Infrastructure

In the days after Governor Newsom signed California’s $308 billion budget—which includes record spending across sectors bolstered by a nearly $100 billion surplus—TPR/VXNews interviewed California Senate Majority Leader Emeritus Robert Hertzberg on the highlights of the 2022-23 state budget package. The Senator elaborates on the one-time infrastructure investments embedded throughout the budget for climate resilience—including grid reliability, EV charging, wildfire, water recycling, and more.

VX News excerpts the February 16 LAEDC 2022 Economic Forecast Breakout Session on Infrastructure and opportunities for coupling one-time investments with workforce development and cross-sector collaboration.

With climate change fueling increasingly frequent and severe natural disasters—whether from flooding, wildfire, or extreme heat events—2021 was another record-breaking and deadly year for climate disasters in the US.

Port of LA Executive Director Gene Seroka highlights opportunities to accelerate the Port’s plans for zero-emissions operations and reminds readers that with 40 percent of the nation’s exports coming through the Ports of LA & Long Beach, the impacts of capital investment at the Ports are magnified well beyond LA city limits.

VX News shares this letter of support for the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework signed by a broad coalition of 65 former mayors and governors representing cities and states across the country

As Democrats in Congress work in the next two weeks to fashion and negotiate a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill, VX News asked Representative Mike Levin (CA-49) to elaborate on the significance of the pending federal spending frameworks.

Ahead of the budget reconciliation process, VX News spoke with US Congressman Earl Blumenauer, who sits on the House Ways & Means Committee, for insights on the also-pending $1 trillion bipartisan Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act.

VX News interviews Kerry C. Duggan, who an Obama/Biden White House official, spent 6.5 years embedded into Detroit City Hall to provide technical assistance to the city during and after its municipal bankruptcy in 2013, shares her insights into the importance of local capacity building and place-based policymaking in order to Build Back Better.

VXNews interviewed Adel Hagekhalil to elaborate on how StreetsLA leveraged resources and partnerships in a year of budget scarcity to continue its work to transform LA’s streets into urban oases that provide shade, stormwater capture, active transportation, urban cooling and more for communities across the City.