Zeb Smathers, Mayor (Canton, NC)

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Federal Funds Help Shape the Hometown of Tomorrow

This week, the Canton, NC governing board, led by NewDEAL Leader Mayor Zeb Smathers, met to map the town’s recovery from a devastating flood last year that wreaked havoc on homes and businesses, using this moment of tragedy as a catalyst for more transformative change. Mayor Smathers is now considering multiple federal funding streams that have the potential to transform his town and ensure it embodies, as Smathers puts it, “the hometown of tomorrow.” For example, the governing board is considering selling riverfront land to FEMA as part of the agency’s buyout program. The land, if sold, could be turned into a park system for residents. Other rebuilding projects include an all-abilities playground, a dog park, and an aquatics center. Read this article for more on how Canton is turning tragedy into opportunity, and listen to our recent podcast interview with Mayor Smathers to hear him discuss the flood and how his town is building back.

Raul Campillo, Councilmember (San Diego, CA)

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Connecting Seniors to Affordable Transportation

Recently, San Diego City Councilmember Raul Campillo announced the launch of the FACT pilot program, or Facilitating Access to Coordinated Transportation, in coordination with local community groups. The program will subsidize rides for seniors who do not have access to cars, allowing them to get basic needs like groceries and medical prescriptions, with charges of $2.50 for rides shorter than 5 miles and $10 dollars for rides longer than 20.1 miles. Read more info about the program, which local senior centers praised as a great improvement to the quality of life for seniors in the community.

Brooke Lierman, Delegate (Baltimore, MD), Michael Naft, County Commissioner (Clark County, NV), and Michelle Wu, Mayor (Boston, MA)

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New Infrastructure Plans Rolling Out

Following the signing of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, NewDEALers are poised to lead in directing investments to long-overdue projects that will impact the economic vitality of their communities. Many NewDEAL Leaders are already taking action on these priorities. Delegate Brooke Lierman’s Maryland Transit Safety & Investment Act overcame a gubernatorial veto and is set to eliminate the state’s $2 billion public transportation maintenance backlog by spending nearly half a billion dollars each year for repairs and enhancements. In Nevada, Clark County Commissioner Michael Naft celebrated the groundbreaking of a long-awaited bridge project which first received federal funding in the 1990s. “This bridge is an important transportation element and it is also critical for emergency responders,” Naft said. Elsewhere, the Boston Council approved newly-elected Mayor Michelle Wu’s $8 million plan for three of the city’s bus lines to go fare-free, an important step towards making the city’s transportation equitable and accessible. The program will utilize federal funding, and early numbers suggest that ridership will be significantly boosted by the measure.

2021 Ideas Challenge Finalists

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The NewDEAL is pleased to announce the finalists from this year’s Ideas Challenge, our biennial policy competition highlighting innovative policy solutions from NewDEAL Leaders across the nation. Their ideas would reimagine the social safety net, create good jobs, expand education opportunities, build more sustainable communities, and strengthen our democracy. This year’s Challenge came at an especially important time to identify best practices, as Leaders grapple with the work of rebuilding and recovery in the wake of the pandemic, and have a unique opportunity to act with federal funds from the American Rescue Plan. Winners in each of five categories will be announced next week during our 11th Annual Leaders Conference, on Thursday, November 18, and be featured in Governing Magazine. Join us on social media to celebrate these extraordinary ideas, and click here to read details on the finalists in all five categories!

ALOHA Homes: Affordable, Locally Owned Homes for All

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What’s the Problem?

My father, an immigrant from China, worked one state job.  He was able to buy a house, put my brother and me through private school, put me through private college and graduate school, buy investment property, and retire comfortably.

Since then, Hawaii has developed a severe housing shortage.  About 11,000 students graduate annually from Hawaii public schools.  Only 2,000 homes are built annually.  Because of this structural undersupply, the median home price in three of the four counties now exceeds $1 million, and the state has lost population for 4 straight years.  Hawaii has the country’s highest percentage of people working multiple jobs and both parents working.  For young people today, it is no longer possible to buy a home, provide for one’s family, and enjoy retirement.  The housing shortage is the principal obstacle to fulfilling the basic progressive promise, “One job should be enough.”

 

What’s the Solution?

Singapore is an island less than half the size of Oahu, but with over five times the population.  It houses over 80 percent of its population in high quality, well maintained public housing that is available to all citizens for only $180,000 on average for a new three bedroom unit.  Even the President of Singapore lived in public housing before moving into the Presidential Palace.

ALOHA Homes (Affordable, Locally Owned Homes for All) adapts the Singaporean public housing model to Hawaii’s unique needs.  It would provide new, unsubsidized homes to Hawaii residents who would be owner-occupants and own no other real property for below market prices.  By building high density homes on state-owned parcels near rail stations, the state can house its future generations without developing agricultural, conservation or otherwise undeveloped land; without adding to the traffic on our roads; and create walkable, livable, safe neighborhoods.

South City Tech Hub: Creating Digital Equity

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Problem

The South City neighborhood in Tallahassee has one of the highest rates of families living in poverty in Leon County (44.8%). Due to COVID-19, almost 800 South City students were unable to experience equal learning opportunities as they did not have the devices, connectivity or technical assistance to fully participate in digital learning.  Students are falling behind in school, parents lack the tech skills to support their students, access employment opportunities, or get medical and other services for themselves and their families.  

 

Solution

The South City Tech Hub provides internet access, technical assistance, and skill building opportunities to Tallahassee’s South Side community by supporting school readiness and success for students and parents. The Tech Hub provides a resource for research, job search, connectivity, tele-health, schoolwork and even legal services.

Resilient and Energy Efficient Municipal Infrastructure

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Problem

The City of Jersey City has ambitious goals for reducing GHG emissions and the use of renewable energy but has a backlog of older, inefficient municipal buildings that need to be upgraded. We also have solar arrays and EV garbage trucks, but no way of tapping into the solar power or ensuring EV charging during a disruption of the energy grid. As a coastal city facing the threat of more frequent and more severe storm events, in addition to sea-level rise, it is important to ensure that our critical infrastructure is resilient to major storm events.

 

Solution

The solution is to leverage the NJ Energy Savings Improvement Program (ESIP) in conjunction with other state and utility incentives to reduce operational costs, improve energy resiliency, and leverage energy savings to minimize cost on urgent capital infrastructure projects at over 20 municipal buildings. Additionally, adding battery storage to an existing generator and 1.23-megawatt solar panel array at the municipal services complex to create a microgrid that can function if the conventional grid loses power during a storm event, ensuring that the City’s new electric garbage trucks can be charged.

New Marker Solar Project

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Problem

The 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report states that greenhouse gas concentrations are driving profound change to the Earth System, including global warming, rising sea levels, and an increase in climate and weather extremes. As a result, the City of Cincinnati is actively working to dramatically reduce its carbon emissions and do so in a fiscally responsible way that provides economic benefit to the Greater Cincinnati region.

 

Solution

To drastically reduce the carbon footprint of cities, we must take action that spurs large-scale development of renewable energy utilizing our consumption and purchasing power to drive these arrays and lead to local community economic development opportunities. 
Cincinnati is developing a 100-megawatt solar array, the country’s largest municipal led solar array, that will provide solar power for city government operations and the residents of Cincinnati through the Community Choice Aggregation Program (CCA).
By intentionally directing how the City purchases energy, Cincinnati can lead large-scale solar development, create savings for the taxpayers, and ensure community benefits such as job creation, fair wages, and investments in schools and government within the solar array jurisdiction.

Clean Heat Plan for Natural Gas Sector Emission Reductions

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Problem

 Colorado must reduce greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors in order to meet science-based reduction goals, and the built environment produces a significant amount of pollution from the use of gas to heat homes and businesses and to heat water in those buildings. In addition, gas leaks in the supply chain and commercial and industrial processes contribute to greenhouse gas pollution. There are also many sources of fugitive methane from landfills, coal mines, wastewater treatment plants, etc that need to be mitigated.

 

Solution

This policy, introduced as SB21-264, implements a quantifiable performance standard that enables Colorado utilities to use energy efficiency, biomethane, hydrogen, recovered methane, beneficial electrification of customer end uses, cost-effective leak reductions, and more to efficiently lower greenhouse gas emissions. It requires gas distribution utilities to submit Clean Heat Plans, requiring commission approval, that meet Clean Heat Targets: as compared to a 2015 baseline, utilities must achieve a 4% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 and a 22% reduction by 2030. A cost cap will be established that limits the cost of each utility’s Clean Heat Plan to a maximum of 2.5% of annual gas bills for all full-service customers as a whole. 

SLC Digital Equity

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Problem

The pandemic brought to light the importance of broadband access to essential daily tasks. This was especially the case as schools were forced to go virtual and families struggled to navigate online education for the first time. Salt Lake City students from low-income families, many of whom lack quality broadband access, a computer or both, were the most impacted as traditional community resources such as libraries and public access computer labs were also forced to close due to the pandemic. A recent study by Michigan State University found that students who do not have access to the Internet from home or rely solely on cellular data perform lower on a range of metrics, including homework completion and grade point average (half a letter grade lower). Bridging this technology gap will increase digital literacy and improve student achievements in Salt Lake City. 

 

Solution

The Digital Equity Policy of Salt Lake City was adopted on September 1, 2020 to address the imbalances related to digital equity. Two of the policy’s targeted action items called for increasing access to affordable broadband services and reliable devices. Salt Lake City is doing this through a program known as City Connect which activates public wifi hotspots in community centers and parks throughout the City and provides surplus computers to low-income students and families. Additionally, through a public-private partnership with Comcast “Lift Zones”, Salt Lake City is able to bring high quality broadband service to our community learning centers and facilities supporting our Youth and Family programs.

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