President Obama made a big deal late last week about high speed rail and pointed to $8 billion in stimulus spending to get some projects going.
The President is right to highlight the nation's need for high speed rail. But bullet trains are only part of what the U.S. needs to bring its deteriorating transport infrastructure into the 21st Century. And $8 billion won't take us very far on high speed rail. California's planned line between San Diego and San Francisco budgets out alone to $80 billion and that is likely a low ball figure.
What the U.S. desperately requires is a national infrastructure plan which identifies necessary future national transport networks--high speed rail, interstates, freight rail--and links them with regional systems--roads, mass transit, airports, and ports. Even more importantly, these national and regional infrastructure systems need to integrate with land planning, including most importantly housing. More people need to be able to move more seamlessly from their homes to work and commercial districts without depending on cars or else we will fall further behind in our ability to keep our economy literally moving.
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Jonathan D. Miller
A marketing communication strategist who turned to real estate analysis, Jonathan D. Miller is a foremost interpreter of 21st citistate futures – cities and suburbs alike – seen through the lens of lifestyles and market realities. For more than 20 years (1992-2013), Miller authored Emerging Trends in Real Estate, the leading commercial real estate industry outlook report, published annually by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Urban Land Institute (ULI). He has lectures frequently on trends in real estate, including the future of America's major 24-hour urban centers and sprawling suburbs. He also has been author of ULI’s annual forecasts on infrastructure and its What’s Next? series of forecasts. On a weekly basis, he writes the Trendczar blog for GlobeStreet.com, the real estate news website. Outside his published forecasting work, Miller is a prominent communications/institutional investor-marketing strategist and partner in Miller Ryan LLC, helping corporate clients develop and execute branding and communications programs. He led the re-branding of GMAC Commercial Mortgage to Capmark Financial Group Inc. and he was part of the management team that helped build Equitable Real Estate Investment Management, Inc. (subsequently Lend Lease Real Estate Investments, Inc.) into the leading real estate advisor to pension funds and other real institutional investors. He joined the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the U.S. in 1981, moving to Equitable Real Estate in 1984 as head of Corporate/Marketing Communications. In the 1980's he managed relations for several of the country's most prominent real estate developments including New York's Trump Tower and the Equitable Center. Earlier in his career, Miller was a reporter for Gannett Newspapers. He is a member of the Citistates Group and a board member of NYC Outward Bound Schools and the Center for Employment Opportunities.
