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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Vice President


For Immediate Release January 11, 1999
                     CLINTON-GORE LIVABILITY AGENDA:
            BUILDING LIVABLE COMMUNITIES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

        "In the 21st century, increasingly, a livable community will
         be an economically powerful one.

                               -- Vice President Gore, Sept. 2, 1998

Vice President Gore is today launching a comprehensive Livability Agenda to help communities across America grow in ways that ensure a high quality of life and strong, sustainable economic growth. This billion dollar initiative will strengthen the federal government's role as a partner with the growing number of state and local efforts to build "livable communities" for the 21st century.

Key elements of the interagency initiative -- to be included in President Clinton's proposed FY 2000 budget -- will provide communities with new tools and resources to preserve green space, ease traffic congestion, and pursue regional "smart growth" strategies. As part of the Livability Agenda, the Administration will continue to work with and learn from states, communities, and other stakeholders, and to develop new strategies to provide them with additional tools and resources.

Livability Goals

The Clinton-Gore Livability Agenda aims to help citizens and communities:

Preserve green spaces that promote clean air and clean water, sustain wildlife, and provide families with places to walk, play and relax.

Ease traffic congestion by improving road planning, strengthening existing transportation systems, and expanding use of alternative transportation.

Restore a sense of community by fostering citizen and private sector involvement in local planning, including the placement of schools and other public facilities.

Promote collaboration among neighboring communities -- cities, suburbs or rural areas -- to develop regional growth strategies and address common issues like crime.

Enhance economic competitiveness by nurturing a high quality of life that attracts well-trained workers and cutting-edge industries.

FY 2000 Livability Initiatives

The President's FY 2000 budget request to Congress will propose significant new investments to support major Livability programs:

     Better America Bonds -- To help communities reconnect with their 
     land and water, preserve green space for future generations, 
     and provide attractive settings for economic development, the 
     Administration is proposing a new financing tool generating 
     $9.5 billion in bond authority for investments by state, local 
     and tribal governments.  The President's budget will propose tax 
     credits totaling more than $700 million over five years -- to 
     support Better America Bonds, which can be used to preserve 
     green space, create or restore urban parks, protect water quality, 
     and clean up brownfields (abandoned industrial sites).  The 
     program will be coordinated through an interagency process.

     Community Transportation Choices -- To help ease traffic 
     congestion, the proposed Department of Transportation budget for 
     FY 2000 will include a record $6.1 billion for public transit and 
     $2.2 billion -- a total 16 percent increase over FY 1999 -- to 
     aggressively implement innovative community-based programs in the 
     Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century.  Such programs 
     provide flexible support to help communities create regional 
     transportation strategies, improve existing roads and transit, 
     and encourage broader use of alternative transportation.  This 
     includes $1.6 billion for the Congestion Mitigation and Air 
     Quality Improvement Program, which supports state and local 
     projects that reduce congestion and improve air quality.

     Regional Connections Initiative -- To promote regional "smart 
     growth" strategies and to complement the Administration's other 
     regional efforts, the Department of Housing and Urban Development 
     will provide $50 million as matching funds for local partnerships 
     to design and pursue smarter growth strategies across 
     jurisdictional lines.  Strategies will include compact development 
     incentives, (b) coordinated reinvestment in existing 
     infrastructure, and (c) ways to manage reinforce the region's 
     overall development strategy.

     Other Livability Initiatives -- The President's proposed FY 2000 
     budget will include funding for several other initiatives 
     supporting local livability efforts:

        Community-Centered Schools -- A new $10 million grant program
        administered by the Department of Education to encourage school
        districts to involve the community in planning and designing new
        schools.

        Community-Federal Information Partnership -- A new $40 million
        program funded by several agencies to provide communities with
        grants for easy-to-use information tools to help develop
        strategies for future growth.

        Regional Crime-Data Sharing -- $50 million will be provided to
        expand programs to help communities share information to 
        improve public safety.  These programs will:  (1) improve and 
        continue to computerize national, state, and local criminal 
        history records; and (2) develop or upgrade local 
        communications technologies and criminal justice identification 
        systems to help local law enforcement share information in a 
        timely manner.

     The Livability Agenda integrates the commitments of more than a 

dozen Federal agencies. The Agenda also supplements the various programs that make up the Administration's Community Empowerment Agenda, which is designed to encourage reinvestment in existing communities and provide greater opportunity for their residents.