RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Darrell M. West, October 28, 2009, Politico
"Opt-out” has become the most powerful phrase in the health care debate, thanks to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s decision to include it in Senate legislation. If particular jurisdictions do not like a public option, they simply can exit the government health insurance system for uninsured residents. This is a very American idea, writes Darrell West. However, from a governance standpoint, the public option creates a worrisome precedent for other policy areas. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Mark Muro, October 22, 2009, The Brookings Institution
Some say there’s little that can be done to promote metro areas’ status in U.S. federalism but actually there’s a ton that can and should be done. Mark Muro outlines remedies for the absence of middle-tier (metro or regional) government in the context of the U.S. federalism debate. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Robert Puentes and Adie Tomer, October 08, 2009, The Brookings Institution
Robert Puentes and Adie Tomer assess metropolitan air travel trends over the past two decades. They find that most travel is consolidated within a select group of 26 metropolitan areas, which contribute to the country’s highest volume corridors and produce the worst on-time performance. Their findings reveal serious implications for the country’s aviation infrastructure as passenger volumes are predicted to grow in the coming years. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Ralph Buehler, John Pucher and Uwe Kunert, April 16, 2009, The Brookings Institution
To help improve the energy efficiency and overall environmental sustainability of the U.S. transportation system, we will need to adopt policies that foster changes in the way Americans travel. In a new report Brookings researchers find that Germany may offer valuable lessons. Like the United States, Germany is a federal republic but it has taken impressive steps to improve transportation options, link transportation planning to land use, and advance other reforms – all while empowering metropolitan action. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Mark Muro, Jennifer Bradley, Alan Berube, Robert Puentes, Sarah Rahman and Andrew Reamer, March 30, 2009, The Brookings Institution
America’s national economic crisis is also a metropolitan crisis, because metropolitan areas are the true engines of the national economy. So it matters intensely how well the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) empowers metropolitan leaders to boost prosperity. This paper finds that although ARRA is limited in its support for creative metropolitan-area implementation, it delivers critical investments in what matters to metros and holds out significant opportunity for metropolitan empowerment and problem-solving. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Bruce Katz, Mark Muro and Jennifer Bradley, March 11, 2009, Democracy Journal
U.S. metropolitan areas are the under-recognized engines of America’s economy, and the nation must adjust its federal system—and American federalism—to support them so they can lead us back to prosperity, write Bruce Katz, Mark Muro, and Jennifer Bradley in a major framing essay for Democracy: A Journal of Ideas. Read More
BOOK
David de Ferranti, Anthony J. Ody and with Justin Jacinto and Graeme Ramshaw, March 01, 2009
This perceptive book emphasizes the need for an overall analytical framework that can be applied to different countries to help analyze the current situation, identify potential areas for improvement, and assess their relative feasibility and the steps needed to promote them. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Bruce Katz, February 22, 2009, National Governors Association Winter Meeting
After years of benign neglect, the nation’s crumbling infrastructure is getting its public hearing. Bruce Katz delivered a major speech during a special session of the National Governors Association Winter Meeting dedicated to infrastructure financing, accountability and sustainability. He urged the critical importance of policy reform in shifting the infrastructure conversation from one focused on spending, to one focused on investing. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Mark Muro and Sarah Rahman, February 17, 2009, Real Clear Politics
President Obama’s economic recovery package will succeed to the extent it juices metropolitan areas, the true engines of the U.S. economy. Mark Muro and Sarah Rahman argue that, for all the business-as-usual in Washington, the disconnected funding flows of the stimulus will strengthen the cause of regionalism in America. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
William A. Galston, February 12, 2009, The Brookings Institution
The Obama administration won a hard-fought and much needed victory this week as U.S. lawmakers prepare to pass a $789 billion stimulus package to revive the struggling economy. But as Bill Galston cautions, the compromise reached by congressional negotiators—which cut items dear to liberals and the business community, and included less for states than the House and administration wanted—is hardly sufficient to inspire public confidence in government and fix the economy. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Bruce Katz, February 12, 2009, NYU School of Law
Before a housing conference at the NYU School of law, and prior to the president’s executive order creating the office, Bruce Katz outlined his vision of the function and role of a White House Office of Urban Affairs. “The new office has a powerful bully pulpit to set a vision for how federal policy can unleash the potential of America’s urban and metropolitan areas given their changing role and function,” Katz told conferees. Read More
VIDEO
Robert Puentes, December 16, 2008
Metropolitan Policy Program Fellow Robert Puentes explains the historic trends that have reduced the nation’s “driving footprint” and urges a new vision that reflects the realities of Americans staying out of their cars.
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Robert Puentes and Adie Tomer, December 16, 2008, The Brookings Institution
Nevada, Idaho and Colorado lead the way in ending car dependence, according to a first-ever ranking, as do the metro areas around Austin, Indianapolis and Atlanta. A new Brookings report by Robert Puentes and Adie Tomer shows that other modes of transit grow in popularity, even as gas prices drop, suggesting a need for dramatic shifts in the way we fund transportation, build our communities and address greenhouse gas emissions. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Robert Puentes, December 10, 2008, The Brookings Institution
Today’s fiscally-constrained environment demands a new approach to infrastructure policy both for short-term stimulus and long-term prosperity. In this backgrounder, Robert Puentes outlines a strategic infrastructure investment path to upgrade our existing system, expand choices in moving people and goods and move us closer to energy independence. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Frank S. Alexander, October 28, 2008, The Brookings Institution
A new Blueprint paper argues that the rising number of vacant and abandoned properties around the nation requires a more robust drive by the federal government to aid states and localities in land banking. The author, Frank Alexander of Emory University, recommends that federal policy should better capitalize local and regional land banking (the process or policy by which local governments acquire surplus properties and convert them to productive use), encourage code reform and regional collaboration. Read More