Wednesday Afternoon Commute - Hearings

Hopefully my morning link dump is still on my computer at home. 

• Maryland Senator Ben Cardin is working to ensure that funding for bike programs is included in a federal transportation bill.
• The other thing I didn't mention about citywide performance parking is that by properly pricing parking it should make biking a more appealing option - assuming that parking is underpriced right now. 
• At a recent hearing of  the Energy and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., opened the hearing by describing the GAO HHS as rife with waste. To make his point, he focused on community public health grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that were used to set up municipal bike-share programs. [I've looked for this testimony online but could not find it. 
• At another congressional hearing, this one on the federal transportation bill that is currently being hammered out by a House and Senate conference committee, Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) expressed concern about the federally-mandated transportation enhancement program which he feels is a waste of transportation dollars. But bike advocates released the results of a telephone poll found that 84% of those surveyed support federal funding for sidewalks and bike lanes, and that 91 percent of those under the age of 30 backed the spending.

Comments

[Bilsko]

I believe this is the Cliff Stearns statement: http://goo.gl/2s0az

5th paragraph, right after "intergenerational urban gardening"
talk about having to dig pretty deep to come up with an obscure qualifier. What single generational urban gardening was OK by Sen. Stearns?
*face-palm-sigh*

[Westnorth]

Another thing about performance parking: by guaranteeing available spaces, it will reduce the number of drivers who are circling around looking for parking (and who drive very erratically as a result).