Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Jeff Schoenberg: Rahm and reinvesting in the states

Schoenberg writes,

What is becoming increasingly clear is that in the run-up to January 20th, states will need to be preparing to prioritize their respective infrastructure needs so as to be ready to receive whatever additional federal funding will coming heading their way. It also means that on the transportation side, there is an opening to realign their thinking on investment in passenger and freight rail.

All too often, passenger and freight rail are crowded out by highways in allocating scarce public transportation dollars. What needs to happen now in Illinois is for us to establish a system of scoring and prioritizing transportation projects very much the same way that the state uses a set formula to evaluate school construction projects. The highly regarded School Construction Bond Program is jointly administered by the State Board of Education and the Capital Development Board and uses a rigorous evaluation process to vet and rank projects for school districts across the state.
Hope they do a better job than the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board. Watch who gets appointed to these boards to allocate these funds. Otherwise Democrats could take the whole country down like Illinois. Ten points on a trillion dollars is an awfully big kick back. Rahm and LaHood better explain how they're going to keep this clean.

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