Using A Green Roadmap 

The American Heritage® Dictionary defines High Road as:

NOUN:  1a. The easiest or surest path or course: the high road to happiness.   b. The most positive, diplomatic, or ethical course.

The American Legislative Issue Campaign Exchange (ALICE) defines High Road as high-wage, low-waste, worker-friendly, publicly-accountable economic development.  

Smart economic development takes long-term planning, and the High Road means setting a sustainable course.  By thinking about the future, we can create business models that will survive the next decade and the next generation.  To ignore the adverse implications on our environment in exchange for short term profit gain is a low road path to ruin.

Taking the High Road factors smart land use, smart transportation, and smart energy policy into our economic decisions.  It includes reducing sprawl by emphasizing downtown and inner ring development and renovation over ex-urban development of park, farm and forest land. This approach uses existing buildings instead of letting them turn into board-ups. It rewards environmentally-conscious firms that use green technologies and produce goods in sustainable ways.

There are over 3000 counties and 20,000 municipalities across the country, and when you add townships, school districts and other special districts, the United States has over 87,000 local units of government.

Whether it’s a City in Maine or Mississippi, our mayors, county executives, city council and county board leaders are all struggling with similar problems.  ALICE is committed to finding the best progressive practices in worker friendly high road economic development and putting them all in one place. 

The box to your right houses the best practices for taking the high road to green economic development in our urban centers.

There is a choice. Start the journey.

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