Trouble in Green City (January 29)
Zoning trumps design guidelines in historic Portland, Oregon. More from Preservation Magazine.

Smart City - America's Transportation Strategy (January 29)
Does America have a transportation strategy? This week's guest on Smart City discusses what realtors, civic leaders, urban planners and non-profit organizations are doing to tackle the problem of how we get around.

Rethinking the Interstate (January 29)
What if we used our 46,000 miles of highway as the backbone of a new 21st-century infrastructure? More from Metropolis Magazine.

Farming in Urbanizing Areas (January 29)
A recent report on the problems and opportunities of sustaining agriculture in urbanizing areas includes a case study of efforts in King County.

The Suburban Challenge (January 29)
Washington needs to recognize that many of the country's biggest problems—and biggest opportunities—have moved beyond the city limits to the burbs. More from Newsweek.

Novices with the Numbers (January 29)
Performance measurement has caught on almost everywhere — except for the schools teaching the next generation of government managers. More from Governing.

Major issues to impact IT services in 2009-2010 (January 29)
The Public Technology Institute (PTI) has identified what it expects to be among the most pressing issues city and county IT managers will face in 2009 and 2010. More from NACo's County News.

Defending Cyberspace (January 29)
A new report from Johns Hopkins University, Defending Cyberspace: Protecting Individuals, Government Agencies and Private Companies Against Persistent and Evolving Threats, looks at the nature of cybersecurity threats and recommends several actions organizations should consider in preventing them.

Massive Collaboration (January 29)
Will ‘Massive Collaboration’ Work for You? New Web-based collaboration tools offer ways for governments to tap the wisdom of crowds. More from Governing.

Web Sightings: Form-Based Codes (January 29)
In recent years, form-based codes have emerged as an alternative approach to traditional zoning codes for regulating land development. Conventional zoning codes emphasize segregating land use types into different zones and controlling the intensity of development within each zone through use of minimum or maximum standards. Form-based codes focus on specifying the physical form of development that the community wants. Form-based codes tend to be more flexible regarding what uses are permitted in a particular location, but are prescriptive about the form and appearance of development. This month's Web Sightings focuses on form-based zoning:

• Form-Based Codes Institute and definition
• Form-Based Codes, MRSC Web Page
• Georgia, Form-Based Code Provisions, Model Land Use Management Code
• Form-Based Codes in the West, Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute
• Form-Based Zoning articles, Planetizen
• A Primer on Form-Based Codes, Bisbee, AZ, May 2008
• Form-Based Zoning Codes, A Tool for Walkable Neighborhoods, Judy Corbett, California Local Government Commission
• Smart Code Central - Model transect-based development code available for all scales of planning, from the region to the community to the block and building
• Making Smart Growth Possible with Form-Based Codes, Realtor.org
• “Form-Based Codes: The end of zoning as we know it?” by Jeff Schommer & Peter Harmutuck, CharretteCenter, Minneapolis, MN, February, 2005

Paradise LOSt: How Long Will the City Keep Us Stuck in Our Cars? (January 29)
LOS (Level of Service Standard) analysis seems like science, free from political or ideological considerations, the perfect traffic-engineering tool to rationalize our cities, but the methodology behind it is far from precise. More from Streetsblog.

Critical Operations Power Systems: Success of the Imagination (January 22)
Article 708 of the National Electric Code: Critical Operations Power Systems, presents an opportunity to apply national business continuity practices to the design, construction, and maintenance of needed emergency power facilities at the local level. More from Public Management.

Shrinking the Carbon Footprint of Metropolitan America (January 22)
A new report from Brookings, Shrinking the Carbon Footprint of Metropolitan America, quantifies transportation and residential carbon emissions for the 100 largest U.S. metropolitan areas, finding that metro area residents have smaller carbon footprints than the average American, although metro footprints vary widely.

Green Building Impact Report (January 22)
The Green Building Impact Report from GreenerBuildings.com is the first-ever integrated assessment of the land, water, energy, material and indoor environmental impacts of the LEED standards.

Controlling Fuel Costs (January 22)
A large part of the fuel costs incurred by local government comes from police departments. Adopting different policing procedures will assist in controlling these costs during times of economic crisis. More from The Police Chief.

Community Matters (January 22)
A recent ICMA Management Perspective report discusses why community building is important to cities and counties and what can be done to foster leadership, accountability, and participation in this critical endeavor.

Citywide Afterschool Systems Expand Opportunities to Learn and Grow (January 22)
Mayors increasingly understand the importance of having an array of enriching afterschool programs that introduce students to the arts, provide recreation and physical activity, or reinforce the learning gains made during the school day. More from Nation's Cities Weekly.

Creative and Cost-Effective Winterization Programs (January 15)
Cities are re-examining their winter weather plans and are implementing new innovative and cost efficient programs. More from Nation's Cities Weekly.

Best Practices, Cool Uses of IT and Tips for Saving Money (January 15)
The Microsoft State & Local Government Team, along with PTI (Public Technology Institute), NACo (National Association of Counties) and ICMA (International City/County Management Association), are looking for best practices, cool uses of IT and/or tips for saving money through technology from state and local governments. More from PTI.

Green Jobs Report (January 15)
A new report from the U.S. Conference of Mayors and Global Insight, Current and Potential Green Jobs in the U.S. Economy, examines the economic benefits of the 'Green Economy.'

Web Sightings - 2008 (January 15)
In case you missed them, here are all of our Web Sightings for 2008:

• Transportation Planning
• Fiscal Crisis in Local Government
• Everything Green
• Summer Festivals and Events
• Water Conservation
• Community-Supported Agriculture and the Local Food Movement

A Whole New Mind-set on Fighting Crime (January 15)
When it comes to fighting crime, it seems that society as a whole has been working in the wrong jungle—the reactive, adversarial jungle, where it is the job of the law enforcement community to handle safety issues. Communities need to embrace a proactive, problem-solving approach that focuses on prevention, where it is everyone’s job to promote safety. More from The Police Chief.

Transit: Long-Scorned, Key to Metros’ Future? (January 15)
Public transit was scorned by vast majorities of Americans for a half century after World War II. But might it become the central development key for America’s 21st century cities and their metro regions? More from Citiwire.

Malls, the Future of Housing? (January 15)
As inner cities are starting to see condo projects go rental or remain unsold, and some new suburban subdivisions are settling into modern ghost towns as the foreclosure crisis deepens, the one bright spot in the housing market might just be here: at the mall. More from Housingwire.

Report on Successful Affordable Housing Strategies (January 15)
A new report prepared for the National Association of Home Builders, Research on State and Local Means of Increasing Affordable Housing, identifies a number of innovative land use and financial strategies being used by state and local governments to increase the supply of affordable housing.

Revenue Revisions (January 15)
States and localities should use the current fiscal trauma to adjust and amend the ways they raise money. More from Governing.

Prudent Privatization (January 15)
Too often the privatization debate is consumed by political rhetoric instead of careful analysis. More from Governing.

Partners in Emergency Preparedness Conference (January 08)
Early registration is now open for the annual Partners in Emergency Preparedness conference, April 14, 2009-April 15, 2009, Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center, Tacoma, WA.

January Flooding - Helpful Emergency Management Links (January 08)

Sample Local Government Emergencey Proclamations:

• Bothell Proclamation of Local Emergency (pdf, 57KB)
• Chehalis Resolution No. 18-90, Declaring an Emergency
• Des Moines Executive Order Proclaiming an Emergency
• King County Local Proclamation of an Emergency

Contracting for Equipment, Materials and Public Works in an Emergency:

• For counties - Emergencies (pdf, 494KB), County Bidding Book for Washington, MRSC, Report No. 56, March 2007
• For cities - Emergencies (pdf, 1261KB), The Bidding Book for Washington Cities and Towns, MRSC Report No. 52, September 2006
• Local Agency Guidelines (LAG) Manual, Chapter 33 – Emergency Relief Program (pdf 134kb), Highways and Local Programs Service Center - WSDOT

State and Federal Agency Assistance:

• Disaster Help - US Government site that combines the disaster resources of several federal agencies in one central location.
• Emergency Relief - WSDOT Highways and Local Programs Service Center
• Emergency Services Division - Washington State Military Department

Pool Drain Safety Law Now in Effect (January 08)
The deadline has arrived for complying with a new federal law requiring businesses and cities with swimming pools and hot tubs to use anti-drowning drain covers to prevent children from getting trapped under water. More from The Californian.

Complete Streets Aim to Please All Users (January 08)
For years, transportation planners have designed roads with enough room for bicyclists, motor vehicles, pedestrians and buses. Recently, though, communities have begun unifying those efforts under a set of shared policies called Complete Streets. More from American City & County.

Taking on Technology (January 08)
Local governments are navigating social networks, wireless technology and other Web 2.0 technologies. More from American City & County.

States, Cities Spar over Stimulus Money (January 08)
The nation’s cities and counties are asking Obama transition officials to give them most of the infrastructure money from the multibillion-dollar economic stimulus package, setting off a dispute with the states over who can launch transportation projects the fastest. More from Stateline.

Flakes of Danger (January 08)
The one thing a big-city mayor can’t afford to do is mishandle snow removal. More from Governing.

Through the Dark Clouds: Happiness in ‘08 (January 08)
It’s time to celebrate happiness. The chemistry of positive, joyful human interaction. Physical spaces that help lighten lives. More from Citiwire.

The Ellis Island Economy (January 08)
The next time you buy a pair of jeans from Forever 21, you might consider that the retail clothier was founded by a Korean immigrant to the United States. More from The Next American City.

Leaky Roofs and Windows (January 08)
There’s no time like hard times to take a close look at duplicative programs. More from Governing.

Be Sure to Use New I-9 Forms (January 08)
Beginning February 2, 2009, all employers, including local governments, must use a new edition of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Form I-9 to verify that their new employees are eligible for employment. USCIS has prepared an information sheet about the verification process and use of the new forms. The new form will be available on the USCIS Web site.