Recent Streetsblog SF posts about Barack Obama

White House Budget Includes $530M for Local Sustainability, $1B for HSR

By Elana Schor | Feb 1, 2010 | No Comments

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 […]

Obama Taps High-Speed Rail Winners: Florida, California, Illinois and More

By Elana Schor | Jan 28, 2010 | 3 Comments

Click here for a larger version. (Image: U.S. DOT) 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 White House’s $8 billion (and growing) high-speed rail fund. But […]

Obama Previews His New Budget’s Urban Policy Moves

By Elana Schor | Jan 22, 2010 | No Comments

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 […]

Obama Quietly Gets Federal Agencies Involved in Transport Planning

By Elana Schor | Jan 19, 2010 | No Comments

When President Obama signed an executive order in October requiring federal agencies to craft strategies for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions, he described the mandate as Washington "lead[ing] by example" on the pollution-reduction front. (Photo: AP) And that’s true — but the order also includes language telling federal agencies to get involved in integrating local […]

White House Backs $50B For ‘Merit-Based Infrastructure Investment’

By Elana Schor | Dec 8, 2009 | No Comments

President Obama today threw his weight behind significant new transportation spending as part of a broad jobs bill taking shape in Congress, with $50 billion slated for transit, roads, bridges, and ports and the administration endorsing "merit-based infrastructure investment that leverages federal dollars." President Obama gave a high-profile jobs speech today. (Photo: NYT) During his […]

Obama: Climate Pessimism More Dangerous Than Climate Deniers

By Elana Schor | Oct 23, 2009 | 1 Comment

In a speech much anticipated by those tracking the D.C. environmental debate, President Obama today took on opponents of congressional action on climate change, decrying "naysayers" who "make cynical claims" that ignore scientific evidence of the harm caused by emissions. (Photo: BusinessWeek) But "far more dangerous" than the rhetoric of climate deniers or skeptics, Obama […]

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