2007 National Planning Conference

Domestic Policy Keynote

By Jim Hecimovich
Chief Editor, Planning Advisory Service Reports

Pennsylvania State Rep. Robert L. Freeman, APA Executive Director Paul Farmer, FAICP, and APA Policy Director Jason Jordan teamed up to deliver this year's Domestic Policy Keynote at the national conference.

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Freeman began by speaking of the challenges facing the state of Pennsylvania, many of which have been caused by the sprawling development patterns that have dominated land development in Pennsylvania and all the U.S. over the past 60 years. He also cited the lack of regional planning and the existence of more local governments than any state other than Illinois as part of Pennsylvania's problem. The lack of regional visioning has destabilized communities and led to economic difficulties for many cities. He noted that many cities are also suffering from a glut of tax-exempt uses (e.g., universities) that have caused revenue problems for those cities.

The congressman has led the fight for state legislation to address these particular problems. Specifically, he noted that Act 67, which amended Pennsylvania's Municipalities Code, provides cities with a blueprint for regional cooperation. He defined other state policy objectives to address the problems that he sees, including policies for:

• the "right sizing" of service provision in regions;
• revenue and tax-base sharing among metropolitan jurisdictions;
• more effective use of infrastructure;
• tax reform, especially property tax reform for cities dealing with 20 percent or more of their tax base in tax-exempt properties;
• promoting land-use planning tools for local government; and
• promoting land-use planning tools for counties, which are, in essence, stand-ins for regional planning agencies.

Freeman noted that the state has looked at successful models of regional planning from Portland, Oregon, Minneapolis, and Toronto. He feels that the most important changes need to come in the areas of federal interest in growth management (he noted that NEPA, the last federal land development act, happened a long time ago). He believes that the current energy/global warming crisis may get the federal government's attention in a new and positive way as regards land development and transportation policy. He finished by noting that planning is both a scientific and artistic discipline. He believes that planners need to not forget the scientific basis for their profession but need to emphasize more the creative aspects of planning in order to create a sense of place and places that make sense.

Paul Farmer, APA's executive director, followed with his assessment of domestic policy as it relates to planning. He began with his reflections on Robert Kennedy's speech at the conference's opening session and went back to Kennedy's comments and his own observations about how new methods and machinery — including the machines that Kennedy mentioned that have denuded the mountains of West Virginia — require closer and greater attention now more than ever to the values of preservation and conservation. He noted, like Kennedy, that these values have not been the exclusive province of one party and reminded the audience that President Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican, is probably remembered as our most conservation-conscious president and that the Clean Air Act was passed under the Nixon administration.

He reminded the audience that APA's values are nonpartisan but highly progressive, and an examination of our policy guides will reveal that progressiveness in areas like housing, social equity, the environment, transportation, smart growth, habitat, and more.

Farmer began a discussion of history and change that noted the inevitability of change and how programs like smart growth have been reactions to change. The current era calls for policies to answer challenges on a number of fronts. In his opinion, overall, the U.S. must become more efficient, especially in the area of fuel use. He noted that economically, our trade deficit at 7 percent of GDP is much higher than the 3 percent recommended as a limit by economists; beyond that limit, investors will, as they have been, start moving their investments elsewhere, causing potential disruptions in the country's economy. Specifically, he feels that the threat posed by global warming especially requires fundamental domestic policy changes. And he noted that we have been able to do this in the past, offering the examples of Social Security, rural electrification, and water purification, but reminded the audience that we must do better than even these, since their distribution and application was not done with social equity in mind.

Like Freeman, Farmer noted that land-use policy over the past 75 years or so has lead to sprawl. As he noted, no one actually chose this pattern, it happened through policies like the mortgage deduction for homes, highway development, and more. And all of these policies acted as subsidies for sprawl. These policies have been supported and augmented by what he called "dumb growth" industries, and he called for new industries to replace them.

The policies he believes we must "get right" include:

• energy policy, including tax policy that will promote long-term investments in alternative energy resources;
• environmental policies, especially constructed in a way to address the totality of attacks on environmental law that Kennedy made clear in his opening session address;
• infrastructure and transportation policies, noting that while ISTEA was a good policy, its reauthorizations have been weaker than the original act;
• hazard mitigation and disaster policies; he specifically recommended that the mortgage deduction for second homes in hazard areas be removed and that money be applied to an affordable housing fund, making it revenue neutral; and
• housing policy, which the federal government must change to provide adequate funding for important housing programs (e.g., CDBG, Hope VI).

Farmer further noted that these policy changes must be done in the spirit of the American values of freedom, fairness, and stewardship. For instance, he noted that we need to always the collective values of the community when considering property rights. He specifically and strongly recommended the audience read George Lakoff's Whose Freedom? The Battle over America's Most Important Idea and Cass Sunstein's Radicals in Robes: Why Extreme Right-Wing Courts Are Wrong for America as a way of thinking through this approach to how to apply freedom and fairness to policy change. And he noted that, more than ever, we need to build with nature.

Finally, he asked rhetorically, can we change? He cited an article by Chris Nelson published last year in the Journal of the American Planning Association concluding that much of the growth in the U.S., which will not stop, will take place in mega-regions. In fact, 70 to 80 percent of growth will take place there. It is the time, he said, for trends not to take precedence over plans. What policy must confront that is new are the issues of the rate of land consumption, which is unprecedented, the increase in global competition with the American economy, and the clear evidence of global warming and its consequences. He feels confident that dumb growth policies will change; we are no longer a country of manifest destiny; fundamental change in the world is increasing; and policy will, by necessity, change to meet these new challenges and the new world.

APA Policy Director Jason Jordan provided an update of APA's policy initiatives, noting that the 2006 elections resulted in a number of significant changes in the legislature that may positively affect the federal response to issues affecting planners. Specifically, he noted that the 2006 elections resulted in the greatest number of freshman legislators since the 1994 elections. He also said that the make-up of committees in Congress was changing for the better for planners, particularly in the committees responsible for transportation, housing, the judiciary, as well as the House Ways and Means committee. A new committee on global warming formed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will have as a member U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), who has spoken at past APA national conferences.

While the current make-up of the White House and Congress make the passage of any major legislation affecting planning issues unlikely in the near future, Jordan did comment on the fact that Congress was taking up again the role of oversight on federal programs.

He told the audience that APA's legislative priorities in the upcoming months will focus on:

• takings and eminent domain;
• the Farm Bill, which affects open space funding and rural development;
• water infrastructure, especially the Water Resources Development Act and a reform of Army Corps of Engineers processes;
• brownfields;
• transportation, including rulemaking for planning, the New Starts program, federal financing of transit, and possible changes to the gas tax, revenues from which are currently insufficient to build and maintain roads to the extent they are needed;
• housing, including a federal trust fund, oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the future of the Hope VI program;
• infrastructure redevelopment, including tax incentives for green building; and
• billboards.

Farmer and Jordan encouraged the audience members to join APA's legislative policy conference in Washington, D.C., from September 30, 2007, to October 5, 2007, at which time planners can also take part in Planners' Day on the Hill and meet with congressional representatives.

Resources:
www.planning.org/domesticagenda/

This article was produced by APA staff or a member of APA. It was not written by the individuals who prepared these sessions. Send an e-mail to WebsiteEditor@planning.org for permission to reprint this article.