New Deal 2009? Three Plans to Rescue the Economy and the Earth with Public Transportation
by Jesse Fox, Tel Aviv, Israel on 11.29.08
Image via apolloalliance.org.
Change is definitely in the air these days. President-elect Obama is putting together his plans for some sort of New Deal-like program, which he has said will include massive investments in building public institutions like schools, renewable energy and infrastructure.
Meanwhile, advocates for all sorts of policies are busy putting together their own proposals for the new administration in Washington. And with everyone from Wall Street traders to Detroit car makers bombarding the government with bailout requests, now just might be the time to get some new ideas into the discourse.
Below the fold - three plans to stimulate the economy, create millions of jobs and clean up the air by getting Americans out of their cars, and onto public transportation, especially trains.
Andy Kunz, www.urbandesign.org
We interviewed Andy Kunz almost a year ago about his plan for a nationwide, three-tiered train system to link up the nation's major urban centers. The centerpiece of his plan involves creating a network of high-speed trains as a sustainable alternative to air and road travel. Kunz's updated plan, which he calls New Deal 2009, is based on high-speed rail networks in Europe and Asia.
Kunz points to five major crises: the collapsing economy and job losses, global warming and climate change, peak oil and energy security, crumbling infrastructure and a nationwide mobility crisis. The solution to all five of these major problems, according to Kunz, is a world-class rail system, which Kunz calls "a real bargain," considering the alternatives.
Read more about Kunz's plan here.
The Apollo Alliance
A long-time advocate for green collar jobs in America, the Apollo Alliance describes itself as "a coalition of business, labor, environmental, and community leaders working to catalyze a clean energy revolution in America to reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil, cut the carbon emissions that are destabilizing our climate, and expand opportunities for American businesses and workers."
Transit plays a prominent role in the Alliance's 10-year, $500 billion plan to create 5 million new jobs. Among their proposals: bringing government investment in mass transit at least up to par with investments in highways, increasing the government's share of funding for transit and infrastructure projects and prioritizing repair and maintenance of infrastructure over new highways.
In stating its case, the Apollo Alliance quotes James S. Simpson, the Federal Transit Administration Administrator:
“The “value proposition” for transit has never been greater. Ridership is at its highest level since late 1950s - with over 10 billion trips taken in the U.S. last year. Every $1 invested in public transportation projects generates $6 in local economic activity. And transit saves the nation almost 4 million gallons of gasoline a day and drastically reduces carbon dioxide emissions.”
Read the Apollo Alliance's program here. Read more about what they have to say about investment in mass transit here and here.
Transportation for America
A nationwide coalition of organizations, Transportation for America is also calling for a a revamped system of transportation in America, including federal help in retrofitting unsafe urban roads, complete streets for cars, cyclists and pedestrians, more local and democratic decision-making and using transport to create affordable housing and jobs (they are talking about over 20 million new jobs in building new infrastructure and repairing the old).
As proof that Americans support investments in better public transportation, the group points to 23 new transport-related initiatives, approved on Election Day, that will invest a total of $75 billion in transit projects across the country, such as California's Proposition 1A high-speed rail project and LA's Measure R.
So how receptive will the new administration in Washington be to these kinds of ideas come January 20? Here is an except of a letter the Obama campaign sent Transportation for America back in October:
"I support Amtrak funding and the development of high-speed freight and passenger rail networks across the country... I will also re-commit federal resources to public mass transportation projects across the country. I’ve worked to improve transportation access to jobs for people with lower incomes since my time in the Illinois State Senate, and I will continue this work as President. And I will further promote transit by creating incentives for transit usage that are equal to the current incentives for driving... Everyone benefits if we can leave our cars, walk, bicycle and access other transportation alternatives. I agree that we can stop wasteful spending and save Americans money, and as president, I will re- evaluate the transportation funding process to ensure that smart growth considerations are taken into account."
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I DO NOT WANT TO TAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION!!!!!!!!!!! I WANT TO RIDE IN MY OWN CAR AND PARK IT IN MY GARAGE!!!!!!!!!! I DON'T WANT TO BE WALKING AROUND IN THE HEAT OR COLD! I DON'T WANT TO BE CRAMMED INTO A TRAIN WITH ALL KINDS OF STINKY RUDE PEOPLE!
Government jobs, programs, public transportation, is more government spending. The more the goverment spends, the more we go in to debt, the more we go into debt, the more taxes we have to pay, the more taxes we have to pay, the less freedoms we have. It is not rocket science! Get the ever reaching, over bearing, over taxing government as far away from my pocketbook as possible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sounds okay. My concern is that the Fed doesn't tell states how to generate their own electricity. Each state has it's own environment, ecologically and politically. Let states choose their own way of generation.
Obama's gonna New Deal the economy back on track with what? More fake money printed from thin air? We haven't paid off what FDR did, so who's gonna pay for Obama's big plans?
Ya, sorry, "public money" doesn't "create" jobs, it rapes the American people of our hard earned money. Of course, no one notices since the money comes from "somewhere else." Right?
Our current financial crisis has little to do with what we claim is "capitalism" and a "free market" (which we don't have) and everything to do with the Federal Reserve printing fake money like it's Christmas at the Monopoly plant. WAKE UP!
Incredible the ignorance displayed by the commenters here. It's obvious they did not read the article, or use any critical thinking skills whatsoever in their retorts. Sad. But not wholly unexpected.
The plans sound great to me--and are way, way too late. With Peak Oil here, they'll become necessary to implement, and then some. Let's hope the political will is there, and sad little pathetic nonentities like these other commenters are not part of the plans, but kept to the fringe, where they belong.
To the naysayers: Let's be real; giving us a small paycheck so we could keep spending didn't work. We tried paying off the debt, but the republicans convinced us to rubber stamp taxcuts to the rich. And the Big Three automakers are in no condition to make the cars WE NEED and as you had may guessed, most folks didn't like the "Drill Baby Drill" nonsense. So heck, let's spend some money on the U.S.! Let's spend some money to rebuild our infrastructure instead of spending the money somewhere else in somebody else's country and let's work on our mass transit systems so when oil and gas prices start rising, we won't get caught with our pants down again. And let's spend on improving our electrical grid.
The current financial crisis has a lot to do with capitalism. The fed facilitated the creation of private debt through lending by banks and financial institutions which moved a lot of capital onto the housing and financial markets. With the amount of private debt that is around at the moment everyone is basically a debtor and no one trust each other anymore. That's why bank stopped lending to each others and to private companies and that's why the economies are going bonkers. The only subject that has enough stability and credibility as a debtor to borrow and spend to fuel the economy is the state. Through public spending the state will recycle some of the private debt onto the public debt. so that private companies will be able to borrow and invest again. After that the only why to clear up this pile of debt will be a very long period of low spending.
Thank you Gerald for representing reasonable thinking in contrast primarily to Neil. If everybody thought only about them selves on the short run nobody would benefit from the synergistic effect of being a coordinated and efficient society - the opposition basically to anarchy.
"I DO NOT WANT TO TAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION!!!!!!!!!!! I WANT TO RIDE IN MY OWN CAR AND PARK IT IN MY GARAGE!!!!!!!!!! I DON'T WANT TO BE WALKING AROUND IN THE HEAT OR COLD! I DON'T WANT TO BE CRAMMED INTO A TRAIN WITH ALL KINDS OF STINKY RUDE PEOPLE!"
Then keep driving. Meanwhile rational folks will have more choices available to them, including driving a car if they choose. Walking in the cold and heat is tough for you?
" DO NOT WANT TO TAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION!!!!!!!!!!! I WANT TO RIDE IN MY OWN CAR AND PARK IT IN MY GARAGE!!!!!!!!!! I DON'T WANT TO BE WALKING AROUND IN THE HEAT OR COLD! I DON'T WANT TO BE CRAMMED INTO A TRAIN WITH ALL KINDS OF STINKY RUDE PEOPLE!"
Neil sounds like one of those effete elitists I keep hearing about. You know, one of those people who look down their noses at the regular folks, one of those people who thinks he's better than the rest of us.
I wonder if he's ready to spend the $700 billion to bail out the perfumed polite people who perpetrated the financial collapse because they have their own cars in their own garages just like him. That's a necessary investment but universal healthcare for children or mass transit or weatherization programs or food stamps are just fraud, abuse, and waste.
Neil, nobody's trying to take your car away. You shouldn't be so fearful. We'll protect even you.
I look forward to a greatly improved rail system. WIth that in use, highway maintenance costs automatically goes down from reduced traffic. Ever been bottled up going up a long grade behind semi trucks who ride side by side holding up traffic? More rail freight, less long haul truck freight. I'd like to take a cross country trip and would prefer it was a high speed train. Since I live in the Southeast, I don't expect that to happen in my lifetime, though.