Passage of a federal infrastructure bill is essential to the recovery from COVID-19 for both national and regional economies, according to U.S. transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
“What happened is that the pandemic brought to the surface and revealed weaknesses in the old ways of doing things, and in our social infrastructure. They accelerated challenges that were already present,” Buttigieg said during Tuesday night’s annual awards gala of New York’s watchdog Citizens Budget Commission.
The CBC, which held its 89th event virtually because of the pandemic, honored Buttigieg with its Medal for High Civic Service.
Buttigieg, a former Democratic presidential candidate and former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, joined President Biden’s cabinet this year.
He spoke as Congress is debating an infrastructure and a related budget-reconciliation bill. He called infrastructure one of the last areas where bipartisanship is possible.
“Everyone can point to an airport or road or piece of physical infrastructure that they need,” he said.
The package, he said, goes beyond basic road-and-bridge repair. Initiatives include greenhouse gas, mass-transit climate resilience and expansion of electric vehicles.
“This is the season for bold endeavors and big undertakings, but we have to do it right.”
Biden is scheduled to promote the infrastructure bill in Connecticut on Friday.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who introduced Buttigieg, cited her state’s infrastructure needs.
They include the completion of the Gateway tunnels connecting New Jersey and Manhattan; the extension of the Second Avenue subway line northward to East Harlem; and the completion of four new Metro-North Railroad stations in the Bronx, which stand to spur economic expansion in that borough and create alternative routes to Manhattan.
“These are not just abstract concepts,” she said. “It’s what affects people’s lives.”
Shortly after taking office at U.S. DOT, Buttigieg surrounded himself with key Northeast hires, including Deputy Secretary of Transportation Polly Trottenberg, who spent eight years as New York City transportation commissioner. Former Massachusetts transportation commissioner Stephanie Pollack is deputy administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, a DOT unit.
Also at FTA is senior advisor Veronica Vanterpool, most recently the chief innovation officer at Delaware Transit Corp, and also a former New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority board member.
Buttigieg cited New York’s traditional response to crises, including the Blizzard of 1888 that prompted the construction of the city subway system.
One major transportation variable, he said, is the work-at-home dynamic and the use of alternative transportation modes such as bicycles and scooters.
“It’s a problem facing every and state. We face it as an employer of 55,000 people,” he said.
Former Deputy Mayor Alair Townsend received the Felix G. Rohatyn Award, created to recognize legendary champions of New York and sound fiscal management. Rohatyn was a longtime Lazard banker who helped negotiate the city’s emergence from its 1970s fiscal crisis.
Townsend, long praised as a trailblazer for women in the public sector, was deputy mayor for finance and economic development from 1985 to 1989 and later publisher of Crain’s New York Business.
“Alair paved the way for me to step in,” said former city budget director Melanie Hartzog, now its deputy mayor for health and human services.
Hartzog accepted the CBC’s Prize for Public Service Excellence, awarded to the city’s Vaccine Command Center. She and Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Dave Chokshi coordinated the effort to help nearly 6 million New Yorkers obtain vaccines through distribution plans and outreach.
Charles Brecher, the CBC’s research director emeritus, received a special tribute. The organization’s president Andrew Rein called him “the backbone of the CBC for many years.”
In addition, Walter Harris received a medal commemorating his 20 years as CBC chairman.
