Where is the Federal Land Use Policy?

To whom it may concern,

Land use policy and control is an inherently localized manner. But the federal government has had an increasing impact on local decision through court cases, tax structures, and transportation projects. Land use and transportation are inextricable interconnected, and the Federal Highway Reauthorization Acts always impact the way cities across the country continue to develop. While local leadership in many parts of the country has successfully guided these funds into mass transportation and alternatives to the automobile, the vast majority of the funds go to the expansion of our highways. And it is these subsidized highways more than any other factors that induce sprawl in America. Sprawl that devastates our farmland, our environment, our social network, and out economic efficiency. We should shift subsidies from single family homes to transit oriented development. Or even reward those who live without a car. If this administration wants to seriously alter the economy and our carbon footprint, then they will have to change the way that this country develops. We must focus on mass transportation, infill development and the revitalization of our existing infrastructure. You see these connections being made in places like California where greenhouse gas emissions laws are starting to encourage more compact, walkable neighborhoods and open space preservation. How will the federal government support and influence the private sector to shift into this new focus on the city?

GUNNAR HAND, AICP