Flashback: How Biden Wasted 1.2 Trillion in the Infrastructure Bill that was Passed

May 16, 2025 — bunkerville

 

We hear of airport radar screens going dark yet no one is held accountable. Billions in infrastructure funding were passed during the reign of Biden. Buttigieg as Transportation Secretary had his hand on the wheel. Let us not forget how we got here. Wasting Billions.

So let’s call this flashback Friday – Let’s take a look at how we got here from Bunks Box of Golden Moments from earlier posts:

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on Monday that his agency would use a part of the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill to address racial inequities in U.S. highway design.

The program, called “Reconnecting Communities,” will focus on the “legacy of highway construction built through communities” and remove or repurpose infrastructure barriers. (Worth taking the ride out to the link.)

The GOP is quick to point out that the latest spend-a-rama bill just passed only has about ten percent for infrastructure as we know it. There is precious little discussed of the remaining 90 percent. Try as I might, I can only find a broad brush of it. But here is one jewel that deserves our attention:

Tucked in amid larger pots of money is $20 billion to “reconnect neighborhoods cut off by historic investments (in infrastructure)” and to ensure new projects advance racial and environmental justice.

Critics say it could produce unintended consequences such as more traffic congestion in local neighborhoods — especially if it leads to closing or significantly altering highways, as some cities are contemplating.

Some cities, such as Syracuse, N.Y., want to tear down portions of urban highways, restore old street grids and redevelop neighborhoods. O’Toole is skeptical, saying highway demolition could increase traffic congestion in local neighborhoods and lead to other unintended consequences.

“I’m afraid what we’re going to see with this $20 billion is anti-road people tearing out roads,” O’Toole said.

So far, no one is suggesting that will happen in Atlanta. But there are proposals to build parks over the Downtown Connector. Williams recently requested nearly $1.2 million in federal funding for one of those projects, “The Stitch,” which would cover the highway between the MARTA Civic Center station and Piedmont Road.

“I think our communities are trying to figure out how to reconnect, and have had some success,” said A.J. Robinson, president of Central Atlanta Progress, which proposed The Stitch. “We just need more connections.”

Read more AJC

A plan to dismantle a 1-mile-long depressed freeway that was built in Detroit by demolishing Black neighborhoods 60 years ago is a big winner of federal money

 

Just 8 more seconds and you get the whole agenda:

 

Bunks Bonus of Total Nonsense.

Pete Buttigieg Announces $19.5 Million Grant for Heated Sidewalks

 

A major influx of federal transportation dollars is on its way to the North Country. So goes the synopsis of this grant for the boonies of a forgotten northern town of Berlin, New Hampshire. I could ask about what is being done about our roads and bridges that are decaying beneath our trucks and cars, as opposed to not shoveling a sidewalk but then I would not be in the spirit of the moment.

Pete says the money is going toward economic growth. 

You may ask just where is Berlin NH? 

It is the northernmost city in New Hampshire. The population was 9,425 at the 2020 census,[5] down from 10,051 at the 2010 census

….

Now that is no small chump change. Guess whose the chump? Try American taxpayers. Of course does anyone really think it will end up costing just $19.5 million?

How about the maintenance of this project when completed? Thought I might ask…

Historically these systems were expensive to install, problematic to operate, and occasionally unreliable.

 

 

The best of the swamp. No money for our airport upgrades for our air traffic control,  but lots for nonsense. 

Posted in Liberal Loonies. Tags: , . 16 Comments »

Transportation Buttigieg: Roads Kill More Blacks, Racism Built Into Our Highways

April 18, 2023 — bunkerville

One trick pony Pete. Persistent Pete. You have to give him credit for that. Racist Racist Racist. Now it is the roads. How can one man pack so much of it from his Transportation gig? It is hard to pick the worst member of his Cabinet. Surely this one has to be close to the top.

He might just want to check on our supply chain issues, especially now with the new regs in California that has taken out many independent truckers.  Container ships are backing up waiting to be unloaded.

California Destroys Its Independent Truckers

California has carried out its own de-kulakization by eliminating the businesses of the state’s estimated 70,000 independent truck drivers. These entrepreneurs own and operate their own trucks, carrying cargo from California ports and manufacturers to the rest of the U.S. The effects on these business owners have been catastrophic. No American will escape the ramifications.

The destruction of independent truckers began when Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 5 (AB 5) on September 18, 2019. That law compels independent drivers to surrender the companies they’ve built and seek employment in large firms that can hire them. Read more National Review

But I have digressed.

Image

“Racial disparities” continue to be a focus for Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, according to a recent appearance on MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation” on Saturday.

MSNBC host Al Sharpton sat down with Buttigieg and questioned him about his dedication to addressing inequality regarding road fatalities.

“A lot of people don’t understand, even down to road fatalities, it is not equal,” Sharpton said.

Bunk here is tempted to step in and point out that we might just want include some variables, such as car jackings and other illegal activities, but I don’t want to be called racist.

 

Buttigieg has previously highlighted discrimination within America’s infrastructure. Dismantling a highway. What could be more American than that?

“What we’re doing is we are reconnecting people who may have been disconnected or divided by discriminatory decisions in the past,” Buttigieg said in November 2021.. “That helps everybody. I don’t know why anybody would be against reconnecting people who have been divided by discriminatory decisions in the past.”

Read more Fox News

 

Flashback:

Secretary Pete: ‘Remove City Highways To Fix Racial Inequities’

November 9, 2021 — bunkerville

A plan to dismantle a 1-mile-long depressed freeway that was built in Detroit by demolishing Black neighborhoods 60 years ago is a big winner of federal money

Just 8 more seconds and you get the whole agenda:

Bonus time! Your reward for making it through to the end of this nonsense.

Non-Verbal Snappy Dresser John Fetterman Returns to the Capitol

He will be co-chairing a hearing today. Looking forward to it. Bunk here promised to stay on the job of covering John, so here is the latest.

The best of the swamp.

Posted in Liberal Loonies. Tags: , , , , . 34 Comments »

Florida and its 350,000 yearly newbies- here is what happens

April 9, 2021 — bunkerville

What happens when out of state transplants move to the wonderful state of Florida? Florida gained an average of nearly 1,000 per people per day in 2019, but that number could be even higher in 2020 thanks to the pandemic.

One of the great feats that Florida has managed for the most part has been preparing the necessary infrastructure to insure a continued quality of life. Roads? A few areas are behind the curve, but for the most part one can sail along one heck of a long state in good time. Exception of course are seasonal migrations of the snow birds- Routes 95 and 10 come to mind, and the annual rides one may have to take during Hurricane season. In those cases parts of Florida can easily become a death trap. But much of Florida is undeveloped and farm land.

Florida already has more toll road miles than any other state. So others are not paying for the dream rides.

So now with this mass migration occurring one would think planning ahead might be a good idea for how all of these new Floridians will get about. But alas. The new folks that have arrived have the “last in” syndrome. “Glad I made it”, but I think I will now worry about the wildlife, urban sprawl and the concern that new roads that could bring new communities to spring up.

So let’s get to the heart of the matter: The Proposal

Three proposed new toll roads would add about 330 miles more. (Aric Chokey / Orlando Sentinel)

One road would connect Florida’s Turnpike to the Suncoast Parkway at Crystal River in Citrus County; another would extend the Suncoast north to the Georgia line in Jefferson County, just east of Tallahassee. The third would cut through Florida’s heartland from Collier County in Naples north to Polk County, between Orlando and Tampa.

Florida already has more toll road miles than any other state. Three new toll roads would add about 330 miles more.

Orlando Sentinel:

The old tropes:

RELATED: Toll road plans fall short on wildlife protection, urban sprawl | Opinion »

RELATED: An unwelcome toll road shatters the peace of a charming Florida town | Steve Bousquet »

Paving pristine rural areas for three politically-motivated toll roads made no sense even before the coronavirus raged across Florida.

But with COVID-19 hitting the state budget hard, forging ahead with these boondoggles represents a classic case of misguided priorities — right up there with the Cross-Florida Barge Canal.

Given the state’s precarious finances, even the new chairman of the budget-writing Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, is skeptical about the need for these rural roads. Florida’s soaring Medicaid caseloads and the pandemic’s effects on public school budgets are urgent needs, she said, while the state’s long-range infrastructure can wait.

The toll roads were the pet project of former Florida Senate President Bill Galvano, a Bradenton Republican, who made them his one demand in any deal sought by the Florida House and Gov. Ron DeSantis two years ago.

He also said the roads would create more hurricane escape routes, though Georgia officials have since said their roads aren’t prepared for new inroads from Florida. Besides, emergency planners now say it’s better for evacuees to shelter closer to home. ???

(From personal experience don’t count on this one.) My experience with Hurricane Irma.

But I digress:

Galvano also glossed over the dangers to water and wildlife, including the protected Florida panther.

The Bradenton Republican claimed the through-fares would nurture economic growth in isolated communities, even though a significant number of affected communities have since said they don’t want them.

Of course not. Yet the huddled masses will keep yearning to be free in Florida.

Having lived in the Fort Myers Cape Coral Naples area for a number of years, the highways are wonderful. Well marked, four lanes with beautifully landscaped median areas.

Don’t come to Florida bringing your nasty progressive voting habits and unwillingness to share a fine quality of life. Just think about being one of the millions of new voters in 2024. Remember from whence you came and the life you escaped. Share the road.

Posted in Liberal Loonies. Tags: , , , . 22 Comments »

Environmental Justice stops road projects in their tracks

June 4, 2012 — bunkerville

We heard that Environmental Justice was going to be the tool Obama and his minions were going to use to control us. The Washington Times puts a wrapper on the topic, and tells us just how far they have come. Four more years of this nonsense and there will be no America to save. I encourage you to read the full piece over at the Times.

Environmental justice has already stopped transportation projects in their tracks by using Title VI, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits racial “discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

Mr. Obama explicitly suggests using Title VI to achieve environmental justice in his memorandum

When most people talk about President Obama’s influence on America, they mention reforming health care, repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” or ending the war in Iraq.

But a nearly unknown executive order could have a greater impact on the future of America than all of those things combined, potentially giving the federal government power to control every project in the country.  Read more: Washington Times

 James Cheatham, director of the Office of Planning at the Federal Highway Administration, is listed as an environmental justice contact in this book, which EPA published in December 2010. At the conference, he explained that the movement’s early focus on transportation was no accident.

“Transportation is that vital link that moves our economy one way or another,” he said.

But what do civil rights have to do with transportation projects? When combined with environmentalism, they can stop almost anything.

The Obama administration has used social justice laws to block transportation projects and is using an obscure memo to institute top-down control of automobile use, according to the Washington Times:

 …[The memo] marries the issues of environmentalism and social justice. The federal government can use the laws from one to control the other. …

Last year, an environmental justice claim prevented the state of Virginia from installing express toll lanes to help alleviate traffic congestion on Interstate 395 in Arlington County. The county alleged that the state had violated a series of laws that Mr. Obama suggested as enforcement tools for environmental justice.

First, emissions from vehicles operating in the toll lanes would have violated the Clean Air Act. And, since the lanes would have run mostly through a low-income minority community, they also violated Title VI by discriminating against residents who live there.

The memo, based upon a 1994 Executive Order signed by Bill Clinton, was signed in August 2011 by seventeen federal agencies. It allows the federal government to intrude upon state and local government public roads projects, leaving critics to fear that it could make the Environmental Protection Agency the final arbiter on transportation. H/T:Free Beacon

Posted in Liberal Loonies, Obama. Tags: , , , . 8 Comments »