May
4, 2006
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Know
somebody that would appreciate receiving 3E Links?
Please forward 3E Links to them and suggest they simply send a note to info@sustainablepittsburgh.org
asking to be added to the distribution list.
EVENTS
(Click on Links)
·
Commissioning
LEED-NC Projects Workshop
·
6th
Annual Southwestern Pennsylvania Smart Growth Conference
·
Volunteers
Needed for “Hard to Recycle” Event
·
Youth
Workforce Development Conference
·
Department
of Human Services Town Meetings
LEGISLATIVE
ALERTS
·
Eminent
domain bills passed by legislature
·
Home-building
fees sought to ease growth
·
In
Dolington case, PA supreme court upholds joint municipal zoning ordinance
·
Unanimous
House votes to cut mercury emissions
RESOURCES
·
It’s not too late to
purchase table display space at the 6th Annual 2006 Smart Growth
Conference
·
Pennsylvania
Scholarships to the Preservation Conference
·
'Clear' human impact on
climate
·
Environmental Power
Corp: Cow Power
·
Japanese find it easier
to be green
·
US wind energy on track
for another record year
·
First biofuels index launched
·
State of Discontent: The
2006 Primary Guide
·
Section Closed -Section
8 housing vouchers have dried up locally, and the wait may be long
·
Debate rages over plan
to build power plant in Washington County
·
Promoting Public Health
through Smart Growth
·
Researchers track
evolution of land use through satellite data, aerial photography
·
Neutralize your CO2
emissions
·
Ford Launches Customer
Carbon Offset Program
·
Black business owners on rise
·
Can we think outside the
luxury box?
·
Midweek Perspectives:
Forever young
Friday,
May 12 – Sunday May 21
Visit:
http://www.greatoutdoorsweek.org
for a complete list of events around the region
Great Outdoors Week is a celebration of everything outdoors! There's
something cool, fun and healthy for everyone to try at least once! A simple
walk, run, bike ride or blade can be enough to fall in love with the region's
outdoor natural recreation amenities.
Monday
May 15 – Friday May 19
For
more information and a calendar of activities, go to http://www.bike-pgh.org/
As part of National Bike Month, Bike Pittsburgh is proud to announce this
city’s sixth annual Bike to Work Week. From May 15th to May 19th Bike
Pittsburgh will host a series of free events for bicycle commuters and other
bicyclists who are interested in learning more about the cheapest, healthiest,
and most convenient form of everyday transportation in the
Wednesday,
May 17
8:30
am – 12:30 pm
Downtown
Register:
www.usgbc.org
Cost
before May 10: USGBC Members
$150/Non-Members $200
Cost
after May 10: USGBC Members
$180/Non-Members $250
This workshop discusses how commissioning is vital to ensuring your
building will operate as designed and about the building commissioning process
as required by LEED. The workshop
will cover definitions in commissioning as well as the costs and benefits;
examples of green building commissioning; the commissioning agent’s role as it
applies to design strategies and documentation for LEED certification; and
additional tools and resources.
5:30
- 7:30pm
Millvale
Training Facility
Free
Info:
visit threeriversrowing.org; e-mail trra@ThreeRiversRowing.org
or call 412-231-TRRA
If you want to learn how to row or paddle, or even just know what the
difference is, we offer frequent opportunities to try both! Three Rivers Rowing
Association invites you to try rowing and paddling in our indoor tanks, on the
ergometer (rowing machine). Learn
How to Row and Paddle Day is a Great Outdoors Week event.
Coming Together to Revitalize Our Communities:
Cross-Community and
Friday, May 19
8:00 am – 3:30 pm
Omni William Penn Hotel,
Keynote: David
Soule, Associate Director
Center for
Urban & Regional Policy, Northeastern University
Cost: Early
Registration: $30. Registration
after May 12: $40 (free to elected officials)
Call (412)
258-6642 for early registration
http://www.sustainablepittsburgh.org/2006_Conference/main.htm
The 2006 SWPA Smart Growth Conference will address
strategies to revitalize the region's core communities and seek to identify a
set of policy opportunities around which there is consensus for collaboration.
Leading up to the conference, a series of
community forums will be orchestrated around the region to identify common barriers
and opportunities to redevelopment. Common needs and policy options identified
through the forums will be presented at the annual conference toward
developing consensus on policies to renew
Please mark your calendars for May 19 and
register today.
The annual Smart Growth conference and regional
forums are hosted by, Pennsylvania Department of County and Economic
Development, Regional Coalition of Community Builders, Southwestern
Pennsylvania Commission,
Saturday,
May 20
10
am - 5 pm (rain or shine)
Info:
(412) 255-0564
http://www.ventureoutdoors.org/VOFest.asp
The Venture Outdoors Festival, a Great Outdoors Week event, is sponsored
by UPMC Health Plan is a free event where individuals and families can sample
the many outdoor activities available in our region. The event features
canoeing, kayaking, biking, dragon boats, rock climbing, inline skating, fishing
and more. Participants can hone their skills or try these activities for the
first time - with experienced instructors to provide guidance - and learn where
to enjoy these activities all season long.
Saturday,
May 20
10
am – 2 pm
Construction
Junction
Contact:
Ginette 412-488-7490 x 243
Refreshments
Provided
Volunteers
Receive 1 free hour of kayaking courtesy of Kayak
The Pennsylvania Resources Council, one of the Commonwealth's oldest
non-profit environmental groups, needs your help at its collection for
"hard to recycle" items. The
event calls for residents to drop off cell phones, computer equipment, latex
paint, tires, and large appliances. All
materials will be refurbished, recycled, or safely disposed of.
PRC needs your help to unload material from vehicles and to direct
traffic in the parking lot.
Sunday,
May 21
6:30
am – 3:30 pm
Cost:
$25 Individuals, $50 families
Info:
412-232-3545 www.pedalpittsburgh.org
Pedal
Thursday,
June 1
7:30
am – 4:30 pm
Omni
William Penn Hotel
Downtown
Register
by May 26, 2006
Info:
412-391-7807
http://www.urbanyouthaction.org/conference/RegistrationFormPrintFriendly.pdf
Be a part of the 1st Youth Workforce Development Conference, an inspiring,
educational, and innovative convening that will strengthen networks across the
youth workforce development community and between youth and adults!
Friday June 2
1 – 3 pm
Hosanna House (
Monday, June 5
6:30 – 8 pm
Tuesday, June 6
6-8 pm
Brashear Association (
Friday, June 16
11 am – 1 pm
YWCA (
Thursday, June 22
6 – 8 pm
Focus on Renewal (
Monday, June 26
2 – 4 pm
Hill House (
Info:1-800-862-6783
In order to better
serve the residents of
Tuesday
June 6 or Wednesday June 7
8:30
am – 4:30 pm
New
Five
Cost:
$399
Register:
http://www.newurbanresearch.org
or call 1-877-241-6576
This fast paced, hands-on workshop teaches the fundamentals of how to use
a Geographic Information System (ArcGIS 9.1) in a way that is particularly
relevant to social service providers, planners and researchers.
Participants learn to make thematic maps of their community, geocode
addresses and perform spatial queries and analysis. Participants also learn
to extract and map Census variables such as race, poverty, language,
education, health and many other demographic variables. Exercises are designed
for beginners. Intermediate Excel skills required. Each students is assigned a
computer on which to work for the day.
Both bills in the package of eminent domain legislation Senate Bill 881
and House Bill 2054 were approved unanimously by the legislature, and are
heading to the Governor's desk. Notable in the last hour of the vote in the
House was a floor amendment that would have prohibited eminent domain for open
space unless the lands were identified in a comp plan. Rep. Kate Harper was
eloquent in successfully encouraging the defeat of Rep. McNaughton's amendment
(Yes: 72; No: 123). Her statement, referring to the concept of public good:
"It makes no sense to distinguish between a sewer plant and open
space."
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/BI/ALL/2005/0/SB0881.HTM
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/BI/ALL/2005/0/HB2054.HTM
Representative Stephen Maitland has proposed a bill that would allow
municipalities facing development pressure to impose a fee on new home
construction to help pay for services and schools.
http://www.10000friends.org/downloads/home_building_fees_Patriot_041606.pdf
In a decision that stands as a clear judicial endorsement of
multi-municipal planning and zoning, the Pa. Supreme Court rendered its decision
to uphold key provisions of the Newtown Area Joint Municipal Zoning Ordinance.
In the case, Appeal of Dolington Land Group, and Toll Brothers, Inc., the
court affirmed the long-range land use planning practices that were put into
place in several municipalities in central
Read the analysis, summary of the brief or full brief: http://www.10000friends.org/growth/mmp/
In a first step toward what a legislative sponsor
called
http://www.startribune.com/587/story/405614.html
Limited Space
Available!
Cost: $150 for shared
table space/ $225 for a whole table
Contact: (412) 258-6646
or info@sustainablepittsburgh.org
For the first time ever
This is a prime
opportunity to show your product to 150 - 200 targeted community leaders, public
officials, city and county planners, community development organizations, and
many, many more! Please call (412) 258-6646 to reserve your table space.
Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation is
offering 100 scholarships to preservationists throughout
The scholarship pays for a recipient’s
early-bird registration fee (full registration -- $325 value, student
registration -- $150) plus $35 toward a field session. The registration
fee covers all regular educational sessions, the opening reception, the National
Preservation Awards ceremony, and opening and closing plenaries. Each
recipient also will receive a complimentary one-year membership in the
Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. Deadline for the
application is May 15.
http://www.phlf.org/events/preservationconference/scholarships.html
The report, from the federal Climate Change
Science Program, said trends seen over the last 50 years "cannot be
explained by natural processes alone". It
found that temperatures have increased in the lower atmosphere as well as at the
Earth's surface. However, scientists
involved in the report say better data is badly needed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4969772.stm
The Brookings Institution issued a report last
week on the nation's inner-ring suburbs, those 1950s places where city dwellers
first settled after they decided to move on to greener grass lawns….The study
identified 64 counties across the country as homes to first suburbs and analyzed
demographic changes in those counties from 1950 to 2000.
http://www.brookings.edu/metro/pubs/20060215_FirstSuburbs.htm
Five Star Dairy in Elk Mound,
http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/features/feature_template.cfm?ID=1330
In
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0503/p04s02-woap.html
The U.S. wind energy industry is on track to
installing a record-breaking 3,000 megawatts (MW) this year -- generating enough
electricity to power approximately 600,000 homes -- the American Wind Energy
Association (AWEA) said today in its First Quarter Market Report.
http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/news/sbnews.cfm?id=9655
UBS AG and Diapason Commodities Management S.A.
have launched the UBS Diapason Global Biofuel Index (UBS-D GBFI) - the first
commodity-based index for biological fuels. The global index covers a range of
commodities used in the production of ethanol and biodiesel - the two major
forms of alternative fuel - and will be published in the US, Europe, China and
Japan.
http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/features/feature_template.cfm?ID=1326
In recent years, voters in state-level and even
national-level elections have grown used to primary contests that were either
desultory or nonexistent. But this year, incumbents are beset on all fronts:
There’s outrage over the pay raise in