Jordan Year

Written By Cityfi

By Nicole Davessar

Building a Climate Change Response Framework with and for Seattle DOT

We at Cityfi hope you enjoyed the holidays and wish you a happy 2023. We see this year as a launchpad for new growth, innovation, and impact alongside our clients and for our firm. Channeling 2022’s momentum into 2023, a year reminiscent of basketball great Michael Jordan, our team has our sights set on an ambitious year and mantra: a Jordan Year for Cityfi. Our new year has already started off with a bang, and we look forward to partnering with you to achieve your city’s, company’s, or organization’s goals in the months ahead. Whether you have a specific engagement in mind or are curious to explore how we can work together, our door is always open, and we want to hear from you!

2023 brings new accolades for the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority (NYSERDA). Cityfi is thrilled to support two initiatives selected for Clean Transportation Prizes, a program investing in underserved communities in the state.  In partnership with EIT InnoEnergy, we are excited to support Project MOVER, an initiative establishing e-bike sharing and access in the Village of Ossining, New York. Additionally, we are pleased to advise Circuit Transit, also awarded a prize to expand its electric shuttle services in the Rockaways and Suffolk County.

This week marked the eventful National Academies of Science Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB). Cityfi joined with clients, colleagues, and friends to lead thought-provoking discussions on the zero-emission transition, guide walking tours of the Mobility Innovation District to TRB attendees, and advocate for cities’ engagement in the evolution of autonomous mobility. The Cityfi team was motivated by the conversations, initiatives, and research in which this community is engaged to propel mobility forward.

Cityfi Joins the NYSERDA-Funded Project MOVER

By Evan Costagliola

Cityfi is thrilled to announce its partnership with EIT InnoEnergy to provide project management and partnership services for Project MOVER, a three-year, $7 million e-bike access project centered in the Village of Ossining, New York and four other incubator rivertowns. Funded through NYSERDA's New York Clean Transportation Prizes, Project MOVER aims to put electric bikes in reach of every Ossining resident and visitor. Project MOVER will transform how people move and experience Ossining, learn and grow through expansion into other rivertown villages, and establish a model that can be replicated throughout New York State. Project MOVER was co-designed with the community partners and the broader public to include six elements:

  1. A public e-bike share system

  2. A low-cost lease-to-own e-bike program

  3. A network of e-bike libraries

  4. Eight miles of neighborhood greenway installation to support safe and comfortable riding for people of all ages and abilities

  5. Supportive programming

  6. An electric micromobility incubator consisting of four other Westchester County villages and towns

Cityfi Senior Associate Sarah Saltz will serve as the Project MOVER's overarching project manager and Senior Principal Evan Costagliola will serve as a strategist and advisor for EIT InnoEnergy.

Cityfi SEA-Change at Transportation Research Board

By Karina Ricks

The National Academies of Science Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) was back in force this year with the Cityfi team joining more than 10,000 other transportation thought leaders, researchers and doers.

Our activities this year focused on the continuing SEA-change in mobility already underway: Shared, Electric and/or Automated transportation. 

We kicked off the week with Partner Karina Ricks moderating a panel for the “Resilience and the Road to Recovery” workshop. Following an overview by Cityfi alum Gabe Klein, Karina pressed panelists on the challenges and opportunities of making the zero-emission transition in the most sustainable and equitable way possible - particularly leaning into zero-emission transit and equitable micromobility. The discussion highlighted the imperative for public and private partnerships and collaboration to achieve success. 

As a newly woman-owned enterprise, we were happy to join Secretary Buttigieg and the leadership staff of the U.S. Department of Transportation at the Women’s Transportation Seminar Chair’s reception and catch up with so many remarkable women moving mobility forward.

On Monday, Partners Story Bellows and Karina participated with industry, research, and public agency representatives in autonomous vehicle research being led by Cityfi Affiliate Sarah Kaufmann of New York University’s Rudin Center and sponsored by Nuro. We are excited to soon see the final product of that work.

Cityfi Senior Principal Brandon Pollak and Karina brought walking tours to the TRB by offering conference goers the opportunity to visit the DC Mobility Innovation District for brisk morning walks Tuesday or Wednesday. More than a dozen participants from around the country and internationally came to learn more about the purpose-driven innovation initiative and share their thoughts and experiences.

Tuesday evening was focused on the future of freight at a reception hosted by Cavnue, Cityfi and ITS America. FMCSA Administrator Robin Hutchinson and Department of Energy Deputy Assistant Secretary Michael Berube joined Jim Mullen (Mullen Consulting) at a panel moderated by ITSA’s Kristin White. The panel highlighted the opportunity of CleanTech and highly automated systems to help grow the workforce, improve safety, reduce disparate negative impacts and untangle supply chain knots.

Wednesday, collaborator Nico Larco of Urbanism Next and Karina participated in planning this summer’s Automated Road Transportation Symposium (ARTS). They especially spoke to the need to engage cities in both the technology and use cases to ensure they add to the greater public good.

It was a whirlwind of meetings and hugs with old friends and new collaborators. We are energized for the great work ahead. 

How Innovation Districts Can Revitalize U.S. Economies

By Mahreen Alam

In the past, the landscape of innovation has been dominated by booming economic cities such as Silicon Valley, New York City, Boston, and other suburban corridors of spatially isolated university campuses. Researchers and policymakers agree that this approach creates technological solutions to real world problems in a vacuum, without taking into account the impact these technologies have on the quality of life for everyday people. 

In Summer 2022, President Biden signed into law the CHIPS and Science Act which authorized $10 billion in federal funds over five years to invest in efforts to jump-start the economy in twenty metropolitan areas, known as “Innovation Districts,” across the United States. These regions will serve as centers for research, development, entrepreneurship, and manufacturing of new key technologies. Brookings Institute describes innovation districts as geographic areas where leading-edge anchor institutions and companies cluster and connect with start-ups, business incubators and accelerators. Innovation districts aim to create new products through the convergence of different sectors - for example, information technology combining with education or bioscience. They can also focus on food, media, and culture. If orchestrated correctly, innovation districts should transform the local economies from industrial-based to technology-driven regions and create new jobs along the way. 

While the legislation has provided broad eligibility criteria, it has not given specific guidance for selecting the location of the Innovation Districts. The Economic Development Administration (EDA) within the Department of Commerce is charged with implementing the program and is in the process of drawing up the terms and timelines on which regions will compete for Hubs status and funding. The Economic Innovation Group (EIG) released an analysis in which they rank the top locations for these districts and their methodology behind choosing these regions. Based on EIG analyses the top contenders include Greenville, South Carolina; Provo, Utah; Tucson, Arizona; Toledo, Ohio; and Greensboro, North Carolina. Congress took a major step in December when it included the initial $500 million for the innovation hubs in the 2023 Omnibus Appropriations Bill. While additional appropriations will be needed in future years, this funding is an important step to starting the design and planning of the program. 

Cityfi Charged Up for February Webinar

By Nicole Davessar

Cityfi could not be more excited to continue driving full speed ahead toward electrification and sustainable transportation outcomes for communities in 2023. In February, we are excited to convene cross-sector experts for a rich discussion on uptime for electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, and you are invited to join us for this special webinar! Our panelists are best positioned to elucidate the importance of uptime as they possess deep subject matter knowledge from spaces across the EV ecosystem: field maintenance and operations, utilities, municipalities, and data provision. Have you ever wondered why achieving high uptime is challenging? Do you want to learn about cross-industry solutions for maximizing charging reliability? We will help you unpack these and other critical questions, so be on the lookout for more details about the webinar soon. 

What We’re Reading

Cityfi
Previous

Mayors and Pickleball
Next

Candy Canes and E-Bike Lanes Aglow