Livable Communities Newsletter

Volume 16 / Number 63 / August 2022

Your Livable Communities Newsletter

"As seen in these three excerpts from our 2021 State of the Region report, Ventura County is making some progress getting to the transportation structure required to be a livable community, but there is much more that needs to be done".

We ended our Livable Communities Newsletter in May with the statement above. This quarter, we decided to step back and look at bigger pictures of transportation that can inform Ventura County's transportation planning.

Seeking this bigger picture took us to three mini-reports from recent editions of Public Square, a regularly scheduled Journal of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU). These reports provide a much bigger picture of what Ventura County needs to understand before we plan our next transportation improvements.

In order to GET THE FULL STORY you need to click the links for each article at the end of the introduction. The articles are short "easy reads" that you should find fascinating and energizing!

Let us know what you think at Info@CivicAlliance.org

Thanks,

Stacy Roscoe

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Big Picture Perspective:

The first report captures remarks by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announcing the launch of a federal program focused on the future of transportation equity and reconnecting communities that have been torn apart by bad transportation decisions over many decades.

Buttigieg indicated that "there is nothing sacred about the status quo." He said that the highways, roads, and rail are all decisions, and that we can make better decisions.

GET THE FULL STORY:

https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2022/07/07/buttigieg-how-transportation-can-connect-communities

What is Happening Now?

-Jgorge, Creative Commons

The second report deals with how Oklahoma City saved the dying core of the city through connected, people-oriented infrastructure spending.

Oklahoma City is a city with one of the largest sprawl areas in America. It has many miles of conventional suburban development around its core. However, a few decades ago, the core itself was dying and unlivable. The solution was putting spending priority on the people in the core instead of on cars just passing through it.

GET THE FULL STORY:

https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2022/03/31/new-era-people-oriented-infrastructure

What is Expected in the Future?

- Rick Cole

The third piece of our big picture review is a report on Seaside, a walkable and people (versus car) oriented community in Florida that TIME magazine called “the most astonishing design achievement of its era, and one might hope, the most influential." NEWSWEEK claimed it was “probably the most influential resort community since Versailles.” Despite facts indicating that the community is far from perfect, it is clear that Seaside has set the bar extremely high for communities looking to begin the path of more efficient community living.

GET THE FULL STORY:

https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2022/05/11/everyday-town-extraordinary-impact

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Thank you for your Support!!

2021 State of the Region

A Special Thank You Goes to Our State of the Region Sponsors:

Research Sponsor -

Ventura County Community Foundation

Title Sponsor -

Ventura County Community College District

Domain Sponsors -

AERA Energy

AT&T

California Lutheran University - Center for Economics of

Social Issues

California State University Channel Islands

County of Ventura

Limoneira

Supporting Sponsors -

Athens Services

EPIC Wealth Partners

California Lutheran University - CENTER

FOR NONPROFIT LEADERSHIP

Gold Coast Transit

Montecito Bank

Ventura County Office of Education

Ventura County P-20 COUNCIL

The Port of Hueneme

Ventura County Coastal Association of

REALTORS

Southern California Edison

VCTC - Ventura County Transportation

COMMISSION

Contributing Sponsors -

Coast Reprographics

The Law Firm of Hiepler & Hiepler

Musick, Peeler & Garrett, LLP

Sespe Consulting Inc.

SoCalGas

Ventura County Credit Union

Friend Sponsors -

Community Property Management

Dyer Sheehan Group, Inc.

United Way

David Maron

Kate McLean & Steve Stone

Stacy and Kerry Roscoe