The President Elect Digs Stamford

Stamford went decisively for Obama yesterday. Maybe we were just retuning the love for the president elect's props to Stamford as "a shining example of a community that works and leads the nation in best practices".

What tangible change will a new president have all the way down on a city level for Stamford? I was happy to see that Obama has recognized smart growth as a key piece in a comprehensive energy policy:

Build More Livable and Sustainable Communities: Over the longer term, we know that the amount
of fuel we will use is directly related to our land use decisions and development patterns, much of
which have been organized around the principle of cheap gasoline. Barack Obama believes that we
must move beyond our simple fixation of investing so many of our transportation dollars in serving
drivers and that we must make more investments that make it easier for us to walk, bicycle and access transportation alternatives.

He platform also considers balancing inequities in transportation funding which for the last 50+ years have been focused exclusively on encouraging ultimately unsustainable sprawl.

Reform Federal Transportation Funding: As president, Barack Obama will re-evaluate the
transportation funding process to ensure that smart growth considerations are taken into account.
Obama will build upon his efforts in the Senate to ensure that more Metropolitan Planning
Organizations create policies to incentivize greater bicycle and pedestrian usage of roads and
sidewalks, and he will also re-commit federal resources to public mass transportation projects
across the country. Building more livable and sustainable communities will not only reduce the
amount of time individuals spent commuting, but will also have significant benefits to air quality,
public health and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Stamford has already embraced this direction on certain levels. Who know knows where we can go as a willing partner with some real leadership on the issue all the way from the top.