Re: [CPEO-BIF] Recent law review articles of interest

[Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>]

> ************
> Gerrit-Jan Knaap and John W. Frece, 2007. SMART GROWTH IN MARYLAND: LOOKING
> FORWARD AND LOOKING BACK. 43 Idaho L. Rev. 445 
>
> > From the conclusion:
> "While the idea that the state should not underwrite urban sprawl remains a
> valid concept, the hope that the state budget could be used to curtail urban
> sprawl has not been fulfilled. The disappointment stems from a number of
> factors. First, sprawl has many causes, and the only effective way to
> address sprawl is through planning. Maryland's Smart Growth laws were never
> integrated into its planning laws. Second, many if not most of the funds
> that finance sprawl come from local and private sources. It is unlikely that
> the targeting or removal of state subsidies alone will ever have a
> significant effect on sprawl without complementary land use plans and
> regulations. Finally, the state budget remains largely under the control of
> the governor. If the control of sprawl is contingent on the administration
> of the state budget, then control of sprawl is overly contingent on support
> for this effort from the state administration."

I have been paying some attention to Maryland lately. Military base 
realignments - which CPEO covers on our Installation Reuse Forum 
listserve - are going to bring tens of thousands of additional jobs to 
the state, along the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. This will 
swamp the anti-sprawl policies unless more is done to promote the 
repopulation of the Maryland's largest urban center, Baltimore.

I recently visited middle east Baltimore, and I was surprised by the 
large number of apparently reusable (even attractive!), but 
boarded/bricked up row houses. There is major redevelopment underway in 
the area around Johns Hopkins University, so its reasonable to expect 
some level of neighborhood revitalization. But for these neighborhoods 
to compete with suburban greenfields, to reverse the momentum for 
additional sprawl, there needs to be a more comprehensive effort to 
address all of the issues that have made the area a forgotten community: 
environment, race, economics, education, transportation, etc.

It may be the officials are already addressing many of these questions, 
but I believe if the state wants to overcome sprawl it needs to 
vigorously promote the alternative.

Lenny

--


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org


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