Transcript
ROBERT PUENTES: At the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, we have engaged in a larger effort called the Blueprint for American Prosperity, which is based on the simple premise that we are a metropolitan nation, and it’s time we started acting like one.
Where are these innovations that are bubbling up in localities and metros all across the country? Invariably, the number one issue they want to talk about lately is transportation. We brought these folks together back in June, and I don’t think any metropolitan area didn’t have transportation as the number one and sometimes number two issue. It’s always at the top of the list for obvious reasons I think which we can talk about. But when we say “metropolitan,” we’re obviously not just referring to cities and urban areas, but to the suburbs as well. And there are some who believe that remaking our suburbs to deal with some of the tremendously challenging things that the nation is facing on the housing front, environment, energy -- remaking these suburbs is going to be one of the biggest challenges this nation has going for it here in the coming decades.
As I think folks are aware, cities and suburbs and metros across the country are looking to provide their citizens with public transportation alternatives to personal automobile travel. There are many factors I think are that are beyond just the gas prices that Charles talked about that are reinforcing this interest in transit, including the evidence around transit-oriented development, about how we’re going to accommodate the growth that is projected for this country over the next couple of decades, the growing sense of urgency to tackle climate change, the awareness of our dependence on oil that leaves our energy security at risk, a lot of things that Charles already kind of teed up. But again, tackling these issues in cities is one thing, tackling them on the suburban fringe and rural areas is another thing, but tackling them in suburban areas I think brings with it a whole host of challenges, and I think folks in this room are well acquainted with that and are seeing this played out in Montgomery County today.
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