Monday, June 27, 2011

Joint Actions, Legislation and FTA Update

American Public Health Association
APHA has 10 Public Health and Equity Principles for Transportation, which include increased funding for community transportation, transportation for mobility-challenged populations, multi-modal infrastructure and planning, and reducing carbon emissions. Signatories include the Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA) as well as pedestrian and biking advocates, and public health and medical associations.

Inter-Agency Partnership for Sustainable Communities

Smart Growth America announces the 50 organizations that sent a joint letter to the Senate leadership for appropriations and transportation urging funding for the inter-agency partnership for sustainable communities. Those 50 include the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (N4A), the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO), and the Amalgamated Transit Union, all members of the National Consortium on the Coordination of Human Services Transportation, as well as organizations devoted to planning, the environment, health and transportation equity.

Federal Transit Administration
FTA has released federal register notices of funding opportunities with deadlines this summer.
* State of good repair funds for buses and bus facilities - deadline July 29.
* Discretionary Sustainability Funding Opportunity Transit Investments - deadline Aug. 23. The funds are specifically for the Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction (TIGGER) Program and Clean Fuels Grant Program, Augmented With Discretionary Bus and Bus Facilities Program.
* Discretionary livability funding - deadline July 29. The programs involved are Section 5309 Bus and Bus Facilities Livability Initiative Program Grants and Section 5339 Alternatives Analysis Program.

FTA also announced apportionment of new starts and small starts funds. These go beyond coast to coast to serve places unconnected to the mainland, including Alaskan and Hawaiian ferries and the Second Avenue subway in Manhattan.

Another funding announcement made recently was the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Advance Notice of Requirements for HUD’s FY11 Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program, which will provide an additional $67 million for building sustainable communities throughout the country.

Convenient Places to Live and Work

American Public Transportation Association
(APTA)
APTA helped craft the listing of today's 10 most convenient cities, as measured by transit access and walkability. In addition to the obvious ones of New York, Chicago, Seattle, Boston and Portland, there is also Milwaukee and Los Angeles.

Enthusiastic Legislative Support


National Council on Independent Living
NCIL is strongly endorsing and working for independent living (IL) legislation pending in Congress. The IL provisions within the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act would create an IL Administration, which would not require any new or additional funding, but would streamline the IL Program and enhance consumer-control. This new entity would be independent of the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) within the Department of Education.

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