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The official White House photo of the president's meeting on infrastructure. That's Angela Glover Blackwell in the gold-checkered jacket.

On Monday, President Obama talked infrastructure with two governors, eight mayors, four former transportation secretaries (and the current one), two labor leaders – and one public interest advocate. That advocate was Angela Glover Blackwell, founder of the think tank PolicyLink and chair of the Transportation for America Equity Caucus, which launched last week. The roundtable discussed the president’s $50 billion infrastructure proposal, which is galvanizing transportation reformers as the contours come into sharper focus.

Blackwell spoke to Streetsblog about her meeting with the president, why transportation matters for social equity, and how people can help make the most of the current opportunity to reform national transportation policy.

Streetsblog: What was it like meeting with the president?

Blackwell: It was wonderful to be in a meeting with the president and the Treasury secretary and governors and mayors from around the country talking about infrastructure, with an emphasis on transportation. We’ve been focused on it for years, and it was encouraging to see it getting that level of attention and to see the President of the United States take an interest in transportation.

Angela Glover Blackwell

But I felt I had a tremendous responsibility to lift up the voices of low-income people and people of color and the communities where they live. It’s easy to talk about transportation and not talk about poverty, or the severe unemployment among Latinos and African Americans, those hit first and worst by this recession. I felt on my shoulders the responsibility to express that this has to be done in a way that impacts those who need it most. And the others there really heard what I was saying. Several referred back to what I had said, which was that transportation is a lifeline to opportunity in this country, and it’s way too important to leave to transportation professionals.

I also thought it was very important that at the top of the conversation, when the president came in, he turned to Governor Rendell and me to frame the conversation. He showed a lot of interest in talking about equity and inclusion.

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I generally avoid cable news like the plague but I've been tuning in lately hoping to find some interesting discussion of the federal stimulus bill. Despite my low expectations of the medium I've been amazed by the inanity, the lack of substance and the incredible amount of Republican demagoguery being allowed to make it onto the airwaves.

Rather than digging in to where the federal money is actually going and what the impact of that might be on everyday Americans, the cable nets are obsessed with the question of how many Republicans might vote for the bill and what Obama needs to do to woo them.

If there are any CNN producers paying attention, here's a suggestion: Get Angela Glover Blackwell in front of a camera, would ya? Blackwell, the founder and chief executive of Oakland-based PolicyLink has a letter in this morning's New York Times that really nails some important talking points that the American people need to be hearing right now:

To the Editor:

Your editorial about the stimulus package’s lack of attention to the concerns of low-income Americans (“Sins of Omission: The Forgotten Poor,” Feb. 2) was right on target. Though the package does include expansion of food stamps and jobless benefits, social services alone will not meet the needs of the poor.

The huge infrastructure spending already included in the package could easily be retargeted to dramatically improve the lives of millions of low-income Americans and their communities. By expanding mass transit and providing operating funds for cash-strapped transit agencies, we can create and save thousands of jobs and connect residents to economic opportunity throughout their region.

By using tax incentives to lure grocery stores to poor neighborhoods, we can create long-term retail jobs and ensure much-needed access to healthy food. By investing in successful job training programs, we can build a vibrant 21st-century work force.

The stimulus package provides a once-in-a-generation chance to make good on America’s promise of equal opportunity for all. Smarter social and infrastructure spending is vital to making that promise a reality.

Angela Glover Blackwell