Reports
Putting the Pieces Together
Putting the Pieces Together, a report prepared by 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Economy League, presents case studies of five Pennsylvania regions where business and civic leaders have been working to promote regional cooperation. Though each region is unique, all are finding that the current structure of local government inhibits economic development and divides communities. And all are struggling to overcome a common set of legal and social barriers to regional cooperation. Please click here for the complete document.
Back to Prosperity: A Competitive Agenda for Renewing Pennsylvania
In December 2003, the Brookings Institution Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy released a major report on the challenges and opportunities for Pennsylvania’s economic future, called
Back to Prosperity: A Competitive Agenda for Renewing Pennsylvania. The report, funded by The Heinz Endowments and the William Penn Foundation, was aided by 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania.
10,000 Friends contributed research on state spending, organized listening sessions throughout the state to give support to the development of the report, and helped facilitate the report’s release.
Back to Prosperity contends that the economic future of Pennsylvania depends on revitalizing our demographic mix and curbing what has turned out to be some of the nation's most radical patterns of sprawl and abandonment. Our highly decentralized growth patterns are weakening the state's established communities, undercutting the very places whose assets the state needs in order to compete in establishing a strong position in the 21st-century marketplace. The report concludes that we have opportunities to reshape these trends, but only if we embrace a dynamic new vision of economic competitiveness linked to the revival of our older cities and towns.
Brookings also released regional reports focusing on 9 metro areas in Pennsylvaniain 2003. For those reports, please click below.
Sewage Facilities and Land Development Report
On October 24, 2005, 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania, in conjunction with The Environmental Law Institute and the Environmental and Natural Resources Institute at Penn State University, and with support from The Heinz Endowments and The William Penn Foundation, presented a conference, “Sewage Facilities and Land Use: Collaborating for a Sustainable Future”. This conference was designed to discuss two new studies on the impacts of sewage infrastructure on land use and water quality in Pennsylvania. The conference was intended to brief government officials and other interested parties on the studies, and be a forum for discussing the costly consequences of separating infrastructure planning and implementation from land use planning in Pennsylvania communities.
Click here for more information. A summary of the 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania-sponsored report "Sewage Facilities and Land Development" is available
here.
Planning Beyond Boundaries
In November 2002, 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania released Planning Beyond Boundaries – A Multi-Municipal Planning and Implementation Manual for Pennsylvania Municipalities. Authored and edited primarily by Joanne R. Denworth, former president of 10,000 Friends, the manual is a how-to guide for municipalities that choose to work together through agreements to develop and implement a multi-municipal plan as authorized by the 2000 amendments to the Municipalities Planning Code.
The manual includes articles and contributions from Pennsylvania planners, lawyers, and others with special expertise in land use issues, and is chock full of details on planning practices and tools, case studies, sample agreements, legal analyses and other useful information. It's seven chapters are: Why Do It?; Getting Started; Planning I; Planning II; Adopting the Plan; Implementation; and Special Implementation Topics, including articles on planning for housing, infrastructure, water resources, open space, traditional neighborhood development, the specific plan, transfer of development rights, infill development, brownfields, transit-oriented development, and sharing of tax revenues.
The manual was developed with support from several foundations, as well as DCED's Center for Local Government Services. It is being used in Center training programs on multi-municipal planning and implementation, and is also available to interested municipal officials, professionals, and citizens. Please
click here for the introduction and table of contents of the manual.
Click here for ordering information.
Coming In 2007:
Water and Land: An Analysis of Water Infrastructure and Land Development in Southeastern Pennsylvania
In 2005, 10,000 Friends released a report analyzing the relationship between sewage facilities and land development in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Since then, we have continued our investigations of how infrastructure affects land development in a study focusing on water supply systems. The report, which will be available in January 2007, will examine how water service provision relates to development patterns in Southeastern Pennsylvania, and the extent to which water planning and permitting by state and local agencies support or conflict with local land use plans. It will also recommend policies and actions for overcoming the negative effects of fragmented decision-making for water supply infrastructure.
Multi-Municipal Planning Implementation and Intergovernmental Cooperation
The 2000 amendments to Pennsylvania’s Municipalities Planning Code made it easier for neighboring municipalities to cooperate in producing and implementing multi-municipal comprehensive plans. But how many municipalities have chosen to take advantage of this option? To what extent are multi-municipal plans actually being implemented? And is multi-municipal planning proving to be an effective tool for revitalizing core communities, directing growth to areas where it is desired, and protecting areas that should remain rural? Such questions will be addressed in a study being conducted by Dr. Kurt Paulsen of the University of Wisconsin (formerly of Temple University). The report, which will be available in the summer of 2007, will identify which municipalities have entered into multi-municipal planning efforts, describe and evaluate their current status, identify barriers to implementation, and highlight case studies of successful information. 