When President Obama signed an executive order in October requiring federal agencies to craft strategies for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions, he described the mandate as Washington "lead[ing] by example" on the pollution-reduction front.
(Photo: AP)And
that's true -- but the order also includes language telling federal
agencies to get involved in integrating local transportation planning,
with a particular focus on selecting sites for government facilities
that are pedestrian-friendly, near existing employment centers, andaccessible to public transit, and emphasize existing central citiesand, in rural communities, existing or planned town centers;
The
overall goal for government agencies, as Obama's order put it, should
be to "strengthen the vitality and livability of the communities in
which federal facilities are located." Given that more than 2,200
communities host federally owned or leased property, that edict could unleash a lot of local energy for transit and pedestrian improvements.
The
order also gives federal agencies eight months to craft long-term
sustainability plans focusing on how to implement "strategies and
accommodations for transit, travel, training, and conferencing that
actively support lower-carbon commuting and travel by agency staff."
The White House budget office and Council on Environmental Quality are
charged with vetting each agency's proposal.
And as each agency devises those emissions-cutting plans, the Obama administration's push to consider sustainability as a transportation, housing, and environmental issue is given a meaty role in the process.
The
order asks U.S. DOT, in collaboration with the Department of Housing
and Urban Development and the Environmental Protection Agency, to
suggest ideal strategies to the White House for locating new federal
facilities. According to the order:
Therecommendations shall be consistent with principles of sustainabledevelopment including prioritizing central business district and ruraltown center locations, prioritizing sites well served by transit,including site design elements that ensure safe and convenientpedestrian access, consideration of transit access and proximity tohousing affordable to a wide range of Federal employees, adaptive reuseor renovation of buildings, avoidance of development of sensitive landresources, and evaluation of parking management strategies.
It's likely to take some time before the order begins to have a
palpable effect on the vast federal bureaucracy's approach to land use
-- epitomized by a dispute over employee parking at one federal building that has effectively stalled the nomination of a new General Services Administrator.
But
the White House's early effort at getting federal, state, and local
players to consult one another on development appears to be aiming in
the right place.
