Elana Schor
Recent Posts
In Texas, One Newspaper Laments the Highway Lanes Not Built
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The Transportation Enhancements program, which requires states to set aside 10 percent of their federal transport money for new bicycle and pedestrian facilities, among other projects, turns 19 years old this year. But you’d almost never know it after reading Saturday’s Fort Worth Star-Telegram, in which the paper tallies — with no shortage of alarm […]
Today’s Headlines
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New York Sen. Gillibrand, facing a possible primary challenge from Ford, pushes for more transit spending in the Senate’s coming jobs bill (NYDN) Washington D.C.’s Metro system begins a new era of federal government influence with the appointment of two new board members (WaPo) Could the president and VP’s mysterious trip to Florida on Thursday […]
Obama Previews His New Budget’s Urban Policy Moves
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When it comes to re-centering the Washington bureaucracy to better accommodate cities’ needs, the first year of the Obama administration has brought its share of progress (a three-agency partnership set to spend $150 million on sustainable development) and hiccups (a White House urban affairs office with lots of talk but little action). (Photo: whitehouse via […]
Feds on New Miami HOT Lanes: Good for Transit
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Miami’s conversion of HOV lane space to new high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes as part of the federal Urban Partnership program, which also prompted New York City’s congestion pricing push, is cutting travel times for local transit and boosting use — but overall bus ridership in the corridor has stayed static, according to a new report […]
Defining the ‘Public’ in Public-Private Partnerships
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In a must-read piece for the Center for Public Integrity (CPI), Matt Lewis digs deeper into the network of cities and towns that employ D.C. transportation. He begins with a thought-provoking anecdote: A ribbon-cutting in Dubuque, IA, for IBM’s new tech center. (Photo: Gazette) Last September, city fathers in Dubuque, Iowa, lured three members of […]
Today’s Headlines
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Joel Kotkin is back, charging Obama with waging "war against suburbia" (American) Sen. Lincoln (AR) one of several Democrats backing a GOP effort to block EPA from regulating carbon emissions (The Hill) California backs away from a threat to abandon the White House auto fuel-efficiency deal if its loopholes aren’t addressed (Free Press) Lester Brown: […]
What if America’s Urban Economies Were National Ones?
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The U.S. Conference of Mayors released a report this week with some dire conclusions for the nation’s cities: Even the payroll growth that many prognosticators anticipate this year won’t make a dent in double-digit urban unemployment. Half of the 363 biggest metro areas won’t return to their pre-recession jobs levels until 2013 or beyond. (Chart: […]
How Will Obama’s Sustainability Team Spend Its $150M? A Preview
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Before the U.S. DOT gave some early clues as to how the agency would craft its new transit funding rules, deputy housing and urban development (HUD) secretary Ron Sims answered another question that’s been on the minds of transit and local-planning wonks: How will the Obama administration’s three-agency partnership for sustainable communities spend its $150 […]
U.S. DOT Previews How New Transit Rules Could Define ‘Livability’
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When the Obama administration announced an ambitious revamp of transit funding rules to, as the Transportation Secretary put it, "take livability into account," urban planners and transit advocates alike were pleased — but also uncertain. Baltimore’s rail network, with the proposed new Red Line — which could get a boost from the U.S. DOT’s livability […]
Today’s Headlines
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Oberstar urges Obama to back quick passage of his new transportation bill during a closed-door Dem meeting, to no avail — POTUS would only back general infrastructure investments (The Hill) Will Democrat’s loss of their 60-vote margin in the Senate, and its subsequent consequences for climate legislation, hamper a global agreement on emissions? Nope, says […]
A Common Thread in the Home Buyer’s Tax Credit and ‘Cash for Clunkers’
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Back in the days of "cash for clunkers," which saw the Obama administration send nearly $3 billion in taxpayer-funded rebates to boost the sagging auto industry, our Ryan Avent and several other economics wonks pointed out an inconvenient fact: Many participants in the program would have bought cars anyway, and the rebates only pulled their […]
Dodd and DeLauro Vow to Get Infrastructure Bank Done This Year
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Supporters from every corner of the transportation universe joined Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA), Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) today at a press event aimed at jumpstarting a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB), which the two Connecticut lawmakers vowed to steer to passage this year. Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA), above, founded BAF with […]