ssc2011_russ adams ppt
TRANSCRIPT
Transportation Equity
Alliance for Metropolitan Stability612-332-4471russ@metrostability.orgwww.metrostability.org
• We are a coalition of advocacy organizations that work
together to advance racial, economic and environmental
justice in the way growth and development happens in
our region.
• We support grassroots organizing campaigns that
demonstrate how the people, places and issues of the
Twin Cities are interconnected – and interdependent.
Alliance for Metropolitan Stability
HUD Sustainable Communities Grant: Community Engagement Team
Corridors of Opportunity
Bottineau
Transitway
Approx $900 M
South West LRT
Approx $1.2 BCedar Ave. BRTApprox $256 M
Hiawatha LRT
$715 M
Northstar Commuter Rail$317 M ( + additional stations)
Central Corridor LRTApprox $957 M
Gateway CorridorApprox $750 M
Communities will be grappling with how to optimize the benefits of transitway corridor development for the next 10 – 25+ years
Who Decides & Who Benefits from these publicly subsidized projects?
COORDINATING COMMITTEEalso includes other partner organizations
Metropolitan Council (co-chair)The McKnight Foundation (co-chair)
Central Corridor Funders CollaborativeCity of Minneapolis
City of Saint PaulCommunity Engagement Team
Counties Transit Improvement BoardEvaluation Team (non-voting)
Family Housing FundHennepin County
SENIORSTAFF
Corridors of Opportunity Initiative
POLICY BOARD
Community Engagement Team:Alliance for Metropolitan Stability
Minnesota Center for Neighborhood OrganizingNexus Community Partners
Evaluation Team:CTS / CURA (U of M)
Met CouncilWilder Research
The Itasca ProjectLocal Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)
Metro Consortium of Community DevelopersMinnesota Housing
Neighborhood Development CenterRamsey County
Regional Council of MayorsSaint Paul Foundation
Twin Cities Community Land BankUrban Land Institute -- Minnesota
Neighborhood-based and Community Organizations
Related Evaluation Efforts
Living CitiesCorridors of Opportunity Sustainable Communities
COLOR LEGEND
Policy / Partner Collaboration Team
Collaborating Partners
Housing / TOD
Small Business
Southwest LRT
Central Corridor
Living CitiesImplementation Teams
TEAM LEADS
Sustainable Communities Corridor Development
Projects
Bottineau
Cedar Avenue BRT
Central Corridor LRT
Gateway Corridor
Northstar Commuter Rail
Southwest LRT
PROJECT MANAGERS
Equitable Community Engagement:
Bring people and community groups in early for authentic participation in the transitway planning & decision making process to solve problems.
CASE STUDIES: Twin Cities Transportation Equity
KEY QUESTION:
How can Transitway planning, station area designs, and related development be done in a way that is INCLUSIVE OF & EQUITABLE TOWARDS everyone, including members of nearby Environmental Justice communities?
CASE STUDY #1: CENTRAL CORRIDOR LRT
The Stops For Us Campaign
University Avenue, St. Paul, Minnesota
Coalition Partners included:• Alliance for Metropolitan
Stability• Aurora/St. Anthony
Community Development Corporation (ASANDC)
• Community Stabilization Project
• District Councils Collaborative of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
• Hmong Organizing Program, TakeActionMN
• ISAIAH• Jewish Community Action• Minnesota Center for
Environmental Advocacy• Transit for Livable
Communities• Housing Preservation
Project (HPP)• University United
HISTORY MATTERS
Planners can start by asking the right questions
Maps Matter …
Title VI – Civil Rights Act
"No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."
- Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Retrieved from http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/ej2.htm
Environmental Justice
"Each Federal agency shall make achieving environmental justice part of its mission by identifying and addressing, as appropriate, disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of its programs, policies, and activities on minority populations and low-income populations.“ – Executive Order 12898, Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in
Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations, 1994
“Safety and mobility are two of the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT's) top priorities. Achieving environmental
justice is another undeniable mission of the agency.”Retrieved from http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/ej2.htm
What is Environmental Justice?There are 3 fundamental environmental justice principles:
1. To avoid, minimize, or mitigate disproportionately high and adverse human health and environmental effects, including social and economic effects, on minority populations and low-income populations.
2. To ensure the full and fair participation by all potentially affected communities in the transportation decision-making process.
3. To prevent the denial of, reduction in, or significant delay in the receipt of benefits by minority and low-income populations.
[ from FHWA FTA Environmental Justice http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/ej2000.htm ]
Environmental Justice Communities Exist, and we must prevent “disproportionate impacts” to them, including social & economic effects.
Who Decides? Community Engagement process must include affected communities
Who Benefits? The managing agency must protect the rights of minority and low-income communities to equally benefit from the project.
The Community Argued: There were distinct environmental justice populations within
the Central section that were not properly identified within the EIS
City of St. Paul, Ramsey County & other public officials and their Planning Staff worked with Community Groups to resolve this issue.
Find Allies in High Places.
FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff
Grassroots groups ranging from Asian shopkeepers to disabled residents clamored for the extra stops, and found a friend in Rogoff. He took it up as a matter of civil rights because of the low-income and minority communities who live along the line.
… while attending a transit conference last fall in Boston. He said he was cornered by a handful of Twin Cities advocates who spotted him while he was ordering coffee. "Those were the people who found in me in line in Starbucks," he said.
Minnesota Public Radio March 12, 2010
- Laura Yuen
New Federal Performance Measures
FTA has revised the New Starts evaluation criteria, by balancing the Cost Effectiveness Index (CEI) with other social, economic and environmental factors:
• Cost Effectiveness Index - 20%• Land Use - 20%• Economic Development - 20%• Mobility - 20%• Environmental Benefits - 10%• Operating Efficiencies - 10%
Rogoff: the Central Corridor project became the poster child of why the [CEI] policy needed to be changed.
Central Corridor Final Map
Don’t Let Them Tell You It’s Impossible
Community Summit Vision
To be successful, the light rail line must not only improve mobility, but must also serve as a catalyst to strengthen and enhance existing and future neighborhoods, workforces and businesses along the line. - Saint Paul & Minneapolis Community Summit, March, 2009
HIRE Minnesotawww.hiremn.org
HIRE Minnesota Video (Emmy-nominated production by MBTV)
http://blackmusicamerica.com/ummg/about_us.htm
CASE STUDY
#2:
The purpose of the HIRE Minnesota campaign is to seek equitable investments in infrastructure development.
In 2009, the Minnesota Department of Transportation only hired 3.4 percent women, &only hired 6.0 percent people of color in the Twin Cities metro area
compared to a goal of 6 percent women
compared to a goal of 11 percent people of color
Our allies also wanted MnDOT to allocate the maximum amount allowed by federal law to job training programs for women and people of color (one-half of 1 percent).
For 18 Straight Years, MnDOT had failed to meet its hiring goals.
Infrastructure: Improve reporting on workforce demographics, increase transparency in how contracts are awarded and contractors’ workforce goals are enforced, and accountability for firms that do not meet workforce goals.
Green Jobs: Maximize jobs that are accessible to and inclusive of low-income people and people of color, that improve our energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions, and that create long-term and family-sustaining career paths.
Minnesota’s alarmingly high unemployment rate
Top 25 largest
metropolitan areas (1=Best)
2006-2008
1 Tampa, FL 4.6%2 Atlanta, GA 6.4%
3 Washington, DC-VA-MD-WV 6.6%
4 San Bernardino, CA 7.1%5 San Diego, CA 7.6%6 Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN 8.2%7 Seattle, WA 8.3%8 Houston, TX 8.5%9 Phoenix, AZ 8.7%10 Denver, CO 9.0%11 Dallas, TX 9.1%12 Miami, FL 9.7%13 Baltimore, MD 10.1%14 Los Angeles, CA 10.3%15 Sacramento, CA 10.9%
Top 25 largest
metropolitan areas (1=Best)
2006-2008
16 Portland, OR-WA 12.3%17 St. Louis, MO-IL 13.8%18 Pittsburgh, PA 14.0%19 New York, NY-NJ-PA 14.1%20 Boston, MA-NH 15.2%21 San Francisco, CA 15.6%
22 Philadelphia, PA-NJ-DE-MD 15.9%
23 Detroit, MI 16.8%24 Chicago, IL-IN-WI 16.9%
25 Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI (13-county) 20.6%
Employment gap (White-U.S.-born Black)Source: Integrated Public Use Microdata Series from U.S. Census Bureau data.Minnesota Compass graphhttp://www.mncompass.org/economyworkforce/key-measures.php?km=Proportionadultsworking#7-3732-g
We started making our case at the State Legislature …
… we filled legislative hearing rooms …
… marching to MnDOT Headquarters …
… and demonstrated at MnDOT Contractor Work Sites.
We caught the attention of local officials and candidates for high office.
Mark Dayton
Young People Became Involved, Top Local Music Talent Performed at Our Rallies – Advocacy Was Fun Again!
So What Have We Accomplished?
A 45% Increase in women and workers of color during the 2010 construction season
MnDOT Hiring Goals:
• Only one of the top fourteen projects is meeting or exceeding the goals for both women and minorities.
• No other project is meeting the goal for women.
• Seven of the remaining projects are meeting the goals for people of color, meaning that six projects are below the goals for both groups.
MnDOT Hiring Goals 2011 Update:
MnDOT committed to fully fund the federal highway job training program to identify, hire and train women and people of color for construction jobs - an investment of $6.2 million over 5 years.
MnDOT Job Training Goals:
Met Council sets goal to hire 18 percent people of color and 6 percent women to help build out of the Central Corridor Light Rail Project
Met Council Hiring Goals:
• Both main contractors on CCLRT construction are at or above 17% for minority participation, while the goal is 18%
• Both main contractors are above the 6% goal for women
• Both contractors submitted projections at the beginning of the project indicating they would be above goal at this point
• We cannot rely on the federal government because the hiring goals from a federal level are an incredulously low 2.9% (according to the Office of Federal Contract Compliance – OFCCP)
Met Council Hiring Goals 2011 Update:
That number has been the same for more than 30 years
CASE STUDY #3: VAN WHITE STATION
SW LRT
This is about Access vs. Isolation
Harrison Neighborhood
2010 Census:• African American 40%• S.E. Asian 17%• European American 28%• Latino 9%
37% of Harrison’s population is under the age of 18 & of those, 63% live in poverty.
Retrieved from City of Minneapolis Neighborhood Profiles: http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/neighborhoods/harrison_population.asp#TopOfPage
Employment Rate:• Harrison overall 20.5%• African Americans 32%• City of Minneapolis 6.5% (1st Quarter, 2011)
Due to foreclosures, Harrison has lost 23% of the neighborhood while north Minneapolis in general has lost over 7000 persons.
Retrieved from City of Minneapolis Neighborhood Profiles: http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/neighborhoods/harrison_population.asp#TopOfPage
Harrison Neighborhood
HISTORY MATTERS: 1935 Planning Map
Bassett Creek Valley Master PlanFor over 10 years, Harrison Neighborhood Association
and Northside residents have been planning for the redevelopment of Bassett Creek Valley to provide quality affordable housing, living wage jobs, avoid displacement, and build community assets that will directly benefit the current residents.
• Over 650 residents and otherstakeholders participated in theplanning process.
A commitment to full public participation
Bassets Creek Valley Community Benefits Meeting, 2007
Bassett Creek Valley Master Plan
EXPECTED REDEVELOPMENT OUTCOMES:• 3,000+ housing units• 2.5 M sq ft commercial space (office and retail)• 5000 - 6000 jobs• 40 ac. new green space• After TIF repayment, future projected tax revenue of $82 - $128 M
The Interchange is proposed to be the terminus station for these commuter rail lines:
Midwest High Speed Rail Assoc.
Image Concept by HDR prepared for Hennepin County Intermodal Facility Report, Minneapolis, MN January 2009
Bassett Creek Valley Master Plan
Can we fully develop Linden Yards East if there are 14 - 18 Commuter trains parked there, storing between 80 - 100 rail cars per work day on this site?
Bassett Creek Valley Master Plan
• 2800 Jobs [cut by 1/3rd]
• 500 New Mixed-Income
Housing Units; & 1000
new residents [all cut]
• Millions of dollars in
new tax base [cut ?]
Humphrey Institute, Opportunity Cost Study, December, 2009
Bassett Creek Valley Master Plan
What are the Environmental Impacts of having a diesel locomotive storage and maintenance yard on the neighborhood? How would air quality be impacted?
HOW DOES ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IMPROVE TRANSPORTATION DECISION MAKING?
• Make better transportation decisions that meet the needs of all people. • Design transportation facilities that fit more harmoniously into communities. • Enhance the public-involvement process, strengthen community-based partnerships, and provide minority and low-income populations with opportunities to learn about and improve the quality and usefulness of transportation in their lives. • Improve data collection, monitoring, and analysis tools that assess the needs of, and analyze the potential impacts on minority and low-income
populations.• Partner with other public and private programs to leverage transportation-agency resources to achieve a common vision for communities. • Avoid disproportionately high and adverse impacts on minority and low-income populations. • Minimize and/ or mitigate unavoidable impacts by identifying concerns early in the planning phase and providing offsetting initiatives and enhancement measures to benefit affected communities and neighborhoods.
Environmental justice is more than a set of legal and regulatory obligations. Properly implemented, environmental justice principles and procedures improve all levels of transportation decision making.
This approach will:
Allied Partners and Advocacy Organizations
Regional Transitways participant groups
• 1000 Friends of Minnesota• African Development Center • Alliance for Metropolitan Stability• Council on Black Minnesotans• CURA Community Growth Options• District Councils Collaborative of Saint
Paul & Minneapolis• Family & Children’s Service• Fresh Energy• Growth & Justice• Harrison Neighborhood Association• Housing Preservation Project• ISAIAH
• Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers
• MICAH• Midtown Community Works
Partnership• Midtown Greenway Coalition• Minneapolis Urban League• MN Center for Environmental
Advocacy• Native American Community
Development Institute• Smart Growth America• Somali Action Alliance• Twin Cities Local Initiative Support
Corporation• Transit for Livable Communities
Co-convened by AMS & the Housing Preservation Project
Regional Transitways table: Equity Statement
“To ensure fair and equitable access to transit, jobs, and affordable housing for low-income communities and communities of color by
promoting an inclusive public input process and influencing future corridor alignment,
stops locations, land use plans, and development opportunities along regional
transitways.”
