Politics
Sen. Wyden's favored economic stimulus: road resurfacing
Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), a progressive Senator from America's most Smart Growth-oriented city of Portland, apparently feels that the best economic stimulus would be more money for road resurfacing. No wonder America has such a hard time weaning itself from road-building.
According to Bloomberg, Oregon's senior Senator thinks "infrastructure spending How about, instead of supporting the highway industrial complex, if Wyden really wants to stimulate the economy through infrastructure, why doesn't he support transit projects in his home town and Metro expansion between the city where he works and the airport he probably uses to get to Oregon? Or at least let metro areas decide if resurfacing their roads is really more important than providing alternatives to driving? Both would stimulate the economy, but transit expansion would stimulate it more in the long run as well as reducing our dependence on oil.
The Bloomberg article even makes it sound as though Wyden wants to spend money on road resurfacing instead of expanding unemployment insurance, the change Senator Schumer favors. Though in fairness to Wyden, it may well be that "road resurfacing" is Bloomberg's sound bite. But whether Wyden is part of the problem or not, Congress's ISTEA bills, which
 | David Alpert is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington. He has had a lifelong interest in great cities and great communities. He worked as a Product Manager for Google for six years and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He loves the area which is, in many ways, greater than those others, and wants to see it become even greater.   |
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