Comments on: LaHood Again

By: The Real Take Away from the Stimulus Plan - Seattle Transit Blog

The Real Take Away from the Stimulus Plan - Seattle Transit Blog — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 07:18:22 +0000

[...] billion in tax cuts for his stimulus program to appear bipartisan and puts someone with no obvious transportation interestand a dodgy record into the head FTA position, again, to seem bipartisan is going to fight to change [...]

By: Jon Morgan

Jon Morgan — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 00:11:43 +0000

I’m really disappointed it’s not Earl Blumenauer or Parris Glendening. Even a Steve Heminger would’ve been better. With a major transpo stimulus package needed and planned, this is NOT the cabinet post to put a token Republican in. And we can do way better than LaHood. Maybe he’ll leave in a year or two.

By: Mike Skehan

Mike Skehan — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 13:45:56 +0000

Creating jobs and getting the economy going seems to be the easy part of the equation – just print and throw enough money at the problem, and things get better, for a while.
The hard part, in my opinion, is to spend the money where you end up with tangible benefits that far out weigh the cost. Try building the Hoover Dam or a BPA power grid today. Those investments 70 years ago were real bargains, looking back.
I only hope “Team Obama” keeps the environment, energy independence, and transportation infrastructure as key and equal objectives when winnowing the list of projects down to budget size.
It would be a shame to blindly ‘block grant’ huge sums to the states and locals, with few if any strings attached.
Of course, I can’t resist touting my own favorite project. Completing the Cascade Corridor High Speed Rail Project (OK, medium speed in our case- 115 mph) is a win,win,win. Talgo trainsets create far less greenhouse emissions than cars, buses or planes, get far better fuel economy, and provide city center to city center, regional options that compete or exceed current travel times by all three other modes. There, I got it out, without gushing!