Sustainable Dubuque Quarterly Work SessionCopyrighted
April 23, 2018
City of Dubuque Work Session - Bottom # 1.
ITEM TITLE:
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SUGGESTED DISPOSITION:
Sustainable Dubuque Quarterly Work Session
City staff and partners will conduct the Sustainable
Dubuque Quarterly Work Session with the City Council.
ATTACHMENTS:
Description
Sustainable Dubuque Quarterly Work Session -MVM
Memo
Staff Memo
Municipal Adaptation Report
Supporting Document 1st Half
Supporting Document 2nd Half
Type
City Manager Memo
Staff Memo
Supporting Documentation
Supporting Documentation
Supporting Documentation
THE CITY OF
Masterpiece on the Mississippi
TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
SUBJECT: Sustainable Dubuque Quarterly Work Session Agenda
DATE: April 19, 2018
Assistant City Manager Cori Burbach is transmitting the agenda for the April 23
Sustainable Dubuque Quarterly Work Session.
ht/Iwiblki wt.,
Michael C. Van Milligen
MCVM:sv
Attachment
cc: Crenna Brumwell, City Attorney
Teri Goodmann, Assistant City Manager
Cori Burbach, Assistant City Manager
Dubuque
Itattid
AII•Ae aria City
111/11:
2007.2012
2013.2017
Masterpiece on the Mississippi
TO: Michael Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM: Cori Burbach, Assistant City Manager
SUBJECT: Sustainable Dubuque Quarterly Work Session Agenda
DATE: April 19, 2018
Dubuque
bfrd
Muria city
2007.2012
2013-2017
The purpose of this memo is to set the agenda for the quarterly Sustainable Dubuque
Work Session scheduled for Monday, April 23 at 6:00 p.m. in the City Council
Chambers. A presentation will address the following topics:
1. Overview— Resilient Community Advisory Commission Chair Leah Specht
2. Commission Strategic Priorities & Progress
3. University of Nebraska Lincoln Municipal Climate Adaptation Report
4. Design And Resiliency Team (DART) Report
5. Sustainable Dubuque Community Grant Update
Thank you.
Municipal Climate Adaptation:
A Report for Dubuque, Iowa
•
-
11011.--
4
Table of Contents
Climate Change and Cities
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Project Goals 1
1.3WorkshopParticipants 2
Methods
2.1 Data Sources 3
2.2 Climate Thresholds 3
Historical Climate Trends - Statewide
3.1 Iowa Temperature Trends 4
3.2 Iowa Precipitation Trends 5
Historical Climate Trends- Local
4.1 General Climate of Dubuque 6
4.2 Dubuque Temperature Trends 7
4.3 Dubuque Precipitation Trends 8
4.4 Dubuque Climate Extremes 9
4.5 Summary Tables 10
Future Climate Projections 11
Implications 12
Resources 13
References 14
Climate Change and Cities
1.1 Introduction
The Midwest and Great Plains are no strangers to extreme weather and climate events. Each year,
events such as thunderstorms, tornadoes, and blizzards impact the local economy, infrastructure, and
the safety and well-being of the people living in affected communities. Recent events, such as the
back-to-back flooding and drought years of 2011 and 2012 or the recent increase in urban flash flood-
ing due to extreme rainfall events, have left communities in a position of responding to the immediate
needs of public safety, while rebuilding infrastructure - often with an eye to the future.
In light of these events, city leaders are increasingly considering climate data and information as a
guide for their comprehensive plans. Changes to temperature, precipitation, and the frequency of
extreme events in this region are already apparent; however, many of the impacts due to the changing
climate are yet to be realized as the rate of future changes generally exceeds that of historical trends.
Pinpointing and understanding how municipal -specific climate thresholds have changed historically
and how these may change in the future is an important part of the process of preparing and planning
for urban life under a changing climate.
"The nation's economy, security, and culture all depend on the resilience
of urban infrastructure systems." - Urban Systems, Infrastructure, and
Vulnerability NCA Report, 2014
1.2 Project Goals
This preliminary report and upcoming workshop are part of a larger effort to increase the capacity for
municipal climate adaptation planning in the lower Missouri River Basin states (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri,
and Nebraska).The goal of this project is to develop a process for incorporating climate information
into long-term municipal planning strategies. By utilizing a combination of physical and social science
approaches, the project aims to accomplish three objectives: 1) document thresholds associated with
climate extremes in the municipal water resources sector; 2) develop municipal -specific climate infor-
mation for use in planning; and 3) develop a methodology by which this information may be shared
and replicated across multiple sectors. This effort builds on previous work with the Heartland Sustain-
ability Directors Network, which is a regional subgroup of the Urban Sustainability Directors Network
(http://usdn.org/uploads/cros/documents/climate_in_the_heartla nd_report.pdf).
Project partners include the High Plains Regional Climate Center, the Nebraska State Climate Office,
the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center, the University of Nebraska -Lincoln Community and
Regional Planning Program, and the City of Lincoln.
Funding is provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Sectoral Applications
Research Program (NA160AR4310123).
n
Nebiaska
1IVERSITY OF L CITY OF
I NCOLN
NEBRASKA STATE PUBLIC POLICY CENTER I� \ 1<, NEBRASKA
CLIMATE OFFICE
1
Climate Change and Cities —
1.3 Workshop Participants
This report accompanies a 2 -day workshop on
municipal climate adaptation entitled,"Utilizing
Climate Data to Inform Municipal Planning and In-
crease Resilience." This workshop brings together
a wide variety expertise from locations throughout
the four state region of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and
Nebraska (see right). Workshop participants come
from a diverse set of communities, each with their
own local needs and unique set of weather and cli-
mate conditions. This report, a draft, is intended to
start a conversation on the utility of climate data
analyses in city planning.
Sioux City
rand Islan
*Lin
•McCook
oln
•Des Moines
•Hays
•Garden City
Kansas City
Wentzville
•Springfield
S . Peters
Workshop participants come from a wide variety of communities.
Des Moines, IA
Katherine Dostart, Assistant Planner
Dubuque, IA
Cori Burbach, Sustainability Coordinator
Ose Akinlotan, Planning Technician
Sioux City, IA
Melissa Campbell, Environmental Services Analyst
Erin Berzina, Planner
Garden City, KS
Kaleb Kentner, Director, Neighborhood & Development Services Department
Hays, KS
Jason Riegel, Water Conservation Specialist
Jeff Crispin, Assistant Director of Water Resources
Kansas City, MO
Tom Jacobs, Director, Environmental Programs at Mid-America Regional Council
Amanda Graor, Principal Planner/Air Quality Program Manager at Mid-America Regional Council
Springfield, MO
Ashley Fears, Market Development Specialist
John Elmore, Emergency Planning Specialist
Grand Island, NE
Chad Nabity, Regional Planning Director
Lincoln, NE
Frank Uhlarik, Sustainability and Compliance Administrator
McCook, NE
Nate Schneider, City Manager
Jesse Dutcher, Utility Director
Other Participants
Debra Knoble, Senior Certified Sustainability Specialist, resident of St. Peters, MO
Greg Wallace, Senior Civil Engineer, Wentzville, MO
2
Methods
2.1 Data Sources
All historical climate data used in this report originated from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). Although this report is intend-
ed to be used on the local level, statewide and regional data analyses were included to help to put the
local trends into context.
For each individual location, the last 50 years (1967-2016) worth of data were used in the analyses to
allow for quick comparisons between cities. The only exceptions were Kansas City, MO and Lincoln,
NE, which used 44 years (1973-2016). These data are a part of NCEI's Global Historical Climatology
Network - Daily dataset and were obtained from the Applied Climate Information System. Any season
with greater than 9 missing days and any year with greater than 36 missing days were not used in the
analyses.
For statewide and regional data, the entire period of record (1895-2016) was used. These data were
obtained from NCEI's Climate at a Glance tool. Future projections of climate conditions were summa-
rized from the multi -agency sponsored National Climate Assessment. Links to all climate data used in
the report, along with other available resources, are located on page 13.
2.2 Climate Thresholds
The following thresholds were used to generate the contents of this report. Sustainability directors
and climatologists co -developed the following table during a pilot project funded by the Urban Sus-
tainability Directors Network (Anderson et al. 2015). As this report is preliminary, these are subject to
change and will be discussed at the upcoming workshop in March.
Municipal Concern
Climate Thresholds
Climate Condition
General climate conditions
Average, maximum, and minimum temperatures
Annual and Seasonal Temperature
General climate conditions
Average rainfall
Annual and Seasonal Precipitation
Parks and recreation; employees work-
ing outdoors; insect vectors
Dates when minimum temperature is less than
32°F
Last Spring and First Fall Frosts
Energy demand; public health
Temperatures over the hottest 3 -day time period
each year
Heat Waves
Energy demand; public health
Temperatures over the coldest 3 -day time period
each year
Cold Waves
Stormwater management; floodplain
planning; emergency response; infra-
structure design
Days with rainfall 1.25 inches
Days with rainfall 4.00 inches
Amount of rainfall in wettest day
Amount of rainfall in wettest 5 -day period
Amount of rainfall in wettest 15 -day period
Heavy Rainfall
Snow and ice management; public
safety; electricity and phone service
outages
Days with snowfall >_ 3.0 inches
Days with snowfall >_ 6.0 inches
Days with snowfall >_ 12.0 inches
Amount of snowfall in heaviest 3 -day period
Snowstorms
3
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IV I,Ii '
Historical Climate Trends - Statewide
3.1 Iowa Temperature Trends
Statewide temperature records for Iowa date back
to 1895, resulting in over 100 years of worth obser-
vations. A wide annual temperature range is a fea-
ture of Iowa's climate, with hot summers and cold
winters. There is generally a south to north tem-
perature gradient across the state, with the warm-
est weather occurring in southeastern areas of the
state and the coolest weather occurring along the
Iowa -Minnesota border.
The trend in average annual temperature for Iowa
shows an increase of 1.2°F over the 122 -year pe-
riod. There is high year-to-year variability, with
significant warmth during the 1930's Dust Bowl
era, and generally warm conditions since the
mid-1980s. 2012 was the warmest year on record,
followed closely by 1931. Three of the top ten
warmest years on record have occurred since 2005,
including 2006, 2012, and 2016.
The annual warming trend is much greater for
minimum temperatures (2.1°F) than for maximum
temperatures (0.2°F), and this pattern holds true
for the region, and much of the world. An increase
in atmospheric moisture is one explanation for
this difference, as this disproportionately impacts
nighttime low temperatures much more than day-
time high temperatures.
On a seasonal basis, winter trends indicate the
strongest warming with a 2.1°F increase, while
summer trends show little warming, with only
a 0.1°F increase. This is consistent with regional
trends, as well.
5
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3
4
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Iowa's Average Annual Temperature Departure (°F)
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Average annual temperature departure (°F) from the 122 -year
long-term average for the state of Iowa, along with the 5 -year
running average. Data courtesy NCEI.
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Regional Temperature Trends
The average temperature trend for the four -
state region encompassing Iowa, Kansas, Mis-
souri, and Nebraska shows a 1.3°F increase over
the 122 -year period. This trend is not uniform
across the region, however, as warming has
been strongest in Nebraska (1.8°F) and weak-
est in Missouri (0.8°F). Just like each state in the
region, minimum temperatures have increased
at a higher rate (2.0°F) than maximum tempera-
tures (0.7°F) region wide.
When broken down by season, the warming
trend for the region is strongest in the winter
(2.4°F) and weakest in the summer and autumn
seasons (0.5°F and 0.6°F). Variability in seasonal
trends at the regional level is also observed at
the global scale.
Statewide Average Temperature Change by Season (1895-2016)
Temperature in degrees F
State
Spring
Summer
Autumn
Winter
Iowa
1.5
0.1
0.8
2.1
Kansas
1.8
0.9
0.7
2.6
Missouri
1.3
0.0
0.0
1.6
Nebraska
2.1
1.0
1.0
Four -state Average
1.7
0.5
0.6
2.4
4
Historical Climate Trends - Statewide
3.2 Iowa Precipitation Trends
Statewide precipitation records for Iowa also date
back to 1895, resulting in over 100 years worth of
observations. Precipitation varies seasonally, with
a maximum in summer and a minimum in winter.
Generally, precipitation decreases across the state,
from southeast to northwest with areas of extreme
southeast Iowa receiving about 40 inches of pre-
cipitation each year on average, while areas of the
northwest receive less than 30 inches.
Over the 122 -year time period, average annual
precipitation has increased by about 15% in Iowa,
which is the largest increase in the four -state re-
gion. There is variability in the precipitation re-
cord, with drought periods of the 1930s and 1950s
evident in the record, as well as the extremely dry
years of 1910 and 1988. The past few decades have
been part of a wetter period for the state, with two
of Iowa's worst flooding years in modern history
occurring in 1993 and 2008 (Zogg 2014). Although
1993 stands out as the wettest year on record for
Iowa, it is worth noting that four of the top ten
wettest years have occurred in the past ten years,
including 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2015.
Seasonal trends show that there has been an
increase in precipitation during all four seasons in
Iowa, with the largest increase in the spring (23%)
and the smallest increase in autumn (1 %). These
precipitation trends, especially the large increase
in spring -time precipitation, are consistent with
other locations in the Midwest region and these
trends are expected to continue into the future
(Pryor et al. 2014).
50
40
30
20
10
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-10
-20
-30
-40
-50
Iowa's Annual Precipitation Departure (%)
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Annual precipitation departure (%) from the 122 -year average for
the state of Iowa, along with the 5 -year running average. Data
courtesy NCEI.
Regional Precipitation Trends
A distinguishing feature of the region is the
east -west precipitation gradient in which an-
nual average precipitation totals range from 50
inches in southeastern Missouri to less than 20
inches in the panhandle of Nebraska.
There tends to be high year-to-year variability in
precipitation for much of the region; however,
over the 122 -year period, there has been a 10%
increase in average annual precipitation. This
increase varies across the region, with a low of
6% in Nebraska to a high of 15% in Iowa. On a
seasonal basis, there is variability from state to
state, with both increases and decreases in pre-
cipitation. On the whole, the strongest trends
were in spring (16% increase), while the weakest
trends were in winter (4% increase).
Statewide Annual Climate Trends (1895-2016)
Temperature in degrees F, Precipitation in percent
State
Average Temperature
Maximum Temperature
Minimum Temperature
Precipitation
Iowa
1.2
0.2
2.1
'.
Kansas
1.5
1.2
1.8
Missouri
0.8
0.1
1.4
7%
Nebraska
1.8
1.2
2.5
b%
Four -state Average
1.3
0.7
2.0
5
Historical Climate Trends - Local
4.1 General Climate of Dubuque
The weather station at the Dubuque Regional Airport, lo-
cated about 7 miles to the south-southwest of the city, was
selected for this report due to its nearly continuous 66 -year
record. Daily measurements of temperature, precipitation,
and snowfall have been taken at this location since February
1, 1951.
Dubuque's climate is considered to be humid continental
with hot summers, which is characterized by large differ-
ences in temperatures throughout the year due to its inte-
rior location far from the moderating effects of the oceans.
Dubuque experiences all four seasons and there can be variability in temperature and precipitation;
however, this variability is not as extreme as locations to the west across the Plains. The hottest time
of the year is July, when average high temperatures peak at 82°F, while the coldest time of the year
occurs in January with average low temperatures dipping to 11°F. The wettest time of the year is the
summer (June, July, August), with precipitation totals averaging 13.11 inches, while the driest time of
the year is the winter (December, January, February) with only 4.45 inches*. Much of the precipitation
in the winter falls as snow, with an average of 30.8 inches. Winds are predominantly from the north-
west and the south. Winds from the northwest bring cold, dry air, while winds from the south bring
warm, moist air. Dubuque's location between these contrasting air masses puts it at risk for severe
thunderstorms, which can produce tornadoes, high winds, hail, and flooding. The graph below shows
the average climate conditions for Dubuque.
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E33East Dubuque
Key West
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Massey
Dubuque Regional Airport: 42.3978, -90.7036
GHCN ID: USW00094908
*Winter precipitation in Dubuque is a combination of rain and the liquid equivalent precipitation of
snow, i.e. the amount of liquid that would have fallen had the precipitation been rain instead of snow.
3
2
0
Monthly Climate Normals (1981-2010) - Dubuque, IA
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
'Total Precipitation —Average High —Average Low —Average
100
80
60
35
40 a
20
0
6
Historical Climate Trends - Local
4.2 Dubuque Temperature Trends
Temperature Trends Vary by Season
Dubuque has experienced an increase in aver-
age temperature of 1.7°F over the past 50 years.
Each season shows a warming trend, with winter
exhibiting the largest increase (3.0°F). Overall,
both maximum and minimum temperatures have
increased at similar rates, but there is variation
across the seasons. For instance in the summer,
there has been little change to maximum tem-
peratures; however, there has been an increase in
minimum temperatures. This is important because
fewer cooler nights in the summer can have seri-
ous public health implications, as heat is the lead-
ing cause of weather-related deaths in the U.S.
(Peterson et al. 2013).
Heat Waves and Cold Waves
A look at multi -day heat and cold wave events
shows that there has been a decrease in the sever-
ity of both heat waves and cold waves. The hottest
3 -day period of each year has decreased slightly by
about 1 °F, while the coldest 3 -day period of each
year has increased by about 5°F.
Future projections already correspond to
recent observed changes in temperature and
these trends are expected to continue and
accelerate.
Dubuque's Changing Seasons
Spring
1.5°Ft
Autumn
1.7°F T
Summer
O.6°Ft
Winter
3.O°Ft
Changes to Energy Needs
Heating and cooling degree days can be an
indication of energy demand. Rising tempera-
tures in Dubuque are leading to changes in
energy needs. Trends in cooling degree days
show a 5% increase overall, with the largest
increase, by percentage, in autumn (17%).
Trends in heating degree days, however, show
a 9% decrease, annually.This is not only due
to warmer average temperatures in the winter,
but also to significantly warmer cold waves,
leading to lower peak energy demand.
Over the past 50 years,
Dubuque's average
annual temperature
has increased by 1.7°F.
High year-to-year vari-
ability has occurred
recently, especially in
the past 15 years.
52
50
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ao
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. 42
40
1967 1970 1973 1976 1979 1982 1985 1988 1991 1994 1997 2000 2003 2006 2009 2012 2015
Year
7
Historical Climate Trends - Local
4.3 Dubuque Precipitation Trends
Precipitation Trends Vary by Season
Trends in Dubuque's annual precipitation are negli-
gible (2% increase); however, noteworthy changes
have been observed from season to season. Over
the past 50 years, summer precipitation has in-
creased by 23%, while autumn precipitation has
decreased by 39%. Increases were also observed in
the spring and winter seasons.
Heavy Precipitation Events Increasing
Over the past 50 years, Dubuque has had an in-
crease in the frequency and intensity of single -day
heavy rainfall events (days with at least 1.25 inches
of rain). These increases could lead to an increased
potential for flash flooding. The intensity of multi -
day (5- and 15 -day) events has also increased,
which could signal the potential for longer-term
flooding because once soils are saturated from ini-
tial rains, subsequent rainfall will run off into ditch-
es, streams, and rivers. Agricultural land manage-
ment practices upstream can also have an impact
on the quantity and quality of the water flowing
through the watershed (Hatfield et al. 2014).
Future projections already correspond to
recent observed changes in increased heavy
rainfall events and these trends are expected
to continue and accelerate.
Dubuque's Changing Seasons
Spring
8% T
Autumn
39% 4.
Summer
23% T
Winter
3% T
Changes Within Snow Season
A snow season is defined as the period be-
tween July 1 and June 30. Overall, there
has been a 4% increase in snowfall totals in
Dubuque; however, there have been significant
changes within the snow season.
Trends show that less snow is falling in the
spring and autumn, with steep declines in
snowfall totals over the past 50 years. Con-
versely, there has been a 34% increase in win-
tertime snowfall totals, with three of the past
ten years exceeding the 90th percentile.
Over the past 50 years,
the number of days
that Dubuque has re-
ceived at least 1.25
inches of rain has in-
creased by 5 days. This
trend has accelerated
in the past 15 years.
Number of Days >_ 1.25 inches
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
th Percentile
10th Percentile
1967 1970 1973 1976 1979 1982 1985 1988 1991 1994 1997 2000 2003 2006 2009 2012 2015
Year
8
Historical Climate Trends - Local
4.4 Dubuque Climate Extremes
Average temperature and total precipitation are helpful for un-
derstanding the general conditions; however, these do not dem-
onstrate the wide range of conditions that can be experienced.
This range of conditions is especially important for a place like
Dubuque because 1) extremes are common in the continental
type of climate experienced there and 2) extremes are impactful
to people and infrastructure. Extremes in both temperature and
precipitation are becoming more common in Dubuque, and those
occurring in succession make responding to and preparing for
these events quite difficult. Extremes data presented here include
stations from around the Dubuque area, beginning in 1873.
Temperature Extremes
It has been somewhat of a roller coaster ride over the past several
years in Dubuque. Although average temperatures have increased
over the past 50 years, two of the top ten coldest years have oc-
curred recently. 2008 ranked as the 9th coldest year, while 2014
tied with 1875 as the coldest year on record. 2013 was not far be-
hind in the 11th spot. 2012 was the only recent year to rank in the top 10 warmest years on record
(10th warmest).
Highest Temperature:
114°F, Jul 14,1936
Lowest Temperature:
-32°F, Jan 1, 1887
Highest Precipitation:
Highest Snowfall:
15.Oin, Mar 5,1959
Precipitation Extremes
Extremes in annual precipitation have also occurred recently, with four consecutive years (2008-2011)
ranking in the top 15 wettest years on record. This extremely wet period was followed by the 10th dri-
est year on record, 2012. Extremes on either end of the spectrum have resulted in losses due to flood-
ing and drought. For example, the 2 -day heavy rainfall event that occurred July 27-28, 2011 was the
wettest 2 days on record for Dubuque, with 10.74 inches. This storm produced damaging flash flood-
ing in and around the Dubuque area.
Recent Extremes - Top 10 Wettest Julys on Record
Increases in summer
precipitation have
been driven by the
months of June a
July. Three recent
lys have ranked in th
top ten wettest on r
cord.
r20
a
2011 2010 1961 1881 1962 2007 1982 1993 1876 1900 Normal
Year
9
Historical Climate Trends - Local
4.5 Summary Tables
For quick reference, the following tables show a summary of recent changes in seasonal climate condi-
tions and damaging events in Dubuque. All trends cover the last 50 -year time period of 1967-2016.
Seasons are defined as follows: Spring (March, April, May), Summer (June, July August), Autumn (Sep-
tember, October, November), and Winter (December, January, February).
Season
Recent Changes in Seasonal Weather
Spring
Warmer, Wetter springs
Little change in last frost date
Summer
Wetter summers
Warmer nights; More Cooling Degree Days
Autumn
Warmer, Drier autumns
Later first frosts
Winter
Warmer, Snowier winters
Fewer Heating Degree Days
Damaging Event
Recent Changes in Damaging Events
Heat Waves
Decreased intensity of heat waves
3 -day: Lower average and maximum temperatures
Little change to minimum temperatures
Cold Waves
Decreased intensity of cold waves
3 -day: Higher average, maximum, and minimum temperatures
Heavy Rainfall
Increased intensity of heavy rainfall events
Daily: 14% increase in wettest 1 -day period per year
5 -day: 28% increase in wettest 5 -day period per year
15 -day: 23% increase in wettest 15 -day period per year
Snow Storms
Decreased frequency of 3.0 inch snowfall events by 1 day
5% decrease in snowiest 3 -day period per year
Snowier winters; Less snowy transition seasons (spring/autumn)
Late/Early Freeze
Growing season extended by 6 days due to later frosts in autumn
Tornado, Wind, Hail
Inconsistencies in reporting exceed trend
10
Future Climate Projections
Over the past century, Iowa's climate has become increasingly warmer and wetter. Seasonal differenc-
es in these overall trends highlight specific times of the year that have been impacted the most and
future projections indicate that many of these trends could continue into the future. Projections in this
section originated from the third National Climate Assessment (NCA) and associated sustained activi-
ties (Melillo et al. 2014; Frankson et al. 2017; Kunkel et al. 2017). The fourth NCA is currently under
development and is expected to be released in 2018.
Temperature
Temperatures have increased substantially across Iowa, and projections indicate that this trend will
continue. The amount of future warming is largely dependent upon increases or decreases in green-
house gas emissions, and so a range of conditions is possible. Depending on the scenario, a 4-9°F in-
crease in average annual temperature could occur for Dubuque (Walsh et al. 2014). Like current trends,
cold waves are expected to become less intense; however, unlike recent trends, heat waves are expect-
ed to become more intense in the future. Even a modest increase in summertime temperature could
lead to more extremes. These trends could have serious implications for communities like Dubuque, as
increases in cooling demands could put a strain on utilities and more intense heat waves could impact
vulnerable populations, like the young, the elderly, and the poor.
"Extreme rainfall events and flooding have increased during the last century,
and these trends are expected to continue, causing erosion, declining water
quality, and negative impacts on transportation, agriculture, human health,
and infrastructure." - Midwest NCA Report, 2014
Precipitation
Iowa is particularly susceptible to flooding due to the
thousands of miles of rivers and streams that flow
through the state. Large rivers, such as the Mississippi
River, the Big Sioux River, and the Missouri River, flow
along Iowa's eastern and western borders, and many
communities, like Dubuque, are located along these
waterways. Complicating matters is that precipitation
changes across Iowa cannot be the sole focus for plan-
ning, as the water flowing through these rivers also
comes from upstream sources.
Cleanup in Dubuque after historic rains/flooding, July 2011
Photo credit: Telegraph Herald
All across Iowa, precipitation is projected to increase, especially in the winter and spring seasons. For
Dubuque, this could mean a greater than 15% increase in precipitation in the spring and a 10-15%
increase in precipitation during the winter (Walsh et al. 2014). Because extreme precipitation events
are also expected to increase, this could potentially lead to an increase in the frequency and intensity
of floods, both in terms of flash flooding and longer-term events.
Although not yet apparent in the regional and local trends, summer precipitation is expected to de-
crease across much of Iowa by 2050. For Dubuque, this could be a decrease of up to 5% (Walsh et al.
2014). While this decrease may not seem dramatic, in combination with significant increases in sum-
mertime temperatures it may cause an increase in the intensity of droughts, which are a recurring
feature of Iowa's climate.
11
Implications
Hazards originating from extremes in weather and climate conditions impact municipalities in mul-
tiple ways, from infrastructure to utilities to human health. While many locations in the Midwest al-
ready experience a wide range of weather and climate conditions, this range has increased over time
in Dubuque, making the city more prone to weather and climate hazards. Recent and future changes
in Dubuque that could have implications for municipal operations include:
Changes to energy needs
Recent
• An increase in winter temperatures coupled with a decrease in the severity of cold waves has
led to a decrease in heating demands.
• An increase in temperatures in the summer and autumn has led to an increase in cooling de-
mands. Warmer minimum temperatures have driven the increased demand in the summer.
Future
• A continued increase in temperatures could further decrease energy needs in the winter.
• More intense heat waves in the summer could impact utilities during peak delivery times.
Strains to water resource management
Recent
• An increase in the frequency and intensity of single -day heavy rainfall events has increased the
potential for flash flooding.
• An increase in the intensity of multi -day (5 -day and 15 -day) heavy rainfall events has increased
the potential for longer-term flooding events.
Future
• Continued increases in single- and multi -day heavy rainfall events could increase the potential
for more intense and frequent flooding episodes, which could lead to soil erosion as well as
decreased water quality.
• Although modest, projected decreases in summer precipitation could increase the intensity of
droughts, potentially putting strains on the quality and quantity of available water.
Human health impacted by extremes in temperature and precipitation
Recent
• Warmer winters could decrease cold weather-related impacts, while warmer nights in the sum-
mer could impact vulnerable populations, potentially increasing the need for cooling shelters.
• A longer frost -free season could signal a longer vector-borne disease season.
More intense and frequent flooding events can lead to short-term concerns, such as injury and
death, and long-term concerns, such as a potential increase in water -borne disease and indoor
air quality issues due to mold and mildew (Luber et al. 2014).
Future
• More intense heat waves in the summer could negatively impact vulnerable populations.
• Continued increases in winter temperatures could lead to the overwintering of pests.
Other
Recent
• Declines in spring/autumn snowfall coupled with increases in winter snowfall could impact the
timing and frequency of snow removal operations.
12
Resources
Historical Climate Data and Information
Historical Temperature and Precipitation Data
• Applied Climate Information System: http://scacis.rcc-acis.org/
Historical Drought Information
• Drought Risk Atlas: http://droughtatlas.unl.edu/
Temperature and Precipitation Trends at National, State, and Climate Division scales
• NCEI's Climate at a Glance: https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/
Local Trends in the Midwest and Great Plains Regions
• Corn Belt Climate Trends (1980-2013): http://www.hprcc.unl.edu/climatetrends.php
Monitoring of Current and Recent Climate Conditions
Midwest and Great Plains Monthly Climate and Drought Webinar
• To sign up for future webinars: https://www.drought.gov/drought/calendar/webinars
• For archive: http://www.hprcc.unl.edu/webinars.php
Midwest Quarterly and Monthly Climate Summaries
• Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook: https://www.drought.gov/draught/resources/reports
• Monthly Climate Overviews: http://mrcc.isws.Illinois.edu/cliwatch/watch_highlights.html
National, Regional, and Statewide Temperature and Precipitation Maps
• HPRCC ACIS Climate Maps: http://www.hprcc.unl.edu/maps.php?map=ACISCIimateMaps
Drought Monitoring
• U.S. Drought Monitor: http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/
Streamflow Conditions
• USGS WaterWatch: http://waterwatch.usgs.gov/index.php
Future Climate Data and Information
National Climate Assessment
• Reports by region and sector: http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/
Climate Change Impacts by State
• EPA: https://www.epa.gov/climate-impacts/climate-change-impacts-state
State Climate Summaries
• NCEI: https://statesummaries.ncics.org/
13
References
Anderson, C. J., J. Gooden, P. E. Guinan, M. Knapp, G. McManus, and M. D. Shulski, 2015: Climate in the
Heartland: Historical Data and Future Projections for the Heartland Regional Network. http://
usdn.org/uploads/cros/documents/climate_in_the_heartland_report.pdf.
Cutter, S. L., W. Solecki, N. Bragado, J. Carmin, M. Fragkias, M. Ruth, and T. J. Wilbanks, 2014: Ch. 11: Ur-
ban Systems, Infrastructure, and Vulnerability. Climate Change Impacts in the United States:
The Third National Climate Assessment, J. M. Melillo, Terese (T.C.) Richmond, and G. W. Yohe,
Eds., U.S. Global Change Research Program, 282-296. doi:10.7930/JOF769GR.
Frankson, R., K. Kunkel, S. Champion, and J. Runkle, 2017: Iowa State Summary. NOAA Technical Report
NESDIS 149 -IA, 3 pp.
Hatfield, J., G. Takle, R. Grotjahn, P. Holden, R. C. Izaurralde, T. Mader, E. Marshall, and D. Liverman, 2014:
Ch. 6: Agriculture. Climate Change Impacts in the United States: The Third National Climate Assess-
ment, J. M. Melillo, Terese (T.C.) Richmond, and G. W. Yohe, Eds., U.S. Global Change Research
Program, 150-174. doi:10.7930/J02Z13FR.
Kunkel, K., R. Frankson, J. Runkle, S. Champion, L. Stevens, D. Easterling, and B. Stewart (Eds.), 2017:
State Climate Summaries for the United States. NOAA Technical Report NESDIS 149.
Luber, G., K. Knowlton, J. Balbus, H. Frumkin, M. Hayden, J. Hess, M. McGeehin, N. Sheats, L. Backer, C. B.
Beard, K. L. Ebi, E. Maibach, R. S. Ostfeld, C. Wiedinmyer, E. Zielinski -Gutierrez, and L. Ziska, 2014:
Ch. 9: Human Health. Climate Change Impacts in the United States: The Third National Climate
Assessment, J. M. Melillo, Terese (T.C.) Richmond, and G. W. Yohe, Eds., U.S. Global Change Re-
search Program, 220-256. doi:10.7930/JOPN93H5.
Melillo, Jerry M., Terese (T.C.) Richmond, and Gary W. Yohe, Eds., 2014: Climate Change Impacts in the
United States: The Third National Climate Assessment. U.S. Global Change Research Program,
841 pp. doi:10.7930/JOZ31 WJ2.
Peterson, T.C., and Coauthors, 2013: Understanding Changes in Heat Waves, Cold Waves, Floods, and
Droughts in the United States. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 94, 821-834.
doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00066.1.
Pryor, S. C., D. Scavia, C. Downer, M. Gaden, L. Iverson, R. Nordstrom, J. Patz, and G. P. Robertson, 2014:
Ch. 18: Midwest. Climate Change Impacts in the United States: The Third National Climate
Assessment, J. M. Melillo, Terese (T.C.) Richmond, and G. W. Yohe, Eds., U.S. Global Change Re-
search Program, 418-440. doi:10.7930/JOJ 1012N.
Walsh, J., D. Wuebbles, K. Hayhoe, J. Kossin, K. Kunkel, G. Stephens, P. Thorne, R. Vose, M. Wehner, J. Wi-
llis, D. Anderson, S. Doney, R. Feely, P. Hennon, V. Kharin, T. Knutson, F. Landerer, T. Lenton, J.
Kennedy, and R. Somerville, 2014: Ch. 2: Our Changing Climate. Climate Change Impacts in the
United States: The Third National Climate Assessment, J. M. Melillo, Terese (T.C.) Richmond, and
G. W. Yohe, Eds., U.S. Global Change Research Program, 19-67. doll 0.7930/JOKWSCXT.
Zogg, J., 2014:TheTop Five Iowa Floods. http://www.crh.noaa.gov/Image/dmx/hydro/Historicallowa
Floods_Top5.pdf.
14
Toward a Resilience Roadmap
Dubuque,Iowa DARTReport
AIA
INTRODUCTION
INTEGRATING RESILIENCE
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
NEIGHBORHOOD RESILIENCE
TRANSPORTATION
COMMUNITY CHANGE
CONCLUSION
TEAM ROSTER
16,
Communities by Design
2
6
10
14
33
37
41
44
USDN
urban sustainability
directors network
The Design and Resiliency Team Program
Design and Resiliency Teams (DARTs) provide pro-bono technical
assistance to help communities develop a strategic vision and promote
community resiliency, usually by focusing on a specific issue and/or
geographic area.The DART vision of promoting community resiliency is
to empower local communities and systems, and all of the people and
institutions they serve, to thrive in the long term even through acute
shocks and catastrophes and chronic stresses.
DARTs are multidisciplinary teams of public and private sector experts
from fields relevant to the community's need (e.g., sustainability, climate
change, planning, architecture, landscape architecture, engineering,
economic development, finance, the arts). Each multi -disciplinary team
is custom-built to serve local needs and opportunities.
DARTsworkwith community, political and adm inistrativedecision-makers
and stakeholders during an intensive three-day planning process that
could otherwise cost tens of thousands of dollars. A DART helps a
community advance resilience solutions through public conversation,
a final presentation and a final report. In return, communities must
demonstrate the capacity and commitment to convene diverse
community, staff, political leaders, and stakeholders for an intensive,
collaborative resiliency planning process.
DARTs catalyze local action with a community -engagement process
using outside perspectives and technical assistance on resilience. The
process allows communities to focus for a few days on the resiliency
picture without daily demands distracting them from planning for a
critically important local issue. There are technical (knowledge base
and expertise), political, administrative, and institutional challenges to
building consensus on the challenges and needed actions. An outside
multi -disciplinary team can galvanize a community by bringing in new
experti se, expa nd ing existing conversations, identifying new approaches,
and providing support for or refinement of existing approaches. DARTs
build the community conversation and advance consensus for the
proactive planning, resource allocation, and paradigm shifts needed to
address resilience challenges.
In 2016, the DART program earned the APA -MA chapter's Social Advocacy
Award.To date, there have been seven DARTs.The program builds on the
AIM five decades of experience fielding 220+ Design Assessment Tea m s.
These programs create design,resiliencyand sustainabilityopportunities
building on 1) the multidisciplinary team approach, 2) objectivity of
team members, and 3) inclusive public participation and support.
DARTs are sponsored by American Institute of Architects, the New England Municipal Sustainability
Network (NEMSN), and the Urban Directors Sustainability Network (USDN). DARTs are supported
by the cities of Northampton MA (lead coordinating community), Dubuque IA, Providence RI, and
Seattle WA, with some technical assistance from the Boston Society of Architects Foundation and
the Boston Society of Landscape Architects. See www.DesignResiliency.org for more details.
1
duction
The Dubuque Process
The Dubuque, Iowa process kicked off in June, when team leader Seleta
Reynolds and AIA staff conducted a preliminary visit (June 22, 2017) during
which they toured the community and met with a diverse variety of community
stakeholders.As a result of those consultations, an interdisciplinary national team
was recruited to participate with the Dubuque community in a public process to
build a resilience strategy and set of key recommendations for the city and its
residents. Prior to the community process, team members reviewed a number of
existing plans and studies that have helped inform and guide Dubuque's work to
date. This work and the related planning efforts, including the ongoing Imagine
Dubuque process, have contributed to a number of important civic achievements
in the city and were important baselines for the team's work.The full community
process took place from September 11-13, 2017, and included sitevisits and tours,
a series of community stakeholder meetings, a public workshop with residents,
intense team studio sessions, and a final presentation to the community. The
following report details the team's findings and recommendations for the
Dubuque community.The team would like to thank the Dubuque community for
its generous hospitality and participation in the process. In particular, the team
is indebted to Cori Burbach and her colleagues for providing us with important
background information and tools with which to conduct the project.
Resilience in Dubuque: Project Focus
Dubuque's application to the Design and Resilience Team (DART) program
identified the focus of the project"to assist the Resilient Community Advisory
Commission, City staff, and partners, in developing a climate adaptation plan for
the community."As the application stated,"Dubuque requests DART assistance
to develop a roadmap which will be our guide to incorporate climate adaptation
strategies into existing and future plans and initiatives in our community.We
seek assistance to develop climate adaptation strategies for the Dubuque
community using public health and equity lenses, in order to identify the
threats to our most vulnerable populations first:' Furthermore, the application
requested that the team help develop a "roadmap that integrates climate
adaptation into existing plans, to ensure integration into daily work, while
also creating an overall strategy with measurable outcomes in order to track
community -wide progress:' In its own assessment of existing and known threats,
the application noted that"Dubuque's most significant natural hazard threat is
flash flooding related to more frequent, severe rain events.While Dubuque built
a floodwall to protect itself from the Mississippi River in the late 1973, we have
experienced six Presidential disaster declarations since 2000 as a result of flash
groundwater flooding. Additional threats include heat waves, ice storms, and
tornadoes. Stresses that could be exacerbated by these threats include aging
infrastructure, an aging population, and environmental degradation including
air and water pollution:'
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The rationale for a health and equity focus was explained as follows:"First, the
effects of climate change in Dubuque will often present themselves as chronic
stressors, not acute events.These stressors will have impacts on public health
in our community, and it is important that multiple partners work together to
prepare for and respond to these threats. For example, if Dubuque begins to
experience more frequent severe temperature days (hot or cold), the required
response will include heating and cooling shelters for those physically impacted
by the temperatures. With extended growing seasons, the Midwest has begun
to see increased respiratory illnesses associated with high pollen counts and an
increase in vector-borne illnesses. Second, these public health threats, as well as
economic threats, will be experienced first by our most vulnerable populations.
Whether discussing food insecurity of our low income residents or the effect of
extreme heat on our increasing elder population, examining climate adaptation
through an equity lens is a priority in our community"
Finally, it was noted that the community is not without some early success
stories on resilience already. As the application described,"Dubuque has begun
to successfully address its flash flooding threat. The Bee Branch Watershed Flood
Mitigation Project was developed to mitigate flooding in four ways: reduced
flow of floodwaters, reduced volume of floodwaters, increased floodwater
conveyance capacity through watershed, and create barriers between critical
facilities and floodwaters. Currently under construction, the $200+ million
project will prevent over $582 million in flood -related property damage over
the life of the improvements. The BBWFMP involves the daylighting of 4,500
feet of buried storm sewer and installing 240 green alleys in the watershed to
reduce the risk of flash flooding to private and public property. The BBWFMP will
restore the creek from a buried storm sewer devoid of aquatic life and wildlife,
to a stream and linear park capable of sustaining biodiversity.The restored creek
will include a hike/bike trail, rain gardens/bioswales, walking paths, lighting,
benches, pervious pavement, an amphitheater, and over 1,000 trees and other
plantings."
This information gave the visiting team a solid foundation and context within
which to understand the goals and focus of the process, and a starting point
from which to have critical conversations with the community about its future
resilience to change.
Defining Resilience: Initial Observations
The team defined resilience as the ability to survive and thrive following any
kind of disruption: economic (such as a recession), natural disaster, or other
events that make it difficult or impossible for people to go about their daily lives.
Dubuque recognizes that these events impact its most vulnerable populations
first and most severely, which requires an intentional focus on social and racial
equity in order to achieve a fully resilient community. Further, the city is in the
midst of several efforts to update its overall planning and policy framework and
other key plans. Dubuque's interest is to incorporate resilience and equity into
its existing efforts as topline goals rather than to create a new, stand-alone plan.
The team's recommendations resulted from conversations with government
leaders, community partners, and stakeholders throughout the city as well as a
review of the city's past efforts and planning documents. Both government and
non-profit community partners recognized the need to use a public health and
racial equity lens to create a roadmap to reduce vulnerabilities. The primary
theme running throughout many of the team's recommendations is to center
resilience and equity efforts on the neighborhoods surrounding the Bee Branch:
to empower, invest in, and celebrate these communities and to cultivate and
bring them into problem -solving as primary stakeholders with ownership over
results.
The team's initial observations include:
• The community has attracted investment and delivered large infrastructure
projects that include a focus on both form and function. Projects like the Bee
Branch and the Mississippi Flood Gates are effective and beautiful. The city
should find ways to empower neighborhoods to program these assets so that
they bring people together and even serve as resource centers for service
delivery.
• Low-income communities of color that lack access to health care and
opportunities are heavily concentrated in the Washington and North End
neighborhoods, which are also prone to flooding and lie in a food desert.
• In the realm of public health and economic/workforce development, several
organizations do good work on narrow aspects of the same issues but lack
the coordination to move the needle. Sharing qualitative data and mapping
quantitative data is a baseline for identifying gaps and improving cohesion.
5
•The community is highly coordinated and collaborative in some areas, but silos
still exist in others, both inside and outside government.The city's recently -con-
vened Emergency Operations Center offers a forum to bring together business,
community-based organization, and non -profits, who will work hand -in -glove
with government before and during a disaster on both prevention and recovery.
•There are great distances between agencies/providers and the communities
they serve. Namely, providers lack location -specific data about areas of need
and struggle to map issues by neighborhood. Developing a surveillance system
for medical providers to share anonymized data with providers could help close
this gap.
• Hazard mitigation plans focus mainly on response rather than prevention.
• An intentional focus on neighborhoods could be much stronger, both in the
planning and policy documents the city uses and in its overall thinking and
approach to resilience.
Integrating
Resilience
Connectivity and Opportunities in Plans and Planning Processes
The City of Dubuque has participated in a wide range of plan development
processes and has a good number of documents and recommendations for
action. Although none of these documents were intended to focus on resilience -
building efforts or climate change, they all are well suited to easily integrate
climate, equity and resilience. Instead of developing a new resilience plan or
a new set of recommendations, this team suggests utilizing the structure and
support of existing plans and integrating resilience, climate and equity into
those recommendations and implementation guidelines.
Opportunities that exist:
Dubuque Climate Action Plan- Currently this is currently called the Climate
Action and Resiliency Plan although it doesn't focus on resilience and is very
much centered around climate mitigation efforts and greenhouse gas emissions.
It acts as the City's GHG emissions reduction plan and highlights policies and
actions that can be taken in the sectors of Waste, Energy,Transportation, Built
Environment, Food and Forestry. Each of these sectors has significant GHG
mitigation potential but also resilience -building potential.
The DART team recommends that the City of Dubuque utilize the Climate
Action and Resiliency Plan document and enhance it to include more climate
data; more information about impacts from natural disasters; trend lines in
GHG emissions and how those connect to increased frequency and intensity
of hazard events; an equity lens for prioritization; and actions that have both
mitigation and adaptation outcomes and benefits.
Examples of climate mitigation and adaptation plans:
Chula Vista has both mitigation and adaptation efforts that they attempt to
combine as often as possible. Although this isn't reflected well in their plan, it
does show in some of their reporting and efforts:
http://www.chulavistaca.gov/home/showdocument?id=5441
New York City and some international cities are also known for their work in this
area but the scale is so different from Dubuque that it may not be helpful to look
at their plans.
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Dubuque All Hazard Mitigation Plan (AHMP)
The City's AHMP update is the perfect opportunity to integrate current climate
conditions, trends and anticipated impacts from climate change.The hazard
assessment process can easily incorporate a look at historical hazards and then
integrate the anticipated climate conditions provided from the National Climate
Assessment and downscaled climate data from the University of Nebraska
report developed in 2017.The city can then utilize that information to inform
proactive strategies and actions that incorporate future climate conditions.
Additionally, the vulnerability assessment required in the AHMP can be used
to incorporate equity into the plan by overlaying social and economic facts on
hazard Iayers.The City of Dubuque can use that data to identify high priority
areas and funnel resources into those neighborhoods most at -risk.
The AHMP process also provides the city with an excellent opportunity to ensure
other city agencies, private and non-profit partners, businesses, residents,
institutions and other stakeholder groups are well informed about climate
change and the predicted impacts in this region. It can help the Sustainability
and Planning Departments coordinate their work better with Emergency
Management, Health, Housing and Transportation Departments.
Examples of Cities that have incorporated climate change into their All Hazard
Mitigation Plans:
City of Baltimore:
http://www.ba Iti moresustai nabi lity.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/
Chapter3 HazardAssessment.pdf
http://www.ba Iti moresustai nabi lity.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/
Chapter4 VulnerabilityandAssessments.pdf
http://www.ba Iti moresustai nabi lity.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/
Chapters StrategiesandActions.pdf
City of Lewes: http://www.ci.lewes.de.us/pdfs/Lewes Hazard Mitigation and
CLimate Adaptation Action Plan FinalDraft 8-2011.pdf
ICLEI Document on best practices and how to approach a combined planning
process: http://icleiusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Integrating-Hazard-
Mitigation-and-Climate-Adaptation-Planning.pdf
8
STAR Community Rating System
The STAR Community Rating System has an entire section on Climate and
Energy. Additionally, much of the work done around hazard mitigation and
climate adaption (resilience work) is integrated into other goal areas such
as Built Environment, Health and Safety and Natural Systems. Dubuque did
not score well in the Climate and Energy goal area nor in the Equity and
Empowerment goal area.
The City of Dubuque and its implementation partners have an opportunity to
im prove from a STAR Class 4 to a STAR Class 5 by focusing on strengthening
resilience, climate and equity efforts and connecting them into the STAR
framework. Since the City went through the STAR process, a gaps analysis
already exists which provides Dubuque with a list of areas for improvement and
metrics associated with those action steps.
STAR is also a great way to initiate a crosswalk process which identifies
opportunities to integrate climate, resilience and equity into educational
programs, art installations, job development programs and infrastructure
im provement projects.
Join the Community Rating System (CRS) program through the National
Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)
The Community Rating System (CRS) is a voluntary incentive program centered
around floodplain management and surface water management. It involves
a lot of work to apply, but based on an initial assessment of some of the work
done in Dubuque, the City could easily qualify for the program based on just the
Bee Branch project, the purchasing and removal of homes that flooded in the
floodplain, and the flood wall work. Additionally, there are many points available
for the excellent outreach and engagement work the City already does.
The DART team recommends that the City utilize a one-year fellow or a group
of students to go through the CRS binder provided by FEMA and identify
areas where the city can get the most points for existing efforts and projects.
Additionally, the Climate Resilience Committee that has recently been
developed by the City can also act as the Program for Public Information (PPI)
around flood outreach and engagement.The PPI will multiple the number of
points the city is eligible for and does not require any additional work by the
City since the CRC is already in place.
CRS points are similar to STAR points except the CRS points translate directly into
savings on flood insurance for ALL policy holders in the regulated floodplain.
Each Class rating translates into a 5% reduction in flood insurance with a Class 1
being the highest possible rating and a 45% reduction in flood insurance costs
for policy holders.This is usually something that is well supported by politicians
and all members of the community. Also, it takes excellent work that the City has
already done and translates it into insurance discounts (a win- win situation).
These areas are where we already believe there are significant points available
for Dubuque (without doing an in-depth analysis):
330- outreach and education
420- open space preservation
520 -Acquisition and relocation*
530- Flood protection*
CRS Coordinators Manual: http://crsresources.org/manual/
CRS resources page and breakdown of sections: http://crsresources.org/
Develop a Dubuque Climate Ambassador Network
Typically the best messengers are not City government employees. When
working with communities of color, low-income residents and people with
disabilities, there is often a history of distrust that exists for legitimate reasons.
One of the best ways to connect with people and to learn what they need is to
shift power from government to the experts and leaders from the communities
and neighborhoods where people have been historically ignored and are
at more vulnerable to impacts from a changing climate.Trusted community
leaders and community-based organizations (CBO's) are much better
messengers who know best how to reach the people within their specific
neighborhood and the language to use when engaging with them.
Dubuque has an opportunity to shift power to community leaders and
CBO's through the development of a ambassador program. Dubuque has
19 constituent neighborhoods.A possible way to structure the ambassador
program is to work with community leaders to identify two or three Lead
Ambassadors for each neighborhood and two community-based organizations
or faith -based organizations who are active and well trusted within those
neighborhoods.
9
With a small leadership team identified for each neighborhood, they can then
actively recruit ambassadors within the neighborhoods who can assist with
outreach, engagement and project implementation support. It is suggested that
the City provide some monetary compensation for Lead Ambassadors and if
possible, an amount of money for each neighborhood to engage with residents
how they see fit (block parties, pizza party, hosting a trivia night, etc.).
Several cities have active ambassador programs and the DART team is happy to
help Dubuque explore ways to structure their climate ambassador network if
desired.
Red Cross in LA is doing an innovative ambassador network with businesses in
Los Angeles
Develop a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program
The City of Dubuque has a very strong emergency management team which
includes police, fire and first responders. In the event of a major emergency,
those first responders may be stretched thin and not have the capacity to
respond to all emergencies. A way to anticipate future hazard events and
proactively plan for them is to set up a Community Emergency Response Team
(CERT) program that starts providing free training to interested residents (and
potentially all climate ambassadors- see above) on how to be CERT leaders. CERT
leaders can help with education and outreach around disaster preparedness and
climate change.They can also utilize their disaster response skills to support first
responders in preparing for, responding to and recovering from natural hazard
events.
CERT teams and trainings can be designed by neighborhood and with the
Climate Ambassadors.There are over 2700 local CERT programs nationwide that
can be used as examples for developing the City of Dubuque CERT program.
Emergency
Management
Increasing Resilience through Emergency Management
The impacts of climate change—more frequent/off season or more intense
storms and subsequent flooding, extreme heat, or extreme cold—will
increase the need and demand for emergency preparedness, response and
recovery capabilities of the City of Dubuque. Accordingly, the team applied
an emergency management lens to identify three specific and measurable
strategies for addressing the im pacts of adverse weather.
Through the National Preparedness Goal', the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) identifies five mission areas:
1. Prevention. Prevent, avoid or stop an imminent, threatened or actual act of
terrorism.
2. Protection/Preparedness. Protect our citizens, residents, visitors, and assets
against the greatest threats and hazards in a manner that allows our interests,
aspirations and way of life to thrive.
3. Mitigation. Reduce the loss of life and property by lessening the impact of
future disasters
4. Response. Respond quickly to save lives, protect property and the
environment, and meet basic human needs in the aftermath of a catastrophic
incident,
5. Recovery. Recover through a focus on the timely restoration, strengthening
and revitalization of infrastructure, housing and a sustainable economy, as well
as the health, social, cultural, historic and environmental fabric of communities
affected by a catastrophic incident.
The City of Dubuque's ability to achieve the five mission areas is indeed a
shared responsibility of the whole community, including: individuals and
families, businesses , faith -based and community organizations, nonprofit
groups, schools and academia, media outlets and all levels of government.The
emergency management recommendations provided by the team prompt the
whole community's involvement in the process and ensures their roles and
capabilities are reflected in Dubuque's emergency management and resilience
efforts.
1 "National Preparedness Goal°' National Preparedness Goal 1 FEMA.gov, Federal Emergency Manage-
ment Agency, 9 Aug. 2017, 15:16, www.fema.gov/national-preparedness-goal.
2 "Whole Community" Whole Community 1 FEMA.gov, Federal Emergency Management Agency, 21
Aug. 2017, 11:09, www.fema.gov/whole-community.
5
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#1 Business Operations Center (BOC)
Emergency response and recovery tends to be government -centric. However,
businesses and NGOs are an important component of response and recovery
as there is an essential need for the organized, synchronous exchange of
information and resources between public and private sector organizations.'
The importance of business in emergency response and recovery is
compounded by the fact that the vast majority of critical infrastructure
(estimated at 85%-90%) is owned and operated by the private sector.'
The County of Dubuque recently formalized the Emergency Operations
Center (EOC).The EOC provides an organization and a coordination process
that facilitates and supports effective collaboration between County and City
agencies during emergencies.The team recommends that the County establish
a physical and/or virtual Business Operations Center (BOC) function in the EOC.
This capability would provide a structure and a process by which the businesses
and NGOs would effectively engage each other and the County/City during
protection/preparedness, response and recovery.
The BOC should include representation from industry, local businesses and
NGOs, including faith -based and community organizations, nonprofit groups
and the universities, colleges and seminaries in the area.These organizations
would cooperate with and work alongside the government agencies in the EOC.
The represented businesses and NGOs would have access to real-time
information, which would allow them to make informed decisions about
im pacts to their business, continuity of operations, and business recovery
efforts. In turn, businesses would be able to provide real-time information on
the status of privately owned/operated infrastructure and contribute supplies,
resources and capabilities to the County and City's emergency management
efforts.
The team recommends that Dubuque Emergency Management utilize the FEMA
National Business Operations Center guidelines in addition to contacting the
City of Los Angeles and the City of Philadelphia for best practices in managing a
local/municipal BOC.
3 `Business & Utility Operations Center" Private Sector & NGO Coordination Business & Utility
Operations Center, California Office of Emergency Services, 2017, www.caloes.ca.govlcal-oes-divisions)
private-sector-ngo-coordination/business-utility-operations-center.
4"Critical Infrastructure Sector Partnerships" Critical Infrastructure Sector Partnerships 1 Homeland
Security, Department of Homeland Security, 11 July 2017, wwwdhs.gov/critical-infrastructure-sector-
partnerships.
12
#2 Change Building Standards
In twelve years, there have been six disaster declarations for incidents that
impacted the Dubuque community. Stakeholders shared concern that the same
neighborhoods were experiencing impacts with each flood.The Bee Branch
Project addresses a number of those concerns. To further reduce the recurring
risk of loss of life and property, the team recommends that Dubuque review
and refine building standards and zoning requirements to address the expected
impacts of adverse weather, specifica Ily, flood ing.
The team also recommends that Dubuque complete post incident analyses
following adverse weather incidents and floods to identify and analyze
impacted populations, critical infrastructure, and response activities. Building
standards and zoning requirements should evolve where patterns emerge or
are expected to emerge. If people and businesses are not permitted to rebuild in
risk -prone areas, the community—especially the most vulnerable populations—
would be significantly protected.
Natural disasters that result in flooding are among the most expensive disasters
in the United States. As such, by rezoning and changing building standards,
Dubuque can also mitigate the economic impacts of adverse weather.
Building Standard/.,
Disaster Declarations
j
#3 Data Driven Decision Making
Dubuque has a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) department, which
produces maps on request.The team recommends that decision makers and
analysts across Dubuque government utilize GIS in protection/preparedness,
response and recovery. By incorporating GIS as an essential tool, emergency
planners, responders and supporters would be able to make data -informed
decisions and enhance their management of resources and crisis information.
Specifically, they would be able to:
• Analyze location -driven trends of each incident's impacts in relation to building
and zoning requirements, and compare those impacts over time
• Map preparedness activities and overlay them on incident maps to determine
if effective and sufficient preparedness activities have been offered (especially
for the most vulnerable populations)
• Define the impacted populations
• Locate critical infrastructure
•Visualize the location of businesses, NGOs and education institutions in relation
to the impacted or at -risk areas.
During the stakeholder sessions, the team learned that the community relies
heavily on government for flood response in homes and businesses. The
team recommends that Dubuque, leveraging the city's GIS capability, create
a publicly available and searchable hazard map, which would give Dubuque
residents and businesses to capability to identify the hazards for which their
homes, schools and businesses are at risk. The maps should include historical
incident information in addition to anticipated impacts of threats and hazards.
A public -facing GIS tool would empower the Dubuque community with
information to create and play a role in their own preparedness and planning
efforts.
13
Neighborhood
Resilience
A Neighborhood Focus
During the community process, the team investigated the feasibility and
effectiveness of a potential neighborhood -based approach to resilience for
Dubuque.The following section captures recommendations regarding health,
equity and resilience within a neighborhood framework.
Climate impacts
The central focus of this process has been on climate adaptation and
preparedness. Like every other jurisdiction, Dubuque faces a number of
challenges from climate change. As the city's DART application noted,
""Dubuque's most significant natural hazard threat is flash flooding related to
more frequent, severe rain events. While Dubuque built a floodwall to protect
itself from the Mississippi River in the late 1973, we have experienced six
Presidential disaster declarations since 2000 as a result of flash groundwater
flooding. Additional threats include heat waves, ice storms, and tornadoes.
Stresses that could be exacerbated by these threats include aging infrastructure,
an aging population, and environmental degradation including air and water
pollutionflt is important to note that the impacts of the city's 6 major disaster
events weren't felt citywide — they were felt in particular neighborhoods,
and they required targeted neighborhood responses first, before broader
complementary strategies could be deployed at a broader scale.
Geographic Disparities across Neighborhoods
Secondly, like most major jurisdictions in America, Dubuque has wide disparities
across neighborhoods. It is inaccurate to speak of a citywide condition, because
your reality can be starkly different depending upon the exact neighborhood
you reside in. This is a national phenomenon. In communities across the
country, there is observable and significant disparity between neighborhoods
of concentrated advantage and those of concentrated disadvantage. This
dynamic not only pertains to stark disparities in income and wealth, but relates
to a host of measurable data points on access to transportation, housing, health
outcomes, education, and other key data points.Therefore, applying a citywide
strategy to complex differences across neighborhoods is often inefficient and
misplaced because residents are living totally different realities depending on
neighborhood geography. For instance, in West Baltimore, which experienced
rioting in April 2015 following the death of Freddy Grey in police custody, the
statistics demonstrate the despair and isolation of many urban neighborhoods
where concentrated poverty has defined local reality for decades. Life
expectancy in the area is only 69.7 years, closer to that of Iraq and Kazakhstan
15
16
Kazakhstan then the rest of America. The neighborhood is 97 percent African-
American, and has the deepest poverty rates in one of the poorest cities in the
country. Over 50 percent of households have incomes of less than $25,000.The
area had the highest incarceration rate in the state. Approximately one-third of
existing buildings in the neighborhood stand vacant or abandoned. More than
half of its residents are unemployed, double the city average. Approximately
25 percent receive some form of public assistance to survive. Almost 60
percent of adults do not have a high school diploma. As one account reported,
"Generations of families who have grown up here in poverty say the brutal
1968 race riots that followed the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
have become part of the neighborhood's narrative fabric, and the community
has never fully recovered."This challenge is not uncommon to inner-city urban
areas.Therefore, it is very difficult to address equity without first adjusting for
neighborhood inequality. In Dubuque, the Washington neighborhood was
described by its revitalization initiative as a 60 -square block area "characterized
by home valuations averaging less than half of city-wide assessed values, a 13%
vacancy rate, 68% of the population with income less than 80% of area median
and 95% of renter households reporting income less than $10,000.70% of all
households were renters, with only 47% occupied by related persons. 86% of
the residential dwellings were built before 1939, making this the oldest housing
stock in the oldest city in !owe Residents in this neighborhood will obviously
require different resource allocations, engagement strategies, and capacity
building to participate meaningfully in the community resilience efforts than
other city neighborhoods where income, home ownership, wealth and are much
higher. The Community Health Needs Assessment applied an exemplary neigh-
borhood -based approach to its initial research. As the Assessment noted,"Social
characteristics vary widely from place to place. When examining a community's
social, economic and environmental conditions it become clear that no two
neighborhoods are exactly alike, and therefore have individual health needs and
concerns. Certain neighborhoods may have a greater risk of exposure to lead
base paint, or a larger number of persons over sixty five, all of which will create
different needs for health needs and services. Understanding these unique
variations and differences between neighborhoods, cities, counties, states,
regions and the nation helps public health official to allocate resources in the
places where they are most needed and effective."The same dynamics apply to
equity, resilience, and other important city issues. Neighborhoods matter. It is
clear that Dubuque knows how to apply this level of focus to public work. The
Community Health Needs Assessment demonstrated this kind of approach. The
Washington neighborhood's revitalization initiative begins to speak to this focus
as well. As it was described, "The Washington Neighborhood: Revitalize! initiative
originated in 2005, designed to address concerns in a declining downtown
neighborhood. Today, more than $32 million in public and private funds have
been reinvested in this neighborhood. A new K-5 elementary charter school was
constructed by the Dubuque School District, at a cost exceeding $9 million.
A federally -funded community health center, serving low-income and uninsured
persons, was developed in a 100+ year-old former factory building. A public
park was built. A community development corporation has been formed.
A former music store was converted into a $1 million multi -cultural family
center; both the development corporation and the multi -cultural center have
established non-profit boards of directors, including neighborhood residents, to
govern their operations"Resilience is no different than revitalization, in that it
requires work at the neighborhood level, and important social connections and
networks that must be cultivated outside of realm of the public sector.
Rising numbers of vulnerable populations
In addition to coming impacts and the knowledge that there are gaps across
neighborhoods, it is also clear that the numbers of vulnerable populations are
rising in Dubuque. For instance, poverty rates have almost doubled in the last
15 years. As the Dubuque Community Foundation has noted,"From 2000 to
2015, the percentage of individuals living below the poverty level in Dubuque
increased from 9.5% to 16.2%. Research has shown that living in poverty
can affect family stability, a child's readiness for school, their ability to learn,
high school dropout rates, and physical health. All of these factors can affect
someone's ability to advance their economic future" The Community Health
Needs Assessment found that children living in poverty in Dubuque County
has risen from 11°foto 15% in the past 5 years, and that children living in single
parent households has risen from 790 to 279 in just 5 years.These dynamics
impact not only individuals, but families and neighborhoods, which effects
community resilience.
Becoming More Diverse, but not Integrated (yet)
Neighborhood inequality also has a racial component in Dubuque. Overall,
Dubuque is becoming a slightly more diverse community. As the Dubuque
DART application noted,"Dubuque is a traditionally white community, but
has experienced significant demographics changes in recent years. In 2010,
Dubuque's population was 91.7°rb white, 4% black, 2.4% Latino, 1.1% Asian, and
0.5% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander:' However, the community's
increasing diversity has not led to more integrated neighborhoods.The
Washington neighborhood was cited as Dubuque's most racially diverse, with 41
percent of residents representing non-white populations versus just 9 percent
citywide. The distribution of poverty also demonstrates the neighborhood
inequality issue, as the Washington neighborhood has a poverty rate of 37
percent compared to just 16.2 percent citywide. Clearly, there is an uneven
distribution of Dubuque's most vulnerable populations.
17
There are also perception issues regarding safety and diversity in some
neighborhoods, and an acknowledgment that communications and social
capital across groups in the city must be improved. Efforts such as Inclusive
Dubuque, the Equity toolkit, and related initiatives speak to willingness
across the city to participate in more meaningful ways with one another. In
fact, the Imagine Dubuque plan spoke to resident interest in participating in
cultural events and a"strong interest in information on"how to" recognize and
respectfully participate in events, which may need to be a communications
focus for the City, Inclusive Dubuque, and their many partners"
Making Resilience Relevant
During the public process, the team was challenged by some participants to
make resilience tangible and relevant for citizens. Civic leaders need to think
in terms of operationalizing the concept for citizens through tangible, discrete
actions to obtain more capacity to adjust to coming changes. After all, the
community cannot become more resilient unless its citizens are taking action
to become more resident together. As one member of the city's resilience
commission noted,°If we can't make it tangible for people we will fail"
Some of the key findings of the public process included the following
observations:
Resilience is poorly understood currently. As a standalone topic, it appears
abstract and divorced from tangible issues that residents face. Even members
of the citywide Resilience Commission confessed to having difficulty grasping
how to make the issue tangible for community efforts. One member of the
Commission challenged the team to make resilience tangible for everyone,
and cautioned that current efforts have failed to galvanize community action
because they did not translate abstract ideas into concrete, meaningful tasks.
As a goal, resilience cannot be isolated from other community aspirations
on revitalization, health or equity. These issues have a relationship and must
be addressed in an integrated fashion to realize measurable progress on any of
them.
Most importantly, there is a geography missing from current conversations
about resilience. All of the key issues have important geographic contexts that
must be applied to them. Neighborhood disparities are a part of the realities
facing Dubuque. Given this context, a citywide strategy has little validity
because resources and interventions cannot be applied uniformly, but will
need to vary according to local neighborhood need and capacity. Absent a
neighborhood focus, citywide approaches lack the customization needed to
address these issues effectively.
Why Neighborhoods Matter
The team believes that neighborhoods represent the key"missing middle"to
Dubuque's current efforts on resflience, Focusing workat the neighborhood
scale provides a tangible platform upon which citizens can engage in public
work. It also helps facilitate stronger social networks, a key ingredient for a more
resilient community. Finally, by focusing at the neighborhood level, equity and
health issues are moreeasily surfaced across neighborhoods and resources
and investments can be more efficiently allocated and customized based upon
prevaHing need. The team would suggest a revision to Imagine Dubuque's
current definition of resHience to include explicit language on neftjhborhoods:
"The ability of individuals, (neighborhoods) and systems to prevent, prepare for,
and recover from adverse vulnerabilities while adapting to long-term changes"
In fact, it is the team's position that Dubuque won't achieve having an effective
citywide approach to resilience until it has an integrated series of neighborhood
approaches.
Recommendation: Apply a Neighborhood Systems Approach
The team suggests that the city apply an integrated, neighborhoodbased
strategy that allows it to target resources, investments, and capacity -building
where it is needed most and facilitate the creation of civic infrastructure
beyond the public sector that can be mobilized for resilience in times of need.
It wHI also allow residents to translate resilience from an abstract citywide
concept into tangible components that are practical and operate at the block
or neighborhood level. It further facilitates community -building and social
capital production where it niatters most. If implemented well, a neighborhood
based approach would serve to build critical social capital within and across
neighborhoods and apply broad civic capacity to all the issues the city has
identified as key goals moving forward, Dubuque already has conducted at Ieast
one laudable effort at this level with its Community Health Needs Assessment, It
can build upon lessons Iearned from that effort as it expands.
Civic & Social Infrastructure:The Key to Resilience
The empirical evidence for the benefits derived from an engaged community
has become clear in recent years. In 2008, the Knight Foundation hired Gailop to
conduc|amu|d-year"Sou|o[the[ommuoity"studyio26commuoidps,p/hich
found upositive correlation between residents' sense of attachment to their
locality and its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In 2011, the National Conference
on Citizenship released research that demonstrated a positive Iink between
higher Pevels of civic engagement in a community and ts corresponding
employment levels and economic resilience as well. Studies have also found a
positive correlation between active volunteerism and life expectancy,
18
Similarly, Daniel P. Aldrich of Northeastern University reported on a study of
post -disaster resilience in Japan earlier this year with the following findings:
"Standard advice about preparing for disasters focuses on building shelters and
stockpiling things like food, water, and batteries. But resilience—the ability to
recover from shocks, including natural disasters—comes from our connections
to others, and not from physical infrastructure or disaster kits.
Almost six years ago, Japan faced a paralyzing triple disaster: a massive
earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdowns that forced 470,000 people to
evacuate froni more than 80 towns, villages, and cities. My colleagues and 1
investigated how communities in the hardest-hit areas reacted to these shocks,
and found that social networks—the horizontal and vertical ties that connect us
to others—are our most important defense against disasters" As he observed,
"In these programs local residents work alongside civil society organizations
to help strengthen connections, build networks of reciprocity, and think about
the needs of the area. Rather than waiting for assistance from the government,
these areas are creating their own plans for mitigating future crisesThe
conclusion was unmistakable. As Aldrich surmised,'While physical infrastructure
is important for mitigating disaster, communities should also invest time and
effort in building social ties!'
As these findings illustrate, resilience is not simply a task for city government. It
requires the entire community's participation. Imagine Dubuque's CalI to Action
captures this spi/itp+rfecdKdeUaringthat^|LishopedLhatyoup/i||heedthis
CaIl to Action. It is your responsibility to develop the action steps, create the
strategies for success, be inclusive in your efforts, and make your community
sustainable and resilient.These are your ideas and you have the responsibility to
participate in moving theni forward'
Citizens can best participate in these efforts through a neighborhood focus,
working together on public projects with fellow residents and building the
critical social ties that bind strong communities together.
Recommeodadoo:|mp|ementaNeighborhood-Based Resilience System
The team recommends that Dubuque create a citywide structure of
neighborhoods through which citizens can actively work on key resilience
issues and around which aggregated neighborhood efforts might be integrated
in a citywide system. This will require standing up a series of neighborhood
groups and organizations where none currently exist, or providing support to
existing organizations to help them focus on participation in the eflort. The
team would like to stress the importance of having informal process rules tied to
neighborhood groups. Lessons learned from other communities have
demonstrated that forcing formal rules upon such neighborhood structures –
such as elections and Roberts Rules of Order – often lead to them becoming
another layer of government bureaucracy, rather than a hub for citizen activity.
Ideally, these groups should serve a couple of core purposes. First, to effectively
convene neighbors and operate a networked communications system within
neighborhoods that can function at the block level and ensure that residents
are informed. Secondly, to bring neighbors together and mobilize them for
volunteer efforts within the neighborhood and across neighborhoods to build
community and social ties. In some systems, a series of block captains are
identified to engage neighbors at the micro level and integrate those efforts
in an efficient system of communication and engagement. Some communities
form Resilience Ambassador programs, identifying neighborhood volunteers
for specific training and skill -building that can then be employed in their
communities. For instance, in El Paso the program "offers an opportunity for
volunteers to be trained in specific sustainability skills related to water and
energy reduction. With the guidance of subject -matter experts, these skilled
volunteers will then conduct mini -retrofits for local El Paso businesses."The
city can fulfill an important coordination and capacity -building role with
neighborhood groups, responding to locally identified need with appropriate
resources and training to build neighborhood capacity where itis appropriate.
These roles can be fulfilled through a Neighborhood College model or similar
existing programming the city already provides. Programming can be delivered
through existing neighborhood resource centers, the multicultural family center,
and other trusted civic organizations. Public resources can be more effectively
targeted to a variety of needs that respond to neighborhood priorities and
goals. This effort will require enhanced levels of trust and communication
from the start – both between city staff and neighborhood volunteers, and
among residents within and across neighborhoods. To identify neighborhood
resilience priorities, new lines of communication between city government and
neighborhoods, and leadership and collaboration within neighborhoods need
to be created and fostered. However, what may seem a challenge initially will
become a community asset as communication systems are developed, tested,
refined and mobilized over time.
Recommendation: Implement a Neighborhood -Based Indicators Initiative
The adage"what gets measured gets done" has taken on greater meaning in the
age of GIS data and neighborhood indicators. The Community Health Needs
Assessment captured the existing challenge well, noting that,"Without data at
every level, we cannot accurately identify where problems are — and where we
most need solutions. Data are crucial in making good decisions — particularly
when it comes to informing policies, which can help, or thwart, the well-being
of kids and families on a broad scale. Without clear evidence, our decisions and
solutions can be well -intended but completely ineffective. Investing in programs
and practices proven not to work wastes dollars and stands to undermine
19
the potential of children and youth in neighborhoods across the country."
Both data collection and data sharing were identified as barriers to more
effective decision-making in Dubuque. With this challenge in mind, the team
recommends that the community create a neighborhood indicators coalition.
There are a plethora of great examples of indicator initiatives from communities
across the country. We recommend reviewing the National Neighborhood
Indicators Partnership model and its resources as a starting point for local
efforts. The NNIP describes itself as"a collaboration between the Urban Institute
and local organizations that connect people with neighborhood data. We
tackle challenges in education, health, housing, economic opportunity, and
public safety. The NNIP Model, the partnership, and work in conjunction with
affiliated organizations are described below. Begun in 1996 as a peer network
of local data intermediaries, NNIP was formed by six local organizations that a
saw a need for neighborhood -level data to inform local decisionmaking. These
founding organizations believed that by democratizing information, they could
give residents and community organizations a stronger voice in improving their
neighborhoods."
For more information, contact
Neighborhood Development
Specialist
Jerelyn O'Connor at
563.559.4326 or
oconnor€sucityo[dubuyue.org
The Power of Neighborhood Resilience:The Broadmoor Story
The Broadmoor neighborhood in New Orleans illustrates the difference that
strong neighborhood networks make to community resilience. In the aftermath
of Hurricane Katrina, the entire city of New Orleans was hobbled. A series of
failed city recovery planning efforts failed, and much ofthe civic energy and
trust was exhausted by these processes. Public resources to implement the
plans never materialized. Planning fatigue and civic frustration set in, and
residents began to disengage from city efforts. Many observers later described
the series of processes as "death by planning." In the absence of effective
local government leadership ofa public process, citizens began collaborating
with each other at the neighborhood scale. As one observer commented
about patchwork recovery across the city, "much of what is happening now
is in spite of government, not because of government."A fiscal crisis crippled
city government and left it paralyzed to act. Mayor Ray Nagin was convicted
on corruption charges.The best public participation efforts carry citizen
engagement and community aspirations over into collective action that can
build momentum for implementation. In the Broadmoor neighborhood, the
initial impetus was a suggestion by urban planners in one top-down recovery
plan that their neighborhood not be redeveloped after the storm, but be
turned into green space instead. The green dots over their neighborhood on
the plan's map represented an existential threat to Broad moor's residents, and
a challenge to neighborhood resilience. Citizens turned their neighborhood
into a true cause, with prevalent signs that read,'Broadmoor Lives: Save the
Neighborhood." The Broadmoor Neighborhood Improvement Association
(BIA) rallied residents to join a neighborhood revitalization crusade.The
neighborhood made plain the urgency in their message with a salient call to
participate: "In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the time for action is now.
It is imperative that we unite as one to rebuild a stronger Broadmoor; not one
of us can do it alone! As a result, citizens led and implemented a multi -faceted
campaign that started with a neighborhood -based recovery masterplan
which outlined the values ofthe neighborhood and the goals for recovery.
The resulting effort leveraged over 13,000 volunteers and over 300,000 hours
in service. The neighborhood formed its own community development
corporation, and leveraged over $40 million in resources to restore historic
housing stock, the Andrew H. Wilson Charter School, and the Rosa F. Keller
Library and Community Center. Residents successfully lobbied the Louisiana
legislature for a bill to designate Broadmoor as a "Neighborhood Improvement
District"Over the first seven years, the effort led to the recovery of 85% of
Broadmoor residential properties — in an area where 100% of properties suffered
between 6 and 10 feet of flooding following Hurricane Katrina. Underpinning
the entire effort was a commitment to public participation in every step of the
process.The contrast with other city neighborhoods that did not organize early
on was clear in the outcomes that were realized. LaToya Cantrell, one of the local
neighborhood leaders of the effort, was just elected as the city's first female
Mayor.
20
BROAD MOOR
THE HEART
OF NEW ORLEANS
How Neighborhood Initiatives build Civic Infra structu re: The Seattle Model
During the 1990s, Seattle became a hotbed of civic activity through its
Department of Neighborhoods, which helped facilitate planning processes
involving over 30,000 residents and nourished over 400 community -driven
projects each year with a Neighborhood Matching Fund. Neighborhood
residents provided 50 percent of the funding as well as volunteer time for each
project. During its history, the Neighborhood Matching Fund has awarded more
than $49 million to more than 4,000 projects throughout Seattle, generated an
additional $72 million in private investment. More importantly, the program
engaged more than 86,000 volunteers who donated over 574,000 hours to the
improvement of neighborhoods. During this initiative, one study reported that
43 percent of the city's adults volunteered regularly in the community and 62
percent participated in at least one neighborhood group as a result of these
efforts.
An Integrated Model: The DC Experience
Washington, D.C. presents a case that demonstrates how a citywide network
of neighborhoods can be introduced to change civic culture and lead
transformation efforts. In the early 2000s, Washington, DC began a renaissance
when Mayor Anthony Williams created the"Neighborhood Action"program.
First, the District created a system of 37 Advisory Neighborhood Commissions
(ANCs). The ANCs were developed to advise and collaborate with government
on policies and programs that affect neighborhoods, including those that
involve traffic, parking, recreation, street improvements, liquor licenses, zoning,
economic development, police protection, sanitation, trash collection, and the
District's annual budget. The city explained the development of this system of
ANCs as follows:
The intent of the legislation that created ANCs was to ensure the DC
government had input from an advisory board made up of residents of the
neighborhoods directly affected by government action. The ANCs present
their positions and recommendations on issues to various District government
agencies, the Executive Branch, and the DC Council. Secondly, the mayor sought
assistance from AmericaSpeaks, a national non-profit organization, to develop
an innovative program called Neighborhood Action. It consisted of a two-year
management cycle that integrated strategic planning, budgeting, performance
contracts and a public score card. The centerpiece of this initiative was a series
of bi-annual Citizen Summits that drew 3,000 residents to review strategic plans
for the city in a New England -style town hall meeting. Strategic Neighborhood
Action Plans [SNAPS] were created by citizens across the city, and annual
citizen summits drew thousands of participants to set citywide priorities. After
incorporating summit feedback and action items from Strategic Neighborhood
Action Plans (SNAPS), the citywide plan was revised and then shared again.
21
Additional input was used to finalize the plan, which then became the basis for
the city budget and performance contracts with city leaders. A public scorecard
system was developed to hold government accountable for implementation of
the plan.
During the first six years of the initiative, Neighborhood Action held three
Citizen Summits involving thousands and one Youth Summit involving 1,400
youth. In addition, follow-up meetings and forums and ongoing neighborhood -
based planning processes involved hundreds of local residents across the city.
During this period, Neighborhood Action engaged more than 12,000 people in
setting the city's priorities. As Mayor Williams said,"It's an inspiration to see so
many District residents come together working towards a common goal." The
process fundamentally altered the relationship between local government and
residents, and leveraged new civic energies through a network of unofficial
processes in neighborhoods across the city.
The results are unmistakable. Between 2000 and 2015, the city's population
grew by approximately 100,000 people, reversing the downward trend
in population that had occurred for 50 years. The process took hold in
neighborhood revitalization efforts that are transforming the city. The Anacostia
Waterfront Initiative is a good example of this dynamic. It was conceived as a
30 -year, $10 billion collaboration involving DC & 19 regional and federal agency
partners. Today, one finds several
transformative projects that have emerged from this effort. Southwest
Washington was once home to a working class African-American community,
but in the 1950s it became the first major urban renewal project in America
and 99 percent ofthe existing urban fabric was demolished, displacing over
23,000 residents in a top-down, undemocratic act.Today, developer PN
Hoffman is building The Wharf, a $2 billion mixed-use project. The NewYork
Times describes it as the "most ambitious plan to date to correct what is now
regarded as an egregious error imposed on the city by people then thought to
be visionary planners. When completed, the project will encompass 3.2 million
square feet on 25 acres of land. It will also use 50 acres of water, with three new
public piers. There will be a 6,000 -seat concert hall, several hotels and office
buildings, rental apartments, condos, restaurants and shops, public plazas
and parks."The developer describes it as a `magnificent opportunity to undo
the urban renewal legacy of the past and recreate the Southwest Waterfront
as a great world-class destination." The project is carrying forward some of
the ideals embedded in the planning process. "The Wharf is setting a new
standard of community participation in real estate development in the District
ofColumbia.This includes building relationships with government agencies
and community stakeholders, innovative local hiring initiatives, and financial
support"By 2016, the project had procured approximately $134 million in goods
and services from DC Certified Business Enterprise (CBE) firms. Over 200 local
residents had been hired in the construction process.The project is providing
much-needed affordable housing as well.The Wharf includes a 30 per cent
requirement for affordable housing, a requirement that 35 per cent of all retail
goods have to come from small, local businesses, and that 25 per cent ofthe
retail establishments must be owned by local businesses. As City Councilman
Charles Allen stated, "I'm very proud of the work ofThe Wharf and its partners
to not only meet, but to far exceed, the goals for connecting District residents
with good jobs, business opportunities, and affordable housing. The success of
this effort demonstrates what's possible when the local business community,
nonprofit organizations, and the District government workto bring talented
workers together with new opportunities. It's the right way to grow a stronger
District economy for all." The Wharf builds upon the success of the nearby
Yards project, which has incorporated public access to the waterfront, mixed
use development, and important public space while achieving sustainability
goals for the neighborhood. As one local blog noted, "The Wharf and TheYards
could become examples for waterfront redevelopment that take into account
and perfectly match residential, business, and ecologic concerns while also
paying attention to the historic roots of the neighborhood." The nearby 11th
Street Bridge project is setting even more ambitious transformational goals.
Its planning process has already involved over 200 meetings. It includes an
Equity Task Force built into its strategy. It is setting a new precedent for future
development in the area, encapsulated in the following exploration: 'Why
shouldn't we as a community have an economic and housing preservation plan
every time there is a development, and do it simultaneously to make sure that
the development doesn't push people out?"
22
The Wharf Development Washington, DC
Ofin Studios Conceptual Design for the 11 Street Bridge Park
AA
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23
Applying Intentional Approaches to Neighborhood Resilience: San
Francisco's Model
Communities everywhere are applying neighborhood strategies to incorporate
resilience into city plans, including San Francisco, Vancouver, and Los Angeles.
San Francisco's Neighborhood Empowerment Network provides a good model.
As local organizers describe it,"In 2007, an alliance of residents, neighborhood
and merchant associations, nonprofits and faith—based organizations,
foundations and academic institutions was created around a simple mission,
empowering the neighborhoods of San Francisco with the capacity to
steward themselves to a resilient condition. The alliance assumed the name
"Neighborhood Empowerment Network" (NEN), and over these past years it
has leveraged the immense resources and expertise within its ranks to create
a ground breaking suite of tools resources and methodologies to advance
resilience at the community level with a bottom up grassroots approach"
The core component of the NEN is the Empowered Communities Program's
Neighborhood HUB initiative, which "supports neighborhoods as they create a
local network, a HUB, of organizations that advances the community's overall
preparedness on a daily basis, as well as provides essential support to residents
as they recover from a stressful event of any size"The structure of the initiative
is explained as follows: "At the core of this planning process is a cross sector
cohort of neighborhood stakeholder organizations who guide their resilience
investments and advocate for their program needs. During times of stress, this
cohort leverages a decision making platform called an ECP Neighborhood
HUB that uses the Incident Command System (ICS) to identify the needs of the
community and respond in a culturally competent manner"
Investing in Healthy Neighborhoods
Based upon the findings of the Community Health Needs Assessment
report, there is strong demand for Dubuque to make investments in healthy
neighborhoods as a high priority moving forward. As the Dubuque County
Health Assessment found, 2996 of adults in Dubuque County are obese,
compared to 2696 just four years ago. It further noted that, "In the secondary
research, we noted that County Health Rankings and Community Commons
both pointed to seriously high rates of adult obesity, and comparisons with past
periods show that the problem is growing. "Obesity/overweight"also ranked
as "the most important health concern"concern for 6396 of all respondents
in the community survey we conducted. We also noted many other health
concerns in the secondary research that are associated with obesity and weight
management."There are several key factors contributing to this outcome.
Geography and Food Access
For instance, Dubuque's Walkscore is only a 40 on a scale of 1 to 100, which
means that most residents are car dependent and cannot walk to locations
where basic needs can be met. This has implications when specific geography,
poverty, car ownership rates, and access to public transportation are applied.
In 2016, according to the health needs assessment, approximately 1 out of
every 6 Dubuque households, or 1296-1796 were"food insecure"meaning
members had anxiety over food suffidency or shortage of food at least once
a year. More importantly, "23.9596 of Dubuque County residents live in census
tracts designated as food deserts (low access to a large grocery store or
supermarket), compared to 22.71 96for Iowa."The team found that both access
to fresh and healthy food, and cost, were issues for Dubuque residents. As
the comprehensive plan noted, "Ensuring that Dubuque residents can get to
supermarkets and other outlets with suffident variety and reasonable costs is an
issue not only for social service providers, but also for transit and transportation
planning. Furthermore, itis an important basis for planning where investments
in community gardens, such as those recently supported by Sustainable
Dubuque Community Grants, should be prioritized."
Building upon Good Work
As the Comprehensive plan noted, "Ironically, Iowa residents ranked dead last
in the United States in the'2015 State of American Well Being'on fruit and
vegetable consumption. Despite this statistic, which leaves ample room for
improvement, an interest in and support for local, healthy food is also one of
the most important"uniters"for all Dubuque residents. Increased access to
healthy food options is a specific area of improvement in the STAR Community
Rating process, and brings together a variety of economic development,
recreation, public health, and equity goals. Dubuque Eats Well and the Dubuque
Community Garden Coalition are both doing excellent work to promote healthy
24
Living in Dubuque
40 Dubuque is a Car -Dependent city
Most errands require a car.
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ocal food choices. Continuing to enhance in-dty food production, community
resiliency, and eliminating food deserts are all vital to Dubuque's future."Here
as in other areas, it is not as if there isn't good work being done. !Oust needs
additional support and connections to complementary activities to create
synergies and build momentum for great impact. For instance, the Imagine
Dubuque process highlighted Convivium Urban Farm, noting that it is"an
exciting concept just getting going that will bring people together through
food production, preparation, education and enjoyment. They will offer Basses
in food preparation, food preservation, and growing. Part of their greenhouse
will be used for hydroponic production and vertical farming. The hydroponic
farming hopes to add fish in 4-5 years."Similarly,"The Dubuque Community
Garden Coalition inventories the variety of community gardens in Dubuque,
connects growers with food pantries, and provides resources for how to start a
new community garden in your neighborhood."The EPA has recently released a
Local Foods, Local Places Toolkit that maybe helpful as a template for efforts in
Dubuque.
Promoting a Connected, Active Community
The Community Health Impact Assessment found that "20.50% of Dubuque
County adults (20+) self-report no leisure -time physical activity, compared to
2434% for lows."In combination with rising obesity rates and access issues with
healthy food, this reality may seem daunting to change. However, it is clearly
a manmade condition rather than a naturally occurring development. For
instance, Madison, Wisconsin is only 90 minutes from Dubuque, but is nationally
recognized as aTopTen Healthy Community. As the Livability website describes
it, "The city's low percentage of uninsured residents, high ratio of doctors,
vast recreational options and highly active citizens make it one of the Top 10
Healthiest Cities."Eight area farmers markets provide access to healthy foods
like fruits and vegetables, while many residents in Madison grow their own
produce during summer months. Most restaurants in Madison, especially those
around downtown, cater to requests for vegetarian meals and provide healthy
options when eating out. Madison also ranked as one of the 2013 Best Foodie
Cities. Downtown and several Madison neighborhoods contain well-maintained
networks of sidewalks and bike paths that make walking or biking to places
a good option. Community centers, fitness clubs and specialized outdoor
experiences provide even more ways to burn calories and stay in shape."
Dubuque's health issues are manmade, and the solutions are local. However,
many of the necessary investments in infrastructure - both physical and social -
will address a multitude of priority city issues at the same time, and the strategic
decisions about where to invest to best connect the community and promote
active and healthy lifestyles will pay large community dividends over time.
Shaping the Built Environment for Health with Long-term Investments
Health and resilience occur within a context, and the city's built environment
shapes well-being. A recent study in the UK found that, "As cities get more and
more compact, they become more walkable. In denser residential areas they are
better designed and more attractive destinations. We are less dependent on our
cars and use public transport more," he said. Sarkar, assistant professor at UHK,
said policies and planning needed to catch up with the data, rather than relying
on urban myths about what makes cities work. The study showed that areas of
suburban sprawl with about 18 homes per hectare - such as poorly designed
neighbourhoods near motorways, where driving is the only option - had the
greatest rates of obesity and lowest rates of exercise. Suburban areas with
few homes - often privileged communities with big gardens and open spaces
- were healthier than this but lagged behind the most densely populated
areas in inner cities. Walking made the biggest difference, said Sarkar, and
social interaction and physical activity thrived best in compact communities."
Connectivity and walkability have also been associated with better cognitive
function in older adults in recent studies. Having more compact development,
mixed-use, and enhanced walkability and bikeability are key components
25
that would serve Dubuque well in future land use decisions, and all three are
promoted in the new Comprehensive Plan. Adding pedestrian and bike facilities
and greater connectivity in strategic areas of importance throughout the city
will pay huge long-term public health dividends. Developing more compact
housing patterns and mixed-use, complete neighborhoods will similarly benefit
residents in exponentially positive ways.
The Millennial Challenge
In the long-term, building a more compact, connected and diverse community
benefits Dubuque's stated goal to attract more young families to town as well.
In 2013, a University of Iowa study found that "Demographic data shows that
Dubuque's population remained stagnant from 2000 to 2010, while surrounding
Dubuque County towns saw significant population growth. In addition,
while the percentage of family households in Dubuque County increased,
the percentage of family households in the city of Dubuque declined by 3%
during the same time period. This suggests that households, particularly family
households, are choosing to live outside of the city of Dubuque. In addition,
within the city of Dubuque, vacancy rates vary among block groups, ranging
from 0% to 21.5%. This suggests that there is a higher demand for certain
neighborhoods."
The Dubuque Comprehensive plan expresses a desire to attract more young
families. As the plan states, "despite the well-publicized Millennial preference
for urban locations, an estimated 26% express a preference for small town or
rural living. Cities, like Dubuque, can differentiate their local or regional benefits
versus how they compare nationally. The City's commitment to inclusiveness is
one of these benefits.The Gty's employers and economic development partners
can emphasize how to motivate and engage the City's future workforce."The
key characteristic of the built environment that attracts young professionals
is not urban per se, but urbanism: compact communities that are connected,
diverse and walkable. As the plan states, "For Millennials, key criteria for
relocation decisions include welcoming of new ideas and residents; acceptance
of diversity; opportunities for civic engagement; and amenities for a young
adult lifestyle"The overall assessment from Imagine Dubuque was optimistic,
noting that "Dubuque's housing market remains poised for growth, given recent
market improvements in sales numbers and prices. The bases of all future
housing growth, specifically the City's employment growth and new household
formation, will be critical components of housing product absorption and guide
what will be built where"The plan observed that,"With indications of positive
housing demand in Dubuque, understanding how Dubuque can strengthen
its appeal to families with children will remain important for livability and the
City's viability in terms of population growth1It also noted that a focus group
with high school students found that "one of the things preventing them from
wanting to move back to Dubuque after college was the lack of hip housing.
26
They noted that they wanted more apartments downtown and housing options
similar to the Millwork District,"a mixed-use, compact, walkable example that is
centrally located.
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Creating a Food Culture and Health Movement
It is clear from the Imagine Dubuque process that resident demand for
healthy food initiatives is significant. Some of the ideas for healthy food access
generated through that process included the following:
• Workplace wellness programs
• Integrating healthy food at hospital facilities
• More community gardening opportunities
• Increase transit access to, and hours of, the Farmers' Market
• Partnerships with Iowa farmers
• Incentives and economic support for local healthy food outlets, especially in
Food Desert areas
The team endorses all of the above ideas, and would suggest the following
additional items:
• Leverage key community spaces in activities that promote food production
or distribution
• Provide guidance on opportunities and reg ulations for food -related
entrepreneurial activities
• Experiment with moving the farmers market to the Bee Branch, and tie in
other service agency/non-profit offerings on health
Consider creating an incentive package to lure a major grocer to existing
food deserts using tax abatement, publicly assembled land, and related
assets.
Dubuque has many of the key resources at its disposal to catalyze real change in
this area, including civic organizations with active volunteers, private businesses,
and the public sector's investments.
27
28
Grow A Neighborhood: The Newport, VT Experience
In 2009, Newport, Vermont held a similar public process. At the time, the town
of 5,000 had double-digit unemployment and multiple food deserts. One of the
outcomes of the process was the recommendation to pilot a community garden
since public demand for one was high and the city had no public gardens at the
time.The first community garden was created from a donated parking lot in the
downtown, with 32 organizational partners and volunteers. From that garden
came the Grow a Neighborhood program, in which local families with garden
plots could learn about urban agriculture and healthy food. The garden began
to supply local restaurants with fresh produce. Six new restaurants opened
in the downtown, and the idea spread.Today, Newport has a community
farming initiative with gardens all over town. It has a regional food center in the
downtown that features fresh produce and food products from the surrounding
region and has become a magnet for locals and visitors. It has an annual food
fest that celebrates local food and restaurants. Fresh local food has become a
part of the community's brand over time and is something they promote to
visitors as a reason to come to Newport. Dubuque is capable of similar cultural
changes over time with a focused investment and coordinated efforts across
town to put in place the infrastructure and programming support for residents
to engage with food.
Place Matters to Resilience — And the Bee Branch Is a Significant
Opportunity
The team believes that the Bee Branch greenway project represents the
placemaking opportunity of a lifetime for Dubuque. The Bee Branch is already
a great community accomplishment, but it can be so much more than a flood
mitigation project and recreational greenway. As the Comprehensive plan
declares,"Find or create shared spaces. City capital and operating resources
can help identify or create spaces for events that are important to social and
cultural vibrancy, as well as additional events or programming oriented towards
the"uniting"elements such as healthy food and active recreation."The Bee
Branch represents the most spectacular piece of real estate to serve a uniting
purpose in the entire community, and it is located in the most strategically
important location needed to have an impact. It is a spectacular piece of real
estate that can become a community hub that generates economic, social and
environmental benefits for the entire community — and especially for some of
the most vulnerable neighborhoods in Dubuque. If the city were going to make
a strategic investment in placemaking to have a transformative impact on some
of its most vulnerable populations, it could not have picked a better location
than the upper Bee Branch.
Therefore, the way the space is programmed and used is critically important
to realizing its full potential. In addition, the adjacent edges and key crossings
along the upper Bee Branch, and their existing real estate, become crucial
opportunities that the city must seize upon to define the future of the area.
Where possible, ground floors of facing buildings should serve public uses that
help activate the area. The key crossings and intersections along the upper
Bee Branch represent enormously important placemaking opportunities for
Dubuque. Without a vision for this area, it will likely become nothing more
than a greenway - although unchecked real estate speculation could create
gentrification pressure on the surrounding neighborhoods.The importance of
the Bee Branch's role in the future vibrancy and resilience of the surrounding
neighborhoods cannot be understated. A public vision for the Bee Branch
district, and strategic investments in public -serving uses, community facilities,
and uses that help to activate the park will serve as an important guard against
gentrification pressure. Identifying properties that are important to future
public use now - so that when they undergo transitions or become available
the city can act - would be proactive. For instance, the foundry at one northern
terminus of the park could someday serve an important public function and
direct role in activating the park should it cease current operations. Elsewhere
along the greenway there are properties already publicly owned or available
that could be well-suited for public uses that help activate the park.
Some of the surrounding neighborhoods are home to the most vulnerable
communities in Dubuque.They are also subject to negative perceptions from
the surrounding community at large regarding crime, public safety, and housing
conditions. As Imagine Dubuque pointed out,"individual perceptions of safety
in public settings and neighborhoods vary from resident to resident. Responses
in the Quick Poll and public workshop indicated that public safety perceptions,
particularly regarding Downtown Dubuque, often limit the willingness of
residents to attend cultural activities or businesses that are otherwise appealing
to them."They are the most diverse neighborhoods in the entire region.The
Bee Branch represents a transformative opportunity to draw residents to these
neighborhoods to build community connections and aid in the integration of
the neighborhoods in the surrounding community fabric.There are already
some important positive public uses along the Upper Bee Branch, including
a school, the Multicultural Family Center, a women's center, and other public
facilities. Furthermore, the school system in particular noted recent positive
experiences with co -location and programming that allows them to make
important adult resources available through the school.
29
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30
Recommendation: Experiment with Moving the Farmers Market to the Bee
Branch
Given the importance of the Upper Bee Branch, the team recommends
experimenting with moving the Farmers Market from downtown to the Bee
Branch. This recommendation was received with some level of controversy
during the team's community presentation, but there are several good reasons
to consider in this rationale:
Moving the Farmers Market to the Bee Branch makes an immediate and
tangible impact where the need is the greatest. It will bring fresh food
access to an existing food desert regularly, and represents a critically
important step in addressing long-standing food access issues in the
surrounding community - particularly for those who otherwise face
transportation challenges that impact food access;
Having the Farmers Market in the Bee Branch will draw residents from
across the city to the most vulnerable neighborhoods, and encourage
social interaction and community building that is currently not taking place
effectively across diverse groups. It may help change negative perceptions
of the neighborhoods, and it may also have a real impact on actual crime
statistics and housing values as improving perceptions fuel changing
realities. It will establish one of the best community events to produce social
capital in one of the most important locations in the city, and begin to build
a more integrated community identity.
Having the Farmers Market in the Bee Branch will help activate the space
and catalyze other complementary uses of the park that contribute to
community ownership and community building among diverse residents. It
will kickstart placemaking efforts and fuel the life of the park.
Imagine Dubuque made an important statement regarding the Farmers Market,
noting that it"was consistently cited as the single most open and welcoming
place and activity for all residents, and the place where everyone regardless of
neighborhood, race, or age felt both welcome and safe"The Farmers'Market
is clearly a powerful tool not only to create access to fresh healthy food, but
to build community and social capital. In this respect, the Upper Bee Branch
is therefore the ideal location for it. The idea of moving the Farmers Market
to the Bee Branch is supported by the values expressed in Imagine Dubuque.
Regarding community events, the Imagine Dubuque plan observed that
"The need to expand these types of alternatives, as well as looking at ways to
expand offerings geographically and "come to the neighborhoods"was stressed
throughout the public engagement process:'
The reasons cited against moving the Farmers Market included its history and
heritage downtown as one of the oldest farmers markets in the country, the
potential negative impact on downtown businesses, and the perceived lack
of parking along the Bee Branch. The team believes these challenges can be
overcome, and that the benefits of the move far outweigh the potential costs.
Some interim suggestions could include potentially creating a second farmers
market if there is a business case and it presents a viable option, or alternating
locations between downtown and the Bee Branch. However, the team believes
the ideal location for the market is the Bee Branch given the impact it would
have there and its ability to begin to impact a host of priority issues that are
currently unaddressed in that area.
Recommendation: Create an Incentive Package to Lure a Grocer to Existing
Food Deserts
In the long-term, the City should seek to address its existing food deserts by
creating a sufficient incentive package to attract a major grocer to key areas.
The incentive package could include property or sa les tax abatement or
exemption, advantageous leasing of existing public property, public support
for construction costs, or other contributions. In order to address existing
food deserts, there is no substitute for locating grocers in areas of need. The
realization of this recommendation may take sometime, as the property needs
of major grocers and the right incentive package could require some work.
However, the City's ability to move forward on health and resilience outcomes
is compromised by existing food deserts in areas with significant vulnerable
populations, so this action will have dramatic benefits to the community.
By tying employment requirements to the incentive package, the City can
encourage economic development and job creation for local neighborhood
residents as well.
Recommendation: Locate the Desired Community Center Along the Upper
Bee Branch
The Imagine Dubuque process identified a further use that could be
incorporated into the Bee Branch district: a Wellness Center. As the plan notes,"A
community wellness center, either municipally sponsored or in partnership with
area recreation agencies and health providers, is notable for its importance to
equity and community cohesion, as highlighted in many recent national studies
and publications. Many, such as the Lawndale Community Center in Chicago,
have integrated health education and health care into the same physical facility
with recreation and multi-purpose space. The creation of an affordable wellness
and recreation center that takes a holistic approach to health needs and
preferences would be a sig nificant"win"for Dubuque."
31
The Santa Fe Railyard Redevelopment
32
The plan mentioned conducting a feasibility assessment to determine the
potential to create a holistic concept for the center so that it may serve as a
"focal point for bringing together and serving an evolving and increasingly
diverse city."Again, the Bee Branch would seem to be the ideal location for
this facility, and would complement it and extend its use into the community
physically while being located in an accessible way for residents of highest need.
The plan further noted that there is a need for a "re -working of the city's aging
recreation system with an eye to enhancing active living, equity, and health,
particularly around cardiovascular health. This re -working also should provide
flexible spaces that can meet the needs of all ages and specific ethnic and
cultural groups who otherwise do not participate fully in civic life" It is hard to
identify such goals for the facility without also then recognizing the value and
importance of locating it along the Bee Branch.
Community Placemaking: The Santa Fe Railyard Redevelopment Example
Santa Fe provides an important example of how community placemaking
efforts might apply to the Bee Branch area. In Santa Fe, a 1990s conventional
development slated for a former rail yard was rejected by the community
in favor of a bold experiment that achieved an authentic community place
celebrated by locals and recognized as a national model for placemaking. As
one local leader noted,"It was an experiment in deep democracy which resulted
in the Community Plan, approved by the City Council in 1997 as a conceptual
Master Plan."As a local account notes,"The Santa Fe Railyard Redevelopment is
a testament to the power of community involvement in the realization of great
civic spaces. When the 40 -acre rail yard was threatened by private development
in the early 1990s, the city mobilized to purchase and protect the historic site
for a local vision. With involvement from over 6,000 community members, a
master plan was developed and implemented over the next decade through
a unique partnership between a non-profit community corporation and the
Trust for Public Land. Today, Santa Fe enjoys a vibrant, multi -use civic space
that preserves the industrial heritage of the rail line while strengthening the
city's future. The historic rail depot now serves as the northern terminus of New
Mexico's commuter rail, and the Railyard's cultural and commercial amenities
draw new visitors every year:' In 2008, the Santa Fe Railyard had a grand
re -opening with 20,000 citizens celebrating their new civic space. Locals in
Santa Fe now refer to the area as the community's"family room"as opposed to
the central square downtown (the"living room"), a place where local residents
gather to experience community. It is a remarkable achievement. The district
now includes a public plaza, a farmers market pavilion, an award-winning public
park, art studios and galleries, a youth center governed by a youth board, and
related community uses and small scale retail. The weekly farmers market brings
thousands of residents to see their neighbors, build community, and buy and
sell produce.
Transportation
Transportation
Thus far, Dubuque's main focus around resilience and equity has primarily
focused on flood mitigation, with some efforts around access to healthy food.
However, like other communities, many residents in the most vulnerable
communities also lack access to a vehicle. Dubuquers with a household
income below $24,999 comprise the majority of transit riders, and most
of these households do not agree that the transit system 15 quaIity7 Given
the opportunities presented by the Bee Branch project, the city has an
opportunity to explore other mobility options for people who do not have
access to a vehicle. To begin, its Transit Advisory Board could expand its
mission beyond The Jule transit system to make recommendations about
other forms of mobility, such as carsharing.This Board could provide a forum
to elevate transportation in the City's resilience and equity work. The following
recommendations are intended to encourage the city to think of its streets
as underused public spaces that it could leverage to meet its goals around
community cohesion, public health, safety, and resilience.
Build Partnerships
Many of the team's recommendations encouraged the city to use the Bee Branch
as a once-in-a-lifetime placemaking opportunity.The definition of placemaking
per The Project for Public Spaces:
"As both an overarching idea and a hands-on approach for improving a
neighborhood, city, or region, Placemaking inspires people to collectively
reimagine and reinvent public spaces as the heart of every community.
Strengthening the connection between people and the places they share,
Placemaking refers to a collaborative process by which we can shape our public
realm in order to maximize shared value. More than just promoting better
urban design, Placemaking facilitates creative patterns of use, paying particular
attention to the physical, cultural, and social identities that define a place and
support its ongoing evolution.
With community-based participation at its center, an effective Placemaking
process capitalizes on a local community's assets, inspiration, and potential,
and it results in the creation of quality public spaces that contribute to people's
health, happiness, and well being."
Placemaking's success centers on the strength of the connection between
the neighborhood and its public spaces. Partnerships with established
institutions are an excellent place to begin. However, integral to this work is an
acknowledgement of the underlying issues that exclude people of color from
public spaces.These issues include concerns about personal safety, profiling by
law enforcement, and a distrust of government.
34
One of the most obvious partners around the Bee Branch is Audubon
Elementary School. At one point, the city identified safety and mobility
improvements for students who walk and bike to school. Since then, the
city built the Bee Branch project, which will fundamentally change the ways
people experience and access theirtravel to and from school. Safe Routes to
School is a federal and state grant program that invests in programmatic and
capital improvements around schools.The city could use Safe Routes to School
as a catalyst to convene parents, students, administrators, and neighbors to
envision other ways to extend the Bee Branch investment to other streets in the
neighborhood through elements like improved crosswalks, wider sidewalks,
upgraded transit shelters, and new traffic signals.
Crens aw an. Florence, Be ore an • A ter Great Streets C a enge
Photo: Los Angeles Department of Transportation
35
Flip the Outreach Model
Traditionally, the city starts outreach to a neighborhood once it has either
received funding for a specific project or already selected a project from a list of
capital improvements. However, a model worth exploring is to give micro -grants
to neighborhoods to implement their proposals. In this model, the city:
• Identifies flexible funds that can be distributed through a call for projects
• Conducts proactive outreach to neighborhoods, institutions, community-based
organizations, business groups, and non -profits to raise awareness about the
opportunity and provide assistance with project development
• Works with an advisory board to create an application that clearly identifies
criteria for selection, deliverables, evaluation, and milestones
• Serves as a technical advisor and assists navigating needed approvals
• Celebrates and supports events and projects
This model can be useful when working to bring together non-traditional
partners and empower neighborhoods.The funds can range from very small
($2,000-$5,000) to much larger and can support pop-up events that last for a
day or more permanent small capital projects.
For a case study of this model, see Los Angeles' Great Streets Challenge (http://
lagreatstreets.org/2016-challenge-winners/).
Use Streets to Create Spaces for Play and Community -Building
Temporarily converting a street to a public space for an event like a Farmer's
Market or outdoor movie is a familiar idea deployed in many cities and towns.
Play Street is an emerging version of this same idea where a street transforms
into a playground fora day or a weekend. Recently, the City received a $508,000
grant from the Outdoor Legacy Recreational Partnership Program to upgrade
Comiskey Park,a four -acre park which is one of the only open spaces available
to the Washington and North End neighborhoods. This investment presents a
unique opportunity to engage in authentic outreach with residents. As a way to
build momentum, the City could create a recurring Play Street event to create
opportunities for physical activity and playas well as gather input into the plans
for the park.
Seattle, San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles have all implemented Play
Street of various sizes. The cost of the program is generally low ($7,000-$15,000
per event) but requires outreach and programming as well as support with
street closures.
Ciclavia, Heart of Los Angeles
Photo: Los Angeles Department ofTransportation
36
Play Streets, Los Angeles
Photo: Los Angeles Department of Transportation
Community
Change
Facing the Future as a Diverse, Integrated Community
Dubuque faces a central truth in its current aspirations: to attract millennials
is to become far more diverse than the city has ever been before. For one,
studies show that millennials are attracted to diverse communities that offer a
rich cultural landscape. Secondly, millennials themselves are the most diverse
demographic in American history. As the Brookings Institution has noted,"racial
diversity will be the most defining and impactful characteristic of the millennial
generation" As a group, they already account for over a quarter of the entire
minority population of the United States. Their generation will play a key role
in America's transition to`majority minority" nation, and therefore, as Brookings
observes,"Their ability to assimilate, advocate, and become accepted will be
key to the successful transition to a more racially diverse nation"While Iowa's
millennial generation is less than the country's as a whole, there is no escaping
the fact that for the city to thrive in the future it will need to become more
diverse - and more integrated.
Confronting the Past & Present: We Want to Change
It was clear to the team that how the Dubuque community addresses race
relations and builds relationships across race and class will be a central and
determining factor in the future success of the city. Racial tension has both a
clear history and serves as an ongoing concern in Dubuque. In the late 1980s
and early 1990s, Dubuque earned an infamous reputation for racial conflict and
the unfortunate moniker,"The Selma of the North"A series of cross-burnings,
racial violence, and tensions arising from city plans to attract more minority
residents to town were not only local realities but become a national defining
story about the city to outsiders.As an African-American resident told the
Washington Post in the 1990s,`The message was/Don't go to Dubuque"'
Tensions were fed by poor communication and misperceptions. As a New
York Times article reported back in 1991,"merely the idea of an influx of new
black residents has enraged some residents. Some young whites express fears
of black newcomers taking their jobs. Others speak of crime and mayhem
coming to Dubuque. People are afraid, as one resident put it, that"we won't
be able to open our windows, sit on our porches, stroll in our neighborhoods"
One rumor has it that"busloads of gang members from Chicago with guns"
will be deposited right on Main Streetf Last year, after another cross burning,
racial tensions were brought to the forefront, and Dubuque again attracted
unfortunate national headlines. As USA Today reported,"The city had feared this
day for more than 20 years. Suddenly, one of the bleakest chapters in Dubuque's
past — a spate of cross burnings and racial strife 25 years ago — snapped back
into sharp, uglyfocus"The story went on to note the disparities across race
and class in Dubuque, and the prevailing community perceptions that color
relationships."There remains a palpable bogeyman paranoia about an influx of
blacks and other minorities from Chicago"As one headline surmised,"Cross
38
burnings in Dubuque show city still in turmoil over race"KCRG-TV9 reported in
May 2017 that"Some black people say they feel unwelcome living in Dubuque"
These are startlingly similar messages from 25 years ago. If you close your eyes,
much of the narrative sounds the same.The conversation out in the community
hasn't shifted as city leaders might have hoped it would over time. And it has
repercussions. It has become not only a local challenge, but a defining narrative
that colors perceptions for people outside Dubuque to form before even visiting
the city. As USA Today reported,"When Katrina Farren -Eller Googled "Dubuque"
before she and her husband moved here less than two years ago, she stumbled
on an account of the cross burnings"Therefore, changing the narrative (by
changing the reality) is critically important to future community growth and
success.
The Goal of the Whole: Changing the Narrative
To achieve an authentic equitable community, we must realize that the city is
the people.The city isa network of relationships. Dubuque faces an historic
opportunity to redefine the prevailing narrative on race, build new relationships
across the community, and achieve something that has eluded previous efforts.
As the great civic leader John W. Gardner once noted, the community goal is
"wholeness incorporating diversity" He called it the"transcendent task for our
generation" and given national demographic changes it has never been more
important to the future of our communities and our nation.
Beginning Honest and Important Conversations
Imagine Dubuque isa great step forward in elevating minority voices in
the community conversation and is something the community can build
upon. As the plan reported, the process made efforts to ensure that minority
representation was a priority and that the whole community was heard by
utilizing a variety of public participation techniques and communicating
that citizens'voices were valuable and influential to the plan. This kind of
conversation has also begun with Inclusive Dubuque, and should be expanded.
In 2001, Fayetteville, North Carolina won an All -America City Award for
addressing racial tensions with community -wide Study Circle processes that
produced an agenda for change.
Moving beyond institutional Cooperation to Civic Engagement and Social
Capital
The challenge now is to move beyond the plan to engage citizens across race,
class, and neighborhoods in collective community work that buHds social
capitaiThe/pare roles for the entire community to play in building a new
narrative on race relations. It s clear to the team that acM nstitutions and
agencies are already engaged in several initiatives here, including the Pnclusive
Dubuque effort, the Citys Equity Outreach Coordinator, the EquityTool Kit,
the"I'rn a Dubuquer"campaign, and related work. n addition, the city could
consder creatng a Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Diversity and inclusion
officers are charged with helping to create an atmosphere where all people
feel welcome and valuedTo that end, the challenge of taday's diversity and
inclusion officer is to ensure that residents of all backgrounds and beliefs are
able to come together for the common purpose of seeing the City of Dubuque
succeed. Additionally, the diversity and inclusion officer is essential in helpinq
to position the City of Dubuque as number one n the eyes of potentiaP new
resdents and employees. Business growth resulting from diversty and incIuson
sets great cities apart from their competition. If diversity and inclusion is
the vehicle by which many cites are attempting to reach and surpass theft
workplace, marketplace, and livability goals, then the diversity and inclusion
officer has a key role to play in coordinating efforts.
A cursory review of related local initiatives reveals some positive institutional
activity, including the foliowing:
Economic Wellbeing: Northeast Iowa Community Colleqe and Greater
Dubuque Development Corporation have implemented an outreach
strategy to enqage minority community members in Opportunity Dubuque
Busness:The Dubuque Chamber of Commerce has created a Mnohty
Business Councfl with a mission to guide minority and underrepresented
business owners toward local resources.
Education:The Dubuque Community School District is disagqregating data
regardng Grade -Level Reading, attendance and graduaUon rates to help
mprove outcomes for all students,
^
Higher Education: Loras College has impPemented cultural competency
training as part of the Honors Student Program currculum.
^
Government:The City of Dubuque has joined the Governrnent Alflance on
Race and Equity and s implementing a racial equty toolkit,
39
Government:The City of Dubuque has joned the Government Alliance on
Race and Equity and s implementing a racial equty toolkit,
Health: Mercy Medical Center, Crescent Community Health Center,
Dubuques Human Rights Department, and others are increasng healthcare
access for the Marshallese population through seIfempowerment and
creative responses
The Importance of Place and Social Capital
During the community process, there was signficant dkcussion about crime
and perceptions of safety in the city. According to a recent survey, 72.1 2% of
respondents agreed that Dubuque isa safe place to|ive,and8Il0%felt their
neighborhood was a safe place to live. It was also revealed that individuals who
have Iived in Dubuque 11 years or more had more concern over safety issues
than those who have Iived n Dubuque 10 years or less. Participants during the
process spoke of the gaps in perceptions around safety versus the reality that
Dubuque is a safe community to live in. This evidence speaks to the need for an
intentional community effort to build social capital, and reinforces some of the
earlier recommendations in this report around place and neighborhoods. For
instance, neighborhood safety and resilience are enhanced when social capital
improves because the foliowing conditions apply:
People Know their neighbors, and ookout for each other and provide
informal assistance to one another, building social trust.
If people know each other, they are more likely to check in regularly on each
othe(s health, safety and wefl-being.
They are more likely to share knowledge of events, as well as resources, and
to participate in greater numbers.
Additionally, these factors have Iong-term beneflts for community resilience
and stability as residents become more likely to establish themselves
permanently in supportive communities.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation has defined a mantra for child well-being around
this concept, paraphrased as children do wePi when families do well, and families
succeed when they live n vibrant and supportive neighborhoods. There are
many examples that Dubuque can pulP from to address social captaP in and
across its neighborhoods, and implementing many of the recommendations in
this report wiII serve positive ends on social capital production as well.
In 2001, the Winburn neighborhood in Lexington, Kentucky conducted a social
capital study of its community to gain insights about crime and public safety
issues. The community makeup included 50 percent African-American families,
and 50 percent Latino immigrant families. The social capital study included both
surveys and focus groups. It quickly revealed a stark gap. Social capital levels
within the African-American community and within the Latino community were
healthy, but social capital across these demographic groups was non-existent.
The lack of communication led to misperceptions about crime, with both groups
pointing the figure at the neighbors. Focus groups with youth revealed that
they lacked opportunities for productive activities. Once these results were
revealed, the community came together to work on communications and social
capital, and moved toward building a youth center for kids in the neighborhood.
Similar deliberate efforts to build social capital across groups in the Dubuque
community would pay huge dividends. Changing perceptions over time
will require increased exposure to and relationships with people of diverse
backgrounds and viewpoints.
The built environment has an important role to play in building social capital
as well, particularly the Bee Branch opportunity.The location of the Bee
Branch, and the valuable asset that it represents to the entire community, can
be leveraged to bring Dubuquers from other neighborhoods in contact with
residents of the Washington and North End communities. The Bee Branch would
represent a critical opportunity to become a central community hub no matter
where it was located, but the fact that it is the new spine for communities
that have traditionally faced isolation from the larger community is a trans-
formational opportunity for Dubuque. It can become the central place where
residents of diverse backgrounds meet and interact, and can serve an important
role in changing perceptions and building community relationships that carry
over to other public work. How the Bee Branch is programmed and utilized is
critically important, as it will take intentional efforts to bring together the whole
community there.
Inclusivity is tied to Resilience
Achieving a more inclusive community will lead to greater capacity for
resilience. From an institutional standpoint, one can think of the"force
multiplier" effect of combined and integrated capacities and resources among
civic organizations, the public sector, and private sector. Inclusive civic
engagement will lead to higher levels of social capital that the community can
draw upon in times of need to achieve greater levels of resilience.
40
Jo importa de dondeeSes,
estamos contentos que
as
nuestro vecino.
No matter where yare
from, we're gladyou
our neighbor.
42
Dubuque: A Civic Leader
The city of Dubuque is well-positioned for success because it has repeatedly
demonstrated tremendous civic capacity and the ability to build new
cross -sector partnerships to achieve results. Community engagement in
Dubuque is exemplary, and is improving. The Imagine Dubuque process is
Exhibit A in the community's demonstration of its civic mindset: approximately
6,000 citizens representing diverse demographics and backgrounds
participated in the process. As Imagine Dubuque observed,"Participants in
Imagine Dubuque noted the breadth of participation in different community
empowerment programs and partnerships, such as the Multicultural Family
Center and Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque.The City and
immediate region are home to 40 to 50 non -profits active in community
empowerment and knowledge, including five orders of Catholic sisters"
Regarding its ability to build cross -sector partnerships, for a jurisdiction its size,
there is not a better jurisdiction in the nation than Dubuque. The outcomes
of this work are on display throughout the community in the form of national
recognition, major built projects, and a together we can civic attitude.The city
has a multitude of assets it can mobilize for this effort. Among its key assets it
has Inclusive Dubuque and the Equity Team, its planners and health specialists,
sustainability officers, the resilience commission, the Community Foundation's
neighborhood work, and a host of other agencies and non-profit community
organizations with human talent it can call upon. Applying this civic capacity
to the operationalization of a neighborhood system will no doubt achieve
dramatic success over time.
A Call to Action
The Design and Resiliency Team was brought to Dubuque to focus principally
on climate adaptation, resilience, health and equity. The preceding report
has touched on these and other related community components, such as
transportation and neighborhoods. It is important to emphasize that these
issues intersect in important ways. Achieving a more integrated and inclusive
community naturally holds benefits for health and resilience outcomes. Imagine
Dubuque cites an important quote from John Nolen in the 1936 Comprehensive
Plan: "Isolated solutions are only a hand to mouth method. Action must be taken
not only at the right time, but the solutions of problems must meet the whole
needs of the present day, function jointly, and look to the provision of good
conditions for tomorrow. The City Plan views the city in this light, never as a
passive organism, but as one which is constantly changing."This quote has never
been more relevant.
As the Dubuque application to the DART team reflected, "In the 1980s,
the city had double-digit unemployment, an exodus of residents from the
community and the state, struggling downtown businesses, and disconnected
neighborhoods. However, community leaders from the private and public
sectors came together in four community visioning efforts over the past 20 years
that helped change Dubuque. Since 2006, the City Council has made becoming
a more sustainable, resilient community their Top Priority. The Sustainable
Dubuque vision, as identified by a community task force and endorsed by
the Council, is that "Dubuque is a viable, livable and equitable community."
Dubuque has proven it has the capacity for success. It will take the whole
communities effort moving forward, but the team is optimistic that Dubuque
can achieve great things. As Imagine Dubuque declared, "Imagine Dubuque is
a Call to Action, not just a 20 -year plan! Itis hoped that you will heed this Call to
Action. It is your responsibility to develop the action steps, create the strategies
for success, be inclusive in your efforts, and make your community sustainable
and resilient. These are your ideas and you have the responsibility to participate
in moving them forward."It is the team's hope that the citizens of Dubuque will
wholeheartedly adopt this mantra for themselves and their neighbors.
43
THE DESIGN AND RESILIENCYTEAM
Seleta Reynolds - Team Leader
Seleta Reynolds is General Manager of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation
(LADOT) appointed by the Administration of Mayor Eric Garcetti. Ms. Reynolds is
responsible for implementing Great Streets for Los Angeles, a plan to reduce traffic
fatalities, double the number of people riding bikes, and expand access to integrated
transportation choices for Angelinos and the region.
Ms. Reynold s has over 18years of transportati on experienceth roug hout the United States.
She has advised transportation technology companies like WalkScore, contributed to
the state-of-the-practiceas an Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals Board
Member, mentored young professionals through Women's Transportation Seminar,
and nurtured research on Transportation Research Board committees. Ms. Reynolds
serves as the President of the National Association for City Transportation Officials. The
Department of Transportation leads transportation planning, design, construction,
maintenance and operations within the City of Los Angeles. We work together and
partner with other agencies to improve safe, accessible transportation services and
infrastructure in the city and region.
James Featherstone
James G. Featherstone became President and CEO of the Los Angeles Homeland
Security Advisory Council (HSAC) in March 2016 after serving the City of Los Angeles for
thirty years. At HSAC, Mr. Featherstone continues to strengthen the Greater Los Angeles
region's crisis readiness and resilience by convening and connecting the private, public,
and civic sectors through collaborative partnerships and strategic alliances, emerging
technology, and research. A native of Washington Q.C. and a veteran of the United States
Navy, Mr. Featherstone began his public service to the City of Los Angeles in 1986 with
the Los Angeles Fire Department, and was laterappointed Interim Fire Chief (2013-2014).
In 2007, Mr. Featherstone was appointed General Manager of the Los Angeles
Emergency Management Department, where he led a successful departmental
reorganization and restructured the City's emergency management protocols and
processes. Mr. Featherstone holds a Master's Degree in Leadership from the University
of Southern California, a Bachelor's Degree in Public Administration from Union Institute
and University, and is an alumnus of the Executive Leaders Program at the Naval
Postgraduate School's Center for Homeland Defense and Security. He is a Senior Fellow
in the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government's Program on Crisis Leadership.
Mr. Featherstone is the current Chair of the National Advisory Council for the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).needed to address resilience challenges.
45
Antoine Bryant, NOMA, Assoc. AIA, APA
Antoine Bryant, NOMA, Assoc. AIA, APA, isathought leader and community engagement
expert, with 20 years of experience in the design, development, engagement and
empowerment of underserved communities across the United States. Working in
the public, non-profit, and private arenas, Antoine is well -versed in the demanding
language of government regulationsand standards, having successfully completed and
received funding for HUD 202, 811, and 203K projects, utilized CDBG and HOME funds,
as well as Low -Income Housing Tax Credit projects. As Executive Director of Row House
Community Development Corporation (Row House CDC), he managed and directed the
construction of the award-winning Row House Duplexes, the newest quality affordable
housing in Houston's Third Ward in over 15 years. Affiliated with the nationally -re-
nowned Project Row Houses, his work in affordable housing acquisition, rehabilitation,
development and construction has been recognized throughout the country.
As Principal of The Bryant Design Group, Antoine has focused hisefforts on effective and
inclusive processes of design and development. As such, a key building block in said
development is the empowerment of the local populace, which has led his efforts to
engage communities. He has worked in South Dal las and Fair Parkwith Brent Brown and
the noted building communities Workshop (bc WORKSHOP); South Side Day Nursery in
St. Louis, MO; Neighborhood Recovery CDC in Houston's Third Ward; the Community
Design Research Center of the University of Houston; and the Rice Building Workshop,
among many others. Antoine has utilized his background in planning and design to
ensure each of these populations plays an integral role in the further development
of their communities. This process allows for the implementation of vernacular
architectural cues, as well as the opportunity to employ newer building techniques and
systems - all with the input of the actual historical inhabitants of these neighborhoods.
Recently, Antoine led the engagement and capacity -building efforts in Houston's Third
Ward and Old Spanish Trail/South Union neighborhoods, as a key part of METRO's
Public Affairs team, starting with construction and eventual opening of the Light Rail
Southeast Line. He also was the engagement lead for the Livable Centers Study for
Independence Heights and the Greater Northside Management District in Houston.
These studies are part of a national initiative focused on the holistic development of
underserved communities. In the summer of 2016, he was the public engagement
lead for APA's nationally recognized Community Planning Action Teams (CPAT) first
international study, in Belize City, Belize. In all of Antoine's work, intentional efforts are
made at empowering indigenous populations who have undergone various levels of
disenfranchisement, and ensuring that they have a deliberate voice in the improvement
and growth of their community. As a result of these efforts, significant infrastructure
enhancements have occurred, as well as new partnerships between these populations,
elected officials, and City and regional staff. Locally, Antoine plays a tremendous role in
the growth of the City, as a member of the City of Houston Planning Commission.
46
Kristin Baja
Kristin is serving as USDN's first Climate Resilience Officer. In this role, she is
responsible for helping cities identify strategic ways to advance climate resilience
planning and implementation,and building their capacityto take action.Shespends
the majority of her time supporting cities and facilitating deeper relationships
between local governments and other stakeholders in the Mid -Atlantic region. Her
work will help to accelerate the implementation of on -the -ground action, while
advancing learning, collaboration, and momentum around climate resilience.
Kristin will also be supporting the broader USDN network and leading strategic
initiatives to help USDN members tackle key challenges and advance their climate
resHience work in alignment with GHG reduction, equity, and other goals.
Deyra Schwartz
Devra Schwartz is Vice President of Operations at the Los Angeles Homeland
Security Advisory Council (HSAC) where she leads programmatic efforts designed
to enhance the resihence and preparedness of the Los Angeles region. Most
noteworthy, Devra launched SALUS,HSAC's crisis and event management platform,
which makes powerful GIS tools available to first responders. Devra previously
served as the Assistant Chief of Emergency Management and Administration at
Loyola Marymount University and as the Emergency Management Coordinator at
the City of Los Angeles Emergency Management Department. Devra created the
award-winning City of Los Angeles Emergency Management Internship Program.
Since 2000, she developed comprehensive emergency management programs,
composed emergency response and recovery plans, conducted exercises, created
effective emergency preparedness and cyber safety campaigns, wrote multi-year
organization strategic plans, and delivered hundreds of education sessions. To
that end, Devra has extensive experience consulting for and collaborating with
all levels of government, non-profit organizations, private sector companies, K -l2
schools, and higher education institutions. She was a featured speaker at the City
of Los Angeles TedX in 2015. Devra earned her Bachelor of Arts in Legal Studies
at the University of California, Berkeley, and her Master of Science in Strategic
Planning for Critical Infrastructure at the University of Washington, Seattle. She
earned certificates from the Harvard Executive Leadership Program in Leadership
in Crisis for Higher Education, Texas A & M Education and Extension Services in
Enhanced Incident Command, and Wellesley Higher Education Resource Services
in Leadership.
47
Joel Mills
Joel Mills is Senior Director of the American lnstitute of Architects' Center for
Communities by Design. The Center is a leading provider of pro bono technical
assistance and democratic design for community success. lts programs have
catalyzed billions of dollars in sustainable development across the United
States, helping to create some of the most vibrant places in America today. The
Center's design assistance process has been recognized with numerous awards
and has been replicated and adapted across the world. Joel's 24 -year career has
been focused on strengthening civic capacity and civic institutions around the
world. He has delivered lectures, presentations and interactive workshops for
audiences across 5 continents. In the United States, Joel has worked with over 100
communities, leading participatory processes that facilitated community -gener-
ated strategies for success. This work has helped millions of people participate in
democratic processes, visioning efforts, and community planning initiatives. In the
United States, Joel has worked with over 100 communities, leading participatory
processes that facilitated community -generated strategies for success. His past
work has been featured in over 1,000 media stories. He has served on numerous
expert working groups, boards, juries, and panels focused on civic discourse
and participation, sustainability, and design. He is a member of the Academy of
Urbanism, International Association of Facilitators, and International Association
for Public Participation.
Savannah Tarpey
Savannah is a Sustainability and Communities by Design Specialist at the American
Institute of Architects. In this role, she works with staff and member experts to
advance national Disaster Assistance and Resilience programs. Prior to joining
AIA she worked with clean energy, environmental policy, and climate change
initiatives. As a LEED Green Associate, she has experience with green and healthy
building and materials. She received a degree in Environmental Science from
Baylor University in 2016.