2000 Budget to Focus on Urban Communities

The Clinton administration will propose a series of initiatives in its new budget to help urban communities work together to protect green space, reduce sprawl and ease traffic congestion, White House officials said Sunday.

The package of proposals will be officially unveiled today by Vice President Al Gore, who is expected to emphasize “quality of life” themes in his expected 2000 presidential campaign, his advisors said.

Gore, who will present the proposals during an appearance before the American Institute of Architects, will argue that a more livable community can be an important tool in attracting and keeping businesses.

For the fiscal 2000 budget, the White House will suggest “significant new investments” by the federal government to ease planning at the local level, advisors said.

The White House wants to spend $700 million over five years to help provide communities with interest-free loans financed by the sale of “Better America Bonds,” which would generate tax credits rather than interest payments.

Communities could use the money for such purposes as buying open land, paying for reforesting, acquiring conservation easements, cleaning up abandoned industrial sites, and reducing pollution runoff into rivers, lakes and wetlands.

The initiatives are part of a package that would increase spending by about $1.5 billion next year. Roughly $1 billion of that amount would be used to finance various transportation programs that encourage public transit and regional planning.

In addition, the administration will seek:

* $50 million for the Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide matching funds for intergovernmental planning efforts.

* $39.5 million in grants to local and regional governments to improve technology for acquiring planning information.

* $50 million for grants to help communities share crime records and other public-safety information.

Last year, Congress rebuffed a White House proposal to finance nearly $1 billion worth of school construction during 1999.

In its 2000 budget, the administration is seeking a modest $10 million for matching funds to help communities design new school buildings and modernize older facilities.

The objective is to provide “the impetus for cost-sharing, savings and maximum use of the school facility by the entire community,” the advisors said.

The proposal envisions the involvement of parents, museums and other community groups in planning the buildings.

Gore hosted three dinners in April 1997 with experts from around the United States to discuss the importance of regional planning.

Those attending included William Julius Wilson, a professor of social policy at Harvard University; Manuel Pastor Jr., an economist who is chairman of Latin American and Latino Studies at UC Santa Cruz; Myron Orfield, a Minnesota state legislator and regional planning advocate; Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer; and Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin.

Gore launched a “livability” agenda in September in a speech at the Brookings Institution.

At the time, Gore announced smaller demonstration projects, including pilot programs in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle to provide mortgage incentives for buying homes near mass transit--such as qualifying for a larger mortgage and a 30-year transit pass.

“The federal government could be a better partner for local communities that are grappling with these issues,” one White House advisor said.