Senate Subcommittee: Stable Funding for Transit Projects, Key to Economically Resilient Communities

Today, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs’ subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development met to conduct a hearing entitled, “Building Economically Resilient Communities: Local and Regional Approaches.” Witnesses discussed the economic growth that their communities have experienced with investments in public transportation and how their experiences could help others. Subcommittee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-NJ) stated that he would be reintroducing his 2011 bill, the Livable Communities Act, following the hearing.

The hearing was attended by the Chairman and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH). Both senators noted the importance of public transit and infrastructure investment as a way to entice the so-called millennial generation to take up residence in formerly sparse communities and to allow for seniors to age-in-place. These generations were the expressed targets of each witness when they discussed their considerations for stakeholder engagement.

Chairman Menendez also asked witnesses, who included Mayor Steven M. Fulop of Jersey City, Mr. Joseph A. Calabrese of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, Mr. Lee Gibson of the Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County, NV, and Ms. Claire A. Collins of the National Association of Counties (NACo), to comment on current legislation surrounding infrastructure.

Private-Public-Partnerships were not a dominant theme of this discussion; however, community leaders present tacitly endorsed them when mentioning the benefit of cross-jurisdictional planning efforts. Each witness noted the importance of their relationships with the businesses that were dedicated stakeholders in the investment of local and regional infrastructure. Transit oriented development, Mayor Fulop testified, has created “economic synergies” and leveraged public infrastructure dollars significantly. All witnesses and both senators present noted the need to be able to plan for the long term. They said that that being able to count on federal dollars for longer than 18 months (what the case is now considering the perpetual cycle of fiscal crisis in Congress) would actually help communities save money in the long run.

For additional details about today’s hearing, please contact Jessica Golibart (jgolibart@thornrun.com).