CLINTON-GORE LIVABILITY AGENDA:
BUILDING LIVABLE COMMUNITIES
FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

To help reduce barriers to developing locally-led regional growth strategies across jurisdictional lines to ensure continued economic competitiveness in the global economy, the President will include in his FY2000 budget funding for a new $50 million "Regional Connections" initiative within the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The continued outward growth of our suburbs has made it increasingly difficult for any single community to address effectively a range of issues -- such as transportation, environment, sprawl, and regional economics -- that know no local jurisdictional boundaries. Those communities that cooperate with their neighboring communities to tackle cross-jurisdictional issues can improve not only their own fate, but the fate of their regions. Increasingly, regions have become the economic hubs of our national economy and are critical to maintaining our competitive edge in the global marketplace.

Many communities have recognized the benefit or regional cooperation and are coming together to form creative partnerships, particularly around the issues of "smart growth." To support these efforts, the Vice President has called on Federal agencies to work more closely with each other. As the Vice President moves forward in aligning Agencies to better support communities and regional cooperation, an important piece of this larger picture is how a single Department with many programs affecting communities -- the Department of Housing and Urban Development -- can better coordinate its own efforts to partner with regional partnerships.

To assist locally-led regional efforts and to complement the Administration's overall emphasis on promoting greater cross-Agency collaboration, the President is proposing a $50 million HUD "regional connections" initiative to:

• Fund local partnerships to design and pursue "smart growth" strategies across jurisdictional lines. Such strategies would include: (a) compact development incentives for new growth areas; (b) coordinated reinvestment in existing infrastructure-rich areas of participating regions; and (c) ways to manage the economy and workforce to reinforce the region's overall development strategy.

• Complement HUD's's efforts with other Federal programs, such as the Department of Transportation's implementation of TEA-21, and assist an evolving larger Federal effort to assist regions in developing strategies, including the new GIS Information partnership.

This will be the first flexible source of funding provided by the Federal government to promote smarter metropolitan growth. Eligible activities will include planning, institution building, and part of the costs of implementing inter-jurisdictional projects.

Applicants could include states and groups of localities -- cities, counties, towns -- that demonstrate active partnerships with a wide array of stakeholders. Where formally designated by states or eligible local governments, existing regional institutions, such as councils of government, regional councils, and metropolitan planning organizations will also be eligible.

• Clinton-Gore Livability Agenda: Building Livable Communities for the 21st Century: Introduction
• Clinton-Gore Livability Agenda: Building Livable Communities for the 21st Century--Press Release
• Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by Vice President Al Gore, Monday, January 11, 1999