Advocacy at Work:
Our Accomplishments of 2008-2009

Thanks to our grassroots advocates, coalition partners, and forward-thinking legislators in Augusta, we've implemented a number of new policies and programs that will improve our state's prospects for growing new jobs and businesses while also enhancing the places and landscapes that are our state's primary economic asset. Here are a few of our accomplishments from the past year.

Communities for Maine's Future

Vibrant community centers aren't just assets that attract tourists and new workers to our state; they also happen to incubate many of the state's small businesses.

Like the successful Land for Maine's Future program, which conserves wild and rural landscapes statewide, the Communities for Maine's Future program will provide targeted "quality of place" investments in the downtowns, Main Streets, and village centers where Mainers live and work. The goal is to simultaneously enhance the Maine "brand" while also building more vibrant local economies.

Voters will have a chance to approve a $5 million bond investment for the newly-created Communities for Maine's Future program in June 2010. We'll provide additional details here as the election approaches.

New Tools for Investing in Transit

Transit-oriented "tax increment financing" (or TIF) districts are a new tool that Maine cities and towns can use to fund transit services and promote economic development. New real-estate development near transit routes can now contribute a portion of their property tax revenues towards transit infrastructure. This will give towns and cities new financial leverage to create and expand transit services statewide, in conjunction with new transit-oriented downtown and Main Street development.

Standish Model Town

GrowSmart Maine and its project team is facilitating citizen-led efforts to implement "smart growth" strategies from Standish's new Comprehensive Plan. The project's key goals are to revitalize the village area around Standish Corner, attract new businesses, and conserve Standish's open spaces and rural character.

In the summer of 2009, GrowSmart Maine will work with the town to update its zoning ordinances in order to legalize and encourage the kind of walkable, vibrant village development that residents envision for their town's future.

Visit www.growsmartmaine.org/standish for details.

Tax reform and government efficiency

Maine's newly-passed tax reform package implements two key recommendations of the "Charting Maine's Future" report: reducing Maine's top income-tax rate, and 'exporting' a greater share of the state's taxes to out-of-state visitors. The GrowSmart-Brookings report also called for a long-term strategy to reduce state spending by making Maine's government more efficient, and this year's Legislature also deserves commendation for its bipartisan efforts to contend with difficult budget shortfalls.

Visit our advocacy webpage for additional details on these and other GrowSmart Maine initiatives.