Transportation for America Partners,

Let someone else know about the campaign by clicking here. Regional Calls: ALL calls are Thursday, December 18th Northeast: 11am EDT (ME, NH, VT, MA, CT, RI, NY, NJ, PA, DE) South: 1pm EDT/12pm CDT (VA, MD, WV, NC, TN, SC, GA, AL, FL, MS, LA, AR, KY) Midwest: 2pm CDT/3pm EDT (OH, IN, MI, IL, WI, MN, IA, MO, ND, SD, KS, OK) West: 1pm PDT/4pm EDT (TX, NM, CO, WY, MT, ID, UT, AZ, NV, CA, WA, OR, HI, AK) CALL-IN INFORMATION: 1-866-528-9731 Conference Code: 5102688602

January is fast approaching and we are working quickly to influence the passage of the economic recovery legislation and ensure that clean, green transportation investments are at the top of the national agenda.

Many of our partners are participating in district meetings with their Congressional representatives this week, but there are various ways that you can get the message across.

Will you call your local members of Congress asking them to make any recovery plan as transparent, green and economically sound as possible?
Will you encourage your peers to do the same?

Transportation for America has put together a set of talking points you can use in making these phone calls, in addition to our other campaign resources centered on the economic recovery bill. You can find those materials at: http://coalition.t4america.org/economic-recovery-bill

We are also working to compile and examine the transportation project lists from state departments of transportation. This will enable us to highlight noteworthy projects and flag risky investments. If you have any relevant information or lists from your state DOT, please contact Kate Rube at kate.rube@t4america.org, 202-207-3355 ext. 14.

December 18th Regional Calls Agenda:

• Economic Recovery Legislation Update
• State DOT Project List Request
• New Media Resources for Partners
• Partner Updates
• Project of the week: Shape the debate! Will you call your local Congressional Delegation to ensure a clean, green and sustainable economic recovery?
  

In this update:
I. New Partners
II. New Resources on the Coalition Partner website
III. Campaign press features

Looking forward to our calls on Thursday,

Ilana Preuss
Outreach and Field Director
202-207-3355 x14
ilana.preuss@t4america.org

Suggestions for the Transportation for America update? Please contact me at the address above.

I. Campaign Partner Updates

We'd like to welcome the following partners who have recently signed on to the campaign:

Bike Walk Mississippi
Storrow Kinsella Associates
Nelson/Nygaard
Parks & Trails New York
Hoosier Environmental Council
National Wildlife Federation

Welcome to the coalition!

II. New Resources

Resources for our Economic Recovery Bill activities are up on the coalition website under the "Economic Recovery Bill" section header. These materials include:

• T4America one-page proposal for the Economic Recovery
• Talking points for district meetings
• Talking points for calls to Congress
• Specific recommendations for Legislative Language
• Meeting feedback form

Additionally, our communications team has put together some great materials for media outreach, including:

• Economic Recovery talking points for media outreach
• Letter to the Editor template
• "Beyond Rhetoric" Op-ed
• Economic Stimulus Editorial Board Memo

To access these materials on the coalition website, please visit the Economic Recovery page on the partner website:
Username: t4apartner
Password: tea4usa08

IV. Transportation for America in the Media

David Goldberg, spokesman for Transportation for America, was interviewed by the Associated Press in reference to a story about the continued nationwide decline in driving. David made the point that having changed their travel patterns when gas prices were sky-high, people have become accustomed to driving less frequently.

The National Journal has started a Transportation section of its "Expert Blogs" series, and a number of T4 members are featured, including:
•    Deron Lovaas, (Natural Resources Defense Council)
•    Colin Peppard (Friends of the Earth)
•    Michael Replogle (Environmental Defense Fund)
•    Phineas Baxandall (U.S. PIRG)
•    Geoff Anderson (Smart Growth America & Co-chair of Transportation for America)
The latest question is "How Should the Infrastructure Stimulus Be Spent?" - check out the debate on the National Journal Expert Blog.

Bike Radar magazine quotes extensively from a letter to Obama co-written by America Bikes and the Thunderhead Alliance. The petition calls for the President-elect to ensure that the upcoming stimulus package does not follow the same "unbalanced strategy that has created our existing transportation problems."

A host of environment partners, including Environment America, League of Conservation Voters, Environmental Defense Fund, and Natural Resources Defense Council submitted their own economic recovery plan,  which calls for "improving existing highways, roads, and bridges, rather than expanding capacity."

Local partners have also been in the news recently. Lee Biola, president of Citizens for Progressive Transit, was quoted in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as he addressed the Atlanta Regional Commission board, in support of recent decision to increase funding for transit by $54 billion.
A new study by the Tri-State Transportation Campaign on the risks older pedestrians face received attention from the NY Times, among other outlets. The report details pedestrian collisions in downstate New York and found that older residents experience much higher rates of pedestrian fatality, demonstrating the need for complete streets. In a story about a VMT tax, the Charlotte Observer quoted David Farren of the Southern Environmental Law Center, "The gas tax is good from an environmental perspective, because it directly taxes you based on how much you are polluting," Farren said.

A new report from the Safe Routes to School National Partnership profiles five Safe Routes to School programs and shows how their efforts are reducing carbon emissions and air pollutants.