'Transportation Challenges Here Rival Any In The Country'

NORWALK — Saying the most significant economic challenge facing Fairfield County is its antiquated transportation infrastructure, Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District, led a discussion Sunday afternoon on where the state's southwest region should focus its efforts to make getting to and from work, stores and other destinations easier.

The program, held in the Norwalk Transit District's headquarters on Wilson Avenue, included Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat who represents Portland.

In introducing Blumenauer, Himes called him Capitol Hill's leading expert on transportation.

Himes led off by saying that although they're often seen as separate issues, inadequate transportation results in significant challenges providing affordable housing, and is one of the top reasons businesses give for not expanding or moving into his district.

In his opening remarks, Blumenauer said Fairfield County's transportation challenges rival any he's seen in the rest of the country.

Connecticut's Fourth District, Blumenauer said, has some of the richest precincts in the country and some of the poorest, and — because of the tradition of home rule — also has a unique challenge because "townships" basically have the operating authority.

"I don't think I've seen any part of the country that has more challenges to try to translate (into) regional thinking," he said.

One of the themes that emerges everywhere, Blumenauer said, is a belief in local control. It really animates people but for many it's an illusion, he said.

"If everybody's trying to sort of outsource their water pollution, their air pollution, their traffic congestion," Blumenauer said, "nobody's yet managed to have air pollution observe city boundaries. It is an illusion of local control if you cannot cooperate regionally and if everybody's in it for themselves."

Blumenauer said it has been interesting working in the arena of "livable communities" since entering Congress, seeing them transform from something desirable for improving downtown neighborhoods to something that is necessary. And now, he said, with climate change, energy, and the stresses of the economy, the issue has become urgent.

"We're in a situation right now where, everyday in the Gulf (of Mexico), we are watching sort of the bubbling evidence of the frustration of the last eight presidents to wean us off our dependence of petroleum," Blumenauer said.

"Things are happening in terms of climate change," he continued. "Now, whether you believe it's human induced or not, the fact is something is happening, and no city that I have visited, no region, feels that they are prepared for the extreme weather events — the flood and drought strain — it's going to put on their water systems, their sewage systems."

Overall, Blumenauer said, our fundamental infrastructure is in a serious state of disrepair, and the quickest way to get the economy moving again is to be able to make investments in the rebuilding and renewing of America.

Himes asked four people involved with local transportation issues to speak during the program: James Cameron, chairman of the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council; Floyd Lapp, executive director of the South Western Regional Planning Agency; state Rep. Peggy Reeves, D-Wilton, Norwalk; and Kim M. Morque, president of Spinnaker Real Estate Partners.

Cameron pointed out that low government subsidies for operating the Metro-North Railroad in Connecticut make it the most expensive mass transit system for passengers in the country for riders. He said the fare for passengers on the mass transit system in Portland, Ore., covers 21 percent of its operating costs, while Metro-North passengers pay 75 percent of costs.

Lapp said sustainable community initiatives are bringing back partnerships that existed 25 years ago among the federal departments of Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

On Thursday, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan announced $100 million in grants will be awarded for a Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant program.

In a news release, Donovan said the "first of its kind" program is intended to create stronger, more sustainable communities "by connecting housing to jobs, fostering local innovation and building a clean energy economy."

Lapp said the grant program is an opportunity for the major cities in the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut region to establish partnerships to obtain federal funds, adding, "it's a crying shame" that money is so scarce and the grants are "so terribly competitive."

Lapp said a study sponsored by Connecticut showed the area between Greenwich and Stratford has the most congested transportation problems in the state, and congestion pricing – where motorists would pay tolls of higher or lower amounts, based on the time of day, on interstates 95, 84, and 91 – "is something whose day has come."

Reeves said that previously the independence of the state's 169 municipalities delayed implementing regional answers to transportation problems, but now she sees smart growth policies moving forward and being tied-in with transportation and housing and the environment to create livable communities.

What we have to do, Reeves said, is get merchants and the business community to understand it would be great to develop the town center with a central area for parking. Instead of people driving from place to place, she said, it would profit all of us to have a central parking area where we could park safely and then walk to do all of our errands.

Speaking about mixed-use development — buildings that contain residences and businesses — Morque said the key to Spinnaker's success has been locating projects in the urban core of cities where there's existing infrastructure.

In response to the speakers' remarks, Blumenauer said, "If every American walked or bicycled one hour a day between age 10, age 65 … dealing with (trips to fulfill chores), we would reduce our petroleum consumption by one-third. At lot of this stuff is not rocket science."

Blumenauer said parts of Himes' district faces serious problems because the people who make the community work, teachers, and firefighters and postal workers, can't afford to live in it, driving up costs, pollution and congestion.

Blumenauer, who wears a large, bright yellow bicycle pin on his jacket, said every time there is a significant public improvement, whether it's a roadway or private development, sidewalks and a little extra room on the shoulders for cycle activity should be provided.