One of the truly cheering things that happened when the Obama administration took office in 2009 was the intent to revive two departments crucial to our cities: HUD and DOT. The new Secretary of Housing and Urban Development was Shaun Donovan of New York City, creative, entrepreneurial, energetic. For the Department of Transportation, Ray LaHood, a thoughtful, respected, Republican from Illinois (rara avis!). Two terrific appointments. And the ideas immediately flowed. Break down the “silos” within and between the departments. Partner on transportation oriented Development (“TOD” of course)-provide new an innovative housing/transportation modes: green, efficient, humane.
For Massachusetts, this was manna from heaven. Funding for HUD’s 202/811 flagship housing program (for elderly and persons with disabilities) had been starved since the Reagan years. Funds for innovative transportation had similarly been only at the margins (with the notable exception of the Big Dig, a 1950s auto-centric project cast into the 1980s and 1990s). The Patrick administration, in one of its authentically forward-looking initiatives, planned a extended rail link to New Bedford and Fall River, reviving connections that had not functioned for over 50 years. Other long-planned projects: extend the Green Line into Somerville, extend the Blue line into Lynn, beckoned.
Well, it’s all over. The John McCain/Sarah Palin “discretionary” spending freeze that Obama will announce shortly, brings all these possibilities likely to a close. For Massachusetts this means that our “gateway” cities will become traps. For our struggling middle class in suburbia, continued negative job growth; for those who see greener transportation possibilities, back to the automobile. For young people entering the workforce, fewer jobs and fewer still jobs with decent career paths.
As Ryan Avent: argues:
Through bad times and good times for the president, there was one word I never associated with him and his approach to the challenges facing the country: gimmick. But this is a bright shining gimmick that advertises a lack of seriousness to both near-term economic weakness and long-run budget problems. This is decidedly not what is needed right now. If this is the best the president can do, Democrats, and the country, are in for a very long few years.
