Panel
Resilient Infrastructure: Adapting to Turbulent Times
Milken InstituteMargot Brandenburg, Debbie Dingell, Katherine Perez, Jonathan Tower, Phillip Washington, Nan Whaley
- Context & Crisis: The U.S. infrastructure sector faces chronic underinvestment, a documented unfunded gap of $2 trillion (ASCE, 2016), and acute stress from climate change, the pandemic, and post-pandemic budget crises.
- MTA Financials: New York City faces specific threats to the MTA's financial stability, driven by dwindling sales tax receipts and inadequate funding for public school ventilation and broadband.
- Transit Safety Program: The National Mobility Recovery and Restoration Task Force developed a health and safety program signed by nearly 200 transit agencies, mandating cleaning regiments, face coverings, and social distancing to restore rider confidence.
- Transit Funding Request: L.A. Metro CEO Phil Washington explicitly called for a second federal stimulus specifically for transit agencies, citing existential threats to their financial stability.
- Moving Forward Act: Rep. Debbie Dingell championed the House-passed "Moving Forward Act," which includes a Clean Energy and Sustainability Accelerator designed to mobilize $20 billion over six years.
- Job Creation Projection: The proposed Clean Energy Accelerator aims to create up to 5.4 million clean energy jobs by using public capital to stimulate private investment in decarbonization projects.
- Legislative Stalemate: Despite House passage, the "Moving Forward Act" and broader infrastructure bills remain stalled in Congress due to current political gridlock, preventing immediate federal action.
- Equity in Grant Competition: Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley highlighted that small and mid-sized cities often lose out on federal "Tiger Grants" due to significant post-Great Recession cuts in local government staffing and capacity.
- Formulaic Funding Proposal: Whaley advocated for shifting from competitive grant models to formula-based funding to ensure equitable distribution to legacy cities and rural areas lacking lobbying leverage.
- Hyper-Local Planning: Catherine Perez (Arap) argued that infrastructure planning must shift from regional to hyper-local levels, utilizing "surgical interventions" to address neighborhood-specific inequities in street and sidewalk conditions.
- Community Trust Model: Rep. Dingell criticized the term "recovery" as potentially elitist and proposed a "permission-based" approach where planners must ask communities what they need before implementing projects to avoid gentrification fears.
- Broadband Inequity: Jonathan Tower noted a near-perfect correlation between Opportunity Zone designations and areas lacking broadband, identifying this gap as a primary driver of the disparity in 2020 outcomes for low-income communities.
- De-risking Strategy: To attract private capital to underserved areas, Tower proposed using principal protection subsidies or low-income debt financing to de-risk Opportunity Zone investments in non-real estate sectors like broadband.
- OZ Capital Allocation: Currently, 96% of Opportunity Zone capital is allocated to real estate, with only 4% directed toward non-real infrastructure, prompting calls to diversify investment into public services.
- Equity Lens Implementation: L.A. Metro has established an Office of Civil Rights and Inclusion to audit all projects for equity impacts, addressing disparities ranging from lead-free water to roadway safety and climate resilience.
- Structural Unfairness: Rep. Dingell characterized current infrastructure disparities as structural rather than systemic, urging a focus on "permission to work" in communities to prevent displacement and build trust.
- Water as Human Right: Mayor Whaley and Rep. Dingell identified clean water and wastewater management as critical but overlooked infrastructure categories, noting that access to running water should be treated as a human right.
- Wastewater Finance Innovation: Tower suggested leveraging Opportunity Zone tax depreciation benefits by transferring wastewater assets to private investment funds while retaining public control over assets and operations.
- Fareless Transit Proposal: Phil Washington proposed making public transit free for all riders in L.A., arguing that the 13% farebox recovery rate is insufficient and that fare-free access is essential for low-income essential workers.
- Economic Impact of Free Transit: Washington argued that eliminating fares would save low-income families hundreds of dollars monthly, potentially preventing homelessness and stimulating local economies through increased spending power.
- Messaging Shift: Mayors and Rep. Dingell agreed that effective public engagement requires moving beyond generic "roads and bridges" rhetoric to specific, humanized needs like broadband (the new electricity) and safe drinking water.
- Measure M Success: L.A. Metro cited the 71% voter approval of Measure M (a sales tax) in 2016 as proof that "humanizing" infrastructure through clergy, teachers, and students can generate overwhelming public support.
- Workforce Bottleneck: Phil Washington warned that even with unlimited federal funding, the U.S. currently lacks a qualified workforce to build, operate, and maintain the necessary infrastructure expansion.
- Infrastructure Education: The panel noted a critical need to train workers for the green economy, specifically regarding battery technology and electric vehicle infrastructure, to prevent job loss during decarbonization.
- Vision 2030: Phil Washington envisions a 2030 landscape featuring boarding schools for foster and justice-involved youth, alongside universal broadband and lead-free water, as the foundation of an equitable city.
- Blue-Green Alliance: Rep. Dingell and the panel advocated for a "blue-green alliance" (labor unions and environmental groups) to ensure fair wages and job security are central to infrastructure policy.
- Federal Loan Guarantee Model: Jonathan Tower proposed a federally backed direct lending and loan guarantee program for infrastructure, modeled after the 1930s G.I. Bill or HOLC, to accelerate project development without full federal appropriation.