January « 2009 « The Transport Politic

Breaking: House Approves Nadler, Oberstar, Shuster Amendments for Stimulus Package

January 28th, 2009 |

Fantastic news for transit advocates… but Senate action is still necessary

Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) proposed an amendment that would increase funds for transit by $3 billion; we discussed it last night. $1.5 billion of the funds would go to New Starts; the rest would go to formula transit funds. Representative John Mica (R-FL), ranking member on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, came out very seriously in favor of the amendment, saying that infrastructure projects are expensive, that they need funding, and that this is simply a small percentage of what is needed. Representative Jerry Lewis (R-CA) said he reluctantly opposed

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The Merits of a Streetcar Along 42nd Street

January 28th, 2009 |

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» New York City’s Vision42 Envisions Pedestrian-Only 42nd Street with Streetcar

The New York Times reports that the Institute for Rational Urban Mobility advocacy group has published a new report describing the benefits of converting the city’s main Midtown street into a pedestrian mall with a streetcar stopping every block from the United Nations Headquarters at 1st Avenue to the ferry terminal on 12th Avenue. Vision42 calls its proposed service “light rail,” but it fits more of the characteristics of modern streetcar, with stops every block and slow running speeds. The report suggests that the 2.5-mile line would

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Nadler Amendment Passes House Rules Committee

January 27th, 2009 |

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Amendment would add $3 billion for transit in the stimulus bill

Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), who sits on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has successful pushed through the House Rules Committee an amendment that would dramatically increase the stimulus bill’s provisions for transit funding, reports Streetsblog. Mr. Nadler, who proposed the amendment along with Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Keith Ellison (D-MN), Mike McMahon (D-NY), and Daniel Lipinski (D-IL), will now present the amendment to the full House by noon tomorrow, where it will be considered for a vote. Now would be the time to contact your representative to ask them for their

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James Oberstar and Larry Summers Engaged in a Shouting Match?

January 27th, 2009 |

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Stimulus bill fight enters wild mode

The Take Away, a public radio show produced by WNYC and Public Radio International, has an interesting piece up today. Andrea Bernstein reports that Congressman James Oberstar (D-MN) and Lawrence Summers, a close economic advisor to President Obama, had a shouting match over how much money to include for transit in the stimulus bill. Here’s the written report by Andrea Bernstein.

The show also reports that because the stimulus bill uses the existing formula system for transportation, states with large numbers of highways, such as Wyoming, receive far more per person than more denseley populated states like

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