Elana Schor
Recent Posts
Team Obama Adviser: Here’s How to Make Sustainability Mainstream
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Shelley Poticha, head of the Obama administration’s inter-agency sustainable communities push, is so new to the job that the legislation creating her office has yet to be officially approved by Congress — but she has already hit upon two goals aimed at remaking the way Americans, and their government, view local development. Shelley Poticha (Photo: […]
White House Urban Affairs Chief: Promising Words But Little Hint of a Plan
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Adolfo Carrion Jr., director of the White House’s new Office of Urban Affairs, today vowed to begin reconnecting Washington with the needs of the nation’s cities — even as he offered few tangible plans for breaking through the morass of the federal bureaucracy and effecting change in the near term. White House Urban Affairs director […]
Is a Bigger Transportation Bill — This Year — Back on the Table?
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That’s the suggestion that an anonymous "Senate aide" made to Bloomberg News this morning, recounting a possible White House change of heart as mounting job losses stoke new debate over a second stimulus bill: Administration officials have told allies in Congress that a broader transportation bill, and extensions of a homebuyer tax credit and unemployment […]
LaHood: “If You Don’t Want an Automobile, You Don’t Have to Have One”
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The White House’s effort to promote sustainable communities has prompted serious (and inadvertently humorous) hand-wringing from conservative pundits who fear the concept of livability will translate into governmental edicts on lifestyle choices. What’s the best way to counter such tactics? Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood (Photo: Zimbio.com) The administration’s approach, it seems, is to define its […]
The Dirty Secret of Coal Ash: It’s in Our Roads
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Watch CBS News Videos Online Last night’s 60 Minutes featured an eye-opening report (viewable above) on the 130 million tons of coal ash waste generated every year by the nation’s thirst for energy. The show outlined the lack of oversight over disposal of the toxic ash, which is routinely used in the most commonplace of […]
Congress’ Transport Impasse Hits States — and Not Just Their Road Funds
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When lawmakers failed on Wednesday to reach a deal on avoiding the cancellation of $8.7 billion in transportation spending authority, the consequences of Congress’ inaction weren’t immediately palpable to most voters — but the loss is sinking in on the local level. (Photo: USGS.gov) From Texas to New Jersey to Colorado, local DOT officials are […]
Killing the Myth of the ‘More Shovel-Ready’ Road Stimulus, Part II
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It has become one of the most enduring anecdotes surrounding the Obama administration’s $787 billion economic stimulus law: Democrats’ contention that White House adviser Larry Summers sliced transit aid by more than half, to $8.4 billion, out of concerns that projects were not "shovel-ready" enough. (Photo: DMI Blog) Has Summers been vindicated by the data? […]
Obama Bans Texting While Driving for Guv Workers — And There’s More
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The U.S. DOT’s distracted driving summit came to a close today with the unveiling of an executive order from President Obama that prohibits federal employees from texting behind the wheel of a government car or using a government-provided messaging device while driving any vehicle. (Photo: brainlink.org) In addition, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced plans for […]
GOP Blocks Plan to Use Bailout Fund to Preserve $8.7B in Transport Money
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A bipartisan bid to extend existing federal transportation law for three months — and tap the TARP bailout fund to avert the cancellation of $8.7 billion in contract authority — was rejected on the Senate floor last night after GOP senators insisted on using stimulus money, rather than bailout cash, to fix the problem. Was […]
Senate Passes One-Month Extension of Transport Law … For Now
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By a vote of 62-38, the Senate has passed a one-month extension of the 2005 transportation law, which was set to expire at midnight tonight and leave state DOTs without a steady source of funding for road, bridge, and transit projects. But the one-month stopgap, which was approved by the House last week, does not […]
Senate Climate Bill Released With Much Fanfare, Little Focus on Transport
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Flanked by fellow Democrats, members of the military, and a crowd hoisting signs with buzzwords like "clean energy" and "green jobs," Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and John Kerry (D-MA) today released the first draft of their legislation to curb U.S. emissions and combat climate change. Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), center, and John Kerry (D-MA), left, […]
Senate Climate Bill Leaks: The Good News and Bad News for Transport
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The Senate’s climate change legislation will finally make its debut tomorrow, courtesy of environment committee chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and foreign relations committee chairman John Kerry (D-MA). But the Washington Post has already obtained a "close-to-final" version of the bill [PDF], which provides some details but leaves unanswered the key question of how much aid […]