Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Streetsblog Capitol Hill

Who Lost Out in the Bid for a Piece of TIGER Transportation Stimulus?

By Elana Schor | Feb 17, 2010 | 3 Comments

With more than $56 billion in applications submitted for just $1.5 billion in available funding, the Obama administration’s TIGER grants — short for Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery — was one of the stimulus law’s most hotly contested programs. So it’s no surprise that the process resulted in its share of losers as well as […]

Freight Rail, Streetcars Are Tops in Stimulus’ TIGER Chase

By Elana Schor | Feb 17, 2010 | 6 Comments

The Obama administration today announced the winners of $1.5 billion stimulus in highly competitive stimulus grants under the program known as Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER. Southeastern and midwestern freight rail projects were the day’s biggest winners, with urban streetcar projects also making a big splash. Freight rail in Chicago, where the CREATE […]

Study: Even in Car-Centric Atlanta, Transport Reform is Health Reform

By Elana Schor | Feb 16, 2010 | 1 Comment

The connection between transportation reform — an emphasis on land use that makes biking and walking as viable as auto travel for routine trips — and health reform is one that’s not often made, despite the best efforts of the Obama administration. Even in traffic-choked Atlanta, denser residential neighborhoods had positive health effects. (Photo: MSNBC) […]

NYC’s Moynihan Station is the First Big TIGER Stimulus Winner

By Elana Schor | Feb 16, 2010 | 12 Comments

New York City’s Moynihan Station project has snagged $83 million in grant money from the stimulus law’s Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) announced today. A rendering of the proposed Moynihan Station. (Photo: The Real Deal) The grant makes the intended successor to the current Penn Station, a longstanding priority […]

GM and Chrysler Get 6,666% Return on 2009 Lobbying Investment

By Elana Schor | Feb 12, 2010 | No Comments

Washington lobbyists’ 2009 spending levels became final today, and the Detroit Free Press was the first to tally auto industry data from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. The big news: Car makers, suppliers, and dealers spent 10 percent less last year on federal influence than they did in 2008, despite reaping big returns from […]

White House: Transit Inflation Outstripping Private Transportation

By Elana Schor | Feb 12, 2010 | No Comments

The White House’s annual economic report, in addition to its endorsement of inter-city rail and transit spending, also sheds more light on transit inflation, which is often reported anecdotally in the many cities struggling with fare hikes but rarely put in statistical terms by economists. (Photo: UPI) In the appendices of its report, the president’s […]

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