Smart Growth Deserves A Better Boost
By Susan Merrow
The Hartford Courant
11:04 AM EST, March 7, 2011
From the moment the recent recession reared its head, the phrase "It's a shame to let a good crisis go to waste" has been a theme in many quarters — nowhere more than the smart-growth quarter, where advocates have urged that this time of curtailed spending should be used to rein in policies that have promoted sprawl.
The state budget is the perfect place to begin, for that is where the cost of sprawl is embodied in the huge infrastructure expenditures at all levels of government. In 2009, the General Assembly passed a law, Public Act 09-230, "To define smart growth and require smart growth provisions of state, local and regional plans of conservation and development be consistent." Now would be the perfect time to use those definitions to guide policy decisions, especially in how we spend the state's money.
So how does Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's budget stack up on issues of smart growth? To find out, read the full article here.
