Wanted to let everyone know about this upcoming conference that the MassDOT will be putting on next week. Please see the invite below from Joshua Robin, MassDOT.

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On Eventbrite here: http://massdotdevconference.eventbrite.com/

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation is pleased to invite you to the MassDOT Developers Conference, on November 14th, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA. The Conference is free and open to the public. EOT, which becomes MassDOT on November 1, is also announcing the 2009 EOT Developers Challenge, which inspires developers to create both applications and data visualizations, to submit them to EOT, and to release them to the public. The two top submissions will receive a CharlieCard valid for one-year of free travel on the MBTA, in addition to recognition at the Conference.

Our multi-modal data set, hosted on the EOT Developers Page, is being used by smart, innovative software developers to build applications that benefit transportation users, travelers, and riders. EOT has engaged these developers, holding developers’ meetings and engaging the community through Twitter and Google Groups, and hopes to expand its data and incorporate more information in real-time. The Conference and Challenge are a fantastic opportunity to engage in the process of turning this data into an application that has impact in the real-world. It also provides participants a stage to showcase their work.

The Conference and Challenge are part of the Patrick Administration’s commitment to comprehensive transportation reform and creating a modern, efficient, and customer-friendly transportation system. These initiatives are also a part of Governor Patrick’s Civic Engagement agenda, which seeks to foster creative new ways for citizens to engage in state government. A Boston Globe editorial has labeled the Developers Page "a smart, 21st-century alternative," and the program was featured in a front-page story in the Boston Metro newspaper.

The Conference and Challenge are modeled on similar efforts in Washington D.C., where the city's Apps for Democracy program returned 47 iPhone, Facebook and web applications with an estimated value in excess of $2,600,000 to the city. Applications and visualizations may be submitted through November 9th, 2009. Developers and data visualization experts will submit their creations to EOT, where the applications will be judged on the quality of design, usability, and convenience. The two first-place winners in each category will each receive a CharlieCard valid for one year of travel on the MBTA’s rapid-transit and bus system.

The Conference is free and open to the public. It will include plenary sessions featuring speakers from the transportation and technology community, and breakout sessions, where developers can meet to discuss EOT’s data and what applications they are working on. The Conference will also include training sessions for the Regional Transit Authorities, which provide transit services outside of Greater Boston, to help those agencies maintain their data in open and available formats on the Developers Page.

Please email Joshua Robin at joshua.robin@eot.state.ma.us with questions or comments. 
To RSVP please click here: http://massdotdevconference.eventbrite.com/

Hello UEPers,

I hope you find this interesting.

Have a great week end,

Sim 

BIF Bulletin Special Edition_Focus on Climate Change.pdf (453.51 kb)

As many of you probably know, the Draft Environmental Impact Report on the Green Line extension was completed and released a few weeks ago (read it here).  The official public hearing on the DEIR is on November 18.  But in the meantime, do you want to learn more about it and/or give your two cents?  You have a great opportunity this Saturday:

Green Line DEIR Community Meeting

Saturday, Nov 7, 9:30-12:30 pm
VNA Assisted Living Facility (Community Room)
259 Lowell St (map)

STEP is holding a meeting this Saturday for Somerville, Medford an Cambridge residents who want to learn about and share their questions about what is included or omitted from the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the Green Line Extension. The public hearing on the DEIR is scheduled for Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 6 PM at Somerville High School Auditorium.

We encourage you to join us and forward this message to invite your friends and colleagues. The DEIR is a very large report. What is in it and the issues that the public raise about what is included will determine decisions that will be made for the planning, design, land use decisions and construction of the Green Line Extension.

Please reply to info@somervillestep.org to let us know if you will attend.

Goals
- To provide information to help concerned Somerville, Medford and Cambridge residents for the DEIR Hearing and preparation of comments
- To listen to concerns and questions from Somerville, Medford and Cambridge residents and businesses about next steps for the Green Line and the DEIR process
- To brainstorm best approaches for public involvement in next phases of project and how to convey this in the DEIR comments

Meeting Agenda

Overview presentation (30 minutes)
• Introduction DEIR Process
• Green Line project
• Green Line DEIR Details
Brainstorming (30 minutes)
• Questions, priorities, concerns, ideas
Station Areas & Design (30 minutes)
• Case studies – Lechmere & Route 16 community redesign
• Mitigation issues
• Maintenance Facility Alternatives
• Environmental impacts
Group breakout sessions (40 minutes)
• Detailed discussions by topic
Next steps, Wrap Up (10 Minutes)

Coffee and Refreshments provided

First-year UEPer Marcus Rozbitsky suggested this book review of "Green Metropolis".

While I haven't yet read the book, I found the points made by the review to resonate with discussions from a few of our UEP classes.

In "Developing Sustainable Communities," Dr. J examines and points out the fact that "green" and "sustainable" have become such marketing terms that the message is getting lost and may potentially be diluting the effort. David Owen seems to attack that effort to market through "green actions" by instead changing the entire message. Instead of writing yet another book that purports what we should be doing, Owen has instead taking the perspective of starting at "what are we doing right?" This same question was recently raised by Barbara Parmenter in the "Cities in Space, Place, and Time" class. All too often, planners ask what the community wants rather than asking what the public also likes about their community so as to make sure those initiatives continue.

By examining "what we're doing right," Owen's determines that communities like New York City are the models we should follow. Through denser and closely-integrated neighborhoods, resources and energy needs are reduced. Of course it's pointed out that New York City's model status was not so much created thanks to numerous, forward-thinking policy initiatives, but more so due to development pattern, speed of growth, and geographical constraints.

Reviewer Margaret Mittelbach certainly paints a great picture regarding Owen's efforts to shift our thinking around green. If you've read the book, please let us know what you think about Owen's examination. 

The auto industry is back at it. In the wake of near collapse, manufacturers are on the attack and on multiple fronts. Americans are shifting (slowly) away from an auto-scentric view to a more multimodal paradigm. Did anyone get to go to Rail~Volution this weekend at the Westin (some really great information and a lot of energy)? But the car companies won't give up without a fight.

Exhibit A
Advertising - Audi recently put out a new ad to promote their "clean diesel" A3 TDI. As they put it, it's more "fun" to do your part by driving their car rather than using any alternative to the automobile. It's quite funny how they show the negative aspects to alternative travel methods and not a single negative aspect to driving a car.

Exhibit B
Design Competition - Lexus is sponsoring the Parkitecture Design Competition. As Americans decide to use other transit options, the need for multiple cars within their family is shrinking. Lexus thinks otherwise. The competition promotes the concept of 1) a free-standing building (great use of land area) and 2) the need to store up to three autos (though they do not state this is for the hypothetical family but they also do not state that you should consider in the design the access by multiple families).

With big budgets and already-established mechanisms, the auto industry has the potential of slowing and/or steering the multimodal paradigm shift that has been brewing. How can we sustain and continue this shift, given this bear's desire to monopolize?