Taking lessons from his time working in the Obama administration, President Biden is tempering promises of quick job creation with long-term reinvestment.

Learning from his experience as vice president, Joe Biden knows that "you can’t expect immediate results" when it comes to infrastructure spending and job creation, writes Jake Blumgart for Governing. "[H]istorically, public works projects have a complicated history when it comes to quickly getting a lot of people back to work." That makes infrastructure spending "bad stimulus spending" despite its long-term benefits.
The concept of "shovel-ready projects," a term popularized by President Obama in late 2008, proved deceptive. Research shows that in most areas of governance, "it took at least one year to set up a project and another two to three years to actually spend the money." Learning from these prior experiences, President Biden is taking a longer view. "The Biden administration’s rhetoric around the American Jobs Act is, obviously, about job creation. But the $2 trillion plan is not about juicing the economy in 2021, or even in the crucial midterm election year of 2022. Instead, it is meant to unfold over the course of a decade."
The public works programs of the New Deal era, according to Jason Scott Smith, assistant professor of history at the University of New Mexico, "are better understood not as unsuccessful state-employment measures, but rather as a strikingly effective method of state-sponsored economic development." By framing the American Jobs Act as long-term reinvestment, Biden is avoiding the "poor job of setting out expectations" that plagued the Obama administration.
FULL STORY: The Economic Lessons Biden Learned from Obama and Roosevelt

The Slow Death of Ride Sharing
From the beginning, TNCs like Lyft and Uber touted shared rides as their key product. Now, Lyft is ending the practice.

Cool Walkability Planning
Shadeways (covered sidewalks) and pedways (enclosed, climate controlled walkways) can provide comfortable walkability in hot climates. The Cool Walkshed Index can help plan these facilities.

Congestion Pricing Could Be Coming to L.A.
The infamously car-centric city is weighing a proposed congestion pricing pilot program to reduce traffic and encourage public transit use.

Illinois Legislators Pass Controversial I-55 Road Expansion Legislation
Legislation to enable the addition of express toll lanes on Interstate 55 in the Southwest Side of Chicago, opposed by environmental justice advocates, cleared the Illinois General Assembly last month.

What Is ‘Arterial Rapid Transit?’
Atlanta is planning to build ‘BRT lite,’ a version of bus service that offers signal priority and fewer stops but keeps buses in mixed-traffic lanes.

Vermont Latest State to Preempt Single-Family Zoning
The approval of the HOME law, S.100, will allow for duplexes in all residential neighborhoods in Vermont. Large swaths of residential zones in the state must also now allow tri- and four-plexes.
Caltrans
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
City of Orange
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Montrose County
Wichita-Sedgwick County Metropolitan Area Planning Department
City of Lomita
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