Bipartisanship may be nearly dead among elected officials in Washington, but a new partnership between left-of-center magazine the Washington Monthly and right-of-center magazine the American Conservative shows that there are still some ideas that journalists can agree on.
Today, the two magazines published an in-depth feature by Christopher Leinberger, chair of the Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis at the George Washington University School of Business, on what President Trump’s infrastructure plan should really look like. In his February speech to Congress, Trump reiterated his intention to push for a major infrastructure bill-one of his central campaign promises. Since congressional conservatives are reluctant to spend the money, Trump will need the support of a substantial number of Democrats to get a bill passed.
In the article, which you can read here as a special preview of the upcoming issue of the Washington Monthly, Leinberger argues that Democrats and Republicans should both oppose the kind of gargantuan, indiscriminate approach Trump and Steve Bannon seem to favor. Instead, a smart infrastructure bill would focus on delivering what the market says Americans actually want: walkable communities. In his article, he walks through the details of what that bill would need to look like.
To celebrate their publishing partnership-which will continue with more articles on infrastructure and walkable communities in the future-the American Conservative and Washington Monthly are teaming up with the R Street Institute for a panel discussion about Leinberger’s piece onMarch 23 at noon. Lunch will be served. Panelists will include:
Rob Puentes, President and CEO of the Eno Center for Transportation
Gabe Klein, Co-Founder of CityFi and former commissioner of the Chicago and Washington D.C’s Department of Transportation.
Salim Furth, Research Fellow in macroeconomics at the Heritage Foundation.
“Our two magazines come from different ideological perspectives,” says Washington Monthly editor-in-chief Paul Glastris, “but we agree that general infrastructure spending ought to support what the market already tells us Americans want more of, and that is walkable communities.”
“Many conservatives have come to realize that infrastructure spending is not value neutral,” says Lewis McCrary, executive editor of the American Conservative.” After decades of postwar spending that ignored the desire for walkable and authentically sustainable neighborhoods, Americans should at least have the option of living in a traditional urban environment-following principles equally applicable to cities, suburbs, and small towns.”
RSVP to the event here.
Panel Discussion: “Building Infrastructure by Walking Across Party Lines”
Christopher B. Leinberger
Moderator: Jonathan Coppage, Visiting Senior Fellow at the R Street Institute
Thursday, March 23, 12pm-1:30pm
R Street Institute
1050 17th St NW #1150
Washington, DC 20036
