Elana Schor
Recent Posts
Polly Trottenberg Tapped for Senior U.S. DOT Spot
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It’s a happy Friday for transportation wonks: the White House has nominated Polly Trottenberg, executive director of Building America’s Future, as assistant secretary for policy at the federal DOT. Polly Trottenberg, tapped as assistant DOT secretary (Photo: NewTalk) Trottenberg’s ascension signals that the Obama administration will make transit a serious priority and encourage a more […]
Sotomayor’s Eminent Domain Stance: What Does It Mean for Cities?
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Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is dominating the conversation in Washington as analysts begin to dig into her past rulings. And while she has yet to weigh in on abortion, the judge has spoken loud and clear on an issue of interest to livable streets advocates: eminent domain. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor (Photo: Gothamist) […]
Obama Keeps Roads Out of National Forests — For Now
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Paved roads are a fact of life in most of the country, but should they be permitted in the nation’s protected forest areas? The Obama administration says no, as Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack affirmed today in a directive that prohibits road construction in nearly 50 million acres of forest land. Alaska’s Copper River Highway runs […]
Flashback: Obama Once Led Push for ‘Complete Streets’
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With Congress out of town on its Memorial Day break, the nation’s capital is a quiet place to be — but all of that will change next week, as the appearance of the House transportation bill is expected to kick off an intense battle to reshape federal policy on transit, bikes, roads and bridges. Before […]
Why Buy More Trains if You Can’t Afford to Run Them?
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Down in balmy South Florida, D-Day is approaching for riders of the the popular Tri-Rail transit system. A looming $18 million shortfall has forced the Tri-Rail board to approve a budget that slices daily service and stops all trains by 2011 — although ridership has doubled since 2005. Tri-Rail trains like these could stop running […]
Infrastructure Bank Plan Gaining Attention and Momentum
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In today’s New York Times, columnist Bob Herbert spotlights the congressional proposal for a National Infrastructure Development Bank that would issue bonds, make loans and create securities to help finance needed rebuilding projects around the country. As Herbert put it: Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) (Photo: America2050 via Flickr) [T]here was a development in Congress last […]
LaHood: ‘About Everything We Do Around Here is Government Intrusion’
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Ray LaHood is known for his disarming candor — his recent admission that he’s not "that great a transportation person" being a case in point — and those qualities were on vivid display today as the Transportation Secretary delivered an address to the National Press Club. LaHood’s speech was aimed at countering a recent flurry […]
Senator Takes Hybrid Hummer on a Semi-Wild Ride
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Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank has a knack for puncturing Capitol Hill’s bubble of obliviousness. His classics include the spotting of Senate Environment & Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) leaving an event that protested high gas prices in an 18-miles-per-gallon car — for the one-block trip back to her office. In his latest […]
Portland Congressman to George Will: Let’s Debate
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Will vs. Blumenauer: Battle of the bowties. Just when you thought George Will’s pouty, ill-informed tirade against new Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was going to stand unchallenged, here comes Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). Blumenauer, co-chief of the Congressional Bike Caucus and a Streetfilms favorite, released a statement this morning that dares the conservative pundit to […]
Transportation ‘Expert’: Long Commutes Are a Status Symbol
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Transportation consultant Alan Pisarski, author of the National Academies’ Commuting In America series, has advised Washington policymakers on infrastructure development for decades. And judging from the presentation I watched him deliver at the Heritage Foundation last week, he’s downright aghast at the prospect that the Obama administration could begin shifting national policy away from total […]
The Long, Ugly Road to a Federal Transportation Plan
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You’ve likely been hearing a lot, on this blog and others, about the coming expiration of the federal transportation bill. Come September 30, Congress has to have a plan in hand to fund the nation’s trains, buses, bikes, bridges and roads — or pass an extension of the 2005 federal bill, locking in the same […]
Congress Reluctant to Shine Light on Transportation Earmarks
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The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is about to unveil a massive bill that will re-authorize federal transportation programs for the next six years. The bill will also include funding for a large number of "earmarks," the congressional pet projects that can include everything from bike trails to Bridges to Nowhere. Earmarks grew largely in […]