Region Forward Blog The Morning Measure: Railing on… Region Forward Dec 13, 2010 Passenger rail accounts for a very small percentage of travel in the United States though this was not always the case. Passenger rail was the primary mode of intercity travel in the U.S. until the 1950s. Thereafter the car became king for shorter trips and airplanes for longer voyages. Passenger rail’s travel share may start to rise with the administration’s push to begin to bring American trains closer to the high-speed systems found in Europe and Asia. However this push will take time and persistence if it is to have a real impact on travel share and by extension help meet RF targets on reducing auto dependency and greenhouse gas emissions.
Region Forward Blog Global Fridays: A dearth of dynamism? Region Forward Dec 10, 2010 The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson recently compiled a photographic slideshow of the 30 most dynamic cities in the world using data from Brookings on growth in employment and income. Austin Texas is the only U.S. city to make the cut with the vast majority coming from Asia and Latin America. Montreal is the only other North American city on the list. What do you think of this listing? Is this the best way to measure dynamism?
Region Forward Blog Rushern Baker Chuck Bean discuss Region Forward Region Forward Dec 10, 2010 Rushern Baker Prince George’s County’s new County Executive and Chuck Bean Executive Director of the Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington discuss Region Forward at “One Region Moving Forward” the 2010 Annual Meeting and Awards Luncheon of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG):
News Highlight Rushern Baker, Chuck Bean discuss Region Forward Dec 9, 2010 Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker [pictured left] and Nonprofit Roundtable Executive Director Chuck Bean discuss Region Forward at COG Annual Meeting.
Region Forward Blog The Morning Measure: The challenge of preserving community and embracing development Region Forward Dec 9, 2010 Maintaining a sense of community in light of new investment and lots of new residents can be tricky. In most instances where a neighborhood is severely blighted by high crime poor education appalling housing and inadequate access to health care it can be argued that a functioning community does not exist. In such cases it’s easy to see how investment aimed at improving these indicators will be beneficial for the neighborhood’s current residents as long adequate safeguards are put in place to
News Release COG Names David Snyder 'Regional Leader of the Year' Dec 8, 2010 Falls Church Vice Mayor Snyder, who served as TPB Chairman in 2010, wins Scull Award. Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers wins COG's Partnership Award.
Region Forward Blog The Morning Measure: Degrees of density Region Forward Dec 8, 2010 It’s no secret that metro Washington is full of college degrees. In fact it has one of the highest concentrations of college and advanced degrees in the country. Over at Urbanophile there’s a really interesting post complete with graphs and charts comparing the cities and counties with the highest “density of degrees” as well as the growth in the density of degrees relative to population growth in general.
Region Forward Blog The Morning Measure: Back to the future? Region Forward Dec 7, 2010 Metropolitan Washington – made up of the District of Columbia Northern Virginia and Suburban Maryland – has about 5.3 million people. It’s one of the fastest growing metro areas in the country that’s not in Texas California or the southeast and its continued growth represents a national and international trend: the rise of global cities .
Region Forward Blog The Morning Measure: Reducing sprawl to reduce the deficit Region Forward Dec 6, 2010 Unless you’ve been under a rock for the past year or so you know there’s been a lot of talk recently on the deficit. It’s everywhere. And everyone seems to have an idea for how to reduce it. So what does this have to do with RF? Well the panel of experts commissioned by President Obama to look at ways to cut the deficit released its report last week. It contains some of the typically-cited measures – raising the retirement age cuts to social spending tax increases etc. – as well as some not
Region Forward Blog Global Fridays: Europe at the helm Region Forward Dec 3, 2010 Much of the attention regarding Europe at the moment is undoubtedly focused on the crisis facing some euro-zone countries. However much more positive news is emerging from the continent on the environmental and climate front. As reported at Switchboard European nations have taken the lead at climate talks in Cancun Mexico by making good on their promises to help developing countries reduce their emissions and adapt to some inevitable climate change as laid out in last year’s Copenhagen acco