By Dr. Chad Audi

A 2007 survey of 23 cities — conducted by the U.S. Conference of Mayors — revealed 30% of the homeless population have a mental illness. According to the Detroit Department of Health and Wellness Promotion, approximately 60% of chronically homeless people in the Detroit area have underlying issues of mental illness and/or substance abuse.

Mental disorders prevent people from doing everyday things like going to work and school or taking care of a home and family. The closings of psychiatric hospitals over several years, diminishing community-based programs and outpatient services, and a lack of affordable housing options leave the mentally ill with no place to go and no hope of getting better. Many are distrustful or too afraid to seek help and react irrationally toward those trying to help. This pushes them into a life on the streets. The Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries (DRMM) reaches out to those with mental health issues by partnering with other agencies such as the Detroit Health Department to provide medical and social services assistance to some of the most vulnerable members of our society.

A movie depicting mental health issues among the homeless opens in theaters later this month. “The Soloist” is based on a true story and features actor Jamie Foxx as a brilliant musician suffering from mental illness and homelessness. He is befriended by a Los Angeles Times columnist, played by Robert Downey Jr., who helps him fulfill his dreams. The movie promises to show how a seemingly hopeless life can be altered for the better.

Although there are many reasons why individuals end up living on the streets, mental illness is prevalent among the homeless population. People with mental disorders require ongoing access to treatment and rehabilitation services. They are human beings who should be treated with dignity and respect. As represented in “The Soloist,” many homeless people already have amazing skills that just need to be nurtured and enhanced. They simply require our support and encouragement.

By TERRY COLLINS, Associated Press Writer

AP – Engineer Stephan Noetzel alerts a police officer to gunshots on Illinois Street Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008 …

EAST PALO ALTO, Calif. – It happened moments after a police sergeant blasted a shot into a sand-filled barrel to test this city’s expanded gunfire tracking system.

Witnesses suddenly heard “Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop!”

Those gunshots were real. A flashing red “multiple shots” banner and an address appeared on a nearby laptop, and officers quickly located a 28-year-old man who had been shot by a masked man.

He survived. “He’s lucky,” Capt. Carl Estelle said.

East Palo Alto is the first U.S. city completely wired with ShotSpotter, a system of strategically placed acoustic sensors linked to a computer designed to help police locate gunfire in high-crime areas, but the technology is spreading. Thirty-six cities across America are currently using ShotSpotter — triple the number two years ago.

Cash-strapped police departments are receiving millions in federal funds to buy the system, despite debate over whether it effectively fights crime. And now cities such as Indianapolis and Trenton, N.J., hope to use federal stimulus money to pay for ShotSpotter.

Officials from the Mountain View, Calif.-based company say the technology has helped cities reduce gunfire rates by 60 to 80 percent and violent crime by 40 percent. They say the system detects dozens of gunfire incidents daily in 114 square miles inhabited by more than 774,000 people in cities such as Boston, Chicago and New Orleans.

“Every city that has it tells me when they go to where the dot is, they find evidence,” said Gregg Rowland, ShotSpotter’s senior vice president.

But former Boston police lieutenant Thomas Nolan questions whether the money spent on the technology could better be used to hire more police.

“The cops I talk to on the street think ShotSpotter is a joke,” said Nolan, associate criminal justice professor at Boston University.

A square-mile of ShotSpotter coverage costs $200,000 to $250,000 the company said.

Supporters say the system can help police respond rapidly to violent incidents.

“If someone is severely shot, those critical seconds or minutes could be the difference between life and death,” said Rochester, N.Y., Mayor Robert Duffy, a former police chief and chair of the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Criminal and Social Justice Committee.

The largest ShotSpotter installation is in Washington, where it covers 16 square miles. Besides locating gunshots, the system also proved two off-duty D.C. officers did not fire first when they killed a 14-year-old boy in 2007.

In Minneapolis, the technology helped officers find this year’s first homicide victim in subzero temperatures.

Gang-infested East Palo Alto, where nine people were wounded in five shootings in recent months, is now a testing ground for Shotspotter, thanks to a $200,000 federal grant and a deep discount. This working class community of 2.6 square miles and about 30,000 residents sits next to tony Palo Alto.

Some officials at the U.S. Department of Justice, which has awarded millions of dollars in similar grants around the country, cautioned that ShotSpotter’s affect on crime has not been adequately evaluated.

The technology only works when combined with other law enforcement practices, said John Morgan, deputy director for science and technology at the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) in Washington.

“You hear a gunshot, and naively you think it helps the cops,” Morgan said. “You’re sending a lot of cops on chases, but not necessarily catching a lot of people committing crimes.”

ShotSpotter needs the sort of independent scientific scrutiny that a smaller competitor, SECURES, has undergone, said Peter Scharf, a public health professor at Tulane University in New Orleans.

Last year, Scharf co-authored a report to the NIJ that concluded that while officers thought SECURES was useful, there were high rates of false calls. The report also questioned whether money spent on gunshot detection technology could be better used for more policing. “You have to be skeptical with any technology of this type,” Scharf said. “It’s hard to prove its effectiveness.”

The maker of SECURES_ used in East Orange, N.J., Harrisburg, Pa., Prince Georges, Md. and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore_ dispute the report’s findings. Virginia-based Planning Systems Inc. says its product is most effective paired with technology such as surveillance cameras.

“It becomes an alert mechanism for a video system that normally would not be able to react to such events,” said George Orrison, Planning Systems, Inc.’s marketing securities technologies director. “It provides for more ‘ears and eyes’ on the street.”

ShotSpotter was founded in 1996 by San Francisco Bay Area engineer Robert Showen, who was trying to develop a sensor system to detect earthquakes.

Coffee-can sized sensors are usually placed on telephone poles and roofs, and are linked to a central computer. The system can pinpoint shots with the help of Global Positioning System navigation, alerting dispatchers or police officers within seconds.

Ed Hoskins, a project manager at the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center in Charleston, S.C., said he believes ShotSpotter is a good investigative tool. “If it helps catch criminals in the act, then that’s a bonus,” he said.

San Francisco, which had 99 homicides last year, has installed ShotSpotter at three locations. In January, ShotSpotter tracking led to the arrests of three men who allegedly fired at mourners outside a funeral home.

Noting that San Francisco spent more than $50 million in 2007 to treat gun injuries, police Lt. Mikail Ali, a senior advisor in the mayor’s criminal justice office, said it would be worthwhile to expand the gunshot-detection system.

“You can’t just turn the system on and mysteriously have a decrease in gunfire,” Ali added. “Like any other tool, it’s not the tool itself, it’s the carpenter behind the tool

The strategy of the Democratic party – and of leftists in general – is to continually push policies that centralize control of citizens’ lives at the federal level. This is where they – the elite who have much better ideas than we, the benighted rabble – can have the most impact on us while remaining far more insulated from citizens’ electoral wrath than local-level politicians.

This strategy is clear in Obama’s recent admonition to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, in which he put them on notice that he’ll hold them accountable for how they spend the stimulus money being sent from Washington. Obama says the money should be spent “wisely, free from politics and free from personal agendas.”

In other words, he’s positioning Washington as the wise steward of our money, while the local-level politicians – the ones we actually have a prayer of reaching with our opinions and ideas – are irresponsible spendthrifts unable to resist political winds and lobbyists.

This is appalling hypocrisy, given the furious lobbying that resulted in the unprecedented waste of this stimulus bill. One of the biggest winners in the stimulus is the federal government itself. Let’s take a look at some of the spending provisions, as listed by Reason magazine. Take note of how much of this “stimulus” is directed to further expanding and feeding our federal government and its programs:

• $24 million for United States Department of Agriculture buildings and rent
• $176 million for renovating Agricultural Research Service buildings
• $290 million for flood prevention
• $50 million for watershed rehabilitation
• $1.4 billion for wastewater disposal programs
• $295 million for administrative expenses associated with food stamp programs
• $1 billion for the 2010 Census
• $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges and libraries
• $650 million for the digital TV converter box coupon program
• $2 billion for Byrne Justice Assistance Grant program
• $10 million to combat Mexican gunrunners
• $125 million for rural communities to combat drug crimes
• $1 billion for the Community Oriented Policing Services program
• $1 billion for NASA
• $300 million to purchase scientific instruments for colleges and museums
• $400 million for equipment and facilities at the National Science Foundation
• $3.7 billion to conduct “green” renovations on military bases
• $375 million for Mississippi River projects
• $10 million for urban canals
• $5 billion for weatherizing buildings
• $2 billion to develop advanced batteries for hybrid cars
• $3.4 billion for fossil energy research
• $5.1 billion for environmental cleanup around military bases
• $5.5 billion for “green” federal buildings
• $300 million for “green” cars for federal employees
• $20 million for IT upgrades at the Small Business Administration
• $200 million to design and furnish Department of Homeland Security headquarters
• $98 million earmarked for a polar icebreaker
• $210 million for State and local fire stations
• $125 million to restore trails and abandoned mines
• $146 million for trail maintenance at National Park Service sites
• $140 million for volcano monitoring systems
• $600 million for the Environmental Protection Agency Superfund environmental cleanup program
• $200 million to clean up leaking underground storage tanks
• $500 million for forest health and wildfire prevention
• $25 million for the Smithsonian Institution
• $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
• $1.2 billion for “youth activities” (for “youth” up to 24 years old)
• $500 million earmarked for National Institute of Health facilities
• $1 billion for Head Start Program
• $32 million for home-delivered nutrition services
• $160 million for volunteer programs at the Corporation for National and Community Service
• $500 million earmarked for the SSA National Computer Center in Maryland
• $220 million for the International Boundary and Water Commission, U.S. and Mexico
• $8 billion for high-speed railways (This amount is 4 times higher than the one voted on Tuesday in the Senate bill)
• $1.3 billion for Amtrak

On the tax side of the package, the tax credit for golf carts was retained, along with $300 million for Federal Employee Company Cars. And despite the role that home buying played in putting the economy into recession, the conference report also includes tax credits—up to $15,000—for buying new homes.

After looking at this list, it’s difficult for me to take seriously Obama’s admonition to mayors to “spend wisely.”

Another day, another national list of various rankings. Today’s cheery topic: Job Loss.

The Kansas City area will lose 20,100 jobs in 2009, according to a new national study on the nation’s economic recovery.

Titled “American Recovery and Reinvestment: The Role of Metro Areas,” the report sets Kansas City as 25th among the nation’s metropolitan areas in estimated job losses between the last quarter of 2008 and the last quarter of 2009. The report, done for the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the Council for the New American City, projects the metropolitan area’s jobless rate at 8.5 percent by the close of 2009.

In response, Mayor Funkhouser quickly amended his “A City That Works” slogan to “A City That Works; A Population That Doesn’t.”

[Source, Lisa Selin Davis, Grist Magazine, May 13, 2008] – In order for Phoenix to truly be a green city, it would have to be brown.  Or not brown, exactly, but the sandy shade of the mountains that surround it: the jagged peaks and parched hills that enclose the Valley of the Sun.  These days, though, Phoenix is a less-natural shade of brown; a ring of smoggy pollution known locally as the Brown Cloud shadows the city.  And that’s not the only affront to the environs here.  Anyone flying in can see the patches of fierce green lawns that paint the landscape, along with the swimming pools; the manmade lake in the suburb of Tempe, evaporating 452 million gallons of water each year; the sea of single family homes spilling across the desert; the traffic clogging the ribbons of highways; and the heat snakes squiggling from all that boiling bitumen.  The 517-square-mile city — the fifth-largest and fourth-fastest-growing in America — just survived its second-driest winter on record and is deep in drought.

So how is it that this poster child for sprawl and environmental ills is being hailed — albeit by its own government — as an exemplar of sustainability?  City leaders are quick to tell anyone willing to listen that not only are they finally getting hip to environmental matters, they’ve been attending to some of them for upwards of thirty years.  From using cleaner fuels in their fleet of trucks and buses to implementing an environmental purchasing program, from building a new 20-mile light-rail line to signing the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement, officials have taken concrete steps to right past wrongs.

Perhaps more important than these piecemeal sustainability steps is the city’s partnership with the local university.  What’s wrong with the city — the temperature’s rising, for one thing, and development is still skidding out of control — is what makes it such an attractive candidate for a living laboratory.  The city’s environmental deficits are educational opportunities for the students and teachers of Arizona State University’s four-year-old Global Institute of Sustainability.  ”When Phoenix is done growing, it will be bigger than Chicago,” says Dr. Michael Crow, president of ASU.  ”The next massive city of the United States isn’t done yet.”  GIOS, then, has a chance to affect these latter stages of growth.  And what GIOS gleans from Phoenix just might change the way other desert cities behave — that is, if it’s not too little, too late.  [Note: To read the full article, click here.]

Not surprising,

The U.S. Conference of Mayors went to Capitol Hill earlier this month with a report listing 11,391 infrastructure projects proposed by 427 cities. The mayors claimed the proposal would create 847,641 jobs in 2009 and 2010. [Emphasis mine]

Although one man’s pork may be another’s essential spending, some of these might be debatable. The requests include

plans for a polar bear exhibit, an anti-prostitution program, a water park ride, zoos, museums and aquatic centers, CNN has found.

The polar bear exhibit? It’s to increase attendance at the zoo which “will stimulate the economy in Providence.”

The water park ride? Parks are part of infrastructure.

A $1.5 million program to reduce prostitution in Dayton, Ohio?

“People make judgments about the safety of a community by the level of social disorder. Street-level prostitution is clearly a social disorder,” said Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl.

Museums? “There are plenty of museums that I think people would argue that are part of a fabric of a city,” [Miami, Florida, Mayor Manny] Diaz said.

Maybe Waukesha County Historical Museum should apply for some money so they can finally finish that Les Paul exhibit.

I’m sorry. When I think of infrastructure, I think of roads, bridges, cargo rail and, yes, even mass transit. [UPDATE: For example more  along the lines of Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett's list.]

The U.S. Conference of Mayors has identified more than 4,500 infrastructure projects that could begin immediately and could be completed by the end of 2009 — seeking to quell criticism that such projects take too long to help the struggling economy.  Click here for the City of Phoenix’s $1,395,027,092 “wish list” of airport, housing, public safety, streets/roads, transit, and water infrastructure projects as their part of the “Main Street Economic Recovery” plan.

….or at least, that’s what the U.S. Conference of Mayors says in their call for a Main Street Economic Recovery. In a report released today, the organization, which consists of the mayors of U.S. cities larger with more than 30,000 residents, outlines 11,391 jobs and infrastructure projects in 427 cities across the country that it says are “ready to go.” In total, the projects would create a $73 billion investment in the nation’s infrastructure, and would create nearly 850,000 jobs in 2009 and 2010.

Here’s a list of the projects Oakland threw into the ring. Together, they represent an investment of  over $87 million in the city, and would create over a thousand new jobs. We’ve seen many of these programs and projects before, and some exist today but simply aren’t sufficiently funded. My personal favorite: the Oakland Community Land Trust, which exists but not with much in the way of funding. (Incidentally, it’s also the only sizable chunk of change Oakland asked for—the city’s requests constitute only a tenth of a percent of the funds requested nationally, despite the fact that we’re the 44th largest city in the country right now. Anaheim, for instance, asked for $406 million, and San Francisco wants nearly $2.2 billion for some of the landmark projects they’ve been studying. This is why we have long-range planning, people—so that when money shows up, you have visionary projects ready at the gate. Obviously some cities are better at this than others.) But back to the land trust. I can’t think of a better step to take as the housing market spirals downwards; a thriving land trust could help forestall the foreclosure crisis in the city’s hardest-hit neighborhoods while protecting affordability in those neighborhoods for future generations. (For a similar approach in another city, check out Boston’s Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative and see how it’s weathering the housing crisis.)

Anyway, without further ado, here they are. (Note that I did not write these descriptions, so I am not responsible for sentences that stop mid-thought or fail to explain the purposes of programs for which they’d like tens of thousands of dollars! I’m giving staff the benefit of the doubt and assuming the turnaround on this document was probably instantaneous—and that someone somewhere had the not-at-all-fun task of compiling the requests of 427 different cities, since it does look like other cities encountered the same truncating problem.)

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Document Management for PWA: Funding will be used to implement an enterprise-class document management system for records related to environmental remediation of City-owned properties. The project will leverage the City’s existing, successful investment.
$50K / 5 jobs

PWA Equipment Services Technology Learning Center: Funding will be utilized to install networking, computer, printer, projector, and related equipment to establish a Public Works Agency Equipment Services Division Technology Learning Center.
$40K / 5 jobs

Corporate–Community Partnerships: The project will encourage Oakland businesses and the City government to partner with the Oakland School District and local faith-based organizations to employ and mentor youth on a part-time basis throughout the year.
$250K / 8 jobs

E-Government Network Infrastructure: E-government enables the delivery of information and services online through the Internet or other digital means. The use of the Internet to deliver government information and services will provide benefits.
$300K / 10 jobs

Fruitvale Latino Cultural and Performing Arts Center: Federal funding will be used for construction costs (e.g., structural, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, seismic reinforcement, elevator, etc.).
$1.0M / 12 jobs

Alternate Computing Facility for Disaster Recovery: The goal on this project to establish a partnership between the City of Oakland and another city similar in size to construct geographically dispersed disaster recovery sites. The City of Oakland will [the sentence in the report ends here....what will it do? Hopefully something!]
$1.584M / 19 jobs

Citywide Curb Ramp Installation Program: Accelerate installation of curb ramps citywide in approximately 2,000 locations.
$5.0M / 60 jobs

ENERGY
Various green projects: FY09 funding is requested to support the following elements of this effort: the East Bay Green Jobs Project; the Oakland Green Jobs Corps; and the Environmental Engineering Technician Training Program.
$3.8M / 45 jobs

Metro Area Green Institute: The Metro Area Green Institute will serve as a clearinghouse for low-carbon economic development efforts nationally. The Institute will compile and disseminate data gleaned through the existing program sand provide technical assistance.
$5.0M / 60 jobs

Oakland Community Land Trust: Funding will be utilized to purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed properties as an initial element of a broader Oakland-based community land trust. Rehabilitated properties will support low-cost housing for Oakland residents.
$20.0M / 240 jobs

PUBLIC SAFETY
Prisoner Transport Vehicles: Since the OPD Jail closure in 2005, police officers shuttle between North County, Highland Hospital and Santa Rita jail. Additional transport vehicles will increase efficiency.
$260K / 3 jobs

Mobile Incident Command Post: OPD currently has two older, outdated Mobile Command Posts. Both Command Posts were due to be replaced three years ago. This incident command post would be used in all hazards response: terrorism, earthquake, fire, civil unrest
$500K / 6 jobs

Oakland’s Special Prosecution Project: Funding will support the implementation of a local Special Prosecution Team as part of the Mayor’s Crime Reduction Strategy. The Project will reduce quality of life incidents and address low-level crimes that are…. [nonetheless bad for neighborhoods?]
$612K / 6 jobs

Automatic Vehicle Locating (AVL) Systems: Funding will be utilized to install Automatic Vehicle Locating systems on all public vehicles.
$1.056M / 12 jobs

Oakland Police Department Data/Voice Network: The project will involve the re-cabling of the network infrastructure, the replacement of the legacy Cabletron and Dec equipment, the refresh of the integrated public safety network segment, and the installation of….[yup, again!]
$1.1M / 12 jobs

Oakland CompStat: Funding will be utilized to develop, design and deploy a centralized and consolidated criminal data repository system in Oakland.
$1.325M / 16 jobs

Patrol Vehicle Acquisition: Funding will be utilized to increase the police vehicle fleet from 399 vehicles to 429 with Federal funding through the acquisition of 30 additional police vehicles.
$1.74M / 20 jobs

“Grow Our Own” Police Recruitment Program: The City seeks funding to conduct personal recruitment visits, to support technology enhancements intended to streamline the application and to provide for background check processes. These combined efforts signal….[??? a more effective OPD? Please let the answer be a more effective OPD!]
$1.9M / 24 jobs

Replacement Helicopter: One helicopter to replace outdated unit. The helicopter unit provides enhanced observation and tactical support to the Police department. The two helicopters currently owned by the City are over ten years old. [Can they specify that the new one be quieter? Pretty please??]
$2.5M / 30 jobs

311 Citizen Relationship Management (CRM) System: Funding will provide Oakland citizens a non-emergency response system by deploying the integrated CRM system using email, fax, phone and web.
$3.0M / 36 jobs

Enhanced Public Safety Equipment Program: The City seeks funding to install audio and video recording devices in patrol and specialized vehicles; purchase firearms, holsters, and related equipment; purchase and install Dell laptops for specialized field.
$3.3M / 39 jobs

Information Technology Infrastructure Enhancement: The City of Oakland requests $3.61 million in federal funding to support vital enhancements to citywide public safety information technology systems. These enhancements include: IPSS Computers [the list ends here but I assume there's more].
$3.61M / 43 jobs

Oakland Fire Boat: The fireboat responds to water emergencies and provides mutual aid assistance to other jurisdictions. The Port of Oakland is a potential terrorist target. Opening this station enhances our capability to quickly respond to terrorist attacks.
$4.0M / 48 jobs

Surveillance Camera Network: A citywide camera system will be installed to enhance the Department’s ability to respond to criminal activity and investigate crimes. (OPD). Funds would convert space in the Eastmont Police Station into a state of the art [something!]
$5.6M / 67 jobs

Interoperable Communications: Requested funding will bring a master communications site on‐line for the City of Oakland to meet P-25 compliance, and will include simulcasting and other features which will enhance the communications network capacity and….[it's a surprise!]
$8.0M / 96 jobs

STREETS/ROADS
Citywide Sidewalk Damage Repair: Accelerate citywide sidewalk damage repairs in approximately 3,200 locations. [Yay!]
$1.75M / 7 jobs

Street Resurfacing: Complete 65 lane miles of street resurfacing, including sidewalk, curb, gutter and curb ramp replacement. [Double yay!]
$2.0M / 8 jobs

Adeline Street Bridge Repair: The improvements include repair of damages in abutment No. 1 and to provide access behind abutment No. 2, replace bridge expansion joint material, and seal and restripe the bridge deck.
$2.3M / 10 jobs

7th Street, West Oakland Transit Village Streetscape Project: The improvements include construction of bulb‐outs, ADA ramps and installation of bike lanes, construction of medians with landscaping, improvement of sidewalks and installation of streetlights…
$900K / 23 jobs

The Fruitvale Alive Streetscape Project: The improvements include construction of bulbouts, ADA ramps and installation of bike lanes, planting trees, installation of signs to improve pedestrian circulation, improvement of sidewalks and installation of streetlights….
$2.6M / 25 jobs

WATER
Oakland Inner Harbor Tidal Canal Easement: The proposed easement will allow the City to construct pedestrian and bicycle trails along those portions of the waterfront located within the Harbor Tidal Canal property.
No figures attached.

Oakland Inner Harbor Tidal Canal Feasibility Study: The City of Oakland requests the authorization of $250,000 to conduct a feasibility study as an initial element of a greater effort to undertake improvements to the Federally-owned Oakland Inner Harbor.
$250K / 3 jobs

Cryer Boatworks Site, Public Beach Access: The Cryer Boatworks Site is currently being developed as a public park, and contains a section of the San Francisco Bay Trail. The shoreline is a gently sloping beach, which is a rare commodity in Oakland.
$3.8M / 45 jobs

That’s the list. It’s worth pointing out that this is a city-specific list, and thus there are a lot of “ready-to-go” regional projects missing from this, especially on the transit front. (Speaking of transit, where is the MacArthur Transit Village?? C’mon, Oakland, get your stuff together before it’s time for the real deal in January!) School projects are also notably missing here, perhaps because in California, school districts are distinct from cities (ours even moreso, as it’s currently under state control—though that may change soon) and therefore not always communicating well with City staff. This report does provide a great glimpse of how other cities are thinking, though. Hopefully Oakland will learn from this and get some of our bigger, bolder dreams ready to roll.

* Here’s the latest “Unearthed” news from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Brendan DeMelle (report courtesy of the Huffington Post).

UNEARTHED:

NEWS OF THE WEEK THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA FORGOT TO REPORT

Below is an article from the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which I found on the League of American Bicyclists’ website. This is kind of a long resolution, but I just want to point out that how the mayors state,

“Surveys show that a majority of people want to ride more but are dissuaded by concern over traffic danger and other barriers . . . a national network of interconnected urban and rural bikeways can provide valuable community benefits, including low or no-cost recreation and alternative transportation options for people of all ages and abilities”

These areas of concern and needs can be met using on-line interactive mapping through applications such as Google Earth and Google Maps. One example I continually use in my blog is www.mappler.com/rubus_to_bike because it provide information as well as a way to connect the community as desired in the above resolution.

The like to the below article is: http://www.bikeleague.org/news/newsletter/e-news_061008.html#story4

ENSURING BICYCLING IS INTEGRATED INTO NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION, CLIMATE, ENERGY AND HEALTH POLICY INITIATIVES

WHEREAS, bicycling can provide multiple and cross-cutting benefits in U.S policy initiatives that seek to address transportation needs, limit climate change and energy consumption and improve public health.

WHEREAS, we now live in a nation with 300 million people, and that number is expected to grow to 365 million by 2030 and to 420 million by 2050 with the vast majority of that growth occurring in congested urban areas where there are significant limitations on accommodating increased motor vehicle travel; and

WHEREAS, since 1980, the number of miles Americans drive has grown three times faster than the U.S. population; and

WHEREAS, a national transportation system that invests in and is conducive to bicycling reduces traffic congestion in our most heavily congested urban areas while promoting an overall improved quality of life that is valuable for the Nation; As example:

More than 200 cities throughout the U.S., representing more than 35 million people have committed to implementing bicycle friendly action plans to make their communities more bicycle friendly;

The greatest potential for increased bicycle usage is in our major urban areas where 40 percent of trips are two miles or less and 28 percent are less than one mile;

Surveys show that a majority of people want to ride more but are dissuaded by concern over traffic danger and other barriers, and case studies have shown that when those barriers to bicycling are removed, people start riding;

WHEREAS, a national network of interconnected urban and rural bikeways can provide valuable community benefits, including low or no-cost recreation and alternative transportation options for people of all ages and abilities; and,

WHEREAS, the transportation sector contributes one-third of the greenhouse gas emissions in the United States and passenger automobiles and light trucks alone contribute 21 percent; and

WHEREAS, Ten percent of global oil production goes solely toward fueling America’s cars and trucks and the U.S. could save 462 millions of gallons of gasoline a year by increasing cycling from one percent to one and a half percent of all trips; and

WHEREAS, bicycle commuters annually save on average $1,825 in auto-related costs, reduce their carbon emissions by 128 pounds, conserve 145 gallons of gasoline, and avoid 50 hours of gridlock traffic; and

WHEREAS, over 800 of our Nation’s Mayors have signed onto the Climate Protection Agreement of the United States Conference of Mayors urging the Federal Government to enact policies and programs to meet or exceed a greenhouse gas emission reduction target of a seven percent reduction from 1990 levels by 2012; and

WHEREAS, two years ago the Conference of Mayors unanimously endorsed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, whereby a key component is to implement climate-friendly land-use policies and invest in public transportation and bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.

WHEREAS, the Center for Disease Control estimates that if all physically inactive Americans became active, we would save $77 billion in annual medical costs; and

WHEREAS, the United States is challenged by an obesity epidemic in which 65 percent of U.S. adults are either overweight or obese, and 13 percent of children and adolescents are overweight, due in large part to a lack of regular activity; and

WHEREAS, the percentage of U.S. children who walk or bike to school has dropped by 70 percent since 1969 such that only 15 percent of students were walking or biking to school in 2001 while the rate of childhood obesity has tripled in recent years.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors believes that achieving increased levels of bicycling is in the national interest;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors encourages the development and implementation of a coordinated national bicycling strategy aimed to increase safe bicycle use as a mode of transportation;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors encourages the development of federal transportation, environmental and public health policies that recognize increased and safe bicycle usage for transportation is in the national interest and that we further urge Congress in the next federal transportation reauthorization to establish policies and funding mechanisms that will aim to:

Reduce the number of motor vehicle miles traveled (VMT)

Improve safety conditions for bicyclists

Collect transportation and safety data needed to monitor progress, and,

Provide incentives for state and local governments to adopt and implement Complete Street policies designed to accommodate all users.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that even absent federal incentives, Governors and state-level leadership should embrace Complete Streets policies that acknowledge the contributions of bicycles as a means to reduce vehicle miles by integrating bicycle use into standard street design.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on all Mayors that sign onto the Climate Protection Agreement to develop and implement action plans to incorporate bicycling programs and policies as a key component in reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors encourages every mayor to strive to make their city a Bicycle Friendly Community.

Report released today from the U.S. Conference of Mayors:
http://www.usmayors.org/HHSurvey2007/hhsurvey07.pdf

From release (also PDF):

… “This report underscores the fact that issues of poverty in this country are often inter-related,” said [Des Moines] Mayor Frank Cownie, Co-Chair of the Conference’s Task Force on Hunger and Homelessness. “It is instructive in that we must deal with these issues collectively to make sustainable impact, but cities cannot handle these challenges alone. We need all levels of government, as well as the private sector, to partner with us.”