Transportation Related References

As we reach the peak of the fall foliage season, the Chester County Planning Commission wants to remind drivers to travel safely. Wet leaves can cause roads to become as slippery as ice. Although it may not be raining, it will take additional time for leaves to dry in this cool weather or under the shade of the trees from which they fell. Remember some of the following tips as you get in your car during the fall (and winter) months.

SEPTA recognizes the impacts of the season on public transportation. Rail lines are receiving special treatment to combat “Slippery Rail Season”, a period during this time of year when leaves can cause delays. For more information see SEPTA’s October 19th press release.

SEPTA has developed a Commuter Calculator that helps estimate how much you can save if you used SEPTA instead of driving to work. Simply fill in your driving distance, frequency, monthly parking costs and the price of gas for your total cost of driving. The cost of using SEPTA is then deducted in the form of an appropriate pass.

SEPTA announces fare credit for cash-paying regional rail riders. SEPTA recently announced a new Regional Railroad Fare Credit program that will benefit regional rail riders that pay with cash.

Just in time for the holiday travel season, PennDOT has performed a major upgrade to their website of traffic cameras. It is now Google map based and contains nearly 45 camera real-time images (just in Chester County) on Routes 202, 422, 100, 30, and 1.

Virgin Atlantic Airline announces plans to produce clean biofuels and will test renewable fuel a jet plane in early 2008.

Planning Related News and References

The American Society of Landscape Architects yesterday released a comprehensive report giving a snapshot of the many ways that architects, designers and facility managers can enhance how well their sites fit into surrounding ecosystems, provide cleaner air and water, and reduce the impact of climate change. The report, a standards and guidelines report from the Sustainable Sites Initiative, lists more than 200 ways to improve the ecosystem services that landscapes of all sizes and in all regions of the country can provide.

DVRPCDVRPC recommend that south east Pennsylvania prepare for a dramatic inrease in senior citizens by 2030.

Smart Growth America: Housing - a coalition of national, state and local organizations working to improve the ways we plan and build towns, cities and metro areas. The coalition addresses the relationship between smart growth and housing affordability.

2007 Innovator in Place Award -- at the CommunityMatters07 conference, the Orton Family Foundation awarded Michael Wood-Lewis the Innovator in Place Award. Michael and Front Porch Forum, his free online service excel at building social capital and community capacity for change.

The Green LifeThe Green Life
 Ideas for living well and doing good from Sierra magazine.

How much do you eat in a week? Do you know the effects of your diet on your health and the environment? Use the Eating Green Calculator tool to calculate the impact of your diet on the environment.

AgomAging in Place – an initiative of Partners for Livable Communities and the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging, was developed to help America’s communities prepare for the aging of their population and to become places that are good to grow up, live in and grow old.

Consumer Consequences - an interactive game designed to illustrate the impact of our lifestyles on the Earth. It's part of American Public Media's special series, "Consumed," which explores whether the modern American lifestyle is sustainable in the long run.

Upcoming Events

Reinventing Older Communities: How Does Place Matter? - March 26 to 28, 2008 - Marriott Philadelphia Downtown Hotel – Sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Learn from Older Communitiesthe experience of leading developers, mayors, researchers, and other practitioners around the country who will share their successes, innovations, and challenges in reinventing their communities. The conference will be valuable to funders, lenders, planners, government officials, researchers and policymakers. More details will follow. Contact Jeri Cohen-Bauman for information.

December 15, 2007 is the application deadline for DEP grants to upgrade municipal sweage facilities or drinking water systems.

Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) to hold public hearing on proposed rulemaking to protect Lower Delaware Water Quality on December 4th.

In December, 8,600 businesses in Chester County will receive 2007 Economic Census forms from the U.S. Census Bureau. Responses to the questionnaire are required by law (Title 13, U.S. Code) and are to be returned by February 12, 2008.

Taken every five years, the Economic Census develops a comprehensive portrait of American business from the national to the local level. Timely and accurate data are vital to effective public policy and are important to businesses in the area. Information about individual firms is kept confidential, only aggregate industry data are published.

The Census Bureau has created a web page to tell businesses about the Economic Census and provide statistics they can use to assess their business. Examples from the 2002 Economic Census illustrate how the data are used by local businesses for marketing and planning, as well as by government agencies and researchers.