Now that infrastructure spending appears imminent in the upcoming Obama administration, words of reason are entering the public discourse about how these funds should be spent. An op-ed piece by Joel Kotkin in today’s Washington Post extols the virtues of infrastructure for long-term benefit, rather than the flashy and short-lived benefits that come from sports and entertainment infrastructure.
“Many hard-pressed communities have wasted limited treasure on spectacular new convention centers, sports arenas, arts and entertainment facilities and hotels while allowing schools, roads, ports and other critical sinews of economic life to fray. Convention centers and other tourist attractions create reasonably high-paying construction jobs in the short term, but over time, they create an economy dominated by lower-wage service jobs.”
Kotkin is the executive editor of newgeography.com, a news site that is well worth following for how we need to rethink our urban and rural planning.
The growing call for measured and accountable spending requires a new level of government transparency. Geospatial technology has a huge role to play in this regard.
