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New Hampshire Advocates Urged to Question Presidental Candidates
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Yesterday, NARP sent the following message to its members in New Hampshire (by snail mail letter and e-mail):
To NARP Members in New Hampshire—
With the New Hampshire primary coming on Tuesday, January 8, you still have time to ask a presidential candidate (or candidates) about passenger trains. Your message could go something like this, substituting your own words where you can.
“The highly successful Downeaster train linking Boston, New Hampshire and Maine is expected to lose its federal funding next year, even though ridership is growing and the nation is increasingly concerned about climate change, a problem that passenger trains help address. As president, what would you do about passenger trains in general and the Downeaster in particular?”
Remember, it is good for ANY of the candidates to hear such a question. If that candidate drops out of the race, he or she nonetheless is likely to remain active, to support one of the surviving candidates, and possibly to help influence the eventual party nominee’s views of the issues.
The specific problem with the Downeaster involves expiration on September 30, 2009, of federal “CMAQ” funding which has been supporting the route. (CMAQ stands for Congestion Mitigation Air Quality Improvement Program.) The Downeaster is enjoying record ridership and revenue, and has stimulated increased station-area real estate values and development. Passenger rail advocates in Maine are working hard to save the service, but the fact that only one of three states served provides operating funds does present a challenge.
Thank you for your efforts to preserve and expand passenger rail service!
—Ross B. Capon
NARP Executive Director
Posted by NARP
Tags: amtrak, downeaster, presidential election,Talking to the Presidential (and other) Candidates
Friday, January 04, 2008
The Iowa Caucus results confirm what some pundits had already been saying—the “real” primary contests will last longer than predicted earlier. And, of course, the longer they last, the more interest candidates will have in your ideas.
The ideal way to get an issue like passenger trains onto a candidate’s agenda is for the candidate to hear the concern expressed by different people in different places. If you have the opportunity to attend any event where any Presidential candidate is present, consider getting across some of these ideas:
“We need more passenger trains. If we are really serious about being independent from foreign oil, and want fewer carbon emissions in our atmosphere, and less congestion on roads and at airports then we need to invest in more passenger trains. Will you help us?” [or “What will you do about that?”]
The message can be as short as you like—you could, for example, pick just your favorite one or two reasons for needing passenger trains.
Remember, this can be useful even with a candidate who eventually drops out, because that candidate may throw his support to another, and might eventually have an influence on how a winning candidate views the issues. The same tactic, called “bird-dogging” by some, is of course useful in campaigns for federal and state legislators and governors and any other elected public office that presents the opportunity to influence transportation policy.
Be sure to read NARP President George Chilson’s letter to the presidential candidates.
Also see the New York Times’ listings of when each state has its primary or caucus, listed by the Democratic and Republican parties’ calenders. We have asked the NYT to double-check this info; when we last checked, the Democratic table failed to show the DC primary on February 12.
—Ross B. Capon
Posted by NARP
Tags: presidential election,NCI Conference Explores Outreach to Presidential Candidates
Friday, February 01, 2008
I had the privilege of attending the The Carmichael Conference On The Future of American Transportation For North American Transportation Advocates and Leaders this past Monday and Tuesday in St. Louis. The event, sponsored by the National Corridors Initiative, was named in honor of former FRA Administrator Gilbert Carmichael, who continues to this day to advocate for a strong, balanced transportation system that includes intercity passenger rail.
The main objective of the meeting was to “develop a unified Transportation Advocates’ Statement on the Future of American Transportation for presentation to all of the Candidates for the Presidency of the United States.” I’ll share that with you as soon as it is finalized. You’ll see that NARP was one of the sponsors of the conference and advocates’ statement.
One of the consistent themes of speakers and participants—including myself—was that the Presidential candidates have not given any attention to transportation in their campaigns. The group came to consensus that this was a) not a partisan issue as neither party has spoken out and b) there are two main reasons why.
First, transportation is neither an emotional nor a “sexy” issue. It doesn’t grab headlines. If anything, Americans have become complacent with the problems we have and while they may complain, they just accept it “cause that’s the way it is.”
Second, fixing the transportation mess we have will take money. A lot of money. It will almost certainly require raising the gas tax. How many politicians do you know that have run on a platform of raising taxes and had a successful campaign? If anything, the candidates have to compete to see who can go the lowest on tax cut promises. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t problems to solve. But, the bottom line is that it is incredibly difficult to drum up support for something that’s going to cost a lot of money in the context of a political campaign.
NARP has reached out to the Presidential candidates and, along the lines of my discussion above, have received no response. But rest assured we will keep putting the message out there. It’s quite possible that issues will become more focused and refined as the field shrinks to two viable candidates in each party and in the near future to one.
—Dave Johnson
Posted by NARP
Tags: presidential election,As Promised: Transportation Advocates Statement to the Candidates
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Following up my post from yesterday, here is the statement to the Presidential candidates that I referenced… —DRJ
To the Candidates for President and the Party Platform Committees, we submit:
The St. Louis Statement
on the Crisis in American Transportation
At The Carmichael Conference*
The silence of those now running for the office of President on the growing crisis in our nation’s transportation infrastructure is deafening. We have all heard about the crisis in the economy, and changes in the earth’s climate brought on by global warming, but we have heard nothing about one key element that underlies both of those issues: the movement of goods and people, our very freedom of mobility. Yet, few national issues offer a greater opportunity for imaginative change.
We speak to those candidates now, today. We are from both political parties, and from no political party. We are from New England, and California, and Louisiana, and Illinois, and places in between, gathered this day in St. Louis for the inaugural Carmichael Conference* on the Future of American Transportation, to advocate for the renewal of that infrastructure. We respectfully ask each one of you:
- Do you understand that transportation must be treated as a system, not merely a collection of competing modes, when setting and executing policy
- How do you propose to restore our transportation system to health?
- What are you going to do, specifically, to obtain the funding needed to do that?
As both advocates and professional executives, as both elected and appointed officials from around this country, as American citizens, we call on you to engage this issue, and make it an integral part of your campaign. As former American Airlines CEO Robert Crandall said in his very powerful address to us: “It’s late in the game, and we are far past the time when our national leaders should have laid out, debated, and implemented an integrated, carefully thought-out and effective national plan for developing and deploying an optimized national transportation system.”
The American people need rational choices when it comes to transportation, and those choices must be adequately and intelligently funded and maintained to make it all work. In particular, an efficient transportation system and robust rail, air, coastal/riverine, port, and highway components will sharply reduce both our dependence on foreign oil, and the high price we pay for it. Highly fuel-efficient, environmentally-friendly transportation modes, such as rail, should especially not be overlooked.
You are asking us to select you as the leader of our country. Very well: we ask you to lead. Seize this issue, and make it central to your campaign, as it is to every American’s life. Thus far it has been virtually ignored. We ask that to change, starting now.
* Convened January 28-29, 2008, at St. Louis, by the National Corridors Initiative with the help and support of the Sierra Club, The National Association of Railroad Passengers, and the following organizations: American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, American Public Transportation Association, American Road and Transportation Builders, Association of American Railroads, Association for Public Transportation, Bombardier Transit, Connex/Veolia Transportation, InTrans Incorporated: A New Direction in Transportation Advocacy, Midwest High Speed Rail Association, Providence & Worcester Railroad, The Surdna Foundation, Train/Riders NorthEast, Victoria Transportation Policy Institute, Virginians for High Speed Rail, and named in honor of former Federal Railroad Administrator Gilbert Carmichael, one of America’s leading transportation advocates who continues actively to champion transportation intermodalism.
Posted by NARP
Tags: presidential election,It’s Super Tuesday; Do You Know Where the Candidates Stand?
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Because transportation has played such a minuscule role as a campaign issue thus far (as the Los Angeles Times has noted), it can be difficult for a concerned voter to gauge where the candidates stand on improving our nation’s transportation system. Even candidates that support balanced transportation do not necessarily elaborate with policy details. Nonetheless, here’s a roundup of the public record thus far.
NARP thanks member James Toy for pointing us to this St. Paul Pioneer Press feature that asked each campaign, “What would your candidate do to improve the nation’s transportation infrastructure?”
Streetsblog compiled statements of the Republicans and Democrats, and covered a transportation and infrastructure forum attended by candidates’ representatives.
Smart Growth Around America also compiled the positions on “energy, smart growth, and climate change” of the Republicans and Democrats.
Ultimately, candidate statements do not necessarily equal action in office. But the more citizens let them know that investing in a balanced transportation system is crucial to the future health of our economy, environment, and quality of life, the more likely they are to remember our cause in the future. A commitment to strengthen our transportation network, especially with more and better train service, is a highly beneficial policy that also happens to be politically rewarding.
—Matthew Melzer
Posted by NARP
Tags: presidential election,Bob Herbert Asks: What About Infrastructure?
Monday, August 18, 2008
In his New York Times column last Saturday, Bob Herbert spotlighted national infrastructure issues at the US Conference of Mayors meeting and lamented their lack of prominence in the Presidential campaign. He highlighted the opportunity Meridian, MS Mayor John Robert Smith sees in a truly national passenger train network to address our transportation needs (my emphasis on the bolded part):
The mayors talked about clogged highways, the high price of gasoline and an air transportation system that seems to get more pitiful by the day. Mayor John Robert Smith of Meridian, Miss., called on the presidential candidates to take a bold, creative approach to the nation’s transportation needs, including substantial investments in railroad infrastructure.
Mr. Smith believes the nation should devote the same level of commitment to developing a first-rate passenger rail system as was marshaled for the interstate highway system in the Eisenhower era.
He also noted this gem from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg:
At a press conference after the meeting, Mayor Bloomberg said, “We’ve got to make infrastructure investment a national priority,” and he took the federal government to task for “walking away from its responsibility in this area.”
We couldn’t agree more: The federal government needs to wake up. See my guest entry in The Hill‘s Congress Blog that was published yesterday.
—Matthew Melzer
Posted by NARP
Tags: news media, presidential election, us conference of mayors,Biden Puts the Spotlight on Amtrak
Friday, August 29, 2008
Please note: NARP does not endorse or oppose any political candidate.
The selection of Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE) to be Barack Obama’s Vice Presidential nominee has focused attention on Amtrak. For 35 years, Biden has commuted almost every day on Amtrak from Wilmington to Washington. There has been extensive media coverage of “The Amtrak Vice President.” For the first time in modern history, the word “Amtrak” was uttered in the acceptance speeches of both candidates of a major party. NARP has done several press interviews and I was invited to write a guest entry for The Hill newspaper’s Congress Blog earlier this week.
As I cautioned readers in my entry, while Biden’s support of Amtrak during his Senate career is very clear, Administrations of both parties have never been especially supportive of Amtrak. We all know that several Republican Administrations have tried (unsuccessfully) to zero-out Amtrak funding, while the worst sets of route cuts in Amtrak history have come at the hands of Democratic Administrations.
So, as I closed my The Hill blog entry, “If elected, will Senator Biden’s support and use of Amtrak translate into stronger federal support of and funding for passenger trains? Time will tell.”
The following segment from NBC’s Today Show on Wednesday provides a glimpse into Biden’s life as a regular commuter on Amtrak’s Acela Express:
—Dave Johnson
Posted by NARP
Tags: acela express, amtrak, joe biden, news media, presidential election,Some early reflections on the election
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
There’s no question that, by all indications, including their Senate records, Obama/Biden hold the greatest promise for improving America’s passenger train system. And the environment in which they are operating is more supportive of trains than was the case in the 1990s, when close ties between the Clinton White House and the Amtrak Board prevented Amtrak from even requesting the full amounts authorized for it.
At the same time, the number of other urgent issues crowding the national agenda is greater—greater even than it was a few months ago. So we have to remember the words of FDR to his supporters: “You’ve elected me, now organize a movement to make me do what you want.”
Having supporters in the White House and Congress is no guarantee of success. Those supporters still have the same budget numbers and the same set of rules that were in place prior to the election. And, right now at least, lower gasoline prices are cited as a major reason for defeat of a Kansas City light rail ballot measure. Longer-term, the declines in energy investment now happening in response to those lower prices, could set the stage for another dramatic price rise—and still more pressure for passenger trains.
Right now, the task is to keep that pressure on in spite of low gas prices. Some of the strongest potential supporters may be Democratic legislators who initially were not thought to have a serious chance of winning and who, as a result, may not have been vetted (or “re-grooved”) by highway interests to the same extent as “strong” candidates were, and who therefore may come into office with more sympathy for our cause.
For the nation as a whole, it may be a good thing that Democrats did not achieve the 60 votes they need to cut off debate without Republican help. This lessens the temptation for Democrats to run roughshod over their colleagues, at the risk of paying dearly in future elections. But for passenger trains, it is not good that Capitol Hill Republicans as a group likely will be even less supportive in the next Congress than in the current one. It is a reminder that the new law contains many report requirements, most of which look like they were designed by people who don’t like passenger trains (or at least long-distance passenger trains). By the way, there will be many changes in key Republican positions…there will be a big shuffle as a result of the defeat of Rep. Joe Knollenberg (MI), top Republican on the House appropriations subcommittee. The same is true on the Senate side if Ted Stevens (AK), top Republican on the appropriations defense subcommittee, is not elected or does not continue to serve.
When David Gunn headed Amtrak, he used to nod towards Capitol Hill and say, “Those folks aren’t going to kill the trains. It’s the railroads growing inability to handle all their traffic.” Well, the railroads have made great progress in dealing with capacity and with dispatching passenger trains, thanks in part to the on-time performance ruckus NARP raised two years ago, and to the way Federal Railroad Administrator Joe Boardman and indeed Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters picked up that issue and ran with it.
Today, the greatest threat to the long-distance trains may be the age of the equipment, most dramatically illustrated by Amtrak’s inability or unwillingness to put full dining cars on the Lake Shore Limited. The real test for the national network will be whether Amtrak continues to push hard for new equipment for the long-distance trains and whether that push produces results.
For now, be sure to congratulate your new legislators on their victories and work hard to get our agenda in front of them, including full funding of the new law, and acquisition of the equipment needed to expand and update the long-distance trains. And press appointment of transportation officials who recognize the value of a more balanced transportation policy—one with a broader role for passenger trains, to improve overall record of U.S. transportation regarding safety, energy efficiency, and provision of good choices to citizens.
—Ross Capon
Posted by NARP
Tags: amtrak, congress, oil, presidential election, price of oil, usdot,©2010 National Association of Railroad Passengers | » NARP website
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