[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 240 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. CON. RES. 240

   Expressing support for designation of the fourth week in April as 
                    ``National Streetscaping Week''.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 25, 2010

    Mr. Cohen (for himself, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Wu, Ms. Norton, Ms. 
   Bordallo, and Ms. Richardson) submitted the following concurrent 
 resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and 
                             Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
   Expressing support for designation of the fourth week in April as 
                    ``National Streetscaping Week''.

Whereas neighborhoods that implement streetscaping strategies recognize that 
        streets are places where people engage in various community and family 
        activities, including walking, biking, using transit, certain 
        recreational activities, and also motor vehicle travel, streetscaping 
        can help to unify neighborhoods and create stronger connectivity between 
        businesses and residents;
Whereas streetscapes are important components of the public realm (public spaces 
        where people interact), which help define a community's identity, 
        aesthetic quality, economic value, health, social cohesion, and 
        opportunity, not just its mobility;
Whereas streetscaping is an important component of sustainable, transit-oriented 
        development efforts that help redevelop communities and neighborhoods, 
        often including wider sidewalks, bicycle lanes, bus pullouts, and 
        improved on-street parking design;
Whereas research has shown neighborhoods with trees have less crime than 
        neighborhoods without trees and residents living in ``greener'' 
        surroundings actually report lower levels of fear, fewer incivilities, 
        and less violent behavior;
Whereas streetscaping that incorporates trees, plantings, groundcover, and other 
        green infrastructure helps reduce harmful carbon emissions and provide 
        communities with cleaner, healthier air quality;
Whereas streetscaping incorporates green infrastructure, including tree 
        plantings, permeable pavements, bioswales, and rain gardens, to promote 
        effective stormwater management resulting in reduced runoff and cleaner 
        water for communities;
Whereas today, many communities are faced with severe flooding and combined 
        sewer overflows;
Whereas using green infrastructure is an effective and cost-efficient solution 
        to this critical problem;
Whereas streetscaping strategies that incorporate trees, plantings, and other 
        green surfaces such as shade trellises, green roofs, green facades, and 
        green walls mitigate the urban heat island effect;
Whereas cities typically average 10 degrees hotter than suburban areas and trees 
        provide shade and give off water vapor to cool the city in the summer;
Whereas in addition, shade trees reduce solar exposure to the pavement, reducing 
        heat absorption and emittance while potentially reducing pavement aging 
        and maintenance requirements;
Whereas homes shaded and insulated by nearby trees have 10 to 30 percent savings 
        in heating and cooling costs compared to homes without nearby trees;
Whereas similarly, heat island reduction strategies such as using open-grid 
        paving or shading with deciduous trees, can reduce summertime heat 
        islands while providing wintertime benefits to homes and buildings, such 
        as minimizing building heating requirements, resulting in annual energy 
        savings;
Whereas investments in green infrastructure in cities, including streetscaping, 
        and other green infrastructure techniques yield green job opportunities 
        in a myriad of professions;
Whereas streetscaping results in safer streets with reduced and more appropriate 
        traffic speeds;
Whereas street trees and plantings create vertical walls elements, and a defined 
        edge to the street, helping motorists guide their movement and assess 
        their speed;
Whereas communities that retrofit poorly designed roads to become complete 
        streets, adding sidewalks and bicycle lanes, reducing crossing distances 
        and installing trees and other streetscape improvements make walking and 
        biking safer and more inviting;
Whereas the resulting safer streets have saved the lives of both pedestrians and 
        motorists;
Whereas streetscaping can help create multi-modal transportation corridors 
        providing more transportation choices for communities by creating safer, 
        shaded pedestrian walkways and bicycle lanes and paths;
Whereas research has shown that individuals want more diverse transportation 
        systems that include pedestrian improvements, cycling improvements, and 
        traffic calming, High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) priority and road space 
        reallocation, all of which streetscaping techniques help to achieve;
Whereas home and business owners in neighborhoods that have incorporated 
        comprehensive streetscaping strategies have often seen their property 
        values increase by as much as 10 to 20 percent;
Whereas streetscaping is good for business;
Whereas several studies have found that people are willing to travel farther, 
        visit more frequently, and pay more, on average 12 percent more, for 
        goods and services in business districts with trees;
Whereas similar studies have concluded that the amount of time that someone 
        stays in a store is longer if trees and landscaping are present on the 
        streets and surrounding areas;
Whereas best practices for streetscape improvement include fostering 
        ``walkable'' street designs, encouraging cooperation between public and 
        private decision makers to improve streetscapes, and educating the 
        public, design professionals, and developers about street design 
        principles; and
Whereas the fourth week in April would be an appropriate week to designate as 
        ``National Streetscaping Week'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That Congress--
            (1) expresses support for designation of a ``National 
        Streetscaping Week''; and
            (2) urges that Federal, State, regional, and local policies 
        encourage the utilization of streetscaping to ensure healthy, 
        vibrant, multi-modal streets and communities across the 
        country.
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