Sustainable Land Development Today - February 2009 - (Page 16)

SLDI in Focus Sustainable Land Development International (SLDI) is a member-owned organization dedicated to promoting land development around the world that balances the needs of people, planet and profit – for today, and future generations. SLDI Proposal Submitted to Obama-Biden Transition Team Introduction This proposal is in response to President Obama and Vice President Biden’s plan to “challenge the status quo in Washington and to bring about the kind of change America needs.” In addressing the economic crisis, the President-elect said, “Beyond any immediate actions we may take, we need a recovery plan for both Wall Street and Main Street, a plan that stabilizes our financial system and gets credit flowing again, while at the same time addressing our growing foreclosure crisis, helping our struggling auto industry and creating and saving 2.5 million jobs – jobs rebuilding our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, modernizing our schools and creating the clean energy infrastructure of the 21st century.” In concluding, Obama described his plans by specifically injecting the word “sustain(able)” five times: “Not only do I want the stimulus package to deal with the immediate crisis. I want it also to lay the groundwork for long-term sustained economic growth. We’ve got to make sure that the investments are made to sustain economic growth over the long term…And then what we also have to do as part of this package, and this is going to be one of the major charges to my economic team, is that we reform how business is done in Washington and how the budgeting process works, how projects are done, so that we have a path towards a sustainable and responsible budget scenario down the line…So the way to think about it is, short term we’ve got to focus on boosting the economy and creating 2.5 million jobs, but part 16 February 2009 Sustainable Land Development Today and parcel of that is a plan for a sustainable fiscal situation long term, and that’s going to require some reforms in Washington. Any additional money that we put into the auto industry, any help that we provide, is designed to assure a long-term, sustainable auto industry and not just kicking the can down the road.” SLDI applauds the initiatives outlined herein and humbly submits its “Main Street” proposal to assist in their fulfillment to mitigate many of the risks and challenges inherent in the plan. higher than what politicians are considering spending today. What lessons should the United States take away? It is wrong to assume that construction will guarantee a two-fer for the economy — shining structures and redemptive growth. The private sector is often better than politicians at guessing what the market needs. And infrastructure projects demand so much political energy that there’s too little energy left over for everything else. Congress might want to remember all this as it debates infrastructure funding in the coming months. An edifice complex seems more likely to petrify a country than to move it forward.” Public-private partnerships and more importantly, a triple-bottom-line sustainable development umbrella, must envelop all components of the plan in a holistic way in order to effectively withstand scrutiny and win approval from all stakeholders. SLDI brings the environmental stewardship and social initiatives that are needed together with the economic stimulus that will result from meeting the public’s market-driven demands. Regardless of political affiliation, we all must accept President-elect Obama’s offer to remake our nation, and collectively hold our leaders’ – public and private – “feet to the fire” to deliver. SLDI, a developer-led and cooperatively-owned technology and information resource organization, is positioned to transform the industry that creates the very infrastructure of our civilization. Follow the Money On behalf of “Main Street,” SLDI will be watching closely to see if the new U.S. President has the ability and political will to follow through when members of Congress push back as established coffers are inevitably threatened as a result of these proposed changes. Further, we will be watching closely to see if the needed public-private partnerships and policy decisions are made based on merit and are balanced to provide triple-bottom-line results. In comparing Japan’s recent history to those planned by Obama-Biden, the Washington Post reported that privatepublic partnerships may be vital to mitigating the risks and challenges we face today: “Even today, Japan is having trouble climbing out of its cement pit. At its high, in the mid-1990s, infrastructure spending accounted for 6 percent of its gross domestic product, double what the United States allocated for infrastructure in the ‘90s and still

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Sustainable Land Development Today - February 2009 Contents Our Voice Modern Flood Disasters Origin of the Sustainability Movement SLDI in Focus Calendar Build Smart Product Innovation Takeoff and Cost Management Industry News Products & Services Advertiser Index Editorial Board SLDT Resources Last Word

Sustainable Land Development Today - February 2009

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