Get Off My Grass Track

John McCain hates transit. We would be living in an extended Bush nightmare if he were President today. It shows because it seems as if he knows absolutely nothing about how the Federal Transit Administration does competitive grants. I would somewhat understand the pork argument if he was targeting projects randomly inserted such as a bridge to nowhere, but many of the target projects actually have full funding grant agreements with the FTA after going through the highly competitive New Starts program. Much of this money seems to be for the annual allotment the FTA pays out for projects that sign their FFGA.

I would also say that many highway projects that are being built today wouldn't make it through this process so to call them pork shows the lack of understanding. The Mayor of Stamford who has a BRT project in final design even goes as far as to say McCain doesn't get it.

The SUT project will also be a model of livability and sustainability, optimizing the use of the SITC and its 225 commuter trains and hundred of buses a day, supporting the development of LEED-certified and green buildings for 12,000 new residents and highly-paid workers, and reducing vehicle miles traveled by 18,900,000 per year.

True colors coming through every day. 18 million VMT is a lot less foreign oil.

Missing the Point

Blah blah Earmark blah.... Sound familiar? That's the sound of no context. Anyone else want an earmark story that discusses how our transportation funding is so broken that the only way for some places to get federal funding for transportation needs that George Will deems not important is through the earmark process? With a backlog of 50 years or more on the New Starts process, how many legislators are going to try to go through the back door to get something done? We all know what happens when there is an extreme shortage or overpriced good, a black market develops. In transportation funding world, the earmark system is just a black market for goods that are missing from the market. Is there a way to solve this issue? Perhaps if we figured this out, would earmarks disappear? Unlikely, but I believe there would be less need for certain types.