Mayors Eric Johnson (Dallas) and Ron Nirenberg (San Antonio)

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Texan NewDEALers Lead Recovery Efforts

After the winter storms and amid the resulting energy disaster in Texas, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg have moved quickly to spur community recovery efforts. Johnson, who directed the Mayor’s Disaster Relief Fund to help with response and recovery efforts in Dallas, just announced the distribution of $500,000 to 25 local organizations. In San Antonio, Nirenberg quickly established the San Antonio Community Pipe Repair Fund, which will pay for emergency repairs in homes. In addition, Nirenberg named a new panel to probe his city’s storm preparedness and increase resilience before the next one. Nirenberg also partnered with local restaurants to distribute 1,000 meals to struggling families.

Levar Stoney, Mayor (Richmond, VA)

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Making Transit Equitable & Easier

NewDEAL Leader Richmond, VA Mayor Levar Stoney is creating a new Office of Equitable Transit and Mobility to oversee multimodal transit programs and expansion, with a focus on providing low-income neighborhoods with access to transportation. The office will help groups and agencies collaborate on major transit projects to minimize duplicative work, and will work on rethinking streets for all users, not just cars, as well as developing the bus and bike systems, improving last mile connectivity, and extending free bus fares. This holistic approach to transit development will be a focal point of an upcoming white paper on transit from the NewDEAL Forum’s Renewing America Task Force. Learn more about Mayor Stoney’s work from the city’s press release on this groundbreaking new office.

Joe Curtatone, Mayor (Somerville, MA)

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Wastewater Testing
NewDEAL Leader Somerville, MA Mayor Joe Curtatone launched a COVID wastewater testing program to monitor for coronavirus and help reveal hotspots up to two weeks earlier than individual testing. Mayor Curtatone says the partnership with Northeastern University and Stantec, a private tech company, will “give us a head start” to reduce virus spread, and similar partnerships have helped other areas with controlling spread, like a partnership put in place back in April in New Castle County, DE by fellow NewDEAL Leader County Executive Matt Meyer. Read more about the advantages of this type of testing.

Moving Montgomery Forward with Gigabit Speed Networks

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Problem

The current absence of a high-speed, ultra-secure, and interconnected network prevents Montgomery County from reaching its economic growth potential by investing in a vibrant life sciences community.

Solution

County Councilmember Riemer has proposed that the county government help facilitate the creation of a high-speed, secure, and interconnected fiber network that will be built based on a co-op, public utility model. The proposed network will connect with the County’s own fiber network and will be funded and built by private sector, anchor institutions already in the life sciences corridor and networking firms seeking to gain a foothold there. The resulting infrastructure will attract additional investment, new companies, and high-paying, high-tech jobs to the county to increase economic competitiveness and growth.

ETOPIA: Statewide Broadband Expansion

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Problem

In our expanding digital world, broadband access has become a critical infrastructure for consumers and businesses alike to remain economically competitive.

Solution

Senator Unger is proposing to create an inventory and mapping of broadband availability around the state of West Virginia, to develop a framework for increasing and upgrading internet infrastructure across the state. His proposal also requires intergovernmental cooperation and coordination on finding the best ways to implement these technological improvements effectively. Through increased broadband access, Unger hopes to increase economic competitiveness by ensuring equal access to high-speed internet for all and by attracting more businesses to West Virginia.

West Coast Infrastructure Exchange

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Problem

The West Coast states face a $1 trillion infrastructure financing gap over the next 30 years. The Great Recession and slow economic recovery have strained the tax revenues of state and local governments, widening the already well-documented infrastructure investment gap.

Solution

The West Coast Infrastructure Exchange (WCX) was created by Oregon, Washington, California, and British Columbia to help redesign the way they plan, build, and finance public infrastructure. WCX works to attract private investment in public projects, share best practices, bundle smaller projects and incorporate climate resilience. This multi-state collaboration will help find innovative ways to fund necessary projects that may not otherwise get completed by relying only on traditional public funding. Through these infrastructure projects, the WCX aims to promote job creation and improve the region’s long-term economic competitiveness over time.

Bottom Up Water Planning

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Problem

Changing climate conditions, population growth, and agricultural innovation are placing significant strains on water management systems. Finding a way to more effectively set public policy for water planning is critical.

Solution

In Texas, Rep. Johnson has helped lead the way to implementing a regional approach to water planning. Beginning with local or regional water development planning that is then incorporated into a statewide plan allows those closest to the resources and needs to strike the right balance between competing interests. Changing to a regional approach for deciding the priorities for water infrastructure allows for the needs of private water rights owners, private and public utilities, and government agencies to coordinate their efforts to maximum effect.

Preservation First

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Problem

Michigan is struggling to find resources to fix its crumbling roads and public support for spending more money on transportation infrastructure is dwindling unless government can show that these projects are sustainable.

Solution

Rep. Townsend has proposed legislation this year to require that any jurisdiction seeking to use state or federal money to build new road capacity must show that its existing roads are in at least “good” or “fair” condition, as defined by state’s Asset Management Council. This policy forces state and local road agencies to be accountable for the condition of their roads before they seek to add to the system, rebuilding faith in government to improve economic outcomes for all.

Economic and Fiscal Impact Statement for All Road Capacity Expansions

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Problem

The general lack of public confidence in government’s ability to make wise investment decisions in transportation leads to underinvestment in such projects, reducing the city’s economic competitiveness and potential for growth.

Solution

Rep. Townsend has introduced legislation to create outcome measures for transportation infrastructure investments that require the Department of Transportation and local agencies to show that their spending plans will generate an economic and fiscal return for the taxpayer and the economy. This matters for everyone because one of America’s greatest deficits is our failure to invest in infrastructure and the only way we will create the political will to do so is to show citizens that government is making wise investments.

Smart Streets

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Problem

South Bend’s thriving downtown began a transformation in the 1960s and 1970s which brought widened one-way, fast moving streets that rewarded the motorists and devalued the downtown, moving people and markets to the suburbs.

Solution

Mayor Pete Buttigieg has helped lead the Smart Streets initiative, an effort to improve the role of streets within South Bend, Indiana. The initiative centers on the economic development goal of creating a sense of place and supporting a vibrant and walkable downtown. The public design-build process was innovative as it brought divergent segments of the population together to achieve rapid consensus, allowing design and engineering work to start the first project phases within a year of the first public input sessions.

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