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| January 2010 TOD News
TOD TRAINING TAPPAN ZEE BRIDGE/I-287 CORRIDOR PROJECT Editorial Staff Photo/Map Credit |
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 In our inaugural issue, we look at TOD efforts in Yonkers and Patchogue, NY and Stamford, CT Welcome to the inaugural issue of the Metro New York Transit-Oriented Development Newsletter, a publication designed to keep municipal officials, planners and advocates up-to-date on the potential for development and redevelopment around the region’s transit stations and stops. This is an effort of the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center (VTC), Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, at Rutgers University, supported with funding from Citi, which aims to enrich the transit-oriented development (TOD) conversation in the New York City metropolitan region. This region includes a large variety of communities—from the city's densest neighborhoods to our area's outlying suburbs—all connected by transit with the potential to use and benefit from that transit. The purpose of this publication is to highlight the best practices, model programs, legislation and local problem-solving experiences of those in the region and the nation. We hope local leaders and the public find these articles of value as all of us strive to create livable, sustainable and thriving communities. Click here for a PDF file of the entire newsletter (486 KB). Get Adobe Acrobat here. What Is Transit-Oriented Development … and Why Should You Care about It? Transit-Oriented Development, or TOD, is an old idea born anew—that the best opportunities to create and sustain vibrant communities can be found in areas well-served by transit and which are conducive to walking and biking. Many attractive and successful communities developed around transit stations before the age of the automobile, especially in the northeastern United States. Now, as road congestion maintains a stranglehold on mobility, concerns about the effects of greenhouse gas emissions increase, and demand grows for more traditional neighborhood environments, TOD offers a vision of how communities can use old concepts to meet current needs. Intensive, mixed use development located within a half-mile of a transit station or stop exemplifies the aim of TOD. Nearby businesses benefit from increased foot traffic, municipalities realize higher ratables with less space devoted to parking, residents gain from additional shopping and recreational activities near their homes, and transit service can be increased because of the larger concentration of riders. But TOD also refers to a new way of thinking about:
Why a Newsletter about Transit-Oriented Development (TOD)? The purpose of this newsletter, simply put, is to get the word out to as many civic leaders as possible about the benefits, successes and obstacles for TOD. There has been growing recognition in recent years among local leaders across America, and particularly in the New York metropolitan area, that transit—and the coordination of development around transit—can play a vital role in creating and maintaining livable and sustainable communities, and to revitalize or reinforce them. State agencies, transit providers, policy makers and the development community across our region have begun to promote TOD as a way to use existing infrastructure to reinvigorate older communities, rather than to acquiesce to developing fringe areas that require new infrastructure while consuming farmland and open space. (more) In this issue we examine the 2009 LI Index Report, an annual project since 2002 that gathers and publishes data to support better policy decisions in New York’s Nassau and Suffolk counties. (more) Let us know what you liked or didn't like in this issue. Please take a minute to complete our online readers' survey. Send your comments, criticisms and ideas for future articles to: vtc@policy.rutgers.edu |
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