Want to increase your tax base with wise investments?
Want to lower your infrastructure cost while increasing economic investment?
SMART MATH: The true costs and benefits of development choices
With tighter budgets and environmental costs, U.S. cities and towns have accepted that the status quo of development will no longer work. When trying to convey that info using math, they get lost in the numbers. Using simple math and creative visual aids, Joe Minicozzi specializes in explaining the true costs and benefits of development choices. He will share how these tools can help cities and towns overcome misconceptions about efficient downtown development and make wise investments.
Placemaking Principles for…Strong Towns
To get a higher return on our public investments requires an understanding of what it takes to build great towns and neighborhoods. A Strong Town is financially stable and must not be dependent on government subsidy for the common maintenance of basic infrastructure systems. It is economically vibrant and diverse. A Strong Town is designed with a physical layout that enhances the public realm and thus adds value to each property that fronts it. To build an affordable transportation system, a Strong Town utilizes roads to move traffic. Within neighborhoods and communities, a Strong Town uses complex streets to equally accommodate the full range of transportation options. To make transportation systems more efficient and affordable, to create economic opportunity and to enhance the community, neighborhoods in a Strong Town must be mixed use, with properly-scaled residential and commercial development. Chuck Marohn will be in the Piedmont Triad to share his advise for creating Strong Towns.
For more information on Joe and Chuck click HERE .
Special sessions for elected officials and managers. / Do the analysis yourself training for planners and finance officers.
Coming June 25th through June 27th / Please plan ahead. Look for more details coming in May.
Help Build the Piedmont Together
Our second round of civic forums are complete. Attendees found the sessions to be engaging and informative. Therefore the project team considered the effort Mission Accomplished. The project team also gathered valuable input designed to help shape viable visions for out region.
Here’s an overview of what took place at each of the civic forums…
An Update on Piedmont Together
Brief review of the past year and context for the evening.
How to get it done!
Video presentation or speaker discussing how local communities are working to strengthen their region.
We Ride The Line from Opportunity Link in North Central Montana
Sustainability For Everyone: Rethinking Piedmont Ideas About Green, Living, and Local - Montagnard students talk about what sustainability means to them.
Six Key Ingredients to a Healthy Community - A video from Healthy Shasta, Redding, CA.
Community Leadership 4.0 – by Carolyn Corbin, a brief explanation of how leadership aids a community.
Traffic Calming - by Streetfilms, documenting livable streets worldwide.
Why care about the Piedmont Triad
Presentation of 7 reasons to care about the region and what Piedmont Together will focus on during the next 6 months.
What do you want in your community, your region?
An interactive session with real time voting. Attendees will be asked to respond to several questions, then immediately see and discuss the results. Responses will be factored into the development of a regional vision.
NEW! If – Then Survey Results now available….Click Here. Contains for the results of the Summit, Civic Forums and Online Surveys.
The next round of civic forums are tentatively scheduled for late summer or early fall. During that round the project team will present several viable scenarios for the region and you will have a chance to review and critique them.
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Green Infrastructure Presentation
The Green Infrastructure work group of Piedmont Together held a public informational webinar on February 7th. The webinar gave an overview of green infrastructure, introduced the results of the Piedmont Triad Green Infrastructure public survey and detailed the work groups’ scope of work for the next year.
At the conclusion of the webinar representatives of the work group answered questions from attendees.
Watch and listen to the recorded presentation by using YouTube below. Please note that the opening slides and a few minutes of the webinar at the beginning did not get recorded.
Use Slide Share below to go through the presentation at a slower pace.
Reminder: the public survey is still open and can be accessed HERE if you would like to participate and share your views on our green infrastructure in the Piedmont Triad.
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Livable Communities Summit
On Thursday October 25, 2012 people from around Piedmont Triad filled the Old Salem Event Center and gave a new name the project formerly referred to as the Sustainable Communities Planning Project. Piedmont Together is a perfect fit for so many elements and hopeful outcomes of the project.
You Tube link to video segments of the entire summit…Click HERE.
To view presentations and related reports…Click Here.
NEW! If – Then Survey Results now available….Click Here. Contains for the results of the Summit, Civic Forums and Online Surveys.
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‘Sustainable Communities’ is ON THE AIR!
As part of our outreach and education efforts ten speakers appeared on the Triad Today show. They spoke about nine different aspects of the project. The video segments have been placed on the project’s YouTube page…Click here to view them. Here’s the line up…
*Piedmont Together 101: A project overview and how to get involved
*Livable Communities Photo Contest: An example of our public engagement efforts.
*Strengths and Challenges in the Piedmont Triad: Housing, Transportation, Fresh Food in the Triad. Part of our strength and challenges.
*Asheboro Design and Development Workshop: An education in Smart Growth for downtowns.
*City of Lexington Multimodal Center Development; A local action that strengthens the region.
*The Resource Center – Promoting Sustainability in Winston-Salem: Think regionally, act locally.
*Plug-in Electric Vehicles: A regional infrastructure plan for the Triad.
*H + T = The Cost of Housing and Transportation: How the cost of housing and transportation impacts our buying power.
* Legacy 2030 and Regional Planning: How local plans are part of the regional picture.
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Our Community, Real People, New Choices, Get Involved!
Several organizations in the Piedmont Triad have embarked on a cooperative effort designed to promote livable communities resulting in a sustainable future. PIEDMONT TOGETHER (formerly referred to as the Piedmont Triad Sustainable Communities Planning Project) is a 3-year process and we want you to get involved! A main focus of this project is to help create and sustain jobs and investment throughout the region, as well as promoting housing affordability and a sustainable environment. The 12-county regional plan will promote sustainable communities, highlighting the great things already happening in our region and helping communities develop or implement plans to grow or revitalize.
To date 48 organizations, agencies, local governments and businesses have pledged support and are active participants in the planning process. The Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation and the Piedmont Triad Regional Council are the lead agencies. The project is made possible thought a grant from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The project kick-off event was held on May 3, 2011. You can watch a video summary of the kick-off event by clicking here. Thirteen civic forums throughout the region were held in January,February and March 2012. A summary of those forums can found by clicking here. Then in October 2012 the project team held a regional summit.
If you would like to participate in this vital project here are the many ways to get involved:
- Check the project website weekly for updates and new postings;
- Sign up and participate in Piedmont Voice;
- Attend a civic forum or regional summit;
- Sign-up for the E-mail list;
- Find us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn; and
- Catch the project in motion on YouTube.
The primary tool for gathering input is Piedmont Voice. It is an online interactive town hall where questions are asked and folks from around the regional provide the answers. Sign up today and participate in the regional conversation.
In order to have a strong and realistic plan, input is needed from all segments of our community including business, general public, education, health, and those interested in sustainability.
For more information email the project manager at markk@partnc.org.