In the 2nd part of an expose featured previously on Planetizen, reporter Matthew Lewis uncovers the significant number of lobbyists influencing transportation policy in Washington.
The original article can be found here.
Lewis writes, "While polls show Americans don't want to make transportation policy through earmarks, that hasn't stopped local officials from going after them. As lawmakers grappled with renewal of an expiring multi-year transportation law last September, the number of cities and counties lobbying on transportation had grown by 80 percent since the last time a transport bill was about to expire, in the fall of 2003. And the cities and counties who list transportation as among their priorities spent a total of more than $35 million lobbying Washington through the first three quarters of last year; if even a quarter of that spending was solely devoted to transportation, it totals more than $8 million, a hefty sum for cash-strapped local governments."
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