The transportation contractors, businesses, and agencies gathered last week at Mobility 21 focused on sending a message to the federal government that funding for transportation infrastructure projects is necessary for the U.S. to remain globally competitive.

Funding for bicycling and walking infrastructure in the long-term reauthorization bill will be more difficult as budget struggles continue. Bicycle and pedestrian projects, like the demonstration project and policies set in place by the Glendale Safe and Healthy Streets Plan, create more jobs per dollar than highway-only projects. They provide a huge return on investment, they offer health benefits as well as transit options, and their presence is a direct antidote for traffic congestion.

These are difficult times, and Congress is looking for ways to cut spending, but cutting programs that are forward-looking and offer health and economic benefits as well as transportation alternatives to regions like Southern California which are now determined to remake themselves as liveable urban environments is a big mistake. Contact Congressional representatives today to voice support for alternative transportation funding, or TE, as this vote could take place as soon as Wednesday.

Najarian announced the beginning of his term to colleagues and the audience at Glendale’s council meeting June 30, saying, “I’m going to do everything I can to make sure Glendale and our region gets its fair share of transportation dollars to help us break the cycle of dependency on crude oil. We have great projects in the works – subways, light rail, transit lines, van pools, etc., and I will keep you posted.”

Also on June 30, as LA Now reported, a state Court of Appeals decision ratified the California Transit Association’s lawsuit over state siphoning of mass transit funds to balance the budget.

Najarian’s response to my email query on the decision: “The MTA applauds the court of Appeal’s ruling in the CTA case. It is important that the legislature realize that transportation money is just that…money for transportation! The State has already indicated that they will appeal the ruling, so a final decision by the Supreme Court may be months away, but it nevertheless sends a strong message to Sacramento that transportation funds can not be their slush fund to patch holes in the state budget. The MTA remains comitted to give LA County residents transportation options that do not involve the single passenger automobile.”

Friedman Also Comments on Energy Independence, Alternative Transportation

Concerning crude oil dependency and alternative transportation projects, council member Laura Friedman spoke along the same lines at the June 30 meeting. Friedman had just attended the Los Angeles Building Council’s annual sustainability summit. She noted that the local business community has begun to realize that our economic, ecological and energy crises present opportunities for innovation, job creation and efficiencies that will provide long-term benefits.

Friedman went on to deplore the billion dollars a day the U.S. sends to the middle east for crude oil: “That’s money that really should be staying in the U.S. While we are in this crisis, to be exporting our wealth for crude oil when there are alternatives available is really pretty incredible. As these new technologies come online, because we do have the brainpower in California we can kill two birds with one stone. We can not only create new businesses and new industry … but we can also now keep that wealth in California and in the US. There is a very clear nexus btween local policies that we have or don’t have in terms of alternative transportation, complete streets, [policies and programs] that will keep people from using cars, and national security and national wealth. That’s one of the reasons why its so important that we take as many actions as we can at the local level to be as aggressive as we can in terms of conservation … not only does it improve our local quality of life but it improves our national security in very direct and obvious ways.”