From Helen Cox Richardson’s Nov. 5 dispatch: “At about 11:30 p.m., the House of Representatives passed the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R. 3684) by a vote of 228–206. Biden promised to pass a bipartisan measure and after nine months of hard work, he did it: thirteen Republicans voted in favor of the… Read More
Jeffrey Sachs recommends: Rather than trying to deploy construction workers within the next 60 days, I propose that we envision the kind of built environment we want for the next 60 years. With a shared vision of America’s infrastructure goals, actually designing and building the new transport, energy, communications, and water systems will surely require… Read More
Flint Michigan’s water problem will be repeated around the country. Race may be an issue. Low income residents are definitely an issue. But the cause is the “municipal trifecta of doom”: aging infrastructure, declining revenue base and higher costs for municipal bonds. “About two thirds of all infrastructure in the United States is financed by… Read More
America needs a National Urban Policy Summit. Kevyn Orr is an inspiring fellow. And, as the Emergency Manager for the City of Detroit, overseeing the city’s bankruptcy process, he knows a thing or two about cities. In a recent forum at Harvard University, he suggested the country is way overdue for a close look at what… Read More
Hundreds of millions of people around the world depend on polluted water sources for their daily drinking water. Over half of the planet’s population lives in cities. Large cities, alone, represent $21.8 trillion (US$) in economic activity, or 48 percent of global GDP *. As the population in cities continues to grow, without… Read More
So you don’t think infrastructure can be fun? Watch comedian John Oliver explain its intricate, critically important, hilarious fascinations in this video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wpzvaqypav8 Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Infrastructure (HBO) Infrastructure investment will save lives. Also, from: CEO FORUM GROUP: “Infrastructure refers to the large-scale public systems, services, and facilities of a country… Read More
In 2011 the USA rated a grade of D+ on Infrastructure from the American Society of Civil Engineers, citing a need for a $3.6 TRILLION investment by 2020. Despite one of America’s favorite comedians, John Oliver, using comedy to call attention to this infrastructure problem on national television, not much is changing. Nor is the… Read More
Whether it is with despair, empathy or schadenfreude, the nation watches one of it’s premier cities falter through corruption, decay and population decline, fail through bankruptcy and moved toward a hoped for renewal. An early price tag for the physical restructuring of the city was just presented by the Obama appointed Detroit Blight Removal Task Force. The… Read More
Gas leaks resulted in an explosion causing two buildings in East Harlem, NYC to collapse on March 12, 2014. Eight deaths and a substantial destruction of property catch the public attention this week, suggesting an even larger long smoldering issue of inadequate investment in the infrastructure we build our lives on and take for granted.… Read More
