Governor Eliot Spitzer recently created a New York Smart Growth Cabinet to review state agency spending and policies to determine how best to discourage sprawl and promote smart land use practices. Consisting of high-level policymakers from the Empire State Development Corporation and the departments of Environmental Conservation, Transportation, State, and Housing and Community Renewal, the Cabinet will coordinate cross-agency activities and develop “smart growth” policies that cater to New York’s unique regional needs.
Governor Spitzer has appointed several agency leaders with first-hand experience in smart growth: Transportation Commissioner Astrid C. Glynn implemented Massachusetts’s smart growth program; Upstate Economic Development Chair Dan Gundersen worked on smart growth initiatives in Pennsylvania and Maryland; Deputy Secretary of State for Local Governments Robert Elliott advanced smart growth initiatives in the Hudson Valley as Mayor of Croton-on-Hudson and President of the New York Planning Federation; and Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis advocated smart growth and sustainable development as a lawmaker for three decades.