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Regional Calls
ALL calls are Thursday, January 15th
Northeast:
11am EDT
South:
1pm EDT/12pm CDT
Midwest:
2pm CDT/3pm EDT
West:
1pm PDT/4pm EDT
CALL-IN INFORMATION:
1-866-528-9731
Conference Code:
5102688602
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1/8/2009 Partner E-mail
Transportation for America Partners,
Many of you may have heard that the economic stimulus bill will no longer be signed by January 20th, but has been pushed back several weeks. This longer timeframe gives us more time to influence the shaping process of the bill.
Will you make calls to your Congressional Delegation to ensure that this bill lays the groundwork for a clean, green recovery?
You can find talking points on the economic stimulus posted on our coalition partner website:
Username: t4apartner
Password: tea4usa08
In this update:
I. Economic Stimulus
II. State DOT Project Analysis
III. Capitol Hill Action
IV. Campaign Press Features
Attending the New Partners for Smart Growth Conference this January? If so check out the T4 America related sessions and event. Also, don't forget our regional calls next Thursday, January 15th. Please refer to the call times at left for information about dialing in. We will discuss the economic stimulus legislation, analysis from our state DOT project list review, working with your local media, and ways to take action.
Looking forward to next week's call,
Ilana Preuss,
Outreach and Field Director
202-207-3355 x14
ilana.preuss@t4america.org
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Welcome our New Partners!
Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy
MassBike
Health by Design
Walkable Communities
Limousine Environmental Partners, Inc. (LEAP)
Citizens for Appropriate Rural Roads, Inc. (CARR)
Bike Lane Coalition
National Association of Rail Passengers (NARP)
Good Jobs First
Citizens for Modern Transit
Center for Planning Excellence
Cascade Bicycle Club
RAIL Solution
TrainRiders/Northeast
Seattle Transit Blog
Joe Urban, Inc. |
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I. Economic Stimulus
The economic recovery bill will most likely be presented in early February, as the members want more time to deliberate and to build consensus regarding spending. Tax cuts will now be a major focus of the bill, but most of the specifics remain unknown. This extended process gives us more time to influence the legislation, and we urge you to continue to reach out to your Congressional delegation to ensure that infrastructure funds are spent wisely.
Please contact your regional organizer (Northeast and Midwest, West and South) if you are interested in organizing a district meeting with your representatives. If you've recently met with your Congressional Delegation, could you share the results of that meeting? We will work with you to follow-up with your Senator or Congressperson if necessary.
As an additional resource, we are working to assemble a list of Top 20 Projects for a Fast, Safe and Secure Stimulus and Recovery. The first portion of the draft is posted on the partner page and we hope to have the final document by February.
II. State DOT lists
In the past several weeks, Transportation for America has been reviewing state DOT project wish lists to determine how the stimulus funds would be spent.
The lists made public so far reveal, overall, two deep problems:
1. Complete lack of transparency and accountability. While some of the project lists have been made available, many have been kept in the dark, leaving citizens unaware of what their public officials are seeking to invest in. Most lists have not been made public, and of those that are public, none describe how projects were selected.
2. Among the 19 transportation project lists obtained, most show:
- A bias towards expensive, new highway construction or expansion projects over simple maintenance and repair;
- A heavy preference for roads over mass transit, rail, bike and pedestrian projects, and
- A geographic distribution of projects that bypasses most of the nation's economic activity, largely missing the country's metropolitan regions.
You can find a summary of our key findings and a more in-depth analysis from U.S. PIRG on our coalition partner website.
III. Hill Action
As a welcome our new congressional members, and to brief them on our transportation goals, we provided them with a T4 America orientation packet. Check out the packet materials, including state fact sheets, on the advocacy page of our partner website.
IV. Campaign Press Features
This week, U.S. PIRG released a report analyzing transportation project lists -- many of which are weighted heavily towards new road construction -- that states of have developed in preparation for the economic recovery. The report has already garnered press in California, Connecticut, North Carolina.
Local partners have also garnered press for their work in recent weeks, with the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and Vision Long Island working to make Long Island's roads safe for pedestrians, and the Milwaukee County Transit System remaining at the center of a debate on how to provide citizens in the region with quality public transportation.
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