The Tri-State Transportation Campaign, supported by the One Region Fund, a partnership of private funders from Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, has created a TOD Grant Program to support initiatives in municipalities that are interested in retail, mixed-income housing and open space that foster walkable, compact and vibrant communities centered within one-quarter to one-half mile of a transit stop. The Tri-State Transportation Campaign is a non-profit advocacy and policy organization working for a more balanced, equitable, and environmentally friendly transportation system in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Read more

The Sept. 22 issue of Rollcall magazine includes a lengthy article on Reconnecting America and Smart Growth America's efforts to boost transit funding in the upcoming federal transportation bill and the plans of the Transportation for America coalition to wage a grass-roots campaign to generate support. Writes T.R. Goldman: It comes around every half-dozen or so years, but this time, when the gargantuan transportation bill is written, “smart growth” advocates are determined to play a prominent role — muscling aside the bill’s traditional highway heavy hitters. ... “The onus is off us to make them pay attention,” said Geoff Anderson, president of D.C.-based Smart Growth America, which is co-managing the new coalition along with Oakland, Calif.-based Reconnecting America. “They’re paying attention.” But the prominence of the smart-growth community in next year’s transportation bill, which could balloon to as much as $500…

Do 1950s-era parking space mandates serve 21st century needs? That's the question that Associated Press reporter Sarah Karush explored in a Sept. 22 article, "Cities rethink wisdom of 50s-era parking standards." Cities are considering reducing offstreet parking requirements in hopes of encouraging walkable, transit-oriented development. But opponents argue that parking can't be the sole focus. Ken Jarboe, a neighborhood leader in Washington, D.C., said the way to reduce traffic is to continue improving transit and to create other incentives not to drive. "Simply saying, 'Let's make it more painful to park — it doesn't get you where you want to be," Jarboe said. Proponents of the change counter that subsidizing the cost of parking by requiring excess space just encourages more people to drive. Read the full story here.

The Rudy Bruner Award is given to urban places that demonstrate the successful integration of effective process, meaningful values and good design. Winners are distinguished by their social, economic and environmental contributions to the urban environment, and often provide innovative solutions to our cities most challenging problems.

Senior editor Eugene Gilligan at Commercial Property News reports that a panel at the Multi-Housing World Conference in Denver took up the topic of transit-oriented development Sept. 19, concluding that a number of factors -- changing tastes, gas prices and commute woes -- are forcing developers to turn away from sprawl and focus instead on sustainability and creating livable neighborhoods. With mass transit gaining ground even in car-centric Los Angeles and sustainability a key selling point for many projects, builders are finding new impetus to work through the resistance to denser occupancy rates and unnecessary parking space requirements that typically work against transit-oriented developments. Panel: Bright Future for Transit-Oriented M-F Developments

Transit and its role in helping Americans cope with increasing fuel costs were the topic of a hearing Sept. 9 before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. Among those providing testimony were William W. Millar, president of the American Public Transportation Association, and Robert Puentes, fellow and director of the Metropolitan Infrastructure Initiative at the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program. The following are highlights from Millar's presentation "On Strengthening The Ability Of Public Transportation To Help Americans Escape High Fuel Costs." In the second quarter of 2008 as the price of gasoline rose steadily, Americans took more than 2.8 billion trips on public transportation vehicles. This is almost 140 million more trips than last year for the same time period or 1.5 million more each day. Americans are changing…