Yesterday I was honored to be a panelist at a forum on transit-oriented development at the Regional Plan Association’s (RPA) annual assembly in Manhattan. RPA is one of the nation’s most respected and influential planning organizations, with a long history of visionary leadership on economic, transportation, and environmental issues here in the New York metropolitan area.
In New Rochelle, we tapped RPA’s expertise to help draft GreeNR, our sustainability plan, and we’re working with RPA now on the Sustainable Communities Initiative that links Connecticut and the Hudson Valley to New York City and Long Island.
Regional collaboration is essential when it comes to smart growth. That’s why the absence of County leadership on this priority is so disappointing — the Astorino Administration has simply abandoned the playing field. Unless we make a change in our priorities — and a change in our leadership — Westchester will lose the competition for tomorrow.
We have amazing opportunities in Westchester to strengthen our economy and improve our environment, but those opportunities won’t simply fall into our laps. It takes active leadership and a forward-looking plan to shape a better future.