Randy Blankenhorn

CMAP guidance. Our staff have posted a significant update of the earlier letter containing guidance for municipalities and other applicants seeking infrastructure funds through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. For more information, please contact Bob Dean (bdean@cmap.illinois.gov or 312-386-8834).

Proposed TIP amendments. Amendments to the CMAP Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) are available for public comment. Some of the projects included in amendments and revisions to the TIP involve the use of funds provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment act (ARRA). Projects funded through the ARRA are summarized in a map and a list, which has details of the funding, location and work types of these projects. Comments on Recovery Act projects or any of the TIP amendments and revisions are welcome. To provide your comments via U.S. Mail, please send attn: TIP Amendments, CMAP, Sears Tower, 233 S. Wacker Drive, Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60606. Comments can be provided via e-mail addressed to tip@cmap.illinois.gov, or by attending the CMAP Transportation Committee on March 6, 2009 at 9:30 a.m. at the CMAP offices. To attend that meeting, please contact Holly Ostdick at 312-386-8836.

If the CMAP MPO Policy Committee concurs at its March 12 meeting, the locally programmed transportation funding from the ARRA will be distributed to the Councils of Mayors (including the city of Chicago) using the regular STP distribution formula. At the CMAP Council of Mayors Executive Committee meeting on March 3, the mayors discussed the desirability for consultation with IDOT on the IDOT-selected projects in their regions and the need to assure that the ARRA funds programmed by the Councils are not supplanting projects that would have been accomplished in the next year anyway.

Issue areas analysis. The following updates have been prepared and collected by CMAP staff.

Housing. Click here for new CMAP staff housing analysis. Among the highlights is information from a new HUD economic recovery website at http://www.hud.gov/recovery/. Total funding from formula grants for Illinois is as follows. Total funding from formula grants for Illinois is as follows.  Please note that this does not include the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (which is a competitive grant).

Public Housing Capital Funds	$221,498,521	(99 PHA's)
Tax Credit Assistance Program	$94,676,979	(IHDA)
Homeless Prevention Fund	$70,865,285	(20 Grantees)
Community Development Block Grants	$46,321,519	(51 Grantees)
Lead Hazard Reduction Grants	$3,088,652	(2 Grantees)
Project-based Section 8 Assistance	$103,309,941	(236 contracts)
Native American Block Grants	$0
Grand Total	$539,760,897

Transportation. Regarding projects submitted to date for Transportation Committee consideration for inclusion in the TIP, see the item above. Also, IDOT has developed two helpful charts that illustrate the distribution of highway and bridge funding from the ARRA to the state and through the state.

Environment. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released guidance to states on the State Revolving Fund element of the ARRA, including more information on green infrastructure and the "Green Project Reserve." Also see the Illinois EPA economic recovery website.

Energy. Click here for a detailed energy update with helpful links from the CMAP staff. It includes the U.S. Department of Energy's new web page to describe the different energy-related allocations and tax incentives in the ARRA. Also, the National Association of Regional Councils (NARC) has a good breakdown of energy-related allocations from the ARRA, including details on those most relevant to local governments: Energy Efficiency & Conservation Block Grants, Weatherization Assistance Program, State Energy Programs, Smart-Grid related activities, and Diesel Emission Reduction Act grants. (CMAP staff have also included updates about these programs in the municipal guidance letter mentioned above.) See the CMAP staff update for many more energy details.

Workforce development and broadband. Click here for a CMAP staff update, which includes a chart comparing categories of federal FY09 workforce expenditures with the ARRA, which represents an 18-percent increase. The update also has a link to the page where the National Telecommunications and Information Administration will post materials from its March 2 meeting to discuss broadband grant programs in the ARRA.

Health, education, and income. The United Way of America public policy team has put together four pre-recorded PowerPoint presentations based on their analysis of ARRA. These presentations total about two hours and 45 minutes. While it doesn't pertain directly to infrastructure or CMAP, we thought some partners would be interested in the materials, organized by Overview, Education, Income, and Health.

News links. Among the related media coverage:

• The New York Times story "Stimulus Flows Into Patchwork of State Transport Projects" contrasts how states like Washington, Kansas, and Maryland are approaching the stimulus.
  
• ABC News reports on the emblem at right that will be used on signs to denote projects that were built with ARRA funds.
  
• Click here for a Google News aggregation with hundreds of stories on the stimulus bill's implementation.