Illinois: $15 billion deficit (FY 2012; plus another $8B in IOUs and epic pension obligations)
Indiana: $1.3 billion (FY2012)
Michigan: $1.5 billion (2011-12)
Minnesota: $6.2 billion (2012-13)
New York $9 billion (2011-12)
Ohio: $8 billion (2012-13)
Pennsylvania: As much as $5 billion (FY 2012)
Wisconsin: $3.3 billion (2011-13)
Showing posts with label new york. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new york. Show all posts
Buffalo matters
An advertisement for The Queen City produced by the Buffalo Niagara Convention and Visitors Bureau. Football fans will appreciate the analogy from Eric Walker of PUSH Buffalo:
Buffalo is a city of fighters. Anybody who knows the Bills history knows we won't give up no matter how long the odds are. We are a Thurman Thomas city. Keep those legs moving and eventually something's going to happen. The yards come. Inch by inch.
Roundup of rail reactions
An admittedly incomplete attempt to catalog the politicians' recent passenger-rail-paper-pushing around Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, New York and D.C.
Nov 4: Wisconsin Gov-Elect Scott Walker issues a statement announcing his team is "exploring all legal options" to stop the Milwaukee-Madison rail project and redirect the money to fix roads and bridges.
Nov 4: Wisconsin DOT Secretary announces that, at Gov. Jim Doyle's request, he'll "temporarily interrupt" work on the rail project.
Nov 5: US Congresswoman Gwen Moore of Milwaukee issues a statement saying it's critical that work on the rail project continue.
Nov 5: NY Gov-Elect Andrew Cuomo sends a letter urging US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to redirect to New York any unwanted rail funds from states like Wisconsin and Ohio because "high speed rail could be the 21st Century Erie Canal for New York State" and "now is the moment to build."
Nov 8: Wisconsin's outgoing Governor Jim Doyle issues a statement saying the idea that rail funds could be spent to fix roads is "pure fiction."
Nov 8: Secretary LaHood responds to letter (PDF) to WI Gov-Elect Scott Walker saying rail money can not be used to fix roads and bridges.
Nov 8: Ohio Gov-Elect John Kasich sends a letter (PDF) to outgoing Gov. Strickland demanding he "immediately cancel all contracts relating to your rail program."
Nov 8: Kasich sends a letter (PDF) to President Obama saying he will terminate Ohio's Cincinnat--Columbus-Cleveland passenger rail project. Freight rail and highways, he says, take priority.
(Note the so-called 3C line is backed by more than 80 letters and resolutions of support from a broad range of groups including the AFL-CIO and the Sierra Club.)
Nov 9: Wi Gov-Elect Scott Walker reportedly sends letter to President Obama saying road and bridge spending is Wisconsin's priority.
Nov 9: A spokesman for OH Governor Strickland reportedly tells Kasich to go fly a kite via an e-mailed statement to a Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter.
Nov 9: Secretary LaHood responds (PDF) to Ohio's Kasich by in part informing the Gov-elect that stimulus funds paid for 492 road, bridge, transit and airport projects in the state.
Nov 10: The Watertown Chamber of Commerce sends a letter (PDF) to Gov Elect Scott Walker saying that cancellation of the Madison-Milwaukee project would be "an extremely poor decision" that would "stymie economic development."
Nov. 10: Illinois Governor Pat Quinn reportedly releases a letter in which he recruits the Spanish train manufacturer Talgo from Wisconsin to Illinois.
UPDATE Nov 11: Milwaukee Common Council sends a letter (PDF) to Secretary LaHood saying Milwaukee-Madison rail service will "improve mobility, provide more travel choices, create wealth and promote economic development.”
UPDATE Nov 16: Three U.S. Congressmen - all from Wisconsin - issue a statement that shouts "local control" and introduces legislation that would allow states to return rail money and help pay the federal debt.
UPDATE Nov 18: The Minnesota AFL-CIO sends a letter (PDF) to Gov-Elect Walker saying the midwest's global competitiveness depends on upgrading to a 21st century transportation system.
Nov 4: Wisconsin Gov-Elect Scott Walker issues a statement announcing his team is "exploring all legal options" to stop the Milwaukee-Madison rail project and redirect the money to fix roads and bridges.
Nov 4: Wisconsin DOT Secretary announces that, at Gov. Jim Doyle's request, he'll "temporarily interrupt" work on the rail project.
Nov 5: US Congresswoman Gwen Moore of Milwaukee issues a statement saying it's critical that work on the rail project continue.
Nov 5: NY Gov-Elect Andrew Cuomo sends a letter urging US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to redirect to New York any unwanted rail funds from states like Wisconsin and Ohio because "high speed rail could be the 21st Century Erie Canal for New York State" and "now is the moment to build."
Nov 8: Wisconsin's outgoing Governor Jim Doyle issues a statement saying the idea that rail funds could be spent to fix roads is "pure fiction."
Nov 8: Secretary LaHood responds to letter (PDF) to WI Gov-Elect Scott Walker saying rail money can not be used to fix roads and bridges.
Nov 8: Ohio Gov-Elect John Kasich sends a letter (PDF) to outgoing Gov. Strickland demanding he "immediately cancel all contracts relating to your rail program."
Nov 8: Kasich sends a letter (PDF) to President Obama saying he will terminate Ohio's Cincinnat--Columbus-Cleveland passenger rail project. Freight rail and highways, he says, take priority.
(Note the so-called 3C line is backed by more than 80 letters and resolutions of support from a broad range of groups including the AFL-CIO and the Sierra Club.)
Nov 9: Wi Gov-Elect Scott Walker reportedly sends letter to President Obama saying road and bridge spending is Wisconsin's priority.
Nov 9: A spokesman for OH Governor Strickland reportedly tells Kasich to go fly a kite via an e-mailed statement to a Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter.
Nov 9: Secretary LaHood responds (PDF) to Ohio's Kasich by in part informing the Gov-elect that stimulus funds paid for 492 road, bridge, transit and airport projects in the state.
Nov 10: The Watertown Chamber of Commerce sends a letter (PDF) to Gov Elect Scott Walker saying that cancellation of the Madison-Milwaukee project would be "an extremely poor decision" that would "stymie economic development."
Nov. 10: Illinois Governor Pat Quinn reportedly releases a letter in which he recruits the Spanish train manufacturer Talgo from Wisconsin to Illinois.
UPDATE Nov 11: Milwaukee Common Council sends a letter (PDF) to Secretary LaHood saying Milwaukee-Madison rail service will "improve mobility, provide more travel choices, create wealth and promote economic development.”
UPDATE Nov 16: Three U.S. Congressmen - all from Wisconsin - issue a statement that shouts "local control" and introduces legislation that would allow states to return rail money and help pay the federal debt.
UPDATE Nov 18: The Minnesota AFL-CIO sends a letter (PDF) to Gov-Elect Walker saying the midwest's global competitiveness depends on upgrading to a 21st century transportation system.
Free Lunch in Buffalo
I haven't read David Cay Johnston's Free Lunch. But Buffalo State College economics professor Bruce Fisher writes that the culture of subsidy illuminated in the book is alive and well in Buffalo - perhaps at great expense to the city's urban vitality.
Welcome to downtown Buffalo, New York, where for the past 40 years, massive public investments for big projects have, year after year, project after project, proceeded as follows: A useful historic building is left to rot, then demolished at great public expense, then replaced, if at all, by a hugely expensive, publicly funded structure that worsens the already enormous glut of downtown office space.
John Norquist: Buffalo, tear down this Skyway
Congress for New Urbanism President and former Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist says Buffalo's Skyway is like the Berlin Wall separating the city from its waterfront. He also says it would be cheaper to tear the highway down. The popular movement for such "out of the box" thinking seemingly continues to grow locally.
Syracuse Trestle Project
Artist Steve Powers' work to revitalize a Syracuse neighborhood takes on heightened meaning after you read his letter to the city's Arts Commission which briefly discusses America's lost tradition of sign painting.
More at Sign Painter Movie Productions
More at Sign Painter Movie Productions
Rust Belt in the Red 2010
Illinois: $13 billion deficit
Indiana: tax revenues $75 million short of forecast and on pace to spend down $1 billion surplus by June 2011
Michigan: at least $1.6 billion deficit
Minnesota: $1.2 billion deficit
New York: $8.2 billion deficit
Ohio: believes everything is OK
Pennsylvania: $500 million shortfall
Wisconsin: approx $200 million deficit
Indiana: tax revenues $75 million short of forecast and on pace to spend down $1 billion surplus by June 2011
Michigan: at least $1.6 billion deficit
Minnesota: $1.2 billion deficit
New York: $8.2 billion deficit
Ohio: believes everything is OK
Pennsylvania: $500 million shortfall
Wisconsin: approx $200 million deficit
State of the Rust Belt 2010
Illinois State of the State address
Indiana State of the State address
Michigan State of the State address
Minnesota State of the State address
New York State of the State address
Ohio State of the State address
Pennsylvania expected in February
Wisconsin State of the State address
UPDATE: Cleveland State of the City speech (PDF) by Mayor Frank Jackson
Indiana State of the State address
Michigan State of the State address
Minnesota State of the State address
New York State of the State address
Ohio State of the State address
Pennsylvania expected in February
Wisconsin State of the State address
UPDATE: Cleveland State of the City speech (PDF) by Mayor Frank Jackson
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)