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Monday Mailing

Year 24 • Issue 35 18 June 2018 1.

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After Malheur, Side Effects of the Bundys’ Extremism Linger How Native American Food is Tied to Important Sacred Stories Inside the Push to Bring Racial Equity to Land Grant Universities The Psychology of Decline Regional Significant Industrial Sites Webinar - Hazard Mitigation and Historic Preservation: How to Both Preserve and Protect - Tue, Jun 26, 2018 @ 10am Webinar - Resources to Improve Health and Promote Active Transportation – Thurs, Jun 21 @ 11am Webinar - The Art Stimulus: Exploring the Confluence of Public Art and Community Development in the West - Tue, Jun 26, 2018 @ 11am Resource – NACo County Explorer How City Planning Can Affect How Diseases Spread Request for Technical Assistance: Small-Scale Manufacturing & PlaceBased Economic Development

1. After Malheur, Side Effects of the Bundys’ Extremism Linger On the night of Jan. 26, 2016, Brenda Smith was nearing the end of a sixhour drive home from the Portland area to Burns, in Harney County, Oregon, basking in the knowledge that her scrappy nonprofit had just won a $6 million grant. The High Desert Partnership helps locals collaborate on natural resource management, and this was by far the biggest grant it had ever received. It meant that she could finally rent a real office and hire other full-time employees. Smith was exhausted from the long day, but things were looking up.

Quote of the Week: “This activist loves Oregon more than he loves life.”

-Tom McCall Oregon Fast Fact: Oregon grows 98 percent of the hazelnuts in the United States. There are more than 3,755,000 hazelnut trees in Oregon, worth $49.5 million, grown on 30,000 acres, mostly in western Oregon.

Around 10 p.m. on Highway 20, a solid line of police cars with flashing lights sped by, traveling in the opposite direction. Smith assumed they had something to do with the occupation of the nearby Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, now in its fourth week. Self-described militia from across the country had been driving around Burns since December, many demanding that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service somehow turn the refuge land over to locals. The leader of the occupation — Ammon Bundy of Idaho — claimed he was making a stand against government “tyranny.”

To access the full story, click here.

2. How Native American Food is Tied to Important Sacred Stories The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling, on June 11, that asked Washington state to remove culverts that block the migration of salmon.

The ruling has significant implications for Northwest Coast tribes, whose main source of food and livelihood is salmon.

The legal decision stems from the 1855 Stevens treaties when Northwest Coast tribes retained the “right to take fish” from their traditional homelands. Fighting to protect salmon habitat, however, is more than just upholding tribal rights. Salmon is viewed as sacred.

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As a scholar of environmental history and Native American religion, I have looked at how indigenous people find religious meaning in the natural world and traditional foods.

This latest Supreme Court case coincides with a resurgence of interest among a new generation of scholars and activists who are learning about and reviving indigenous food systems.

To access the full story, click here.

3. Inside the Push to Bring Racial Equity to Land Grant Universities An underdog campaign is being waged among America’s public and land grant universities to address their history of racism and to prioritize the issues of racial equity and food justice.

The latest skirmish in this battle came after the publication of a May 2017 action plan known as “The Challenge of Change” report by prominent university, government, non-governmental organizations, and business leaders. The report examines how America’s 200-plus public and land grant universities—public schools established in the 19th century in all 50 states that cumulatively receive hundreds of millions of dollars in state and federal funding each year—can help meet global food and nutrition needs by 2050.

In detailing these issues, the report, however, left out these universities’ history of structural racism.

Members of the Inter-Institutional Network for Food, Agriculture, and Sustainability (INFAS), who helped write the report, felt the urgent need to address it in a written response, directed specifically to the nation’s 76 public land grant universities.

To access the full story, click here.

4. The Psychology of Decline Who's heard any of the following things said about their city or neighborhood?

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Growing up here, I loved this neighborhood. But we're never going to get back to that place now.

Our city is in trouble, but we can't change that.

Our leaders aren't invested and the money has dried up. Nothing we do is going to make a difference.

People here just don't care...

These aren't merely off-hand comments. They are expressions of a deep-seated sense of defeat that pervades many American towns and cities — especially those post-industrial communities in the Rust Belt and the Midwest.

This mindset about decline has serious consequences that go far beyond a conversation between neighbors in the grocery store or a local newspaper's comment section. Declining cities often face a dangerously cyclical process that looks something like this: 1. Residents begin to leave a city for a million reasons, from a desire for better employment options, to higher quality housing, to lower crime, and even (it has to be said) fewer people who don't look like them.

2. As neighborhoods lose population, they become less safe and desirable due to a lack of resources and a glut of empty spaces.

3. The remaining residents begin to feel pessimistic about the future of their city and can't see a way out of this spiral of decline (here's where the comments above start to come in). They stop investing in making their community more prosperous and successful.

4. More residents leave because they have lost hope in their city.

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5. The decline and neglect continue as the energy of these departing residents and the tax dollars they used to contribute to their city dry up. A better future seems even more out of reach...

It takes a major shift in perspective to get the city back on track, and bold new ideas and risk-takers are needed to change this trajectory.

To access the full story, click here.

5. Regional Significant Industrial Sites RSIS is a profit sharing economic development tool that offers state income tax reimbursements for approved industrial site readiness activities. Tax reimbursements go to the approved local community annually the year after a project's employment thresholds are reached. The following examples are eligible site readiness activities: land acquisition and assembly costs, planning and engineering, environmental remediation and mitigation, transportation improvements, infrastructure improvements, and site grading.

History The 2013 Legislature authorized the creation of Regionally Significant Industrial Sites (RSIS) program. The governing statutes and rules have been revised over the past few years, but most recently the rules were suspended on November 28, 2017, a notice of proposed rulemaking were filed on January 16, 2018, and final rules were filed with the Secretary of the State's office on April 17, 2018.

Eligible Applicants A local government can apply if they own the industrially zoned site/s or act as a sponsor for a privately owned industrially zoned site/s. Notice, the program is accepting applications until spring of 2023.

Application Process It is recommended that interested communities and property owners have a pre-application meeting with the industrial lands specialist and their regional development officer prior to applying.

1. Submitted a complete application and development plan to Business Oregon; 2. Business Oregon's staff and the Governor's Regional Solutions Team will review the application and development plan and prepare comments; 3. Staff prepares and submits a staff recommendation memorandum to the Director of Business Oregon; 4. The Director of Business Oregon will review the staff recommendation and make a final decision to designate the site or not.

5. Staff will notify the applicant of the department's final decision in writing.

For more information, click here.

6. Webinar - Hazard Mitigation and Historic Preservation: How to Both Preserve and Protect Tue, Jun 26, 2018 @ 10am How do we protect historic properties that cannot be moved or modified, from the next disaster that strikes? This is a critical question faced by many owners of properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places and state registers or those located in local historic districts. Changing their original materials, locations or character-defining features can put these properties at risk of losing their historic designation. How, then, do we protect these resources? Are mitigation and preservation both possible? Is there a compromise that allows for preserving and protecting? Is it better to alter a building’s character-defining features and protect it than to risk losing it entirely? What are the best Page 3 of 5

options that cause the least harm or alteration? In this webinar, we will explore answers to some of these questions with Deepa Srinivasan, AICP, CFM, President and mitigation specialists of Vision Planning and Consulting who share their process, challenges, and lessons learned from their work on disaster planning for historic and cultural resources in communities in two Mid-Atlantic states.

To register for this webinar, click here.

7. Webinar - Resources to Improve Health and Promote Active Transportation – Thurs, Jun 21 @ 11am The American Public Health Association believes in working across sectors to create and foster environments that support physical activity and advance health equity. Physically active people live longer and have a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and some cancers. Building environments that foster physical activity and active, non-motorized transportation helps encourage active lifestyles. This webinar will feature resources and tools public health professionals can use to educate others on the importance of active transportation, including the 2018 Benchmarking Report on Bicycling and Walking in the United States, a study exploring access to trails in Milwaukee and success stories from the Planners4Health initiative. Public health practitioners can learn from and utilize these resources to advocate for active transportation initiatives in their communities.

To register for this webinar, click here.

8. Webinar - The Art Stimulus: Exploring the Confluence of Public Art and Community Development in the West - Tue, Jun 26, 2018 @ 11am Public art can have a big impact on our towns and cities. Strategically placed sculptures and murals can attract visitors, enhance the downtown experience for pedestrians, and instill a sense of pride for locals. But as our communities respond to the ever-increasing pressures of growth and economic change, some public arts organizations have positioned themselves to do so much more. From fostering social cohesion and enhancing public education, to painting sidewalks and improving housing conditions, this webinar will explore new ways for approaching public art as a tool for community development. Featuring Maria Sykes of the Epicenter community design center Green River, Utah, and J. Matt Thomas of the Paseo Project in Taos, New Mexico, participants will learn just how deep the impact can be when community arts organizations become the torchbearers of community progress.

To register for this webinar, click here.

9. Resource – NACo County Explorer Compare your counties mapping data using NACo County Explorer.communities across the nation.

To access this resource, click here.

10. How City Planning Can Affect How Diseases Spread Long before they had the data to prove it, doctors suspected city amenities, layouts, population counts, and sanitation measures impacted how diseases spread and, in turn, the severity of epidemics.

Numerous attempts at disease mapping failed, until 1864, when a physician named John Snow successfully mapped a cholera outbreak in London and forever changed how people in the public health sector approached epidemiology.

City planners must think about how to minimize the spread of disease and take that need as seriously as any other aspect of a well-managed city.

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Sanitation Measures Are Essential Statistics indicate about 4 billion people around the world live in urban areas, and that number is on the rise. As inhabitants increasingly cram into cities, potential infectious diseases could spread faster due to people living in close quarters.

To access the full story, click here.

11. Request for Technical Assistance: Small-Scale Manufacturing & Place-Based Economic Development With funding from the Economic Development Administration (EDA), Smart Growth America (SGA) and its contractor, Recast City, will provide technical assistance to help local community leaders integrate small-scale manufacturing into their place-based economic development efforts.

Any units or subdivisions of regional, local, or tribal government, as well as non-profits and nongovernmental organizations such as community development corporations and community foundations, are eligible to apply. See page 3 for full eligibility details. There is no fee or cost for this technical assistance, but communities will be required to provide support through staff time.

Requests for small-scale manufacturing technical assistance are due by 5 p.m. EST June 29, 2018.

Applications may be completed by either 1) completing an online application form, or 2) by downloading and returning the PDF application at www.smartgrowthamerica.org/manufacturing.

For pre-application assistance and inquiries, contact us at info@smartgrowthamerica.org To access the application form, click here.

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