Last year I posted about IBM's Smarter Cities challenge because I thought it was a really clever and positive program. Just wanted to post an update as they're launching their 2nd Smarter Cities Challenge for cities to get them grants for projects that improve transportation, government accountability, sustainability and create infrastructure and jobs.

Triple Pundit has more:

IBM is in the midst of a three-year program that amounts to a gift of technology and assistance to cities that can can make a compelling case for a helping hand.

The data and consulting giant’s Smarter Cities Challenge is a three-year, 100-city, US$50 million grant program in which IBM’s top technical experts and consultants help cities solve vexing problems through data analysis.

IBM opened up the 2012 grant application process last week and cities have until December 16 to apply for a grant. IBM is focusing on urban centers because they’re home to more than half the world’s population and, as IBM describes them, they’re more “economically powerful, politically influential, and technologically advanced than at any time in human history.”

And as anyone who doesn’t live under a rock knows, urban centers have gargantuan problems managing budgets, safety, transportation infrastructures, and a host of other functions. IBM believes it can provide technological fixes to these problems through its consultation services and resources such as City Forward,  an online trends and statistics tool.

Video after the jump.

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I'm tired of thinking about the Massachusetts Senate race. Here's some good news from last week that didn't draw much media coverage. It confirmed my view that Transportation Secetary Ray LaHood will turn out to be one of President Obama's outstanding appointments. Last Wednesday LaHood

proposed that new funding guidelines for major transit projects be based on livability issues such as economic development opportunities and environmental benefits, in addition to cost and time saved, which are currently the primary criteria.

In remarks at the Transportation Research Board annual meeting, the Secretary announced the Obama Administration’s plans to change how projects are selected to receive federal financial assistance in the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) New Starts and Small Starts programs. As part of this initiative, the FTA will immediately rescind budget restrictions issued by the Bush Administration in March of 2005 that focused primarily on how much a project shortened commute times in comparison to its cost.

“Our new policy for selecting major transit projects will work to promote livability rather than hinder it,” said Secretary LaHood. “We want to base our decisions on how much transit helps the environment, how much it improves development opportunities and how it makes our communities better places to live.”

This represents a big change from a Bush administration rule, imposed in 2005, which "elevated 'cost-effectiveness' above all other criteria used to determine whether a local transit project can receive federal funds." Representative Earl "The Bike" Blumenauer, one of the most progressive voices in Congress on transportation issues, hailed LaHood's action:

Rescinding this Bush administration restriction will unleash funding for important transportation projects across the nation, jumpstarting local economies and creating good jobs. This means quicker and better funding for streetcars, light rail, and bus projects that improve transportation, revive local economies, and reduce global warming pollution. After much hard work with the administration and my Congressional colleagues, this is an exciting outcome that will create better and more transportation opportunities.

At Transportation for America's blog, Stephen Lee Davis noted,

one problem that this will not fix is the very high demand for a limited supply of New Starts funding. Even under the old narrow rules for winning approval, only a small percentage of the many applicants were receiving limited funding, and even then, the federal government was only matching about half of local funds, compared with at least 80 percent for road projects.

Still, LaHood has taken an important and welcome step toward reorienting the way the DOT evaluates projects. LaHood's new direction on transit funding is part of a broad sustainable communities initiative that he and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan announced last March. The Environmental Protection Agency joined the interagency partnership in June, which will promote the following "Livability Principles":

* Provide more transportation choices. Develop safe, reliable, and economical transportation choices to decrease household transportation costs, reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil, improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and promote public health.

* Promote equitable, affordable housing. Expand location- and energy-efficient housing choices for people of all ages, incomes, races, and ethnicities to increase mobility and lower the combined cost of housing and transportation.

* Enhance economic competitiveness. Improve economic competitiveness through reliable and timely access to employment centers, educational opportunities, services and other basic needs by workers, as well as expanded business access to markets.

* Support existing communities. Target federal funding toward existing communities—through strategies like transit oriented, mixed-use development, and land recycling—to increase community revitalization and the efficiency of public works investments and safeguard rural landscapes.

* Coordinate and leverage federal policies and investment. Align federal policies and funding to remove barriers to collaboration, leverage funding, and increase the accountability and effectiveness of all levels of government to plan for future growth, including making smart energy choices such as locally generated renewable energy

* Value communities and neighborhoods. Enhance the unique characteristics of all communities by investing in healthy, safe, and walkable neighborhoods—rural, urban, or suburban.

The second in a series on the AFL-CIO's job creation proposals.

As part of the AFL-CIO's five-point plan for job creation, we're making concrete proposals to address the nation's immediate jobs crisis while keeping an eye on creating a sustainable economy in the future.

Investment in rebuilding the nation's infrastructure can put millions of people to work now and improve our country for the long term. The United States has some $2.2 trillion in unmet infrastructure needs. That's a lot of work that needs to be done, at a time when 26 million people are unemployed or underemployed.

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The U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has been keeping track of how states are spending the stimulus funds allocated for roads. On September 2 the committee released a report ranking the states according to how much of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding for highways and bridges had been put to work as of July 31. This pdf file contains the state rankings. For each state, the chart shows the percentage of allocated funds for highway and bridge projects that had been put out to bid, were under contract, or were underway by the end of July. The top five states were Wyoming, Iowa, Tennessee, New Hampshire and Oklahoma.

The national average was to have about 40 percent of the stimulus road money under contract and 32 percent funding construction that had already begun by the end of the July. Only 11 states had put even 50 percent of their stimulus road funds to work by that time.

Yesterday's report from the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee doesn't explain why some states have allocated their stimulus money faster than others. The states near the bottom of the list (Hawaii, Virginia, Delaware, Ohio and Massachusetts) hadn't even spent 20 percent of their stimulus road funds as of July 31. Perhaps they are slow to approve projects and bids, or hoarding the cash to help support their 2010 budgets. Whatever the reason, the point of the stimulus bill was to get money into the economy quickly.

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Today Iowa Governor Chet Culver is taking a train tour to promote passenger rail in eastern Iowa, similar to a trip he took through western Iowa last month. He travels today from Iowa City through several small towns to Moline, Illinois, where the Quad Cities' passenger rail depot will be located. From there Culver will travel to Chicago for the Midwest High Speed Rail Summit on Monday.

The U.S. has ten high-speed rail corridors, and Business Week reported earlier this summer that the Midwestern and California corridors are well-positioned to receive some of the $8 billion in stimulus funds allocated for high-speed rail. A Federal Railroad Administration official spoke favorably of cooperation among eight midwestern governors, including Culver.

Competition for the stimulus rail funding will be stiff. The T4America blog reported last week that 40 states submitted a combined $102 billion in high-speed rail proposals for the $8 billion in stimulus funds. The overwhelming response from states prompted the House Appropriations Committee to allocate $4 billion toward high-speed rail in the coming year. The Obama administration had asked for $1 billion.

Republican Congressman Tom Latham (IA-04) tried to strip out $3 billion of the high-speed rail funding for more highway funds. However, the House on Thursday passed the fiscal year 2010 Transportation Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill by a vote of 256-168:

The spending bill passed by the House actually sets out $4 billion for high-speed rail, but Democratic officials expect to transfer half of that total to a national infrastructure bank that would give grants and make loans for large-scale transportation projects, another Obama priority.

"That is the most important transportation initiative since the Eisenhower interstate highway system," said Democratic Representative John Olver, chairman of the appropriations subcommittee that wrote the bill.

Light rail projects are also expanding in many cities. At the annual meeting of 1000 Friends of Iowa yesterday, an official involved in planning a commuter rail project for Iowa City said it's currently hard to purchase train cars for light rail because of high demand nationwide.

Those who argue that we cannot afford to invest in passenger rail during an economic recession should read this piece by BruceMcF, one of the best transportation bloggers around.

Speaking of encouraging news, the Obama administration

has appointed Transportation for America Co-Chair Shelley Poticha to be Senior Advisor for Sustainable Housing and Communities at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the department announced today.

Poticha, who is also President and CEO of Reconnecting America, is expected to head a new HUD Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities that would be created under legislation to be sponsored by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT).

"Shelley will help lead HUD's effort to change the way we think about how our communities fit with how Americans live their lives," said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. "Her wealth of experience will help move us forward in creating sustainable, greener and smarter communities."

Poticha will represent HUD in an inter-agency effort to create sustainable communities involving the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation as well. The DOT and HUD announced joint plans to promote livable communities in March, and the EPA joined the effort in June.

Anyone interested in transportation policy should bookmark the Transportation for America coalition's blog.

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