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Monday Mailing

Year 23 • Issue 15 09 January 2017 1.

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Welcome to The Inaugural Edition of State of Main Why Are Federal Program Restricting Mixed-Use Development?

Web Resources from Natural Hazards Center USDA Energy Web State, Public Update Smith Rock State Park’s Master Plan Irrigators Win Water Decision How Oregon Predicted Trump’s Partisan Politics More Than a Decade Ago Congress Awards $30M in Grants Housing Crisis Took Center Stage in 2016, Will Keep it in 2017 How SumoMe Uses Canva to Seriously Boost Public Engagement With Their Content [And How You Can Too] Manuals and Guides for Trail Design, Construction, Maintenance, and Operation, and for Signs

1. Welcome to The Inaugural Edition of State of Main Welcome to the inaugural edition of State of Main, the annual publication of Main Street America! Serving as both an annual report and an industry journal, State of Main provides a detailed look back on all that we have accomplished together this year, as well as a platform to explore cutting edge ideas and trends in the commercial district revitalization field.

To access a copy of State of Main, click here.

Quote of the Week: “Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.” ~Victor Hugo Oregon Fast Fact: The hazelnut is Oregon's official state nut. Oregon is the only state that has an official state nut.

2. Why Are Federal Program Restricting Mixed-Use Development?

A growing number of Americans wanting to live in walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods—but arcane federal rules make it unnecessarily difficult to build this type of development. A recent study by the Regional Plan Association, released in partnership with LOCUS: Responsible Real Estate Developers and Investors, highlights how—and what lawmakers can do to change it.

The Unintended Consequences of Housing Finance examines several federal regulations around housing finance that were created in the mid-20th century, and the impact of those regulations on the type of development that gets built in the United States.

These regulations restrict commercial development in federally backed housing loans, the report reveals, greatly limiting the availability of financing for three- and four-story buildings that include both residential and commercial uses. This is despite the fact that more and more Americans want to live in walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods.

To access the full story, click here.

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3. Web Resources from Natural Hazards Center PrepareCenter.org When it comes to preparedness know-how, ‘tis better to give and receive. Luckily, there’s PrepareCenter.org, a Web site all about helping preparedness professionals across the globe collaborate, share knowledge, and find solutions to common issues. The site, created by the American Red Cross and the International Federation of the Red Crescent’s Global Disaster Preparedness Center, features Wikipedia-style content development, resources in 16 different languages, and a wide variety of tools and research.

Global Carbon Atlas It’s 8 p.m. Do you know where your global carbon footprint is? It’s easy to find out with the Global Carbon Atlas, a web resource that allows users to visualize the world’s carbon output in several ways: view emissions over time, by country or type, or by ranking. The up-to-date data can be presented and saved in various formats. Research resources and an educational outreach element make this site the perfect tool for finally getting a clear picture of the world’s emissions.

Abrupt Impacts of Climate Change: Anticipating Surprises As we learn more about the changing climate, we’ve seen that the expected impacts of human-caused warming aren’t as distant as scientists had previously thought. And in some cases the opposite is true, that some things that were considered imminent threats may not occur this century. This brief report by the National Academies of Sciences looks at what we know about abrupt changes in the climate system, identifies needed research, and recommends creating an abrupt-change, early-warning system to make sure we aren’t caught off guard. It’s an interesting read, but if you need a little more drama, you can check out what happened when Mother Jones applied the report findings to Hollywood blockbusters.

4. USDA Energy Web USDA Energy Web includes interactive map, graphing analysis tools, and the USDA Energy Matrix.

These instruments allow you to view past USDA investments, navigate in a friendly environment USDA energy programs and compare and analyze biofuels and bioenergy data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). To learn more about USDA's position on energy watch a video with USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack on Renewable Energy .

To access USDA Energy Web, click here.

5. State, Public Update Smith Rock State Park’s Master Plan When the towering rocks at Smith Rock State Park glow with the red-orange light of sunrise, nearby resident Marcia Volk often runs out to take yet another picture of them.

“There’s so much beauty here,” said Volk, who runs a website with information on the park. “It takes me five minutes to get out of any negative state of mind by just walking into that park.”

Volk isn’t the only one to enjoy the increasingly popular park. And as the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department begins a process to update the park’s 1991 master plan, the public can help craft its future.

To access the full story, click here.

6. Irrigators Win Water Decision Northern California and Oregon irrigation districts have won a key round in a long-running legal battle as they seek compensation for their loss of water in the Klamath River Basin.

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In a 53-page opinion, U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Marilyn Blank Horn concluded the federal government’s 2001 diversion of Klamath River Basin water amounted to a “physical taking” of the irrigation districts’ property. Horn’s ruling Wednesday rejected the government’s argument that the diversion instead amounted to a “regulatory taking.”

The technical-sounding difference could shape the final dollar-and-cents’ outcome. As attorney Josh Patashnik put it in a Santa Clara Law Review article, a judge’s determination of a physical rather than regulatory taking “often plays a central role in determining whether property owners are paid compensation.”

“The distinction is important because physical takings constitute per se takings and impose a ‘categorical duty’ on the government to compensate the owner, whereas regulatory takings generally require balancing and ‘complex factual assessments,’ ” Horn noted.

To access the full story, click here.

7. How Oregon Predicted Trump’s Partisan Politics More Than a Decade Ago The white working class surprised many pundits and social scientists by supporting Donald Trump, leading some to describe the election results as a “whitelash.” The fact that the president-elect successfully mobilized this population was far from inevitable. After all, a fair number of Trump supporters once voted for Obama. A good many of them, when questioned, explained that they “didn’t really like either candidate,” or that they “wanted a change.” History certainly shows us that populist fervor can shift left and right.

Consider Oregon. That Portlandia-style bastion of crunchy granola togetherness also has a long history of racism, such as early 20th-century laws which permitted blacks to pass through towns but required them to leave by sundown. More recently, anti-government militia groups have consolidated their influence there. Many of its residents share a great deal in common with other Americans who live outside of cities: Their lives are more precarious today than they were even a few decades ago.

Twenty years ago, I interviewed dozens of residents of a small town that had been swept up in a local populist rebellion, part of a statewide campaign against gay rights that predicted Trump’s politics of division. Timber communities like Cottage Grove, in the middle of the state, became laboratories for a right-wing populism that appealed to nostalgia, exploited people’s fears and distrust of elites, and turned neighbors against one another. But it also gave rise to a progressive populism, at least for a while.

To access the full story, click here.

8. Congress Awards $30M in Grants WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Lands Access Program has awarded the Oregon Department of Transportation more than $30 million to improve access to federal lands in the Columbia River Gorge. The funding includes $29 million to complete a new portion of the Historic Columbia River Highway Trail and connect it at Mitchell Point Crossing; $2.6 million for the Columbia Gorge Express to improve access to Multnomah Falls; and $300,000 for the Historic Columbia River Highway Congestion Mitigation Plan.

“It’s no secret that one of Oregon’s greatest assets is our unique natural beauty and emphasis on quality of life,” said U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.).

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“This funding helps ensure that more and more Oregonians and visitors can continue to enjoy our state’s natural beauty. I’m thrilled that we are one step closer toward interconnectedness in our beautiful gorge region and will keep working to improve our recreational infrastructure to boost our job-creating recreation industry and quality of life.”

To access the full story, click here.

9. Housing Crisis Took Center Stage in 2016, Will Keep it in 2017 Renters felt the effects of the housing crisis years ago, when their leases started climbing at a much faster rate than their paychecks.

So did would-be homebuyers, who scrambled to scrape together down payments in one of the country's hottest housing markets only to find themselves in bidding wars with all the hallmarks of a flash sale.

But for Portland and the metro area, 2016 marks the year the housing crisis went mainstream.

Affordability commanded a nearly single-minded focus at the ballot box. In November, Portland voters overwhelmingly approved a $258 million bond for affordable housing and unseated a city commissioner in favor of a political novice who campaigned chiefly on housing.

To access the full story, click here.

10. How SumoMe Uses Canva to Seriously Boost Public Engagement With Their Content [And How You Can Too] Top brands like Buzzfeed, Nike, and BBC are all starting to focus on creating minute-long time lapse videos (i.e. short form videos) that are promoted across several social media platforms.

Just look at the fastest growing Facebook pages and you’ll see a bunch of short form videos consisting of: cooking recipes, lifehacks, or some sort of “how-to” guide.

That’s because short form videos are a great way to: 

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Boost your website’s traffic and sales: 64% of consumers are more inclined to buy your product after watching a video. It’s how Specialized racked up 350,000 customers by promoting short videos on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Drive engagement on multiple social platforms: It’s how Buzzfeed’s Tasty achieved 55 Million followers across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Effectively communicate to your audience: It’s how NowThisNews gets over 820 million monthly views by delivering news in a bite-sized format to a generation with short attention spans.

To access the full story, click here.

11. Manuals and Guides for Trail Design, Construction, Maintenance, and Operation, and for Signs Many manuals and guidelines provide information for trail planning, design, construction, maintenance, operation, and management, and for signs. Below are several manuals and best practices guides and resources from government agencies or nonprofit organizations. Copies may be purchased or acquired from the sources indicated. U.S. Government publications may be purchased Page 4 of 5

from the U.S. Government Printing Office, Superintendent of Documents, Mail Stop SSOP, Washington DC 20402-9328: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/.

On this page:  Accessibility  AASHTO and State Guidelines  Federal Agency Resources and Publications  Nonprofit Trail Resources and Publications  Signs and Traffic Control Devices  Trail Conflict  Disclaimers  Links to FHWA Guidance for Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities, Recreational Trails, Scenic Byways, and Transportation Enhancements For more information, click here.

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