Sunday Poll: Will The St. Louis Region Benefit From The Trump Administration’s Infrastructure Plan?

Last month the Trump administration unveiled its infrastructure plan:

President Trump’s long-awaited plan for overhauling the nation’s crumbling infrastructure includes spending $200 billion in federal money over the next decade to spur an additional $1.3 trillion in spending from cities, states and private companies on major projects, White House officials said on Wednesday, a formula that faces long odds on Capitol Hill.

The increased infrastructure spending would be offset by unspecified budget cuts. Officials would not detail where those cuts would come from, or how the proposal would effectively leverage at least $6.50 in additional infrastructure spending for every dollar spent by the federal government, a ratio many infrastructure experts consider far-fetched. The officials said Mr. Trump would leave it up to Congress — where there is little consensus about how to pay for such a plan — to figure out the details, giving lawmakers wide latitude in creating what would need to be a bipartisan bill against the backdrop of the midterm elections. (New York Times)

Here’s a little more on the proposal:

The White House says its plan will create $1.5 trillion for repairing and upgrading America’s infrastructure. 

Only $200 billion of that, however, would come from direct federal spending. The rest is supposed to come from state and local governments, which are expected to match any federal allocation by at least a four-to-one ratio. States have gradually assumed more of the responsibility for funding infrastructure in recent years, and the White House says it wants to accelerate that trend. 

“What we really want to do is provide opportunities for state and local governments to receive federal funding when they’re doing what’s politically hard, and increasing investment in infrastructure,” DJ Gribbin, Trump’s special assistant for infrastructure, said to theUnited States Conference of Mayors last month. 

However, existing funding sources — such as sales taxes that have already been levied to pay for transit projects — may count towards a local jurisdiction’s contribution. (CNN/Money)

This plan is the topic of today’s poll:

This poll will close at 8pm tonight.

— Steve Patterson

St. Louis Board of Aldermen Week 36 of 2017-2018 Session

The St. Louis Board of Aldermen will meet at 10am today, their 36th week of the 2017-2018 session. As they’re near the end of the session there’s not enough time to introduce anymore new board bills and get them passed.

Today’s agenda includes the swearing in of newly-elected 8th ward alderman Annie Rice. Rice won a 2-way special election on 2/13/18 — she received 59.75% of the 2,144 votes.  See results and precinct results.

There are also two Board Bills for Perfection – Informal Calendar.

• B.B.#99AA – Pres. Reed/Vaccaro/Arnowitz/Navarro/Murphy/ Howard/Boyd – An ordinance pertaining to the collection of funds to assist in the prevention of domestic violence in support of individuals impacted; authorizing the Comptroller to establish “The Domestic Violence Prevention and Family Support Fund”.
• B.B. #129 – Vaccaro? An ordinance to make it unlawful, subject to those exceptions stated herein, for any person to ride, walk or otherwise lead a horse or horses on, along or over the public streets, alleys and sidewalks within the City and the paths and trails, and any extensions thereof within the City.

The meeting begins at 10am, past meetings and a live broadcast can be watched online here. See list of all board bills for the 2017-2018 session. The board will meet again one week from today, after that the next full meeting is Monday April 16th  — known as Sine Die. The next day,  Tuesday April 17th, is the first meeting of the 2018-2019 session.

— Steve Patterson