Senate Stimulus Action Leaves the Network Cold

Last week, the Streetsblog Network was tentatively hopeful about the way the stimulus package was shaping up in the House, as members of that body voted to approve an amendment from Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, to add $3 billion for transit.

How long will transit riders have to wait for some help? Photo by Oran Viriyincy via Flickr.

Yesterday in the Senate, things began to unravel. As Transbay Blog put it:

Certain senators — including, shamefully, California’s very own Barbara Boxer — have proposed to gut the already-paltry transit stimulus and to redirect new money toward highways.…Transit agencies across the nation are in financial trouble, proposing service cuts and fare hikes, and this while national interest in transit is increasing. These agencies could desperately use funding for operations. Senators’ proposals to amend the stimulus by allocating ever-increasing funds toward highway construction demonstrate startlingly short sight, and a thoroughly disappointing lack of commitment to building the sustainable transportation system that this country both craves and needs. We deserve better, and our senators need to hear about public dissatisfaction with their misguided proposals.

To that end, yesterday we here at Streetsblog unveiled a new tool to help get the word out about action alerts and breaking news in transportation, a widget that bloggers can install on their own blogs to help mobilize and inform readers about the latest developments (you can see it installed over on the right-hand rail on our site). We welcome your feedback on it.

Other stimulus news from the network includes a report on “smarter transportation economic stimulation” at The Art of Placemaking, a look at how stimulus funds could be used for transit in the Seattle area from Seattle Transit, and a look back at a lesson in history from Deron Lovaas at NRDC Switchboard.