By Stuart Rosenblatt Nov. 18, 2017–The following report is a brief summary of potential transformative outputs of a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB), as outlined in a Draft Bill for such a bank now circulating on Capitol Hill. This report compares the results projected from similar outlines of infrastructure projects produced […]
Oct. 4–On September 26, President Donald Trump told a bipartisan group of lawmakers that he was convinced that PPPs—public-private partnerships—were not the way to go in rebuilding the nation’s collapsed infrastructure. The devastation of the recent hurricanes has put the issue of infrastructure at the center of national concern. […]
By John Ascher Sept. 19—Since the publication of Part One of this series, catastrophic events–and the challenge of an appropriate response– have intervened into our nation’s life with Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. This series does not purport to present comprehensive plans for the infrastructure and great projects needed to […]
By Nancy Spannaus Sept. 9—Those millions of Americans who voted in last fall’s presidential election for a shift from the Wall Street policies which have crushed them over the last 16 years, have every reason to believe they have been betrayed big time over the last eight months. The Democratic […]
The following was written in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, but the lessons apply today with the mega-disaster of Hurricane Harvey. by Stuart Rosenblatt Among the more brilliant accomplishments of President Franklin Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration (WPA) was the creation of a mobile workforce that could be […]
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August 17, 2017: On the 55th Anniversary of President Kennedy’s Speech at the Oahe Dam, Pierre, South Dakota by John Ascher New Orleans and Katrina, 2005; Minneapolis, 2007 and the I-35 Mississippi River Bridge Collapse; February 2017, Northern California, and the failure of the Oroville Dam spillway…. Tired […]
By Nancy Spannaus July 20, 2017—The current stalemate on healthcare in the Congress provides a perfect opportunity to “get it right,” beginning with the approach represented in the legislation of “Medicare for all.” The United States is faced with a health care emergency, and action to deal with the […]
By Angela Vullo July 17, 2017–With federal and state budgets spiraling out of control, ever more desperate elected officials are totally befuddled as to how to pay for repairing and rebuilding the infrastructure which is collapsing all around them. The Trump administration has proposed privatization as the answer for fixing […]
Military-Civilian Collaboration on Infrastructure Projects is an American Tradition by Pam Lowry From the earliest days of the young American Republic, the engineering capabilities of the military were viewed as crucial for developing the nation. The officers of the Continental Army, such as George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Henry Knox, […]
By Nancy Spannaus May 20, 2019–George Washington’s “Grand Idea” of uniting the country through developing the Potomac River as the gateway to the West, was the subject of a lively book talk last night. Author Joel Achenbach spoke to a group of approximately 30 people about his book The Grand […]
By Nancy Spannaus May 15, 2019—On May 8, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, under Chairman Peter DeFazio, took a baby step toward increasing Federal spending on vital national infrastructure. It passed out of Committee HR 2440, a bill which would allow the Army Corps of Engineers to utilize the […]
Rendell Revives the Debate for a Capital Budget, as Trump Prepares to Release Infrastructure Plan
By John Ascher Dec. 9, 2017–According to a December 9, 2017 article in The Hill, President Trump will be soon releasing a 70-page memo detailing his long-awaited proposal for rebuilding America’s crumbling infrastructure. The release of the report, according to the article, will come after the ‘success’ of passing tax […]