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Monday Mailing Quote of the Week: “If we are to succeed in saving the planet, the battle will be won or lost at the local level.” ~Governor Tom McCall Oregon Fast Fact: The Darlingtonia Wayside is Oregon's only rare plant sanctuary.

Year 23 • Issue 31 08 May 2017 1. Why You Should Consider Crowdfunding Your Neighborhood Project (Instead of Writing a Grant) 2. Placemaking and the Future of Cities – Free Publication 3. New LOC White Paper on Handling Disruptive People in Public Meetings Now Online.

4. Designing Cities That Connect for Everyone Natural Hazards Center New Web Resources 5. Rural Infrastructure Needs 6. Reforming Land Use Regulations 7. Harvesting the Value of Water: Stormwater, Green Infrastructure, and Real Estate – Free Publication 8. Kitchen Incubators: Is There a Recipe For Success?

9. Free Webinar: Tackling Resilience Through Food Policy Councils – Thursday, May 25 at 10:00 AM 10. Of Cascadia’s Big Cities, Who’s Tops in Bikeways 11. Podcast: Reversing the Grid 1. Why You Should Consider Crowdfunding Your Neighborhood Project (Instead of Writing a Grant) Whether you’re planning to paint a mural, build a community garden, or create a pop-up bike lane, when it comes to neighborhood improvement, you’re dedicated to making the biggest possible impact. You might work for an established 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, or maybe you’re just part of a small group of neighbors with a good idea. In any case, as you think about how to turn your idea to reality, the question of “how we pay for it” has probably popped up. Competition for small grants can be fierce, and their uncertainty, long turnaround time, and reporting requirements can be a burden on grassroots groups. This is why more and more neighborhood changemakers are turning to civic crowdfunding as an alternative, or even a supplement, to grants.

To access the full story, click here.

2. Placemaking and the Future of Cities – Free Publication Placemaking and the Future of Cities explores the ways in which Placemaking is becoming increasingly relevant as our planet urbanizes. With more than half of the world’s population now living in cities, the importance of engaging and inclusive public spaces grows stronger every day.

To access the draft publication, click here.

3. New LOC White Paper on Handling Disruptive People in Public Meetings Now Online.

The League has partnered with CIS (Citycounty Insurances Services) to create a white paper to help cities understand the legal parameters of how they should handle disruptive people during public meetings.

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LOC’s “Whitepaper on Handling Disruptive People in Public Meetings” covers the following topics: • • • • • •

Public attendance versus public participation rights in regards to public meetings; General constitutional protections provided to people attending public meetings; Appropriate time, place and manner restrictions imposed upon people during public meetings; How disruptive individuals may be removed from public meetings; The appropriateness of suspending disruptive individuals from future public meetings; and The legitimacy of arresting people who disrupt public meetings.

To access the white paper, click here.

4. Designing Cities That Connect for Everyone As more municipal agencies embrace the “smart city” concept — from data-gathering sensors and internet connectivity that monitors day-to-day operations — concerns are growing about whether tech-driven places will be designed for everyone. According to nonprofits G3ict and World Enabled, people with disabilities are being excluded as cities move toward high-tech access to government services and support.

The two partnered to survey 250 experts around the world and have today released the Smart Cities for All Toolkit, which they hope will help guide city halls and the private sector to more inclusive connected cities.

“We believe strongly that the most effective and sustainable solutions to these digital inclusion challenges will come when civil society, including disabled persons organizations, are at the table with governments and industry together, as partners,” James Thurston, G3ict vice president for global strategy and development, said via email. G3ict, or the Global Initiative for Inclusive Information and Communication Technologies, was started in 2006 by the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development To access the full story, click here.

5. Rural Infrastructure Needs When the northwestern Oregon city of Vernonia suffered catastrophic flooding in both 1996 and 2007, the town’s infrastructure took a big hit. The flooding inundated the city’s water treatment lagoons and weakened virtually every part of the aging wastewater system, which already suffered regular discharges of treated effluent into the Nehalem River.

The state of Oregon’s infrastructure is an issue of great concern in rural Oregon, where many roads, buildings and water systems are more than a century old. Rural populations, which are often not large enough to finance the prohibitive cost of upgrading or replacing, face special challenges.

“Small communities are especially in need,” says Vicki Walker, former state director of the USDA Rural Development in Oregon. Walker, a presidential appointee, served in that role during the Obama administration, stepping down in January. “Because small towns have made do for years, infrastructure becomes more difficult to maintain and more expensive to replace. That’s where we come in and help them.”

To access the full story, click here.

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6. Reforming Land Use Regulations Arguably, land use controls have a more widespread impact on the lives of ordinary Americans than any other regulation. These controls, typically imposed by localities, make housing more expensive and restrict the growth of America’s most successful metropolitan areas. These regulations have accreted over time with virtually no cost-benefit analysis. Restricting growth is often locally popular.

Promoting affordability is hardly a financially attractive aim for someone who owns a home. Yet the maze of local land use controls imposes costs on outsiders, and on the American economy as a whole.

New York City enacted its pioneering zoning code in 1916. The Supreme Court only established the constitutionality of Euclidean zoning, which restricts neighborhoods to single uses, in 1926. Yet, these restrictions didn’t meaningfully prevent new building in much of America until the 1970s.

Abundant new construction, not just in Texas but also in New York, Los Angeles and greater San Francisco, ensured that as late as 1970, prices remained close to the physical costs of construction in much of America.

To access the full story, click here.

7. Harvesting the Value of Water: Stormwater, Green Infrastructure, and Real Estate – Free Publication This ULI report brings together an analysis of the stormwater policy landscape and an introduction to a variety of real estate development projects that have responded to them. After outlining the reasons that stormwater management is important to cities, this report introduces a series of real estate case studies and a range of types of stormwater policies. The case studies come from locations across the United States and present both innovations in stormwater management and positive financial, operational, or design outcomes.

To access the publication, click here.

8. Kitchen Incubators: Is There a Recipe For Success?

Ten years ago, the kitchen incubator was a novel concept.

Since then, the food landscape has evolved pretty dramatically. We are now flooded with artisan products (or specialty, local, small batch – insert your favorite food movement here!) and have unparalleled access to unique food trucks and food services — and I think we are all better off for it.

In fact, as I write this I am enjoying a “Real Dill Bloody Mary” whose spectacular mix is made right here in Denver.

In a classic chicken or egg problem, this explosion of small food businesses was either fueled by or paved the way for the evolution and growth of the kitchen incubator. Regardless of which came first, kitchen incubators have undoubtedly helped to sustain the rise of specialty products, making it significantly easier and less expensive for aspiring entrepreneurs to enter the market. According to the National Business Incubation Association, 87% of businesses that have graduated from an incubation program are still in business within five years, versus 50% of those that have not had this support.

To access the full story, click here.

9. Free Webinar: Tackling Resilience Through Food Policy Councils – Thursday, May 25 at 10:00 AM The increasing prevalence and severity of environmental, political, and humanitarian emergencies are prompting governments and communities to think more about where their food will come from in Page 3 of 4

such situations, and how their local food systems may contribute to (or lessen the impact of) them.

Food policy councils can play an important role in assisting with these efforts.

Tune in to this webinar to learn about how: · To think about short-term and long-term strategies at different levels of government for ensuring resilient food systems · Food systems may fit into disaster resilience and climate change mitigation and adaptation planning · Community food organizations and practitioners are addressing food systems resilience To register for this webinar, click here.

10. Of Cascadia’s Big Cities, Who’s Tops in Bikeways It only takes a few minutes talking to transport honchos in Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver, BC, to get a sense of the intense, if friendly, competition among their cities to be king of the cycling hill.

But in many ways the three largest urban centers of Cascadia form one big, soggy petri dish of experimentation in bike infrastructure.

All three are North American leaders in prioritizing complete streets and bicycle transportation, though each has taken it own path. “Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver are each making major strides toward connected, all-ages bike networks,” said Linda Bailey, executive director of the National Association of City Transportation Officials.

To access the full story, click here.

11. Podcast: Reversing the Grid When Thomas Edison built his first electric power stations, there were no electric meters in people’s homes. Lacking a better method, he started billing people a monthly fee based on how many light bulbs they had. It wasn’t a very precise system.

Electric meters (much like the ones we still have today) were soon developed to replace the bulbcounting system. As electricity comes into houses, a little dial turns forward to show how much is used. And while the original designers never considered this possibility, it turns out that the little dial turns backward when electricity leaves a home.

For most people, electricity only flows one way (into the home), but there are exceptions — people who use solar panels, for instance. In those cases, excess electricity created by the solar cells travels back out into the grid to be distributed elsewhere. And in some states, people can can be paid for this excess electricity. The practice is called “net metering” (referring to the total or “net” amount of energy used) and while it started off as a relatively non-controversial practice, there are now big political battles being fought over it.

To access the podcast, click here.

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