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Monday Mailing

Year 20 • Issue 25 17 March 2014 1. Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design™ Issues Request for Proposals for Rural Communities Facing Design Challenges 2. Gadgets to Boost Bike Safety 3. 5 Traps that will Prevent You from Making Real Change 4. Guide: Building Stronger, Safer Communities 5. Think Your Apartment Is Small? Check Out These Super-Tiny Hong Kong Houses 6. Gentrification: In Portland, As In Spike Lee's Brooklyn, a Complicated Question of Race and Class 7. Community Passes Resolution Banning Neonicotinoids 8. Oregon Land Use Planning Online Training 9. Supreme Court Delivers Blow to Rails-to-Trails 10. Drew Dudley: Everyday Leadership 11. USDA Programs and Opportunities

Quote of the Week: "There are no shortcuts to any place worth going." ~Beverly Sills Oregon Fast Fact:

The western Oregon climate is very similar to that of the Burgundy region in France where the Pinot grape is from. Western Oregon has several wineries which produce Pinot Noir wine.

1. Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design™ Issues Request for Proposals for Rural Communities Facing Design Challenges CIRD supports rural communities with a population of 50,000 or less.

CIRD defines “community” broadly: not just the town center or area within the town boundary, but also the surrounding areas that depend on its goods and services and contribute an economic base, agricultural land or open space, and recreational opportunities. Two or more communities may submit a joint application with a joint population of 50,000 or more. State-level entities may support an application, but cannot serve as the primary applicant.

Applicants must have a clear understanding of their rural design challenge. Below are some topics from past Rural Design Workshops.

For even more ideas, click here: • • • • • •

Rebuilding your downtown Design of cultural trails Arts-based development Growth management and economic expansion Land and agricultural conservation Transportation planning

Entities that are eligible to serve as the lead applicant to coordinate a CIRD workshop in a host community include but are not limited to: • • • • • •

Municipal, tribal, or county governments; Local non-profit entities such as main street organizations, Preservation groups, historical societies, or chambers of commerce; Regional planning organizations; University community design centers or university agricultural extension offices located within 50 miles of the community; and Local for-profit businesses.

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Community buy-in and action is rarely successful without the support and active participation of community partners, so we encourage applicants to begin building local partnerships during the application process in order to apply as a team. Communities will have the opportunity to apply with up to four partners. Read about last year's workshops here.

The CIRD program offers rural communities the following: • • •

An annual competitive opportunity to host an intensive, two-and-a-half day community workshop, supported through a $7,000 cash award and in-kind technical assistance and design expertise valued at $35,000; Informational conference calls and webinars on key design and planning topics for rural communities that are open and freely available to communities nationwide; and Web-based access to a wide range of rural design resources.

CIRD will select as many as four communities to host CIRD workshops in the fall of 2014 and the first quarter of 2015.

For more information about this grant opportunity, click here.

2. Gadgets to Boost Bike Safety In a widely viewed YouTube video, a cyclist named Casey Neistat, deliberately takes tumble after tumble while trying to navigate obstructed bike lanes in New York City. The video is funny — it even includes a crash into a parked police car — but it also has struck a chord with bike commuters around the country facing a seemingly endless array of road hazards.

In urban areas, many riders have reason to be nervous, and that in itself is part of a vicious cycle.

“The most common mistake new cyclists make is not riding predictably,” said Ken Podziba, chief executive of Bike New York, a nonprofit group that promotes cycling. “For example, people who are afraid of getting hit from behind by a car will often do things like ride on the sidewalk or ride against traffic, which actually increases the danger that they will get hit by a motorist who doesn’t see them.

Fear is a cyclist’s worst enemy.”

Driven in part by riders’ demands for a greater sense of comfort and safety on the road, new apps and gadgets are promising to do for the bicycle what air bags and satellite navigation did for the family car. What used to be a simple, healthful mode of transport is fast becoming a tech festival on wheels.

To access the full story, click here.

3. 5 Traps that will Prevent You from Making Real Change When you're in the early stages of planning dialogues, it can be easy to get stuck and not know what's stalling your progress. Here are five common traps that can prevent you from making real change, and ways to avoid them: 1. "Who's got the keys?"

You make the plans for action and realizing you don’t have people who can help you get the ideas through the front door to be heard.

Solution: "I know somebody who knows somebody" Page 2 of 7

Make sure that you have involved people in the conversations that can help move actions ahead.

To access the full list, click here.

4. Guide: Building Stronger, Safer Communities Building Stronger, Safer Communities: A Guide for Law Enforcement and Community Partners to Prevent and Respond to Hate Crimes offers leadership strategies and actionable tactics to help law enforcement agencies work with community partners.

Real-life examples, documented by the Not In Our Town movement against hate and intolerance, illustrate how agencies can work with community stakeholders to create an atmosphere where hate is not tolerated and take positive steps in the aftermath of a hate crime. This guide also explains the history of the Not In Our Town movement and provides multiples lists of resources to promote action, engagement, and empowerment for the community and law enforcement.

You can get the guide in two ways: Download the digital guide here as a PDF, or Request a free hard copy from the U.S. Department of Justice COPS Office (free shipping included).

Multiple copies can be requested for trainings, community task forces, and other events.

For more information, click here.

5. Think Your Apartment Is Small? Check Out These Super-Tiny Hong Kong Houses Hong Kong is one of the most expensive cities in the world, which makes it an especially hard place to live if you’re poor: Even a cramped, rundown slum apartment can cost $11 per square foot, nearly three times the average in a city like New York. Hundreds of thousands of people live in “cage homes,” in "inadequate housing." Some of those live in even worse conditions: "cage homes," apartments that are only big enough for a bunk bed surrounded by a wire walls.

The photos in this series, taken by a volunteer for a Hong Kong nonprofit called the Society for Community Organization (SoCO), show a little of what it’s like to live in a space the size of a storage unit. One of the apartments shown here is only 28 square feet. Each picture was taken with a camera mounted to the ceiling, since the rooms were too small for the photographer to fit inside.

To access the full story, click here.

6. Gentrification: In Portland, As In Spike Lee's Brooklyn, a Complicated Question of Race and Class Spike Lee was discussing New York City when he went on an expletive-laced rant about gentrification last week, but he could easily have been talking about Portland.

The Brooklyn-bred filmmaker was talking to a crowd at the Pratt Institute as part of an African American History Month celebration when someone asked about “the other side” of gentrification.

The implication was that gentrification can be a good thing.

“Let me just kill you right now,” Lee said, interrupting his questioner. “… Why does it take an influx of white New Yorkers in the south Bronx, in Harlem, in Bed Stuy, in Crown Heights for the facilities to get better? … Why did it take this great influx of white people to get the schools better? Why’s there more police protection now? Why’s the garbage getting picked up more regularly?”

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Though the comments quickly spread through the media, they marked just the latest news peg in the ongoing national debate about the return of young, affluent professionals to urban settings and the impact on people who lived in those communities before the boom.

To access the full story, click here.

7. Community Passes Resolution Banning Neonicotinoids The City of Eugene, Oregon became the first community in the nation to specifically ban from city property the use of neonicotinoid pesticides, which have scientifically linked to the decline of honey bee colonies. The passage of the resolution came just one week after the Oregon state legislature passed a pollinator protection bill that removed language requiring the restriction of neonicotinoid pesticides, and includes instead a weaker requirement to set up a task force that will examine the possibility of future restrictions. In addition to neonicotinoid restrictions, the City’s resolution also expands Eugene’s pesticide-free parks program and now requires all departments to adopt integrated pest management (IPM) standards.

The Eugene City Council action was taken unanimously on February 26 with the passage of Council Resolution, “Enhancing Current Integrated Pest Management in Parks,” Resolution 5101. The resolution also includes clear goals on children’s health, expands the current Parks and Open Space Division’s Pesticide-Free Parks program from 10 to potentially 40 parks, and requires IPM on all city property.

To access the full story, click here.

8. Oregon Land Use Planning Online Training Welcome to the Oregon land use planning online training, an overview of planning principles and practices in Oregon. The purpose of this program is to help you…citizens and decisionmakers…have a greater understanding of Oregon’s Statewide Planning and Coastal Management programs and how they relate to your local government planning efforts.

The curriculum has nine chapters. You may follow at your own pace and access the program at any point. Listen and watch. You may also read the content on your screen as we go along. Confirm your understanding by reviewing the scenarios that follow each chapter. For further information about how to use this site, please click the "Using This Site" button on the site index column on the left side of the screen.

For more information about Oregon’s Statewide Planning or Coastal Management Programs, contact us at (503) 373-0050.

To access this series of online trainings, click here.

9. Supreme Court Delivers Blow to Rails-to-Trails At considerable potential cost to the federal government, the Supreme Court ruled Monday that land swapped with, or transferred to private owners under an 1875 law became their property in full again once a railroad that ran across the property has been abandoned. The decision turned mainly upon an argument that the government had made to the Court seventy-two years ago and won — an argument that now was turned against it.

If some of the land governed by this case, formerly lying beneath railroad tracks, has been turned into bike and hiking trails for the public’s use, the government faces claims for compensation to private owners, sums that the government has said may run into hundreds of millions of dollars.

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Justice Sonia Sotomayor noted that prospect as she dissented alone from the eight-to-one ruling in the case of Marvin M. Brandt Revocable Trust v. United States.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., the author of the Court ruling, made clear that the decision only applied to former railroad rights-of-way that lay across private parcels that the government had conveyed to private individuals under the General Railroad Right-of-Way Act of 1875. The decision would not apply to the rights-of-way property that railroads abandoned after October 1988, because a law passed by Congress that year made clear that those lands would return to federal ownership once the railroads gave them up.

To access the full story, click here.

10. Drew Dudley: Everyday Leadership We have all changed someone’s life — usually without even realizing it. In this funny talk, Drew Dudley calls on all of us to celebrate leadership as the everyday act of improving each other’s lives.

To access this video from the TEDx series, click here.

11. USDA Programs and Opportunities Business Loans and Grants The Business Program(BP) works in partnership with the private sector and the community-based organizations to provide financial assistance and business planning.

BP helps fund projects that create or preserve quality jobs and/or promote a clean rural environment. The financial resources of BP are often leveraged with those of other public and private credit source lenders to meet business and credit needs in under-served areas. Recipients of these programs may include individuals, corporations, partnerships, cooperatives, public bodies, nonprofit corporations, Indian tribes, and private companies.

Cooperative Grants and Other Programs The mission of Cooperative Program (CP) is to promote understanding and use of the cooperative form of business as a viable organizational option for marketing and distributing agricultural products. CP serve cooperative members, directors, management, educational institutions, organizations, rural residents, and all others with an interest in the cooperative form of business. CP strive to assist them to effectively use cooperatives to improve their economic well-being and quality of life.

Single Family Housing Loans and Grants Single Family Housing Programs provide homeownership opportunities t Americans through several loan, grant, and loan guarantee programs. The programs also make funding available to indiv necessary to make their homes decent, safe, and sanitary.

Multi Family Housing Loans and Grants Multi-Family Housing Programs offer Rural Rental Housing Loans to provide affordable multi-family rental housing for very low-, low-, and moderateincome families; the elderly; and persons with disabilities. This is primarily a direct mortgage program, but funds may also be used to buy and improve land and to provide necessary facilities such as water and waste disposal systems. In addition, deep subsidy rental assistance is available to eligible families.

Community Facilities Loans and Grants Community Programs provide loans and grants and loan guarantees for water and environmental projects, as well as community facilities projects. Water and environmental projects include water systems, waste systems, solid waste, and storm drainage facilities. Community facilities projects develop essential community facilities for public use in rural areas and may include hospitals, fire protection, safety, as well as many other community-based initiatives.

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Electric Loans and Grants Providing reliable, affordable electricity is essential to the economic well-being and quality of life for all of the nation's rural residents. The Electric Programs provide leadership and capital to upgrade, expand, maintain, and replace America's vast rural electric infrastructure. Under the authority of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936, the Electric Programs make direct loans and loan guarantees to electric utilities to serve customers in rural areas.

Telecommunications Loans and Grants USDA Rural Development continues to provide many programs for financing rural America's telecommunications infrastructure. The Traditional Telephone Loan program consists of hardship, cost of money, and guaranteed loans that finance voice telephone service. The Broadband Access Loan program provides loans for funding the costs of construction, improvement, and acquisition of facilities to provide broadband service to eligible rural communities. The Distance Learning and Telemedicine program continues its charge of bringing electronic educational resources to rural schools and improving health care delivery in rural America. Lastly, the Community Connect Grant program provides financial assistance to eligible applicants that will provide currently unserved areas with broadband service that fosters economic growth and public safety services.

Water Loans and Grants Water and Environmental Programs (WEP) provides loans, grants and loan guarantees for drinking water, sanitary sewer, solid waste and storm drainage facilities in rural areas and cities and towns of 10,000 or less. Public bodies, non-profit organizations and recognized Indian tribes may qualify for assistance. WEP also makes grants to nonprofit organizations to provide technical assistance and training to assist rural communities with their water, wastewater, and solid waste problems.

Community and Economic Development Programs The CEDP administers programs and initiative that promote self-sustaining, long-term economic and regional development in rural areas. The programs demonstrate how every rural community can achieve self-sufficiency through innovative and comprehensive strategic plans developed and implemented at a grassroots level. The programs stress continued local involvement and decision making which is supported by partnerships among private, public and nonprofit entities.

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