"Sustainable communities are economic game-changers" in the Buffalo News

and probably a lot of other newspapers, too. However, it's great to see the Secretary of HUD, Shaun Donovan, out there advocating for these ideas, as he did last week on Need to Know. You can read the entire article at the Buffalo News website. If you don't have time to get there, here's a section worth reading:

Unfortunately, smart planning is the exception rather than the rule. With the average American now spending more than 50 cents of every dollar on housing and transportation, there has never been a greater disconnect between where people live and where they work. The problem was exacerbated by the “drive to qualify” frenzy of the housing bubble years, when families were forced to move farther away from job centers to find a home they could afford.

This mind-set has contributed to an epidemic of sprawling residential areas with few jobs, long commutes and little economic engine to support housing prices. In the recession, these more remote areas have often been hit the hardest.

Hopefully, people will read this article. It's unfortunate that it's tucked away in the Viewpoints page. I have to admit, that's the first section that I read each week, because it contains the Sunday editorial page. I don't always agree with the Buffalo News, though I do respect them. I like to read the editorial page first because the paper's articles tend to reflect the voice of the editorial board, which often has its own agenda that I don't necessarily agree with.

Relevant Radio Conversations: an update

Back in August I wrote about Buffalo's public radio stations, WBFO's format change, and some conversations each station had about infrastructure and urban sprawl. I'm sure you can find it below.

Well, a couple weeks back, WBFO and WNED jointly announced that they are looking for ways to collaborate. Each station simultaneously issued the same statement. This is really exciting for many reasons. I think if both stations combined their reporting resources, they could cover a lot more stories. Additionally, I'd like to hear some of the NPR/PRI music programs here in Buffalo, especially the World Cafe and Echoes. A different morning program, like The Takeaway, would be great too. Essentially, I would be happy if they stopped duplicating programming.

The Innovation Trail is one thing that is already being done well collaboratively across Upstate. It's interesting stories about inventiveness and entrepreneurship that are oftentimes turned into radio segments.

The Capitol Pressroom's state political coverage is worth listening to this time of year, too. It's really nice hearing about Albany for an hour instead of hearing about it in fractured soundbites or in short news articles when space needs to be filled.