Anchorage Citizens Coalition
-- Your Voice for Responsible Growth
Our goal is to make Anchorage the most livable city in
America!
Beyond
Freeways - How to Link Land Use and Transportation
Featured Speaker Robert Liberty
Friday, June 26 from
noon to 1pm at City Hall, 8th Floor Conference Room.
Robert authored Portland's
groundbreaking Land Use, Transportation & Air Quality Study
(LUTRAQ) laying the foundation for Portland's successful development
strategies that have grown jobs and income, kept property taxes
down, provided transportation choices, reduced energy consumption
per capita and improved air quality.
Learn how transportation
investments can build neighborhoods, commercial centers and
streets that are safe for transit, biking and walking.
Please join Robert
Liberty, lawyer & elected official, on his return to Anchorage
for this one hour presentation and discussion.
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 “Your
elected regional government, Metro is helping to make
the Portland
metropolitan area an extraordinary place to live, work
and play.”
Councilor Robert Liberty represents
District 6, which includes portions of NE, SE & SW
Portland.
Robert Liberty was elected to the Metro
Council in November 2004, and re-elected in 2008 for a
second term.
Responsibilities and initiatives
His interests as Metro Councilor include
promoting redevelopment in town centers and along main
streets, increasing transportation and housing choices,
conserving natural areas inside
and outside the urban growth boundary, and giving citizens
a stronger role in the regional planning decisions affecting
our future.
Work and community experience
Liberty
is an attorney with 27 years experience in land use planning
issues, including serving as a staff attorney and Executive
Director for 1000 Friends of Oregon, the nation's oldest
statewide Smart Growth advocacy organization. During that
time, he served as President and an officer for the Growth
Management Leadership Alliance, an association of US and
Canadian Smart Growth advocacy groups.
Liberty
also has experience as a land use hearings officer for
Multnomah County,
as an attorney in private practice representing citizens
and nonprofit groups in land use proceedings and as Senior
Counsel of U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer.
Education
Liberty
has received a BA in Political Science from the University
of Oregon Honors College, an
MA in Modern History from Oxford
University
and a JD from Harvard
Law School.
He was a Loeb Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of
Design during the 2002-03 year.
An avid backpacker and committed bicycle
commuter, Liberty
enjoys spending time outdoors.
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ISSUES
Knik Arm Bridge
The
goals of this bridge work against Anchorage's plan to prevent
sprawling development and the problems that go with it. Turmoil
at the top of the bridge authority and a skeptical governor
have started to shed light on this troublesome project.
A move to remove
the project from Anchorage's Long Range Transportation Plan
started with an Assembly resolution in December of '08 and a
decision is close at hand in late June.
We have prepared
a
fact sheet we hope you will help us distribute. Print copies
and give them to everyone you can.
Highway
2 Highway Project
Is
this the best use for Anchorage's scarce transportation funds?
If you want a fast road so long distance
commuters from Eagle River and Wasilla can speed up their trip
into Anchorage, this is the project for them! If you live in
Anchorage, you might wonder what's in it for you!
Planning
work on this huge $1/2 billion project is picking up with the
environmental review process now underway. Check out our H2H
page.
Title 21- Zoning
and Land Use Laws
Eight chapters
have been approved by the Assembly. Six more are still under
review. See our Title 21 page for
more information and our comments on these chapters.
Anchorage Citizens Coalition is attending Assembly
Title 21 worksessions to track and comment on recommended changes.
We are also making presentations at Community Councils and other
groups.
Urban Design
and Climate Change
.
 In
Growing Cooler:
The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change,
a comprehensive review of dozens of studies, published by the
Urban Land Institute, the researchers conclude that
urban development is both a key contributor to climate
change and an essential factor in combating it. ACC is pleased
to be part of the release of this study.
Alaska's
Statewide Long-Range Transportation Policy Plan Update: Let's
Get Moving!
It is time to quit wasting windfall dollars on yesterday's auto
based transportation system, and begin building a modern, multimodal
system that will serve the state through this century. Climate
change is here. The state's transportation vision needs updating.
Read more of ACC's comments here.
The
Good, Bad and Ugly
The Anchorage Daily News is posting submissions of pictures
of Anchorage's varied development. Take
a look here!
Anchorage Pedestrian
Plan
This plan was adopted by the Assembly with ammendments on October
9, 2007. ACC supported this plan from the start and spoke in
support of it on radio, TV news and a press conference on October
5 that was covered by all three local TV news shows. People
in Anchorage want to be able to walk safely.
Take a look at a report
on Anchorage's KTUU on September 18, 2007.
" ... for the last four years, we
have increased the efforts in improving and expanding snow removal
off sidewalks and trails. This is a huge and very popular effort
in our community. I can't tell you, I go to meetings where I
mention many things we are working on, I mention this item,
they break out in applause. It is a huge benefit."
Mayor Mark Begich at the September 1, 2007 Assembly Hearing
on this pedestrian plan:
"Bicycling and walking make up 9.6
percent of all trips. Yet bicyclists and pedestrians represent
12.9 percent of all traffic-related fatalities, and only 1.5
percent of federal transportation dollars are spent on bicycling
and walking projects." Bicycling and Walking in
the U.S by the Thunderhead Alliance.
We are here for you!
We are available to groups that would like to learn
about Anchorage's Comprehensive Plan and about the rewrite
of our land use laws. To schedule a presentation email:
acc at accalaska.org. Several new
chapters are under review now. It's time to act!
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Northern
Design
Buildings
are oriented to the sun, windows catch the light, entrances
are sheltered and protect the interior against windy drafts,
overhangs protect pedestrians and landscaping adds outdoor
shelter. We support Anchorage as a more livable winter
city
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Compact
Land Use
Zoning
within town and employment centers should allow for shops,
restaurants, offices and homes all within walking distance
of each other - and even in the same building. This photo
comes from Vancouver, BC.
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Open
Spaces
People
choose to live here because of our natural beauty, parks,
trails and outdoor recreational opportunities. ACC works
to protect what we now have and to add parks in dense
neighborhoods.
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Traffic
Calming
Streets
are more safe and attractive. Narrowed streets reduce
high speeds. Intersection "diverters" minimize
cut through traffic, colorful gateways invite exploration
on foot and landscaping is attractive the entire year.
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Transportation
Choices
Public transit is convenient because
busses are frequent, bus stops are maintained, sidewalks
are clear of ice and snow and are linked to bike trails.
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Housing
Choices
There
is something for everyone: well designed apartments, row
houses and detached homes are next to each other near
the city center, and single family homes on larger lots
prevail in neighborhoods further out of town.
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"Great
cities are simply collections of great neighboroods."
--
Walter Parker
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