Headlines
WH backs $50B for infrastructure
Obama vs. Obama on infrastructure spending
Gloves up! It’s stimulus, round 2
Water woes a product of inadequate funding for infrastructure
A message from Copenhagen: Walkable urbanism
WH seeks federal oversight of rail-transit safety
How would a national infrastructure bank work?
News summaries
WH backs $50B for infrastructure
President Obama today threw his weight behind significant new
transportation spending as part of a broad jobs bill taking shape in
Congress, with $50 billion slated for transit, roads, bridges, and
ports and the administration endorsing "merit-based infrastructure
investment that leverages federal dollars."
Streetsblog
Obama vs. Obama on infrastructure spending
If anyone needs further proof of President Obama's deliberative,
thinking-out-loud approach to big decisions, consider his announcement
in today's speech on the economy that he is in favor of major
additional infrastructure spending. Just five days ago, at his big "jobs summit,"
Obama strolled into a break out session on infrastructure spending -- and
spoke about why he was skeptical that infrastructure spending was a good
tool for a short-term jobs boost. Big infrastructure projects take too long to
get going, he said, while less ambitious, faster-acting projects, like road
repavings, offered little in the way of long-term payoff or transformation
of the country's transportation system. That same conundrum has been
visible in the infrastructure spending included in the $787 billion stimulus
passed in February, he said...That did not sound like someone interested in
investing billions more in infrastructure. Turns out, though, that was just
Obama at his Socratic best, laying out the argument against the option he
was strongly considering. Because today, he announced that the White House
is coming out in favor of more infrastructure spending on roads, bridges, water
systems and other projects, after all.
Policy and Politics
Gloves up! It’s stimulus, round 2
Most news today revolves around President Barack Obama’s stimulus
speech on Tuesday and the announcement of a new jobs bill (or a second
stimulus, stimulus 2.0, or 3.0, depending on who you read). In what
Washington Post columnist
Harold Meyerson calls Obama’s “FDR Moment,”
the president offered up a series of tax breaks, the redirection of
leftover TARP funds, and the doubling-down of federal investment in
infrastructure. Meyerson writes that the Obama administration has come
to the same understanding that FDR did – that propping up banks isn’t
enough to fix the economy, as long as the banks look out at the economy
and see nothing but risk. All that does is leave the government as the
de facto banker once the private sector has abandoned small businesses,
even though those same banks have received massive public assistance.
ProPublica
Water woes a product of inadequate funding for infrastructure
“Today’s New York Times
article on violations of the Safe Drinking
Water Act underscores the profound challenges facing municipalities
around the country in delivering safe, clean water to residents. Yet,
it should not be taken as a reason to condemn the public ownership of
local water systems, nor should it erode public faith in government’s
ability to safeguard this essential resource. If anything, it
highlights a need for government to be more responsive to the water
crisis facing many municipalities across the country... “The best
approach to ensuring the integrity of our water and sewer
infrastructure would be to create a dedicated source of federal funding
to ensure that local municipalities have a consistent source of money
to maintain their water systems, thereby ensuring their ability to
provide, safe, clean, affordable water for residents. A Clean Water
Trust Fund would achieve this goal, while ensuring that local water
utilities remain publically controlled, safe from the pitfalls of risky
privatization schemes, and ultimately rendering bottled water obsolete.
Common Dreams
A message from Copenhagen: Walkable urbanism
At a panel discussion yesterday at the Copenhagen climate summit,
American policymakers and transit experts delivered a clear message:
Walkable urban development must be part of any effective plan to reduce
global greenhouse gas emissions.
Streetsblog
WH seeks federal oversight of rail-transit safety
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood unveiled on Tuesday details of
the administration's plan to take over safety regulation of the
nation's subway and light-rail systems, a proposal that would give
federal authorities the power to bring lawsuits and seek criminal
sentences.
The Washington Post
How would a national infrastructure bank work?
Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell is a good friend to infrastructure. As
the co-chair of the Building America’s Future coalition, he’s been a
staunch advocate for increased infrastructure spending as well as the
creation of a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB), a public-private
partnership agency tasked with evaluating and financing the nation’s
largest projects. The NIB has been strongly supported by the White
House, as well as many political groups and private organizations. Like
other federal banks, it would start with a modest amount of federal
money to provide secure credit at low rates, and leverage the private
funds needed for long-term investment. The governor kindly agreed to
answer our questions about the bank, and his plans for it.
The Infrastructurist
