Category Archives: local government

High Speed Rail Not Good for Rural Texas Says Community Development Sub Regional Planning Commissioner

Marty Hiles, Commissioner, Community Development Sub Regional Planning Commission, makes the following 7 points about the harm to rural land from high speed rail:

  • No Train Stops in rural Texas means no economic benefit for rural Texas
  • Rural property values will decline
  • 4 mile wide path of eminent domain is what high speed rail will take
  • Building the train tracks will destroy the environment in rural Texas
  • High Speed Rail construction will create a path like an F-5 tornado
  • High Speed…

INTERIM. Legal Trend: Sharing Economy. Court Says Drivers are Independent Contractors

This week’s settlement of lawsuits in California and Massachusettes maintains the indepdent contractor status of Uber drivers. 

Court sign off will occur when the judge approves the settlement.

KOLO | Uber settlement keeps drivers as contractors in 2 states

The Recorder | Uber Strikes Expensive Peace Pact With Drivers

5 Points from Lone Star Rail. Regional Rail Planning. Economic Development.

  • Passenger rail between Georgetown and San Antonio will improve our region’s mobility
  • The Lone Star Rail District vote to support the completion of an environmental impact study opens the door for federal capital funding
  • 5 viable rail tracks
  • Lone Star Rail is Economic Development
  • Lone Star Rail will use public-private partnerships

Statesman | Covington: A new approach to regional rail

Why 1 State will Stop Giving Cities Transportation Funding

Which state has been divying up federal transportation dollars with cities? Missouri

Which federal funds will stop being handed over to cities?

  •  a small urban surface transportation program for Missouri’s smaller cities
  • a bridge replacement and improvement program aimed at larger urban areas

Why will Missouri tighten the reigns on these federal funds? Missouri is under no legal obligation to divy up the federal funds to cities

Governing | Missouri May Hold On to Transportation Money…

INTERIM. Sharing Economy. City to Require Business License from Ride Share Drivers. Key Intel.

Which city will require a local business license for ride share drivers? San Francisco

How were drivers alerted of this new city regulation?  With notification by letter to all 37,018 drivers

What revenue will be generated? $3.37 million a year

Can drivers operate without a license? If and only if the driver works less than 7 days. 

How much does the license cost? $91 if the driver makes less than $100,000/year

AutoBlog | Uber and Lyft drivers need to obtain business licenses…

INTERIM. Ride Share Data. New Report. Government Data Requests Impact 11+ million.

Where did the ride share data report originate? UBER produced its first ever transparency report

The numbers of data requests from July 2015 to December 2015:

  • 33 requests from government agencies
  • 11,644,000 riders affected
  • 583,000 drivers affected
  • California, NYC, and Chicago governmental entities requested the most data
  • 517,000 riders & 14,000 drivers impacted by a Houston, TX data request
  • 370 riders & 370 drivers impacted by a San Antonio, TX data request

Uber | Transparency…

INTERIM. Sharing Economy. 5 Statistics about Taxi Use Decline.

  • Since ride share began in L.A. pre-arranged taxi rides fell 42%
  • Since ride share, the total number of L.A. taxi rides have fallen 30%
  • The impact of ride share is felt most by taxi service in tourist and nightlife areas
  • In San Francisco, the number of trips taken by taxi is down 2/3 in 2 years
  • The downturn in taxi use has hit taxi drivers most.
    • Taxi Drivers take home $400-$500 per week. 
    • Down from $800 a couple years ago

The decline in taxi ridership in Los Angeles mirrors trends in…

5 Ways Houston Port Growth Impacts Texas infrastructure

Does increased Port of Houston traffic only translate to more cargo ships?  No, it also means:

  • strains on local roads with large trucks transporting cargo goods
  • strains on railroad infrastructure as railroads transport cargo goods
  • port channel dredging
  • maintaining sturdy docks
  • Port Infrastructure

What part of the country does the Port of Houston serve? The goal is to make the Port of Houston  “the distribution hub for the central U.S., from the Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi…

Lege Overrides Veto on Transportation Scoring Project. 3 Keys Informed Intel.

Which Legislature overrode a Governor veto on a transportation project prioritization bill? Maryland

What was the objection to the transportation prioritization bill? 

  • More bureaucracy
  • Harms Local Governments by quashing its input in transportation prioritization
  • Harms hardworking taxpayers

Why did legislators override the veto? Transparency. The bill would require disclosure as to why a lower scored bill gets priority over a higher scored transportation project

AP via WTOP…

The $2.2 Million + Ride Share Local Election. Ride Share Ordinance Campaign by the Numbers

  • 5 weeks of fundraising left
  • Ride Share Comapnies have contributed $2.2 million
  • 7th of May is election day
  • The cost of Mayor Adler’s campaign: $1.2 million 

Statesman | Uber, Lyft donate nearly $2.2 million to effort to pass Prop. 1 in May

KUT | Uber, Lyft Have Spent More Than $2 Million on Prop 1 Campaign So Far