[CPEO-BIF] Communities and sprawl report released

[nncnnc@erols.com]

URBAN SPRAWL DEVASTATING CITY AND RURAL
NEIGHBORHOODS, COMMUNITY GROUPS
FIGHT FOR SMARTER GROWTH POLICIES

National organization releases study examining ill effects of unchecked
growth;
proposes strategies for community involvement in smart growth and
development.

FOR RELEASE SEPTEMBER 15  FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
       Lindsay Barenz 202-842-3100
       Leah Kalinosky 202-986-2096

WASHINGTON, DC --- Urban, older suburban, and rural communities are
fighting back against the destructive impact of urban sprawl, says a new
study by The National Neighborhood Coalition. Sprawl, the report says,
has drained resources, jobs and families from city neighborhoods,
leaving behind intense pockets of poverty, strangling the suburbs in
traffic congestion, and isolating residents from jobs and services.

 The study, "Smart Growth, Better Neighborhoods: Communities Leading the
Way" details the problems created by unchecked growth and examines how
grassroots organizations are tackling the crisis. It features 15 case
studies of community, neighborhood, and faith-based organizations
working to promote a strong community voice in growth decisions and
ensure an equitable distribution of regional resources among all
communities especially low-income and minority neighborhoods. The study
stresses transportation, housing, education, planning and land use, and
integrating neighborhood goals with regional planning.

 "Community groups are not trying to stop growth," emphasizes Betty
Weiss, Executive Director of the National Neighborhood Coalition. "They
want to find more efficient and equitable ways to grow that restore a
sense of community to the places we all live."

 The report includes case studies from Texas, Maryland, Massachusetts,
New York, Illinois, Ohio, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Arkansas,
California, North Carolina, and Maine. Examples of case studies include:

? New Schools Better Neighborhoods, a Los Angeles organization, is

working to involve neighborhood residents in the decision making process
for selecting, designing and programming new schools in the Los Angeles
Unified School District. It's creating small, community-centered schools
that serve as anchors to neighborhoods and provide a range of services
that can be used by everyone in the community.

? Handmade in America, under its Rural Leadership Development Initiative
in Asheville, NC, trains civic leaders to plan and manage improvement
projects in rural communities that are too small to have professionally
trained town managers and planners.

? Community Action Committee in Lehigh Valley, PA is working with
business leaders to create a regional development plan based on the
assumption that the region cannot survive without healthy cities. Its
plans call for tax base sharing, consolidation of municipal services at
the county level, and regional land use planning.

? Citizens' Planning and Housing Association is engaging citizens in
developing an agenda for the long-term vitality of Baltimore. The
association focuses on regional transportation planning and regional tax
base sharing to reduce fiscal disparities among jurisdictions.

? New Kensington CDC is rallying residents in Philadelphia to stop
illegal trash dumping in their neighborhoods and works to reclaim
littered, abandoned lots as parks, gardens, and side yards.

 The National Neighborhood Coalition released its study today with a
briefing at the Urban Institute in Washington, DC. Participating were:
Geoff Anderson, US Environmental Protection Agency; Congressman Earl
Blumenauer's office; Gavino Fernandez, El Concilio, Austin, TX; Yolanda
Garcia, Nos Quedamos, Bronx, NY; Warren Goldstein-Gelb, Alternatives for
Community and Environment, Boston, MA; Paul Greene, McCormick Baron
Associates, St. Louis, MO; Vicky Kimmel Forby,  Emerson Park Development
Corporation, East St. Louis, IL; Alan Jennings, Community Action
Committee of the Lehigh Valley, Bethlehem, PA; Sandy Salzman, New
Kensington CDC, Philadelphia, PA; Alexie Torres Fleming, Youth
Ministries for Peace and Justice, Bronx, NY; and Al Barry, Citizens
Planning and Housing Association, Baltimore, MD.

The National Neighborhood Coalition, formed in 1979, is a national
alliance of nearly 100 local, regional and national groups working to
strengthen community-based organizations and help build healthy and
sustainable communities. Its members include national nonprofits,
faith-based organizations, foundations, labor organizations, financials
institutions, neighborhood organizations, trade associations and others.
NNC's Neighborhoods, Regions and Smart Growth project was launched in
July 1999 with support from the Ford Foundation and the US Environmental
Protection Agency.

###


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