One of the most interesting findings in the Conditions and Trends Platform is that 90% of NEO populations is within 1 mile of a park or a green space. The highest concentration of parks and protected spaces is in the center of the region, around the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and Ravenna Arsenal in Summit and Portage Counties. There are, however, areas concentrated along the edge of the region that are further than two miles from a park or protected space. These areas include western Lorain and Medina counties, southern Wayne and Stark Counties, and parts of Ashtabula, Trumbull, and Mahoning counties. What Can I Do Today? Learn: Watch the NEOSCC October Board Meeting on You Tube Share your thoughts: Take the Bike Cleveland Northeast Ohio Biker Survey Act: Become a member of the Conditions and Trends Platform and let us know what you think about our findings
News
The image above is part of the Vibrant NEO 2040 presentation that will be presented today at the first in a series of meetings with Northeast Ohio’s Metropolitan Planning Organizations/Council of Governments Board of Directors. This morning at the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA), we will be discussing the overall status of the project, the upcoming scenario planning process, project outcomes/products and engagement. This conversation will be followed by brief roundtable discussions on four of our work streams: Economic Development, Environment, Connections and Housing and Communities. Utilizing the findings from the Conditions and Trends Platform, we hope to engage local leaders in exploring the following: What do these findings mean to you and your community? What do these findings mean to the region? What else do you need to know about your community? What else do you need to know about Northeast Ohio? Over the course of the next…
NEOSCC and Vibrant NEO 2040 are largely funded by a highly competitive, first-of-its kind, $4.25M federal grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as part of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities Initiative. The Sustainable Communities Initiative is an interagency collaboration among HUD, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. So what is the Partnership for Sustainable Communities? Overview On June 16, 2009, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) joined together to help communities nationwide improve access to affordable housing, increase transportation options, and lower transportation costs while protecting the environment. The Partnership for Sustainable Communities works to coordinate federal housing, transportation, water, and other infrastructure investments to make neighborhoods more prosperous, allow people to live closer to jobs, save households time and money, and reduce pollution. Sustainable…
Translating sustainability and the triple bottom line into accessible concepts and actions has long been a difficult aspect of broadening the audience and stakeholders for sustainability initiatives. This has been particularly true in how everyone can take action. At its recent Sustainable Cleveland 2019 Summit, The City of Cleveland launched its new dashboard. The new tool includes performance measures that will help to capture progress made along the 10 year initiative: Measuring progress is essential to the success of Sustainable Cleveland. The performance indicators measure results, inform strategy, shine a light on what is working and they educate and inspire us through stories and metrics. The framework focuses on sustainability initiatives in the areas of business, personal/social, built and natural. Most importantly, the site highlights how you can affect these areas at home, work and in your community. While some of the measurements have yet to be published, it is definitely worth…
The spreading out of Northeast Ohio’s population has occurred in tandem with an increase in lower density development. The options for meeting the transit needs of residents from areas of low-density development are different from residents from high-density areas. Public transit is most effective and efficient when serving high-density areas. Transit in low-density areas requires more routes to reach fewer riders. As a result, lower density development leads to an increased dependence on private automobiles. Daily Vehicle Miles Traveled, 2000-2010 These maps show by county how the daily vehicle miles traveled (DVMT) by Northeast Ohio’s residents have changed from 2000 to 2010. DVMT increased sufficiently to move four counties – Medina, Wayne, Summit, and Stark counties – into higher categories of miles. In 2000, only Cuyahoga County experienced more than 15 million daily vehicle miles traveled. By 2010, Summit County had joined Cuyahoga County in the highest category of DVMT. Only Geauga…
Throughout Northeast Ohio, different organizations are integrating sustainability into their approaches to planning, operations and decision-making. As part of a recent Energy Efficiency & Conservation Block Grant, Stark County Regional Planning Commission (SCRPC) created the Sustainable Planning and Zoning Handbook. Created in 2011, SCRPC developed a tool that provides principles, examples and approaches to planning and zoning. SCRPC describes the handbook as… The purpose of this handbook is to provide local communities with guiding principles to assist them in becoming more sustainable. Each section will briefly cover different steps that communities can take to achieve this goal. Examples and/or resources of what other communities are doing will also be provided in each section. The appendix of this document contains sustainability-designed, model zoning ordinances that can be tailored to conform to individual zoning resolutions. Please note that not every principle in this handbook may apply to every community. Do keep in mind, however,…
As a stakeholder in Northeast Ohio, you and your input can help to guide our region, to preserve and build upon the things we value most and ensure our communities thrive. Our organization, the Northeast Ohio Sustainable Communities Consortium (NEOSCC), which is a collaboration of 33 organizations from across the 12-county Northeast Ohio region, understands and shares this responsibility. To help Northeast Ohio leaders and residents ensure that our region is sustainable, resilient, and vibrant, we have created a tool to help us better understand the existing conditions of our region. This tool is the NEOSCC Conditions and Trends Platform, located online at cat.neoscc.org. The Conditions and Trends Platform is a groundbreaking, comprehensive compilation of research about economic development, the environment, housing and transportation in 12 Northeast Ohio counties: Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Stark, Summit, Trumbull and Wayne. It helps Northeast Ohioans better understand the region’s…
In developing our new site we took great care to reflect the theme of our engagement process, Learn, Share, Create and Act. Throughout these pages, and on our accompanying Conditions and Trends platform there are moments to learn about our initiative and some of our early findings, places to share your thoughts, suggestions and what you value most about Northeast Ohio, information to illustrate how you can help us create a shared vision through Vibrant NEO 2040 and suggestions on how you can take action with us as well as on your own. We welcome your comments and suggestions to how we can improve the site and more importantly how we can engage with you in our work together.