Report: Good Transit and Good Jobs Go Hand in Hand

by Sarah Goodyear on November 20, 2008

457108139_3eb15e5a4f.jpgMARTA train in Atlanta, Georgia, where officials are studying the link between transit and job growth.
How could federal job creation programs be greener? Making access to public transit a priority would be one way.

A report called "Uncle Sam's Rusty Toolkit," released today by Good Jobs First, details the group's finding that federal job-creation programs fail in several key ways to meet "best practices" standards already used by states and cities — including locating work sites in places accessible to public transit.

The group's press release stated, in part:
"The federal government can promote better jobs, protect taxpayers, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by simply taking some lessons from states and cities," said Greg LeRoy, Executive Director of Good Jobs First. "These well-established safeguards are consistent with President-elect Obama’s stated goal of reforming programs to make them more transparent and cost-effective."

The study deals with five federal programs: the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant program; the Department of Labor’s Workforce Investment Act; the Department of Commerce’s Public Works and Economic Development Program; Industrial Revenue Bonds as allowed under the Internal Revenue Code; and the Department of Agriculture’s Business and Industry Guaranteed Loans Program.

The report, which could hardly be more relevant than it is today, may be downloaded here.

Photo: Michael Hinton/Flickr