This post originally appeared on Orphan Road.
This is exactly why Obama should have gone around the state legislatures and given the stimulus money directly to the relevant municipalities. It’s also why it’s better that any transit funding happen later this year in the transportation bill, where there’s more time to change around funding formulas and give money for rail projects directly to the agencies that know how to spend it, instead of the state governments who will, by their makeup, disproportionately favor their more rural areas.