Streetsblog Capitol Hill
Feds Could Soon End Pro-Transit Privatization Rule — in One State Only
The transportation spending bill passed by the Senate on Thursday includes a provision that rolls back a Bush-era pro-privatization rule which blocks local transit agencies from providing bus service to special events -- think state fairs and NFL football games. But there's a catch: the rule is only reversed in the home state of the senator who controls the U.S. DOT's annual budget.
September 21, 2009
Obama Administration Sends $100M in Stimulus Aid to 43 Transit Agencies
The U.S. DOT announced today that 43 local transit agencies from more than two dozen states would share the $100 million in competitive clean-transport grants included in this winter's $787 billion economic stimulus law.
September 21, 2009
Bloomberg and Dems Blast Congressional Plan to Let Guns on Amtrak
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg teamed up with two Democratic members of Congress yesterday to blast the Senate for its vote in favor of forcing Amtrak to allow guns and ammunition in passengers' checked baggage.
September 21, 2009
Boxer Reminds Metrolink: Train Crew Members Shouldn’t Ride Solo
The transportation spending bill passed by the Senate this week includes $50 million in rail safety grants sought in June by environment committee chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) -- but the bill may not become law for months, and today Boxer told California's Metrolink commuter rail that interim safety protections would have to stay in place.
September 18, 2009
Joel Kotkin on Smart Growth: The Streetsblog Re-mix
When columnist Robert Samuelson published an alarmingly misguided attack on high-speed rail last month, the St. Louis Urban Workshop fired back in a unique fashion: with a "re-mix" of Samuelson's op-ed that cleverly edited the piece to better reflect reality.
September 18, 2009
High-Speed Rail Routes and the Looming Choice Among ‘Megaregions’
They may sound like villains in the next Transformers movie, but "megaregions" are a vital aspect of U.S. life these days. The vast majority of the nation lives in one of the 11 inter-city clusters identified by America 2050 in its new analysis of the future of high-speed rail, making megaregions the best potential sites for rail development.
September 18, 2009
Rezoning Tysons Corner: It’s Hard To Teach Old Dogs New Tricks
Streetsblog has previously covered the effort to transform Tysons Corner, a bustling but car-oriented and traffic-plagued jobs center in Fairfax County, Virginia, into a walkable, transit-oriented corridor based around four new Metro stations -- similar to the immensely successful redevelopment of the Wilson Boulevard corridor in Arlington, just a few miles to Tysons' northeast.
September 18, 2009
Pro-Gun Group: Senator Shows ‘Bigotry’ by Opposing Firearms on Amtrak
Thirty Democratic senators voted against yesterday's successful GOP bid to allow guns and ammunition in checked baggage on Amtrak -- but only one of the 30 is on the receiving end of a strongly worded attack today by gun-rights advocates.
September 17, 2009
Oberstar to Back 3-Month Delay in Transport Bill As Soon As Next Week
House transportation committee chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) is readying a proposal to extend current infrastructure law by three months -- 15 months less than the delay preferred by the White House -- and could introduce the legislation as soon as next week, his office said today.
September 17, 2009
Pro-Tea Party Republican’s Angry Letter to D.C. Metro: Read it in Full
Apparently unfamiliar with the concept of irony, Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) has drafted an angry letter to the chief of Washington D.C.'s Metro, complaining that protesters at last weekend's 9/12 "tea party" had difficulty traveling by transit -- the very transit system that Brady voted against aiding, and the epitome of government spending that the tea partiers claim to oppose.
September 17, 2009