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Great Communities Collaborative
In the next 25 years, California's San Francisco Bay Area will become
home to 1.7 million additional people. Unless the region's current growth
patterns change, new development will pave our farmland and hillsides,
families will continue to be pushed to the region's outskirts in search
of affordable homes, and traffic and air quality will be worsened by
lengthy commutes. This outdated pattern of growth threatens the high
quality of life that we in the Bay Area take for granted.
But it doesn't have to be that way.
Today, we have an opportunity to fundamentally shift the way
the region is growing. We can direct new development away from natural
areas and working farms, and instead reinvest in existing cities, many
of which have
been ignored for too long. We can build great communities, with a variety
of homes that all residents can afford, close to parks, transportation,
shopping and other necessities. We can build vibrant places and protect
open spaces.
Regional Strategy
To shift growth patterns across the Bay Area, we need a regional
strategy. That is why Greenbelt Alliance has teamed up with other leading
organizations as part of the Great Communities Collaborative.
The goal of the Great Communities Collaborative is to usher half
of the Bay Area’s new homes into walkable
neighborhoods near transit by 2030. These new neighborhoods will be centered
around train stations, ferry stations, and bus stops. They will have
a mix of jobs, shops, community services, and homes we can all afford.
An important part of the goal is to get residents engaged in the planning
for these
new
communities.
The Collaborative members work together to:
•
Shape plans for specific neighborhoods in Bay Area communities
and encourage residents' participation in planning for those developments.
•
Create tools that will help community leaders make better decisions about development across the Bay Area and help citizens better
understand, participate in, and influence plans for development.
•
Increase funding to help create
sustainable and equitable development in the Bay Area.
Partners
The Great Communities Collaborative is a unique cooperative relationship
between four Bay Area nonprofit organizations— Greenbelt Alliance,
the Nonprofit
Housing Association of Northern California, the Transportation
and Land Use Coalition, and Urban
Habitat—and the national nonprofit Reconnecting America.
The East
Bay Community Foundation and the San Francisco
Foundation are also part of the Collaborative.
To read more about the sites where Collaborative partners are active, go here.
Our Work
The best way to stay up-to-date on the work of the Great Communities
Collaborative is by visiting the website frequently.
The website offers various tools
and resources for anyone who is interested
in becoming an advocate for good development
around the Bay Area, an overview of the strategies
and actions the Collaborative is involved in, and more.
Santa Rosa Station Area Plan: Greenbelt Alliance is currently working to
ensure
that the
City
of Santa
Rosa adopts a plan that will revitalize its downtown and create a
vibrant, great place to live and work. Read more about this work here.
Bay Meadows: You can read more about Greenbelt Alliance’s successful
efforts to support good planning at Bay
Meadows in San Mateo here.
Funding for Good Development: Greenbelt Alliance was
a key player in getting the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC)—our
region's transportation agency—to
pass a cutting-edge policy that will ensure a good investment of over
$12
billion in regional transit projects.
Read about that campaign here.
Get Involved
Are you interested in helping create great communities around the Bay
Area? Download the Great
Communities Toolkit, a comprehensive toolkit designed just for concerned
residents who are interested in becoming advocates for good development.
To reach out to the Collaborative about opportunities to get involved
across the region, contact Chris Schildt, Great Communities Collaborative
Program Associate at the Transportation and Land Use Coalition, at (510)
740-3150 ext. 312 or by e-mail.
Campaign Update
June 2008
In the third year of the Collaborative, Greenbelt Alliance will continue to plan outings to transit-oriented developments, and offering support for any proposed Station Area Plans. Greenbelt Alliance will also launch a campaign in San Jose around the Diridon Station, a proposed BART stop, and continue to advocate in Santa Rosa, North San Jose, and Pleasanton. Planning also continues for the next phase of the Great Communities Collaborative, which will begin in July 2009.
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