Comments on: The Boxer/Inhofe Amendment: Not Green Enough http://www.streetsblog.org/2009/02/05/the-boxerinhofe-amendment-not-green-enough/ Covering the New York City Streets Renaissance Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:07:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Harlan Harris http://www.streetsblog.org/2009/02/05/the-boxerinhofe-amendment-not-green-enough/comment-page-1/#comment-62658 Harlan Harris Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:41:40 +0000 http://www.streetsblog.org/?p=5411#comment-62658 The highway thing is tricky. I fully support spending as much money as possible on refurbishment and repair of existing roads and (especially) bridges. It's a fast way of putting a lot of people in the construction industry back to work and pretty fast. $50B might not even be enough to fully employ that industry this summer. But if we're building additional capacity, which is a much slower process than just repaving roads, we should be building rails and other systems that will be more efficient and sustainable in the long run. The highway thing is tricky. I fully support spending as much money as possible on refurbishment and repair of existing roads and (especially) bridges. It’s a fast way of putting a lot of people in the construction industry back to work and pretty fast. $50B might not even be enough to fully employ that industry this summer. But if we’re building additional capacity, which is a much slower process than just repaving roads, we should be building rails and other systems that will be more efficient and sustainable in the long run.

]]> By: Larry Littlefield http://www.streetsblog.org/2009/02/05/the-boxerinhofe-amendment-not-green-enough/comment-page-1/#comment-62656 Larry Littlefield Thu, 05 Feb 2009 18:36:51 +0000 http://www.streetsblog.org/?p=5411#comment-62656 "A maximum of $50 billion would be redistributed by the President to states for use on highways, transit and water projects, based on a priority list of shovel ready projects within 120 days, as determined by states. This list would be provided by each state and certified by the Governor, based on priorities that are the product of ongoing state and local planning programs." Well, that's better. This is one case where the Vampire State might actually perform better than some generally better run states in the country. I'd even prefer Shelly Silver's priorities to some of those out there. "Shovel ready" is anything that doesn't require a design and EIS. Who knows? They might even paint the Brooklyn Bridge before it rusts away. “A maximum of $50 billion would be redistributed by the President to states for use on highways, transit and water projects, based on a priority list of shovel ready projects within 120 days, as determined by states. This list would be provided by each state and certified by the Governor, based on priorities that are the product of ongoing state and local planning programs.”

Well, that’s better. This is one case where the Vampire State might actually perform better than some generally better run states in the country. I’d even prefer Shelly Silver’s priorities to some of those out there.

“Shovel ready” is anything that doesn’t require a design and EIS. Who knows? They might even paint the Brooklyn Bridge before it rusts away.

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