Ames Smart Growth Alliance is participating the the FACES festival on Saturday, September 24 from 11-5 in Bandshell Park.  Please stop by our table.  
 
Our September meeting will be held on September 28 in the Founders Suite of the Ames Public Library at 7PM.  We are showing "The Greenest Building."  The video presents an overview of the role of building reuse in creating sustainable communities.  It demonstrates how renovation and reuse help achieve the triple bottom line of economic, social and ecological balance.

Ames Smart Growth Alliance will meet at 7PM in the Founders Suite of the Ames Public Library on Wednesday, June 22.
The July monthly meeting is scheduled for July 27 at 7PM.

ASGA will meet at 7PM on Wednesday, April 27 in the Farwell T. Brown Auditorium of the Ames Public Library.  We will be viewing "The Economics of Happiness."  This movie is being shown in the Reel Connections series co-sponsored by the Ames Public Library. 

On May 18, 2009 Ames was announced as a new Main Street Iowa community.  A meeting was held on Friday, June 12 introducing the Main Street Iowa program to the Main Street Cultural District Board and members and the general public.  The first step toward downtown revitalization will be a visioning meeting to be held the evening of June 24.  The public is invited to participate.  Exact time and place to be announced.  Ames will be host to the Iowa Downtown Summit held on August 25 and 26. 

1. Mix Land Uses. New, clustered development works best if it includes a mix of stores, jobs and homes. Single-use districts make life less convenient and require more driving.
2. Take Advantage of Existing Community Assets. From local parks to neighborhood schools to transit systems, public investments should focus on getting the most out of what we’ve already built.
3. Create a Range of Housing Opportunities and Choices. Not everyone wants the same thing. Communities should offer a range of options: houses, condominiums, affordable homes for low income families, and “granny flats” for empty nesters.
4. Foster “Walkable,” Close-Knit Neighborhoods. These places offer not just the opportunity to walk—sidewalks are a necessity—but something to walk to, whether it’s the corner store, the transit stop or a school. A compact, walkable neighborhood contributes to peoples’ sense of community because neighbors get to know each other, not just each other’s cars.
5. Promote Distinctive, Attractive Communities with a Strong Sense of Place, Including the Rehabilitation and Use of Historic Buildings. In every community, there are things that make each place special, from train stations to local businesses. These should be protected and celebrated.
6. Preserve Open Space, Farmland, Natural Beauty, and Critical Environmental Areas. People want to stay connected to nature and are willing to take action to protect farms, waterways, ecosystems and wildlife.
7. Strengthen and Encourage Growth in Existing Communities. Before we plow up more forests and farms, we should look for opportunities to grow in already built-up areas.
8. Provide a Variety of Transportation Choices. People can’t get out of their cars unless we provide them with another way to get where they’re going.More communities need safe and reliable public transportation, sidewalks and bike paths.
9. Make Development Decisions Predictable, Fair, and Cost-Effective. Builders wishing to implement smart growth should face no more obstacles than those contributing to sprawl. In fact, communities may choose to provide incentives for smarter development.
10. Encourage Citizen and Stakeholder Participation in Development Decisions. Plans developed without strong citizen involvement don’t have staying power.When people feel left out of important decisions, they won’t be there to help out when tough choices have to be made.

When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think, as we lay stone on stone, that a time is to come when those stones will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, “See! This our father did for us.”
 
John Ruskin