Tide to Town Plan

Savannah, GA

The Collaborative, with the assistance of the Transport Studio, developed the Tide to Town Plan that outlines an equity strategy for the Tide to Town (TTT) project in Savannah, GA. By fusing the goals of trail development with equitable growth, the plan offers a cohesive collection of actions for enabling low-wealth homeowners along the trail to keep and improve their homes and remain where they have lived for generations. The plan also assists renters in purchasing their first residences, supports local businesses, creates new jobs, and proposes other steps for building wealth and preserving vital Savannah neighborhoods.

Now under construction, the Tide to Town Trail will consist of a nearly 30-mile multiuse path route around the City with separated bike lanes connecting 62 neighborhoods. The first 7-mile path segment will open in 2026.

The actions include:

• Assisting 140 homeowners per year improve their homes by providing interest-free loans for home maintenance and improvements.
• Increasing funds for down payments, closing costs, and gap financing assistance to renters seeking to become first time homebuyers.
• Passing an ordinance that sets hiring goals for city residents, people of color, and women for trail-related development projects.
• Expanding the availability of pre-school, daycare, and eldercare programs.

Link to the Tide to Town Plan.

Newsday

OPINION / COMMENTARY

By Ed Shoucair

Can conservatives return to core values?

Prudent asset management is one of the bedrock principles of conservatism. Credit: Getty Images/PM Images

June 23, 2021 03:38 PM

Can someone please explain what it means to be a conservative today? The values of many conservatives no longer make sense to me. As a child, I learned America’s strength comes from working hard, carefully managing one’s assets, thinking for yourself and tirelessly seeking to form a more perfect union. But today, a growing number of conservatives criticize those whose lives don’t line up A to Z with theirs. More troubling is when they attack others for being a different race or faith, or for expressing different ideas.

As a grandchild of immigrants, I was raised to work hard, be grateful for what I earned, and think twice before spending it. One grandparent managed a boardinghouse, one became a welder, and one worked as a seamstress.

Like their parents, mine passed on the value of hard work and prudent use of money to me. My father worked for one company where he was employed for 47 years, except for the time spent in the Army under General Patton. My mother welded ships during WWII, later raised a family and then became a bookkeeper.

My family’s experience taught me that education and the opportunity to work is the most promising path to a better life. In school I studied late into the night and on weekends. To earn money, I shoveled snow, delivered Newsday papers, pumped gas and stocked shelves. After college and graduate school, I started a business that has employed hundreds of people over the past 30 years. Each year my partner and I hire African Americans, immigrants, and children of immigrants who are eager to work hard and improve their lives.

A core value I learned from my family is a love of nature and passion for its conservation. My grandfather joined NYC’s Republican Club when Teddy Roosevelt was a member. The future president was an avid conservationist who made a lasting impression on my grandfather. My father. in turn. identified as a “Roosevelt Republican” and believed that conserving the environment is vital to an individual’s and country’s well-being. He also liked Roosevelt because he stood up to the robber barons and corporate monopolies in favor of giving regular Americans a chance to earn a decent wage.

Lastly, being a conservative to me means wisely managing our own and our country’s assets. Like most, I believe in investing as much as is needed on national defense. But can’t we be smarter about how we administer our military spending? And can’t we use the savings on other forms of national defense, such as protecting our communities from rising seas and intensifying storms and wildfires?

Instead of judging and criticizing others who may not look, sound or believe as we do, let’s rally around our nation’s common values. Values that celebrate free thinking. Ones that seek to realize the ideal of respect for all people. And values that champion the importance of hard work and conserving economic and natural resources. Neither conservative nor liberal, these genuine and sound American values have sustained us through the hardest of times, and they continue to offer the way forward to a better future for all.

This guest essay reflects the views of Ed Shoucair (Follow on Twitter at: @Change_forGood), who is president of the Collaborative, an urban planning, design, and communications firm.

International ‘superfund’ could ease the human, economic costs of health crises

By Ed Shoucair
Miami Herald, September 02, 2020 05:11 PM

A superfund to which all countries contribute could ease national debt, find solutions to disease and climate change. (Getty Images)

Winston Churchill’s words ring true today: “Never let a good crisis go to waste.”

Today’s global pandemic makes it clear that lethal viruses are here to stay. Equally evident is the need for new ideas to better address pandemics and the intensifying public health emergency of global warming. Both travel the planet without regard to borders and inflict immeasurable harm.

It’s time to connect the dots between public health, climate change and the economy. Remember what we were taught early on? “Take care of your health and everything else will follow.” Or as the Roman poet Virgil wrote, “The greatest wealth is health.”

Public health takes priority over the economy. Simply look at the world’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Trillions are being spent to cure the sick, to keep others from falling ill and to prevent the economy from crashing into a depression that would make the one in the 1930s seem short in length and mild in injury.

It is important to ask: Where is the bulk of the money coming from to cope with the pandemic and the associated economic fallout?

The answer: Nations are heaping debt onto their balance sheets.

And because all nations face the same public health emergency, a tacit agreement is likely to be reached for how to account for the debt. Expect world leaders and their treasury directors to classify this debt as a “special, one-time occurrence.” Expect them to credit one another for taking the legitimate and necessary steps to address this public health crisis that requires action on a massive scale. The outcome will be an international economic understanding that the money had to be spent, footnoted as emergency expenditures — and under the rug the debt and dust will go.

There is a better way. It starts with the creation of a World Future Superfund, a giant investment fund for the planet underwritten by nations to prepare for future public health emergencies and the Earth’s feverishly rising temperature.

Endowed with tens of trillions of dollars’ worth of credit backed by nations of the world, the Fund would award grants to nations for public health projects and global-warming solutions. Money would come from nations self-financing their contributions. And because a nation’s added debt would benefit every nation, contributions would be accounted for as special investments on national balance sheets with no repayment required. The logic is simple. It is better to invest and prepare now than spend more later on emergency interventions that end up being effectively written off.

Giving nations grants would ensure there are enough masks, medical tests, trained medical personnel, health clinics and laboratories for research and developing vaccines when the next viral health crisis begins. Finally, nations would have enough resources to switch to clean-energy technologies, remake communities to run more efficiently and resiliently, and reverse environmental damage that’s been done. And, instead of rising temperatures, these investments would stimulate a rise in job growth.

The creation of the World Future Superfund would reflect an understanding that no amount of money is too much to protect the world’s public health. And with the priority being the health and future of the planet, there is no point in skimping. For example, a 2019 Morgan Stanley study projects a worldwide investment of $50 trillion would be needed to meet the Paris Climate Agreement’s goals of significantly limiting global temperatures and reducing net carbon emissions to zero by 2050.

To ensure the grants are not used for other purposes, Fund regulators would conduct ongoing oversight. Countries found not adhering to grant guidelines would risk losing future access to the funds. Nations choosing not to contribute would naturally not be eligible to receive grants.

Today’s pandemic presents a critical choice. We can fail to learn from this public health emergency and continue to lurch from crisis to crisis while suffering and spending increase. Or we can invest in our shared future wisely, openly and together. Establishing a World Future Superfund offers a way to prepare for coming pandemics and bend the temperature curve of global warming. The choice is between investing now or paying a higher price later.

Link to the Source Article.

Neponset River Greenway named one of America’s “Great Places”

The Neponset River Greenway was named one of America’s “Great Places” by the American Planning Association.

The Great Places in America Program recognizes neighborhoods, streets, and public spaces across the country that represent “the gold standard for a true sense of place, cultural and historical interest, community involvement, and a vision for the future”.

Located along Boston’s southern boundary, the Neponset River Greenway is a vibrant recreation destination enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of people each year. The Collaborative led an energetic master planning and design process that created the Greenway and today includes a series of waterfront parks, an 8+ mile multiuse trail, restored wildlife areas and wetlands, interpretive exhibits, a major soccer complex, play areas, and courts.

Over the years, the Greenway has triggered important community growth along the river corridor. This includes the Collaborative’s design of open spaces and outdoor rooms as part of a new 130-unit affordable housing, transit-oriented, mixed-use project adjacent to the Greenway.

As the Greenway’s original master planners and designers, the Collaborative led a multidisciplinary team, including surveyors, civil and environmental engineers. The public involvement process included the Collaborative leading more than 35 public meetings, community-design charrettes, public site visits, and special interest roundtables over the course of the project. The project’s broad public involvement resulted in the passage of a $40 million bond bill to implement the master plan.

Online information about the Neponset River Greenway:

• This Picturesque Park is an Undiscovered Oasis Just Outside Boston, Massachusetts
• Neponset River Greenway