[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9182]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                               LIVABILITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Larson) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LARSON. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to support a program that is 
helping cities and towns across the country find ways to build safer, 
stronger, and more economically viable communities. It is called the 
Transportation and Community and System Preservation Pilot program. 
While many of our state and local governments are struggling to deal 
with the problems relating to urban sprawl and how to create livable 
communities, this is one program that focuses on finding solution to 
these difficult problems.
  Funds from this pilot program are provided to eligible state and 
local governments and municipal planning organizations to help them 
accomplish goals such as improving the efficiency of their 
transportation system and ensuring access to jobs, services, and 
centers of trade.
  Just how necessary is this pilot program to cities and towns? Let's 
look at the numbers: This year 324 applications were received from 
communities across the country, all vieing to be one of the 35 that 
were finally selected.
  Fortunately for the First District of Connecticut, one of the those 
35 final selections was a joint application filed by the city of 
Hartford, the town of Suffield, and the town of West Hartford. After 
reading this unique and resourceful proposal, I was pleased to write a 
letter of support to Secretary Slater on behalf of the three 
communities. The driving force behind their project is quite simple: 
teamwork.
  Their proposal, which has received a $480,000 grant through the pilot 
project, acknowledges the tension that often exists between grassroots, 
neighborhood efforts and more top-down regional planning. Therefore, it 
proposes to use this tension for its creative potential. They will work 
from both a regional and a neighborhood level to develop intermodel 
design standards that address walking, biking, parking, transit, 
trucking and easing traffic congestion.
  I urge my colleagues to continue to support this innovative program 
so that our cities and towns can be better prepared to meet the 
challenge of the 21st century. They can only succeed if we provide the 
financial framework, but let their vision create the communities of 
tomorrow.

                          ____________________