Lots of Work to Be Done in the New Year

As Inauguration Day gets closer, talk on the Streetsblog Network is turning back to the stimulus bill being pushed by the new administration. On Saturday, President-elect Obama once again talked to the nation about how he wants to pump federal dollars into infrastructure spending. And once again, while he singled out roads and bridges as worthy of investment, the words "transit" and "rail" never passed his lips. Should we be worrying about this? Or are we trying to read too much into these highly stylized YouTube pronouncements?

Network member California High Speed Rail had this to say:

Then CHSR points to an interesting post by Nathan Newman at Talking Points Memo, who cites a New York Times story about how the steel industry is lobbying for transit projects to help it pull out of its slump:

One thing is clear: There's a lot of advocacy work to be done for sustainable transportation in 2009. If you haven't already, go over to Transportation for America's site and sign their petition urging the new administration to make smart choices with the stimulus funding.

Of course, reading the stimulus TEA leaves isn't the only thing the network is doing. Sustainable Savannah has a terrific piece on the American car addiction, the WashCycle is following a story on police surveillance of bike-lane advocates, and getDowntown reports on how churches in and around Ann Arbor, MI, are asking for better transit.