Thread by @ericmbudd

.@sueprant kicking off Better Boulder's Smart Growth Innovation conference happening today! I'll be tweeting this thread covering the topics

Boulder Mayor @sampweaver introducing Boulder, talking about some great projects the city is involved in, including preserving affordable housing in Boulder's Ponderosa mobile home park

Sam talks about the importance of 1-to-1 replacement in any redevelopment, and making sure that new affordable homes are available to those making 60% of area median income or less

Mayor Weaver also talks about a project at 30th and Pearl street, which includes a large percentage of permanently affordable housing. out of four quadrants, a mix of both market rate and permanently affordable housing

Sam also mentions an increasing need for permanently affordable commercial space, which may have aspects on the site

next up is Sam Assefa, Seattle Planning and Development. Sam apologizes he was not able to speak to anyone for the past hour because he was on an emergency conference call in Seattle due to #coronavirus that has a just announced death, the first in the US.

.@samassefa talks about his experience in Boulder and Seattle, both have great natural landscapes

Sam talks about job growth periods from Boeing, then Microsoft, and now Amazon (23% growth in population, 19% growth in housing, and 30% growth in jobs)

"Seattle is home to 80 of the fastest tech companies in the world"

Seattle has "reached our 10-year projection for both job and housing growth in just two years"

Seattle is NOT growing affordably!

"Zillow estimates that a 2% rent increase results in 33 more people becoming homeless"

as Sam says, Seattle, like most other cities, has a legacy of racism and redlining

"how do we manage Seattle's growth?" like Boulder, Seattle has had progressive policy for a long time. 1994 was the city's first comprehensive plan, with concentrated growth around infrastructure and public transportation centers

in recent years "18% of the land is where 75% of the growth has been concentrated," largely because of the growth/conservation plans

Seattle's 2035 plan primary themes:
- Housing Affordability
- Race and Social Equity
- Livability
- Environmental Sustainability

Seattle's plan also included plans for 30k new market rate homes as well as 20k affordable homes (and an affordable housing requirement)

the plans had a voluntary incentive for zoning to include more affordable housing in various projects

also, a controversial policy was a rezoning of the city, focusing on transit-ready parts of the city

"It's easy for us to call people YIMBY or NIMBY, but it's change that's difficult for people"

Sam is currently playing a video of an artist talking about putting herself in historic places to imagine living there, to get out of the idea of "thinking like a planner"

65% of the gross land is zoned for single family housing, which limits growth of new housing units and affordable housing options

similar to Boulder but more aggressive, b Seattle made changes to allow more Accessory Dwelling Units

now Sam moves over to equity issues. he shows a Displacement index map for the city:
- Vulnerability
- Amenities
- Development capacity and rent

some of the principles for solutions:
- distribute the benefits of growth equitably
- prioritize marginalized populations
- use a race and social equity lens
- address displacement
- increase opportunities for low-income households

Sam now talks about livability, which is key to remember in a city that is growing so fast.

Sam talks about the impact of improving transit

Sam says the city has dedicated a new $30 million in bike and pedestrian facilities

in Seattle's center core, "out of 328k, only 26% arrive in a single occupancy automobiles"

.@samassefa also talking about how the city studies to target public space and equity investments

Sam talks about Seattle's double-decker highway removal. "people were pissed. but that's completely forgotten now because it's a totally different space." YES!

the public-private partnership with the downtown Seattle association has helped to clean up the city and public parks

in another case, Sam talks about the I-5 highway that cuts through downtown. in this case, they are looking to put a "lid" on the highway to generate "new" land and increase park space

Sam wraps up his talk comparing Seattle to Boulder.

"different scales but the same issues. the wishes and goals are the same"

"Fear of change is one of the biggest hurdles." Change will always happen, but we need to be cogniscent of people's fears

Sam Assefa finishes up: "A bold vision essential, and delivering even moreso!"

now onto questions

"Job growth is higher than housing, where are people going?"

"Some growth in the center. A lot of the growth is in the edge cities."

Sam relates a story of a woman who has seen the displacement in real time. important of maintaining a diversity of people in the core city

"How do we get permanent planning ideas vs. just things in an election cycle?"

"It's important to get projects implemented and in the ground. There's an urgency in climate, affordability, and homelessness. we can't afford to do a 5-year community plan because change is so fast"

Q: "With homelessness as you just mentioned, and with reclaiming of land in the viaducts/highways, is it possible to use some of that land to house the homeless?"

A: "One of the central portions of our studies need to include equity, including indigenous people and the homeless. and a conversation about how much of the land should be used for affordable housing and the rates."

Q: "You're pretty familiar with policies in Boulder. Are there any policies you've implemented in Seattle that could be effective here?"

A: Two things. 1. Community planning work sooner than taking 3-4 years to get results. And these plans need to make sure that any groups involved in planning need to have equal representation

A2: 2. "Map out what public space means, particularly on new developments. It means just more than purchasing parks. So that the conversation is shifted to see things differently"

"For a city that opposes, growth, height, and density, is there any possibility for affordability?"

Sam says: "That's a loaded question. It's a national issue, not just a Boulder issue. The affordability issue is deep, and can't just be addressed with density"

A: "We're also looking at this through a race and justice lens. So when the city invests into public improvements and reducing pollution, that may displace people. So we need to put in the guard rails early"

A: "Supply is a very important component. But the conversation about 55' foot buildings in Boulder vs Seattle (550') was exactly the same."

"Single family homes are the most expensive of any city, but they also have the most amenities as well. so there's an equity issue"

Here's @espinozaa introducing our amazing panel with experts in housing, planning, transportation, social justice

Question for the panelists: "what are the best smart-growth, land use policies that you can discuss from your own background?"

first speaker, Travis Madsen - comes at the smart growth comes from climate advocacy. "My thinking about transportation at CU. I lived here and lived without a car. Why isn't this everywhere? and I realized how unique Boulder is"

Madsen: "some of you have seen our work through the Boulder Growing Greener report. How to be more sustainable and reduce car use. to help people live closer to where they work, go to school, or shop"

Madsen: we need to "link transportation and land-use planning so that we're never doing one without the other"

"promote ADUs, reduce driving/transportation costs, and get rid of parking minimums. create dedicated lanes for buses, increasing the speed, frequency, and affordability of our transit systems, and a connected network of bike lanes"

"allow and expand micro-mobility tools, and encourage people to buy and use e-bikes and vehicle sharing. and ultimately to capture the true costs of driving (congestion or vehicle impact fees, raise/modernize the gas tax"

Madsen: "state-level carbon policy should account for the driving costs of climate change and put that money back into controlling emissions. local governments should rank and approve projects based on how the improve equity goals"

Madsen: "social cost of carbon and benefits. we should do this for transportation and planning. we should include carbon impacts in all of our processes."

next speaker is Martha Roskowski (@martharoskowski ). starts with a puppy picture.

Martha goes straight into her ideas:
1. Eliminate single family zoning in Boulder, make it easier to build ADU's

Roskowski: "we're pushing people out of our population centers where housing is cheaper but transportation costs are huge"

Roskowski: 2. Raise the occupancy limits and make co-op housing easier

Roskowski: 3. Increase housing density on housing corridors

Roskowski: Now let's talk about transportation. If we're going to put more people in Boulder, they need to be able to get around the city without a car.

Roskowski: "We've done the easy parts in Boulder. now we need to do the hard parts, including de-incentivizing driving. that's where we need to go and I am convinced of it"

Roskowski: San Francisco took cars off of Market Street. Rather than saying your city is not like other cities - as Sam Assefa said, it's all the same problems, just different scale"

Roskowski: "Congestion pricing is really interesting. Geeks really like congestion pricing. Could be an option for Boulder, but probably sometime down the road."

Roskowski: We can also do "managed lanes." We know there are legal barriers to using existing lanes, but they can provide large benefits

Roskowski: Parking: there's huge opportunity in Boulder to look at parking. The city just put out an RFP to change parking codes.

Roskowski: "eliminate parking minimums, use buy-outs, and look at unbundling parking. We need to change the dynamic so there's more incentive to not drive"

Roskowski: "find the highest and best use of our street/public spaces instead of parking. I think 2005 was the last time we had a conversation about removing parking in a right of way"

Roskowski: "In order to build momentum to work on these ideas and get things done, you have to keep trying"

Roskowski: "update the transportation DCS (design and construction standards) to make sure transportation works with your new developments."

"move from LOS (level of service) which focuses on traffic flow to VMT (vehicle miles traveled)" to reduce the effects of driving

Roskowski: "Vision Zero. let's do 20 mph is plenty this year"

Roskowski: "build out the bike network. we have a great path system, but we need to create a better on-street system. that's what we really need in Boulder"

next speaker is Elena Wilken, Executive Director of Housing Colorado. comments not specific to Boulder but also the region

Wilken: "Housing similar to transportation, we can't build our way out of the problem. the free market is a factor - and in affordable housing we're fighting the market"

Wilken: "We need to look at who's looking for housing. we need different housing products for different stages of people's lives"

Wilken: "do we have housing available for empty nesters? They would like to get out of their house, but they can't afford to because there's no place to move."

Wilken: "In Denver we're kind of frozen. since we're operating in a free market, all we can do is incentive certain kinds of development. it's really important to line up your land use policies so we don't just solve one problem and create another problem down the road"

Wilken: "aligning with the region is important. if one city in a region pushes affordable housing out, then you have a regional transportation problem"

Wilken: "The length of affordability is a big thing. we brought a lot of affordable housing online 15 years ago. now those are rolling out of affordability. we can't keep them in the affordable housing program"

Wilken: "we have to look forward 70-80 years to make sure we're not creating additional affordability problems"

Wilken: "construction defects reform with condos has been incredibly successful. condo starts have gone up four-fold."

Wilken: "Trying to give more tools with the local affordability toolbox to help other cities"

Wilken: "Lakewood has imposed a 1% growth limit. they're having trouble implementing this. now there's an 11-county growth limitation on the Colorado ballot. we are against it."

Wilken: "we are asking people to not sign the anti-growth petition, Colorado ballot item 122"

next speaker is Madelyn Strong-Woodley, representing @BoulderNaacp and part of the Longmont Housing and Human Services Board

Strong-Woodley: a lifetime member of the NAACP and originally from Memphis, Tennessee. now lives in Longmont

Strong-Woodley: "One thing I can say as far as smart growth. Looking at the ten principles, I have found a common thread to be the need to engage community"

Strong-Woodley: "you need to engage the community because you want buy-in. the homeless, for example. they probably have some good ideas to offer to come up with solutions"

Strong-Woodley: "I've been working particularly with the Boulder police task force. we're ready to hire a liason [to the Boulder PD]."

Strong-Woodley: "Better Boulder - that says it all. it says the objective we are working toward. If we come together to understand and develop plan that's workable, we will have a better Boulder"

Strong-Woodley: "I'm from Tennessee, I'm a country girl. I have a copy of my mother's grocery list. it consisted of meal, flour, sugar. milk."

Strong-Woodley: "being raised on a farm. when we talk about better Boulder, we need to talk about food. we need to have access to that because it's critical for today and for tomorrow."

Strong-Woodley: "when we talk about the things we've worked on, the critical thing is community"

now we're moving onto questions for our panel members

Q: "How might we implement congestion pricing for Boulder?"

A: "Programs in Singapore/Stockholm essentially draw a line around Boulder. It would be possible given the open space around Boulder. but it's hard and a heavy lift"

A: "We just give away our roadway netwoork. the idea of demand pricing is compelling and we need to advance it."

Q: "sometime that concerns me about limiting parking is that there's a range of people's comfort on bikes?"

A: "E-bikes can help. but we also need a connected network of bike lanes. and places where you can take a kid or an aging parent and have them be comfortable"

A: "Not everyone can ride a bike. but scooters could be a part. and 30% of the population doesn't drive. so making transit work is important"

Q: "zoning is tied into affordability and racism. what can we do more than ADUs?"

A: "my goal is to kill NextDoor. there is no dearth of thoughts around duplexes, triplexes"

A: Strong-Woodley "Let's get to some basics about affordable housing. we need to start with a number of changes, particularly in Boulder which is a very expensive place to live"

Q: "Are there any cities looking at dorms or other options for homelessness?"

A: "There's a project on Colfax in Denver converting a hotel for bunks for the homeless. another problem is transition programs"

Q: "could we establish business incentives for remote work?"

A: "cities looking at a city-mandated transportation demand management that could include tele-working"

Q: "What crisis will Boulder need to put in some new solutions?"

A: "I might be optimistic, but climate change. Boulder declared a climate emergency, but there's a delta between what's being done"

A: "In housing, it has to do with our homeless population, and seniors who are experiencing homelessness"

"we can talk about the things that need to be done. but we need to start focusing on the people to make change happen." -Strong-Woodley

A: "Start with the human side. go from there. and then there's nothing we can't build. we'll go together."

A final note from Boulder Mayor Sam Weaver, as we have noted a few times today that Boulder was settled on stolen land. the city is hosting a second tribal consultation here in Boulder March 17th-18th. look out for it

I'm going to do my best @shayshinecastle impression and @threadreaderapp please unroll