Streetsbloggers will want to tune in to PBS tonight for the latest installment in the Blueprint America series. At 8:30 (in New York), NOW will look at where all that stimulus cash is headed. Here's the teaser:
President Barack Obama's stimulus money is nearly out the door and on its way to the states, but will it be spent in the way it is intended?
One alarming example: Mass transit. Cities and states, strapped for money, are cutting back on mass transit even as it becomes more popular with Americans. Meanwhile, President Obama is calling for increased mass transit as a necessary step toward energy independence. Will the government's investment dramatically revitalize our national travel infrastructure, or will states spend the money according to ‘business as usual’?
This week NOW on PBS -- with Blueprint America -- travels to North Carolina to see what the future holds for mass transit in these troubling financial times.
Speaking of states' priorities, California legislators and Governor Schwarzenegger announced a "compromise" budget plan yesterday that abolishes state funding for transit operations. Transit advocates are referring to the loss of $536 million in state assistance as the "Armageddon Scenario". Damien Newton at Streetsblog LA has the story.
Ben Fried started as a Streetsblog reporter in 2008 and led the site as editor-in-chief from 2010 to 2018. He lives in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, with his wife.
Bottom line: The next commissioner needs to be willing to move aside staffers who are unwilling to be change-agents and to empower all the bright (often young) players who embrace the future.
