Infrastructure in the News: May 30, 2012

BAF IN THE NEWS

National Journal: Finding That Pay-For Sweet Spot
http://transportation.nationaljournal.com/2012/05/finding-that-payfor-sw...
The Senate bill contains the controversial "Bingaman amendment" (named after its sponsor, Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)) This provision would discourage public-private partnerships by penalizing states that lease transportation facilities to the private sector. The Senate bill would also eliminate the use of Private Activity Bonds. Taken together, these provisions would have "a chilling effect" upon future private investment in infrastructure according to the Building America's Future coalition and other transportation stakeholders.

NATIONAL NEWS

Huffington Post: Infrastructure Banks Gain Traction -- Revisiting Geithner
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-likosky/infrastructure-banks_b_155...
The success of financial reform will not be judged based upon the life of specific provisions within Dodd-Frank, however important and vital. Instead the yardstick of success must be our ability to move capital now sitting on the sidelines into much-needed job-producing projects. If this happens, we will be looking to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's remarks at the Economic Club in New York to understand how the present Administration arrested gravity to stop the free fall of our economy and then used the entirely overlooked 52 public-private-partnership vehicles in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to create the enabling environment for private sector growth.

Fast Lane: Summer is coming; latest episode of "On The Go" is already here
http://fastlane.dot.gov/2012/05/summer-is-coming-latest-episode-of-on-th...
As summer arrives, Americans are thinking about vacations, and they're thinking about getting outside and enjoying their neighborhoods. It's a terrific time to talk about passenger rail travel, about biking and walking, and about livable communities. In the latest episode of "On the Go," that's exactly what I do. Thanks to everyone at Streetsblog for sending in so many terrific questions. You can click on the video below to hear my answers on high speed rail, livable communities, and--the next frontier in automotive safety--vehicle to vehicle communications.

STATE NEWS

Grist: ‘The Great Inversion’: Cities are the new suburbs, suburbs the new cities
http://grist.org/cities/the-great-inversion-cities-are-the-new-suburbs-s...
For nearly 20 years, Alan Ehrenhalt served as the executive editor of Governing magazine, examining and writing about a variety of local and state-level trends and policies. In his new book, The Great Inversion and the Future of the American City, Ehrenhalt outlines at length what he dubs “a major change in American urban life” over the last decade: namely, that “living patterns are rearranging all throughout a metropolitan area,” something he calls a “demographic inversion.”

San Francisco Chronicle: Jeffrey Morales to head Calif. high-speed rail
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/29/BAJD1OP7DU.D...
The man who headed Caltrans under Gov. Gray Davis and helped overhaul the California High-Speed Rail Authority's business plan as a consultant was named the agency's new chief executive officer Tuesday. The authority's Board of Directors hired Jeffrey Morales, 52, to head the agency struggling to start construction of the nation's first high-speed rail line, a project estimated to cost $68 billion, in the Central Valley late this year or early next year. He replaces Roelof van Ark, a veteran transportation engineer and manager, who resigned in January.