Rell's Administration Costs CT $1 Billion in Federal Funding

by: Jon Kantrowitz

Sat Feb 20, 2010 at 08:47:46 AM EST

The Hartford Courant has the story as far as transportation funding goes:

Connecticut came away with absolutely nothing in a competition for $1.5 billion in federal transportation grants this week, angering the congressional delegation enough that it has demanded a meeting with federal Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood next week.

Connecticut is one of just nine states to come up empty.

"I was outraged when I got the news," U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District, said Thursday afternoon. " Chris Dodd was exceedingly angry. John Larson was not happy. We all called the White House. This is just unacceptable," Himes said.

At least one state lawmaker is saying that Connecticut's transportation department dropped the ball, particularly since this is the second time this month that the state has fared miserably in competition for major federal transportation aid. State DOT officials insist that they are as disappointed as anyone and that they've done everything possible to win a share of the money.

The loss also is a severe blow to the state's battered construction industry, where unemployment runs about 30 percent, and many small contractors are struggling to stay solvent.

Altogether, the state sought $630 million from the federal transportation stimulus program known as TIGER - Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery. Of that, the state DOT sought $330 million, and individual cities and regional planning associations applied for $300 million.

The effect on Connecticut's backlog of bridge, highway, railroad and port repairs could be profound. The state DOT had sought $170 million to help pay to replace the Moses Wheeler Bridge over the Housatonic River on I-95 between Stratford and Milford. That money also would have helped to create the New Britain-to-Hartford busway; rebuild the I-91 and I-95 interchange in New Haven; and construct a wheel-milling shop at the New Haven rail yard.

Connecticut actually performed poorly in a separate competition for high-speed rail funds. The DOT has said it would cost $800 million to $1 billion to rebuild Amtrak's New Haven-to-Springfield line to accommodate commuter trains and 110 mph intercity trains; Connecticut came away with just $40 million of the Obama administration's $8 billion funding bonanza for high-speed rail.

Larson and Dodd both have said that the state DOT needs to do a better job of preparing its case before the next round of high-speed rail funding is distributed.

Further details are provided by dc.streetsblog.org:

Among those likely-stalled proposals is the Stamford area's Complete Streets and Transit Access pitch (available for download here), which asked for $21.3 million of federal money to promote new transit-oriented development in a low-income neighborhood while adding bike lanes and sidewalks to local streets and putting new jitney buses into circulation.

Meanwhile, Ted Mann reports in The Day, that Connecticut is unlikely to qualify for millions of dollars in Race To The Top funding:

Despite a frantic last-minute drive to Washington last month to submit Connecticut's application for $192.7 million in federal education funding, the state is unlikely to get a dime of the new money this spring, U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, said Wednesday.

In a meeting with The Day's editorial board, Courtney said he doubted Connecticut would be among the recipients of $1.35 billion in funding from the Obama administration's Race to the Top program, in part because the state's application to the competitive grant program was "kind of cobbled together pretty last-minute" by state officials.

The last-minute completion of the state application was among numerous complaints Courtney said he's heard in conversations with local school superintendents, who also felt they had been insufficiently consulted in the development of Connecticut's plan for the money.

(Reforms needed for a more effective application are discussed by ConnCan here.)

Ned Lamont's reaction:

"The news today that Connecticut has missed out yet again on hundreds of millions in federal transportation dollars is sadly all too familiar.  This is just another example of how we can no longer afford to do business as usual here in Connecticut.  We can no longer afford to allow our jobs and infrastructure funding to go to other states simply because they are more aggressive than we are.  We need a Governor who will fight for every job and every bit of money for our roads and bridges that we rightly deserve."

"Connecticut is also expected -- due to inaction -- to miss out on $200 million in "Race to the Top" funds to revitalize our schools. Transportation and eduction -- these are the keys to our state's economic future. As Governor, I will roll up my sleeves, work with our leaders in Washington and fight to ensure Connecticut is at the forefront of this century's transportation and education revolutions."

Mismanagement in Hartford has cost our state a billion dollars in the past few days alone - and hundreds of millions more in the last few years. It's time for a change - and a Democrat in the Governor's seat!