Elana Schor
Recent Posts
The White House Transportation Budget: What’s In Line for the Axe?
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In a fiscal year 2011 budget that proposes to increase spending on several core transportation priorities, the White House also aims to eliminate a few infrastructure programs that may prove popular with lawmakers. Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) used the STP program to earmark millions of dollars for road projects in his home state, including the […]
White House Budget Includes $530M for Local Sustainability, $1B for HSR
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The White House officially unveiled its $3.8 trillion budget for the fiscal year 2011 this morning, seeking $1 billion to continue its high-speed rail investment and $530 million for the transportation leg of the Obama administration’s inter-agency push to promote sustainable planning on the local level. White House budget chief Peter Orszag challenged employees to […]
Pols, Media, Celebrate High Speed Rail Grant for California
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In California, the state’s bid for a federal high-speed rail network with top speeds exceeding 200 miles per hour is often called the "only true" bullet train proposal on the table — and the Obama administration agreed today, bestowing $2.34 billion on the Golden State to the delight of lawmakers and rail advocates. Graphic: CHSRC […]
The Urbanist Case Against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
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The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), an advocacy group working to reform local development practices, is seizing on House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank’s (D-MA) recent call for a new system of housing finance to replace government-controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Mixed-use developments, such as Atlanta’s Atlantic Station (above), are often incompatible […]
A Bike-Ped State of the Union: 9.6% of Trips, 1.2% of Federal Funding
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(editor’s note – Local coverage tomorrow. – DN) With the nation still digesting the State of the Union address, the Alliance for Biking & Walking picked an auspicious day to release their biennial Benchmarking report on America’s bike-ped behavior. The group’s bottom-line conclusion: federal transportation funding continues to disproportionately shortchange travelers powered by their own […]
Feds Give $2.5 Billion for CA High Speed Rail. FL, WI and the Northwest Also Winners
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Click here for a larger version. Image: USDOT (Editor’s note: Get some local coverage at LAist and The Source.) In his State of the Union address last night, President Obama hinted at what many in the transportation world have anticipated all week: Florida’s emergence as a winner in the race for a share of the […]
Senate Weighs $14B for Roads, $7.5B for Transit in Jobs Bill
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Senate Democrats huddled behind closed doors this afternoon to assess their options for a new job-creation bill, with one option of around $80 billion making headlines even second-ranked leader Dick Durbin (D-IL) warned that no details are set in stone. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) (Photo: STLToday) But as Democrats debate the wisdom of […]
Democrats Learning to Love the I-Word — But Will Words Bring Action?
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The White House is re-centering its message around economic and fiscal concerns ahead of tomorrow’s State of the Union address, with a new package of job-creation measures expected to vault to the top of the agenda and a three-year "spending freeze" pitched to deficit-wary conservative Democrats. Infrastructure: Democrats love it. But how will they fund […]
In the White House’s High-Speed Rail Chase, a First Likely Winner: Florida
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The prediction that Rep. John Mica (R-FL) backtracked on last month is starting to come true: President Obama is headed for Florida on Thursday, and the state is all but certain that he’s coming with $2.6 billion in federal stimulus funding for a new high-speed rail link between Tampa and Orlando. (Photo: FL High-Speed Rail) […]
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 […]
Feds. Look at Miami HOT Lanes and See Good News 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 […]
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 […]