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Events

Federal Stimulus - Sustainable Pittsburgh Comments on SPC Proposed Amendments to TIP

(Note to reader: The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission is hosting a public comment period through March 27 on amending the 2009-2012 TIP. A meeting is scheduled for March 9. Visit the SPC website for details.)

March 6, 2009

Dr. Jim Hassinger
President & CEO
Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission
425 Sixth Avenue, Suite 2500
Pittsburgh, PA 15219-1852
RE: Comment: Proposed amendments to 2009-2012 Transportation Improvement Program to permit the programming of funds made available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

Dear Dr. Hassinger,

On behalf of Sustainable Pittsburgh I am writing to provide comment on the proposed amendments to the 2035 Transportation and Development Plan (The Plan) for Southwestern Pennsylvania through amendment of the 2009-2012 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) to permit the programming of funds made available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Sustainable Pittsburgh supports the focused growth practicalities of the region's 2035 Transportation and Development Plan (The Plan). We urge SPC to reinforce The Plan by acting now to transparently employ project evaluation criteria to assess local and regional impacts of the proposed TIP amendments. By evaluating the comparative merits of proposed projects relative to the excellent goals and objectives articulated in The Plan, SPC can lift the region from a project by project perspective to focus on the larger regional strategy for change. While the stimulus dollars are a drop in the bucket to the some $33 billion that is to be spent over the life of The Plan, this federal shot in the arm is an opportunity to accelerate The Plan's overall vision for transformative change. It is also an opportunity to leverage strategic targeting of the region's spending, post stimulus, over the coming decades. . .

Click here to read the entire letter.

Resources

Going Green with Sara Snow

Thursday, March 12
11:30 am - 4:00 pm
Duquesne University Power Center, Uptown
Cost: $45 when you mention the flyer
To register call 412-396-6233 or visit www.sbdc.duq.edu

What does all this green mean for my business? How can I be responsible and yet afford greening my business? Join the Small Business Development Center at Duquesne University, along with Sustainable Pittsburgh's Champions for Sustainability and the PA Dept. of Community and Economic Development, in welcoming Sara Snow, the living green expert and host of the Discovery Health Show, “Getting Fresh with Sara Snow”. Opening remarks will be from Lindsay Baxter, City of Pittsburgh's Sustainability Coordinator, and a panel discussion will feature:
- Amanda Parks, Equita
- Brian Dworkin, Castle Co-Packers, LLC
- Dave Mazza, Pennsylvania Resource Council
- Ned Eldridge, eloop, LLC

Diversity: Corporate Leadership and Issues for Our Region

Thursday, March 19
3:30 pm - 5:30 pm
Kurtzman Room, William Pitt Student Union, University of Pittsburgh, Oakland
Free to attend. To register contact: ethics@gspia.pitt.edu or 412-648-1336

Join the Johnson Institute for Responsible Leadership, Sustainable Pittsburgh, and the CORO Center for Civic Leadership in a presentation by Keith Caver, Vice President and Practice Leader, Executive Development, Executive Solutions Group, Development Dimensions International (DDI) and President of Caver Consulting, LLC.

This free, public presentation will focus on corporate strategies for encouraging diversity as well as personal strategies for career management and development. The panel discussion will focus on strengthening SWPA through diversity and leadership development. Panelists include: Victoria Chester, Manager, Corporate Diversity & Employee Programs, Highmark; Lee Hipps, Director of Non-Profit Technology Practice, Ceeva, Inc.; Darrell Smalley, Senior Manager, Ernst & Young; and Doris Carson Williams, President and CEO, African American Chamber of Commerce. Sala Udin, President and CEO of Coro Center for Civic Leadership, will moderate the panel. A reception with refreshments will follow.

Not Just Leed: Leading the Way to Practical, Cost-Saving, Sustainable Infrastructure Solutions

Thursday, March 26
7:30 am – 4:30 pm (Breakfast and lunch included)
Regional Learning Alliance at Cranberry Woods, Cranberry Township
Cost: $90 for ASCE, EWRI, AEI, and C4S members/ $120 for non-members
Deadline to register: March 24, 2009
Register online at www.C4SPgh.org/know.html
For more information, contact: Matthew Mehalik, Sustainable Pittsburgh, at mmehalik@sustainablepittsburgh.org or 412-258-6644 or Bob Dengler at rdengler@GFNET.com or 412-922-5575 x 378

This all-day conference features renowned experts on real-world, practical, cost-saving, sustainable solutions for infrastructure design, including energy policy, water resources systems, buildings and community sustainability initiatives. Come learn about the latest advancements and solutions. This conference is perfect for businesses, engineers, architects, non-profits, and government agencies interested in our region’s infrastructure from a sustainability perspective.
Hosted by:
American Society of Civil Engineers, Pittsburgh Section
Environmental & Water Resources Institute
Architectural Engineering Institute
Champions for Sustainability

2009 Student Sustainability Symposium

SAVE THE DATE
Thursday, April 16
9:00 am – 2:00 pm (lunch provided)
31st Floor Conference Room
425 Sixth Avenue, Regional Enterprise Tower, Downtown Pittsburgh
For more information contact: Ward Allebach (412) 606-9075

Learn what local students and universities are doing to promote sustainability on-campus and in the City of Pittsburgh. “One Step at a Time: Shrinking the Campus Footprint” is a cooperative project of Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Duquesne University. Hosted by Sustainable Pittsburgh; supported by a grant from The Heinz Endowments.

Register Now: 2009 9th annual SWPA Smart Growth Conference

"Sustainable Community Essentials: applying the policy and practice"
Thursday, May 21
9:00 am - 6:15 pm (continental breakfast and lunch included; cash bar during evening reception)
David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown Pittsburgh
Keynote speaker: Douglas Farr, AIA, author of Sustainable Urbanism and founding principal of Farr Associates
Cost: (Conference with lunch) Early Registration: $30. After May 1: $50 (free to elected officials)
Register Now

- Keynote: Douglas Farr, AIA, author of Sustainable Urbanism and founding principal of Farr Associates, an architecture and planning firm regarded as one of the most sustainable design practices in the country. Having a mission to create sustainable human environments, Farr Associate's unique niche is in applying the principles of LEED at the scale of the neighborhood.

- Update by James Ritzman, Deputy Secretary for Planning, PennDOT, on the Federal Stimulus Package and PennDOT Smart Transportation Initiative

- Panel review of sustainable community initiatives around the region featuring:
Mark Alan Hughes, Director of Sustainability, City of Philadelphia
Murray Rust, Montgomery & Rust, Inc.
Jason Dailey, Cranberry Township
Jesse Jon Salensky, Vandergrift Improvement Program
Nathan Wildfire, Sustainable Policy Coordinator, East Liberty Development, Inc.

- Workshops tracking new "Essentials of Sustainable Communities" resources (14 topics from which to choose via conference registration)

- Reception featuring table displays by lead organizations per the 14 Essentials of Sustainable Communities

Today's difficult times are placing extraordinary strains on our region's communities. Rising costs of all types are putting a tight squeeze on municipalities and residents. Expectations and needs are also increasing. The policy and practice of sustainable development offers solutions. Come learn how your community, municipality, or county can put sustainability to work to save taxpayer dollars and avoid costs, meet needs equitably, conserve resources, and attract investment. Sustainability is central to professional management of local government and a collective imperative for Southwestern Pennsylvania's competitiveness and quality of life. Learn how to accelerate your community's success on environmental stewardship, social equity, economic development as well as fiscal viability and organizational capacity to learn, innovate and adapt.

Presented by:
Community Design Center of Pittsburgh
Local Government Academy
Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development
Pittsburgh Partnership for Neighborhood Development
Smart Growth Partnership of Westmoreland County
Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission
Sustainable Community Development Network, Sustainable Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh Institute of Politics

LEED the way to Green Buildings - Part II

An External Commercial Green Building
Monday, March 9
Noon - 4:00 pm
Regional Enterprise Tower, 23rd Floor, O'Neill Room, Downtown
Cost: $15 (includes lunch and workshop materials)
RSVP by March 6 to 412-392-0610 or information@aaccwp.com

Featuring Byron Falchetti, President, Standard Property Corporation: A Highmark Company & Chairman, Green Building Alliance

This workshop, the second of a four-part series, will present the four levels of green building certification, and the evolution of green design & performance measures in the region. Highmark's Silver Certified Data Center will be presented as an example of green design and construction. Who should attend? Professionals from all industries and business levels: attorneys, architects, business consultants, accountants, & construction and trade professionals.

Electronic Billboard Meeting Notice

Wednesday, March 11
5:30 pm
200 Ross Street, John P. Robin Civic Building, 1st Floor, Planning Dept. Conference Room (Downtown)

This purpose of this meeting is to solicit input on the issue of amending city regulations to allow for the provision of LED billboards. Working with the City of Pittsburgh Department of Law, City Councilman Burgess, crafted legislation that defines regulations for LED advertising signs. It permits such signs so long as they conform to all advertising sign regulations; approval is through the Zoning Board of Adjustment’s special exception process. There are currently over 900 billboards in the City of Pittsburgh.

While the regulation revision effort will provide a means for the industry to employ LED’s it was not intended to facilitate more billboards or unrestrictive conversion of nonconforming signs to LED’s. The City Planning Commission is concerned with the impacts of LED's compared to static billboards, the number of billboards that currently exist in the City of Pittsburgh, and the effects of the proposed regulations. They would like further public input to assist them in making decisions related to the proposed legislation.

Art and the Environment

Thursday, March 12
6:30 pm
Society for Contemporary Craft, Strip District
Lectures, $5 donation at the door.
Contact: 412-261-7003 x26 or kati@contemporarycraft.org.
For more information visit www.contemporarycraft.org.

The Society for Contemporary Craft (SCC) in the Strip District invites the public to a lecture focusing on new uses of renewable energy to power art studios, life cycle assessment of waste and recycling policies. The talk, featuring glass artist Matt Eskuche, Lori Beck, founding member of Ohio Valley Creative Energy, and Anny YuShan Huang, PhD student in Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University, will take place in SCC's main galleries.

Visitability Tax Credits: Getting the Most Out of Your Residential Projects

Thursday, March 19
Noon (Registration begins 11:45 am); Lunch will be provided.
PCRG Conference Room, Uptown
Cost: PCRG Members FREE; Government & Bank Partners $12; Non-members $15
Please RSVP by March 16, 2009.
For more information and to RSVP, contact: Sarah Stutts at sstutts@pcrg.org or 412-391-6732 x210.
www.pcrg.org

The Residential Visitability Design Tax Credit Program is designed to encourage new construction and renovation projects to make it possible for disabled individuals to visit residential housing and older Pennsylvanians to more ably age in place. Lucy Spruill, Director of Public Policy and Community Relations at United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) of Pittsburgh will discuss how to get the most out of residential projects at this Lunch & Learn from the Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group. For more than ten years, Lucy was Director of the CLASS Attendant Care Program and, more recently, the Director of Public Policy and Community Relations. In her current position, she is responsible for developing and implementing public policy positions for UCP of Pittsburgh and strengthening relationships between UCP and other community organizations and constituencies.

Solar Panel Workshop

March 16-20, 2009
Conservation Consultants, Inc., 64 S. 14th St., South Side
Space is limited
For more information call CCI at 412-431-4449 and enter ext. 200 or 240.
Details and registration now online

CCI’s 5-day solar workshop is created for contractors, electricians, sales reps, entrepreneurs & career-changing professionals new to solar business, and covers solar-electric (PV) equipment, system design, installation, estimating, solar industry economics, business models, and career paths. It also includes the start for NABCEP's new Entry Level Certificate of Knowledge of PV Systems (the industry- standard general-knowledge certificate for people entering the field).

Global Warming: Making the Transition to a Just and Sustainable World

Sunday, March 29
1:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, Oakland
Cost: Free for PennFuture and Phipps members; $10 for non-members
To register: www.pennfuture.org/events or by calling 1-800-321-7775

Join PennFuture for their 4th annual global warming conference and hear nationally-known Jerome Ringo, president of the Apollo Alliance, speak about green jobs, environmental justice, and global warming.

James Thorne, senior director of science from Natural Lands Trust will be discussing global warming impacts in Pennsylvania. Other presenters include Kasey Gillette, legislative director to Sen. Bob Casey; Lindsay Baxter, Pittsburgh's new sustainability coordinator; and PennFuture policy experts.

During the Action Expo, many tabling organizations will provide information about how to address global warming such as buying residential renewable energy, finding biofuels, getting energy audits, locating sustainable foods, etc.

Green$ense

Tuesday, March 31
8:15 am - 5:30 pm (Registration begins at 7:15am)
David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown Pittsburgh
Registration fees vary.
More details

From green jobs and the economy to entire neighborhoods and the implementation of innovative new ideas, Green$ense 2009 is a premier regional conference that offers a series of sessions outlining key steps to address these subjects. Whether you’re a professional in the building field or an interested citizen, the time has arrived to rethink and collaborate on best practices for buildings, neighborhood planning, and economic development.

Environmental Justice: The Power of Partnerships in Collaborative Problem-Solving

Thursday, April 2
1:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Power Center Ballroom, Duquesne University, Uptown
Free
More details

This conference brings together the academy, government, business and civil society in the interaction of public policy and the Church's moral vision to raise awareness and present a method for collaborative problem-solving in addressing complex environmental justice problems.

Resources

PennFuture Facts: Stimulating Conversations

Last week, Vice President Joseph Biden came to Philadelphia to launch the White House Middle Class Task Force, with the main topic being jobs – green jobs – and how creating great green jobs will build our economy, enhance our security, fight global warming, and restore the middle class. The vice president couldn’t have come to a better place. The entire Keystone State has been having such stimulating conversations – and turning those conversations into jobs – for years.

Stimulus Controls Vital, But What About Results?

A key question: Will state and local governments see how critical these outlays could be for the country’s future? Take the initial infrastructure wish lists from state transportation departments. Many were anything but “green,” favoring, for example, new and widened roads instead of repaving existing ones or fixing structurally deficient bridges. But that’s the quandary. Road and bridge projects to service sprawling exurban development – a big new “Grand Parkway” loop the Texans want to build around Houston, for example – might pass every fiscal test, but still fail miserably on the energy side. . .And they should note there’s a new day dawning locally – that more than 900 mayors have signed the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, pledging their cities to reduce their carbon emissions to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. It will be a goal tough to meet if sprawl continues to be subsidized. Another test: Will stimulus-funded projects produce jobs for local businesses? Economist Michael Shuman argues that locally-owned firms spend more of their money close to home base. That’s opposed, he argues, to large outside-based corporations that “re-spend money willy-nilly across the planet, not targeted within a community, and therefore have weaker economic multipliers.” Yet there’s nothing in the stimulus bill, he contends, to favor small, locally-owned firms. “Green jobs,” he laments, may end up in giant firms like General Electric or Bechtel.

More

Bringing Home the Green Recovery: A User's Guide to the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

The in-depth guide offers tangible, up-to-date information and ideas for using and securing recovery dollars to help expand opportunity in low-income communities and communities of color. The guide is a first step in what will be a vital nationwide effort to ensure the recovery package helps all communities rise stronger than ever from this economic crisis, and that community-based organizations are at the forefront in crafting a green, equitable recovery.

Get rid of the fake windows

CVS, on the other hand, is taking the anti-pedestrian environment to an extreme. A review of three of their urban locations (11th & Hennepin, Franklin & Nicollet and Oxford & Grand in St. Paul) yields at least 10 different ways to block windows or in other ways destroy an interior-exterior connection and a sense of street vitality and safety.

A road map to better US roads

Congress should heed a panel that suggests replacing a tax on gas with one on miles driven.
As vehicles become more fuel-efficient, they'll drink less gas, and thus produce less revenue to maintain and improve America's aging roads and mass transit. Add electric cars to the mix, and this revenue stream turns to a trickle. This is one reason why a bipartisan blue-ribbon panel this week unanimously recommends replacing the federal gas tax with a tax on "vehicle miles traveled" (VMT) by 2020 – and indexing it for inflation. (At 18 cents per gallon, the federal gas tax has gone unchanged since 1993.)..Gasoline taxes may have sufficed to build the highways of the 20th century, but they've done little to influence vehicle use of roads. Changing behavior is the key to 21st century transport that must unclog crowded highways and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Taxing miles alerts drivers to the real cost of using roads and can better motivate them to drive less.

Why sustainability is still going strong

The downturn will produce more integrated, strategic and value-creating sustainability efforts in many companies. While traditional corporate responsibility and philanthropic initiatives may suffer, core elements of the sustainability agenda will survive or even thrive in a re-ordered economy. One aspect of sustainability that is alive and kicking, perhaps more so because of the economic crisis, is concern with corporate governance. Public perception and trust of large corporations have been seriously damaged. The downturn will keep pressure on companies and executives to rebuild that trust and they must show a renewed commitment to do business in ways that go far beyond adherence to legal requirements, incorporating decision-making and reporting procedures that respect all stakeholders.

Pa. Asks for Help in Forming Climate Change Plan

The Climate Change Advisory Committee is inviting technical experts and members of the public to help develop recommendations that may be included in an action plan for Pennsylvania to address this pressing environmental and economic challenge. . .The primary duties of the subcommittees are to propose new greenhouse gas reduction options; review, discuss and rank greenhouse gas reduction options; and make recommendations to the full committee regarding which reduction options to recommend to DEP for inclusion in the climate change action plan. The Climate Change Advisory Committee, established under the Pennsylvania Climate Change Act (Act 70), is charged with advising the DEP on actions related to climate change and Act 70, such as creating a report on potential climate change impacts and economic opportunities for the commonwealth, and developing an action plan to identify cost-effective strategies to reduce or offset the state's greenhouse gas emissions.

Nuclear power isn't the answer to energy or environmental problems

The problem is, the numbers don't add up and our cars don't run on uranium pellets. Don't be fooled again by the same people who brought you electricity "too cheap to meter." Ask your friendly nuclear power plant to answer four questions about:

Rendell: Spend stimulus money quickly, accountably

Mr. Creedon will make sure that state agencies act as quickly as possible to use $1.4 billion to fix ailing roads, bridges and transit systems; get sewer and water line repair projects underway; get weatherization money to homeowners to make their houses more energy efficient; and use the rest of the money as federal guidelines direct. . .But he said the state still needs to trim spending by $1.2 billion in order to erase a projected $2.3 billion deficit this year, and make additional cuts to balance the proposed $29 billion budget for fiscal 2009-10. It's possible that this year's deficit could exceed $2.3 billion, which could necessitate "rolling furloughs" of unionized state workers, or perhaps layoffs. He is still meeting with state unions about those options.

Cranberry versus Charlotte: Access, space important factors for Westinghouse

"We're juggling more than one variable in the decision. The issue of 228 definitely comes up as one of the variables. I can't say at this point that if they're not going to expand 228, then that means we say, 'No, we won't be in Cranberry Woods for additional capacity.' But I can say that we have leased space in Charlotte and the building that we chose is within 10 minutes of the airport and it's close to the beltway. It is very convenient and there is space there so that we are able to expand down there if we want to," Mr. Bussard said. Is Charlotte more convenient than Cranberry?

Stimulus Spurs Road Projects, Big and Small

Some states are taking radically different approaches with their transportation money. While Kansas is using it on a few big marquee projects to expand capacity at several highways, Maryland has adopted a fix-it-first policy, and plans to use its money to repair dozens of roads and bridges instead of building new ones. . .States have tremendous latitude in how they spend the money, and in some places that is leading to pitched political battles — battles that must be waged quickly, since the states must begin spending the money in four months. Regional politics is playing a role in some states, as local lawmakers fight to get money sent to their districts. . .Should the bulk of the money go to metropolitan regions where the bulk of the population and economic activity are or should it be spread out evenly to suburban and rural areas across the state?. . .Others argue that the money should be used to fix the crumbling infrastructure that already exists. They note that for years, many states have put off much-needed maintenance to save money, and that repair projects can be done quickly. In the absence of a broader policy discussion about the future of transportation — which would involve wrestling with questions about sprawl and how to reduce dependence on foreign oil — these states have decided it is better to fix existing roads than to build new ones that would only attract more cars.

Transportation for America issues call to President Obama and Congress to launch a new federal transportation mission

With the federal transportation program set to expire later this year, the Transportation for America coalition brought together leaders in the worlds of transportation, public health, business and social justice to release a groundbreaking national campaign platform. The platform calls on President Obama and Congress to launch a new federal transportation mission that breaks with the worn out ways of the status quo, helps put an end to America’s oil dependency, brings opportunity to all Americans and allows our country’s businesses to compete and thrive in the 21st Century.

For information on becoming a Member of Sustainable Pittsburgh, please visit our website.

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Sustainable Pittsburgh affects decision-making in the Pittsburgh Region to integrate economic prosperity, social equity and environmental quality bringing sustainable solutions to communities and businesses.

Sustainable Pittsburgh benefits from support in 2009 from:

Bayer Corporation
Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation
Dollar Bank
The Giant Eagle Foundation
The Heinz Endowments
Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield
Elsie H. Hillman Foundation
Richard King Mellon Foundation
Dylan Todd Simonds Foundation
University of Pittsburgh


Special thanks to the SP Members

Sustainable Pittsburgh
425 Sixth Avenue, Suite 1335
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
(412) 258-6642
fax (412) 258-6645
E-mail SP