September 10, 2013
Steven Allan, AICP
Environmental
Chesapeake Bay, Environment, Jones Falls, Maryland, Water resources
This article appears in the September 2013 issue of SpinSheet magazine. We thank the publisher for permission to reprint this article.
It never fails. Whenever I’d wash my car on the street in front of my Baltimore row house, my neighbor Halle would appear out of nowhere with a stern rebuke, as she watched a trail of soap make its way along the gutter toward the storm drain: “You shouldn’t do that, Steve.” At first I was angered, then perplexed, before common sense and resignation took over.
She was right of course, and who am I to argue with Halle Van der Gaag, executive director of Blue Water Baltimore, an environmental advocacy group with a bone in its teeth toward cleaning up Baltimore Harbor for the betterment of all. A tall order indeed. More
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February 27, 2013
John Coleman
Environmental
Chesapeake Bay, Chesapeake Bay Trust, Environment, governor o'malley, Maryland, md septics law, Mid-Atlantic
All of us who live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed are linked to the Bay by many pathways. Whether we live right on the water or miles from the Chesapeake, our actions have a profound effect on the Bay. More
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February 22, 2013
John Coleman
Smart Growth
Brookings Institution, christopher b leinberger, economic growth, Environment, Maryland, smart growth, Sustainable development
Trophy presented to awardees
The Maryland Sustainable Growth Commission held its first annual Sustainable Growth Forum & Awards Ceremony on February 5, 2013 in Annapolis, MD. The focus of this first forum was economic opportunities created by smart growth.
Christopher B. Leinberger, noted speaker and author on sustainable growth and “walkable urban places” delivered the keynote address uinder the theme “Economic Growth through Smart Growth: How Smart Growth Makes Economic Sense for Maryland.” Mr. Leinberger is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.
View the videos and pictures from the 2013 Sustainable Growth Forum & Awards Ceremony at http://bit.ly/sgforum13.
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June 8, 2012
John Coleman
General
bernie fowler, Chesapeake Bay, Environment, patuxent river, sustainability, wade in
As a young man in the 1950s, Bernie Fowler stood chest-deep in the Patuxent and was able to see his feet on the river bottom while netting blue crabs.
Senator Fowler held the first Patuxent “wade-in” in 1988 to assess whether he could still see his white sneakers while wading into the river.
This became known as the “Sneaker Index.”
This is a conversation with Bernie where he tells of his love for this river and his desire to see it restored for future generations.
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May 10, 2012
John Coleman
Land Use, Planning, Smart Growth
Environment, Suburb, Suburbia, sustainable communities, Urban sprawl, Walkability
The following inforgraphic appears in the April 30, 2012 post, “Burbs Going Bust” by Megan Jett, on the archdaily.net archictectural website. It tells the story of the dcline of the suburbs. The author says that “we should begin thinking about how to retrofit the suburbs for the needs of our changing culture, reinventing Suburbia as a sustainable alternative to urban life.” I found this to be a very effective use of data and charts as narrative. Enjoy!
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May 8, 2012
Andrew Ratner
Comprehensive Plans, Land Use, Population, Smart Growth, Transportation
cars, Environment, Saga City, science, suburban sprawl, Vivre en Ville
I used to write about the Internet and telecommunications for a living, but urban planning frequently seems even tougher to describe. I’m not sure why. I often felt that the tech community never figured out that acronyms were meant to make things easier to remember, not harder. RSS feeds? JPEGs? VOIP? DSL? Really? Planners don’t traffic in such odd terminology, but the field can still seem hard to convey. It’s rooted in data and science and seeks to analyze large-scale cause and effect over a long span. That’s why I was excited when a colleague forwarded me a link to Saga City, a video produced by a Quebec firm called Vivre en Ville. 
It depicts — in cartoon form, of all things — how suburban sprawl occurs, why it hastens climate change and why planning is crucial to confront that challenge.
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April 1, 2011
John Coleman
Housing, Land Use, Planning, Smart Growth, Transportation
Environment, Maryland, smart growth, Transit Oriented Development, Urban and Regional Planning
Please join Governor Martin O’Malley and other leaders in Smart Growth, Community Revitalization and Transit Oriented Development (TOD) for an important discussion on the future of Community Development in Maryland:
When:
Friday, April 8, 2011
9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. More
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