planned for Valencia Street, a popular route through the largely Latino Mission neighbourhood. Opposition to the plan grew so intense that the following year, a crackdown against pro-cycling protesters ended in a riot.

Two decades on, Valencia Street is one of San Francisco’s more desirable addresses. Luxury apartments and fashionable bare-brick cafes sit cheek by jowl with colourful political murals and tiny bodegas.

To access the full story, click here.

6. DSIRE – Database of State Incentives for Renewable and Efficiency DSIRE is the most comprehensive source of information on incentives and policies that support renewables and energy efficiency in the United States. Established in 1995, DSIRE is currently

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operated by the N.C. Solar Center at N.C. State University, with support from the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, Inc. DSIRE is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.

For more information, click here.

7. UO Helps Cities through Innovation & Statewide Partnerships For many communities in Oregon, the local downtown theater served as more than an entertainment venue. It was a gathering spot. An anchor on Oregon main streets, providing a piece of each town’s identity.

But cultural and economic shifts have been hard on Oregon downtowns and hard on historic theaters. As the landscape of downtowns changed, people started watching movies at home, and the film industry converted to digital, these cultural gems fell into physical and financial disarray. Many theaters closed. Some were repurposed. And some were simply demolished.

In 2014, it appeared that the curtain appeared to be falling on the era of the independent neighborhood theater. But thanks the University of Oregon’s Community Service Center (CSC), there is hope that many of Oregon’s historic theaters will flourish once again. As part of an innovative partnership with Travel Oregon, Oregon Main Street, the economic development arm of Pacific Power, Restore Oregon, the Oregon Heritage Commission, Oregon Film (the governor’s office of film and video), the Oregon Arts Commission and the Oregon Regional Solutions Team, UO students developed a five-year action plan, providing theater owners, communities and state partners with necessary resources to update and market their venues.

See page 24 of the October 2016 League of Oregon Cites Local Focus to access the full story.

8. Compatibility Matters: Lessons from Around the Country on Compatible Infill October 17 from 6:30 to 8:30pm - 70 NW Couch St., Portland Cities around Oregon including Portland, Bend, Corvallis, and elsewhere, struggle to manage growth.

We believe there is a way to plan for that growth and add density while protecting our historic resources.

Following Mr. Winter’s presentation, members of the Portland Residential Infill Project team, including Bureau of Planning and Sustainability staff and Stakeholder Advisory Committee members will share comments and observations before opening up questions from the audience.

Restore Oregon is proud to be a co-sponsor of this event which is hosted by Portland Together.

Admission is free, but advanced registration is strongly recommended and will be handled by our colleagues at the Architectural Heritage Center.

To register for this event, click here.

9. Job Growth Focused on Largest Cities National employment has been on the rise since 2010, but most U.S. counties still have fewer jobs today than they did when the Great Recession started in 2008.

Half of all metropolitan counties (580 out of 1,165) had fewer jobs in 2015 than they did in 2008.

And a stunning 67 percent of nonmetropolitan counties (1,326 out of 1,969) had fewer jobs last year than they did before the recession.

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All the job growth has been in metropolitan America. But a closer look at Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that all the gains occurred in large metropolitan areas – ones that have at least 250,000 residents. And most of the growth occurred in metro areas with 1 million or more residents. These largest metro areas had 5.6 percent more jobs in 2015 than they did just before the recession.

At the other end of the county-size spectrum, the result is flipped. In nonmetropolitan counties where fewer than 20,000 residents lived in a city, there were about 5 percent fewer jobs last year than before the recession.

To access the full story, click here.

10. TGM Guide – Funding Biking and Walking Improvements This eight-page guide reviews over 40 ways to fund improvements to walking and biking. The publication covers local options, state funds, federal funding, and private options, including some examples of how Oregon communities are finding the monies needed to make their communities easier for people to walk and bike in.

To access the guide, click here.

11. Amazing Place: Six Cities Using the New Recipe for Economic Development Old economic development tools are no longer sufficient: tax breaks and subsidies alone do not create great places. Smart growth strategies like zoning changes, incentives for infill development, policies to make a range of housing available, street improvements, investments in transit, support for public parks and gathering spaces, and creative reuse of historic buildings are among the new, innovative ways cities are creating places where people and companies want to be.

Amazing Place: Six Cities Using the New Recipe for Economic Development looks at how six cities are using smart growth and placemaking strategies to gain a competitive edge. Our case study examples—Boise, ID; Denver, CO; Greenville, SC; Minneapolis, MN; Nashville, TN; and Pittsburgh, PA—represent a diversity of geographies, locations, population sizes, industries, and development challenges. Despite their differences, all of these cities are using smart growth development to successfully attract new companies and new residents.

Communities everywhere and of all sizes can learn from these examples. This new approach to economic development can help communities create diverse and durable local economies that last beyond the lifecycle of any one employer. As this report shows, there are many ways to create vibrant walkable neighborhoods and regional centers. Cities that want to compete in today’s economy can and should use many of these strategies to create places that are unique to their community.

To access the report, click here.

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