Home Builders Urge Fannie, Freddie to Get Behind Mixed-Use Development
Urbanists have won an important victory in their campaign to reverse Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s biasagainst mixed-use development, enlisting the National Association of Home Builders to help push for a critical reform to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s lending standards. The mortgage giants currently require that projects they finance be no more than 25 percent commercial (20 percent for Fannie and for multifamily HUD projects.)
January 19, 2011
Mica’s Goal: More Cars Off of the Highway
In a recent interview with the Journal of Commerce, Transportation Chair John Mica (R-FL) indicated that he shares many transportation goals with the Obama administration.
January 14, 2011
Is the Livability Movement Doomed to Homogeneity? The CDC Says No.
The first time Adolfo Hernandez went to the National Bike Summit, he got a sense of just how monochromatic the livability movement can be.
January 14, 2011
High Speed Rail: Which Corridors Have the Best Chance for Success?
Perhaps it goes without saying, but when you’re advocating for something, it's not enough to make it happen – it has to succeed. If you get what you want and it’s a miserable failure, you’ve made matters far worse for your cause.
January 13, 2011
Mica is “Pretty Confident” That New Rules Won’t Starve Highway Trust Fund
The Journal of Commerce reported yesterday that the House Transportation Committee chair, Rep. John Mica (R-FL), is “’pretty confident’ in the assurances he has received in talks with House leaders” that recent changes to House rules wouldn’t jeopardize Highway Trust Fund spending.
January 11, 2011
Household Deficit Reduction: Transit Saves People Almost $10K a Year
With gas prices at their highest level since October 2008, the American Public Transportation Association’s monthly Transit Savings Report estimates that transit riders save, on average, $9,656 a year.
January 11, 2011
Combat Joblessness, Stripe a Bike Lane
A bummer of a jobs report came out Friday, showing that although unemployment dropped to its lowest point in 19 months, it's still way higher than economists had hoped.
January 10, 2011
We’re Pulling for You, Gabby Giffords
Our hearts are with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords today as she struggles to recover from the brutal attack this weekend. By now you must have heard about Saturday’s shocking massacre in a Tucson supermarket parking lot, leaving six dead and 13 wounded. Among the wounded is the Tucson area Congresswoman, shot point-blank in the head and now fighting for her life.
January 10, 2011
New House Rules Threaten TIGER and Livability Programs
The headlines have been apocalyptic.
January 7, 2011
Sen. Boxer: Working With Mica, Inhofe on a Long-Term Transpo Bill
Senator Barbara Boxer told reporters today that she had an "excellent", “wonderful” meeting with Rep. John Mica (R-FL), the new chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. She confirmed that they're working on a "longer-term" transportation bill and have come up with many points of agreement. We'll let you know more details about that meeting as we get them.
January 7, 2011