Invest in livable communities this holiday season

If you read Greater Greater Washington, you care about strengthening walkable communities and expanding sustainable transportation options in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. You can make a big difference in these goals by supporting the Coalition for Smarter Growth.

Greater Greater Wife and I have dedicated a significant amount of our annual charitable contributions to CSG, and I’m a member of their advisory board.

They are hoping to raise $10,000 for the 2011 End of Year Campaign. That just requires 100 new people at the Sponsor level of $100. Or give $25, $50, or whatever you can afford. Plus, the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation will match your donation, so you can help CSG twice as much.

Please contribute now!

CSG is the leading regional organization working for more walkable and livable communities, and the world class transit, bike, and street network investments we need to support them. They focus in particular on the areas where development decisions will most affect the shape of our region, such as Prince George’s and Loudoun counties.

In Prince George’s, their tireless advocacy made Transit-Oriented Development into a buzzword of the 2010 council campaign and contributed to the strong stance of County Executive Rushern Baker to prioritize growth around the county’s neglected Metro stations.

In Fairfax, they’ve mobilized county officials to maintain strong support for making Tysons Corner into a real walkable, mixed-use, and transit-oriented center, finishing the Silver Line, and turning attention to the very important Route 1 corridor in the southern part of the county.

They’ve fought against destructive state actions in Virginia to borrow heavily from the future to build more traffic-inducing megahighways from the Outer Beltway to Charlottesville, to weaken road connectivity standards, or to jump into poorly-designed HOT lane contracts that would slow down existing commuter buses and trigger big penalties if many people carpool.

Plus, they organize many great tours of changing communities and forums about important growth issues, and much more.

Thanks to all of you, your comments on this site, and your emails and calls to elected officials, we’ve shifted the debate over development and transportation in many DC communities. But we can’t succeed on our own. We also need great organizations like the Coalition for Smarter Growth.

Let’s help our region and our own communities by helping CSG today.