Obama and Dems Screw Transit

Trying to play catch up here, but following up on the last post, news came out late this week that indeed, light rail and mass transit would take a backseat in the upcoming stimulus package. What, you ask, is deemed important? Taxes! Yes, indeed, it's like the Bush years will never end. Economic problems? Tax cuts! Economy booming? Tax cuts.

Elana Schor of Talking Points Memo caught the admission from Rep. Jim Oberstar (MN-D) in his speech to the U.S. Conference of Mayors. "The reason for the reduction in overall funding...was the tax cut initiative that had to be paid for in some way by keeping the entire package in the range of $850 billion." I don't even know where to begin with this ridiculousness. Is it counting pennies on an $800 billion bill? Or slashing the transit side and leaving the money for road building intact, thereby making the climate change and end to foreign oil dependance initiatives more difficult? These are such stupid, shortsighted concessions to make at a time when even conservative economists are calling for massive public expenditures and large deficits.

Matt Yglesias nails this one, noting that these concessions have amazingly not placated the Republican opposition, who are now demanding more tax cuts. Obama and the Dems need to write the best bill possible and get it passed, end of story. They'll never make enough concessions for the right wingers and the more watered down the bill gets, the less effective it will be.

Vote For Light Rail At Change.Gov

Ugh, I have been gone for way too long, trying to put together applications for grad school has left me a little worried about using any excess brilliance on the Internets. We're coming up on the finish line, so posting will pick up in a big way shortly.

In the meantime, I wanted to check in quickly and recommend that all readers of this site head over to the site that the Obama people set up, change.gov, and vote on the Bullet Trains and Light Rail proposal being pushed as a priority for the new administration. It amazingly appears to be the leading vote-getter right now. While I have no idea if the Obama people will even take a second look at these results, it really can't hurt to show deep support for light rail in the US and a different approach to the infrastructure plans (more money for transit projects, less for roads and cars!) It really gets me dreaming about the US suddenly becoming like Europe, with all of the major US cities linked by light rail lines, making it possible to zip down to Miami or over to San Fran for a reasonable price. Death to the interstate highway system! Supertrains!

Search around the site, as there's lots of similar ideas floating around (like this and this) It takes a few minutes to register and get started, so there's really no excuse not to do this.

Adolfo Carrion

It appears that Barack Obama has finally chosen someone to head the White Office of Urban Policy. That someone is Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, who had been mentioned as a potential head of HUD. Here's some pros and cons to the decision:

Pros

1) has promoted and advocated for green building in cities, especially for lower income housing as a means of saving money on bills. He has deftly connected environmentalism with affordability to allow these ideas to gain traction in lower income neighborhoods who have traditionally not taken much interest in these issues. Check out Dayo Olapade's New Republic piece on Carrion's green ideas, including an interview with the man himself.

2) acted as the liason between the community and developers with regards to the Melrose Court complex, bringing the project down in scale and winning community approval.

3) supports congestion pricing.

Cons

1) the Melrose Court development notwithstanding, he has not been one to take the community's considerations into account. Read Streetsblog and Dana Goldstein discussing the ridiculous parking lot and traffic situation at the new Yankees stadium.

2) he was one of the key players in getting the Yankees stadium built!!! Ugh. As I've written, this is a ridiculous expenditure of city money and shame on Carrion for not only allowing it to happen but fostering the deal with little info about the costs.

3) when the community voted against using park land to build the stadium, Carrion fired or demoted the dissenting voices, allowing the plan to go through.

3) he is a developer's best friend, taking nearly two-thirds of his campaign funds from the real estate industry.

4) a big fan of big box buildings, which led to him championing a mini-mall to take the place of the Bronx Fish Market.

Tom Robbins has 5 sarcastic reasons why Carrion would make an excellent HUD Secretary. They seem to apply easily to him running the Office of Urban Policy. Brooklyn Boy at dailykos is even more disparaging, suggesting that even a 10 foot pole wouldn't make this a good pick.

All in all, it's a disappointing pick. Carrion clearly has some excellent ideas on the green front, but beyond that, he doesn't really seem to offer much beyond the typical city pol obsessed with development, development, development at any cost. He hasn't enjoyed a whole lot of love in the Bronx, as people haven't seen him standing up for the community over the interests of big money. He hasn't been at the forefront of public transportation. Maybe I'm missing something, but I expected a lot more.

Shaun Donavan at HUD

Okay, let's start this week off with some good news. Last week, in one of the few appointments that hasn't been the topic of endless speculation and media attention, Barack Obama selected Shaun Donovan to be the next Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Why is this such good news? Because Donavan currently is the New York City Housing Commissioner and has used that position to advocate for and experiment with ways of building affordable housing. This New York Times profile gives a good sense of Donovan's history in the housing world, including his recent accomplishments:

Under Mr. Donovan, the Bloomberg administration has promoted “inclusionary zoning” that allows developers to build multifamily structures of more density — that is, more units for the space — in return for setting aside a portion of their projects for lower-income residents.

He helped to create a $200 million fund with contributions from the city, seven major foundations and financial institutions, to help nonprofit housing groups and small developers compete for private land sales. Working more closely with HUD than local officials have in the past, he has encouraged the department to help nonprofit groups or tenants take over HUD-assisted apartment buildings that are in foreclosure; typically, the federal government put such properties up for bids.

This doesn't even include his and Bloomberg's biggest plan, the $7.5 billion New Housing Marketplace Plan to build 165,000 units for low-to-moderate income by 2o13. He's well-respected in NYC housing and academic circles as innovator, which will be essential as we head to one of the worst housing crises ever. It'll be nice to have someone who has cut his teeth in New York City, the craziest real estate market in the country where affordability has been an issue for eternity. He will also bring a decidedly urban perspective on housing, understanding that white picket fences are not the end-all-be-all. Most of all, as Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings notes, it'll be nice to have someone who has worked at HUD leading that department, someone who believes in its mission and the power of the government to enact meaningful change.

White House Office of Urban Policy

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention this excellent article by Dana Goldstein for The American Prospect, "Advocating for Urbanism." It takes a look at Barack Obama's intention to create an White House Office of Urban Policy and what that would office would potentially look like. Goldstein envisions an urban czar who would "champion policies that address, in one fell swoop, multiple challenges facing metropolitan regions."

I understand the criticism of Ezra Klein about the vagueness of the concept, but not sure why that leads to such pessimism toward the idea. Any new office is going to take awhile to get a focus and may get into some turf wars, but so what? We'll have someone fighting for cities and urbanism!

I, for one, am excited by the idea of an office dedicated to pursuing ideas that will foster better transportation, smarter development and more density. I'm picturing it as an almost idea incubator for these brilliant people thinking about these ideas, working together with a federal mandate and federal money. Perhaps most importantly, these ideas will become much more of a focal point, not just for blogs and academics. You'll have an entire office dedicated to doing research, talking with the media, funding projects, which should lead to good things down the road. I mean, after 2 centuries of this country ignoring and hating on cities, it seems odd to attack this monumental shift in emphasis.