A Healthy Environment Means Vibrant Cities

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Albany Times Union
July 26th, 2012

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By: Charles Moore

It was with great excitement that I recently read about the Capital Region getting $1 million to promote more sustainable planning. There is no question our region needs more coordination to promote sustainability. This grant will go a long way in making a difference.

The various threats associated with pollution and environmental deterioration are well documented and action is necessary. However, I cannot help but be a little disappointed that this sustainability planning does not specifically call out revitalizing our inner cities.

“The struggle to slow global warming will be won or lost in cities,” says professor Andrew Ross of New York University. Furthermore, a 2011 study in the journal Environment and Urbanization says “while cities have the highest emissions per square mile, suburbs have far and away the highest emission per person.”

In addition, a 2009 National Research Council report recommends “policies that support more compact, mixed-use development and reinforce its ability to reduce [vehicle miles traveled], energy use, and CO2 emissions.”

Therefore, we know what we need to do. Make our cities more attractive and livable for everyone. If we can ensure that smart growth includes fair growth and that less people wish to leave the inner cities for greener pastures, better schools and longer commutes we will succeed in meeting our sustainability goals.

This means that we must recognize that over the last 50 years we’ve had a massive reorientation of our living spaces here in the Capital Region.Many have benefited, but just as many have been left behind. Poverty is now highly concentrated in the urban areas of our region. While the middle class was given an opportunity they couldn’t refuse in the form of highway and infrastructure subsidization and mortgage interest write-offs, a massive exodus occurred leaving the cities with huge urban renewal projects concentrating the poor.

Combined with the reorientation of the economy away from factories and manufacturing and the results are striking.

While 42 percent of the children in Albany live in poverty, Colonie actually experienced a decrease in overall poverty from 6.7 percent in 2010 to 6.3 percent in 2011.

Furthermore, as the Times Union recently reported, “the state Education Department considers virtually all the middle schools in the Capital Region’s urban centers to be among the worst in New York.”

When so many children are at risk, we are a nation and region at risk.

Since we cannot change our development patterns quickly, other action must be taken. We know that early childhood intervention and continuous youth mentoring can turn the tide.

As Geoffrey Canada of the Harlem Children’s Zone said, “if you want poor kids to be able to compete with their middle-class peers, you need to change everything in their lives — their schools, their neighborhoods, even the child-rearing practices of their parents.”

You say we can’t afford it?

New York spends $210,000 per year for each youth held in juvenile prison. Meanwhile, 75 percent of them are rearrested within three years of release.

The Century Foundation and countless other studies have concluded that the socioeconomic status of the students is much more important than expenditures per pupil, class size, teacher experience or instructional materials.

Therefore, community planners and environmentalists should team with school reformers and workforce development professionals to reduce sprawl and coordinate efforts to create employment opportunities.

Working to make cities more attractive to everyone reduces environmental impacts while enhancing the region’s sustainability.

This story originally appeared at: Albany Times Union