Reversal of Fortune: A Clean Energy Manufacturing Boom for Legacy Cities
In the Carondelet neighborhood of St. Louis, where once-busy shipyards gave way to vacancy and blight during the waning decades of the 20th century, a global specialty minerals company is building a $400 million factory to produce highly efficient batteries for energy storage. All of these projects and dozens more across the country are manifestations of a new federal, place-based industrial policy, fueled by more than $1 trillion in tax credits and grants under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, American Rescue Plan, CHIPS and Science Act, and most of all, what is essentially sweeping climate action legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act.
What mayors really think about the Inflation Reduction Act
About a year after President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, a group of Boston University researchers set out in the summer of 2023 to better understand mayors’ experiences with the landmark climate legislation.
Mayors express uncertainty about inflation bill’s climate change efforts in national survey
When the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was signed into law on Aug. 16, 2022, the White House referred to it as “the most significant action Congress has taken on clean energy and climate change in the nation’s history.” But the majority of mayors said its impact has been marginal in a report conducted by the Boston University Initiative on Cities.
US Mayors Cite Red Tape as One Factor in Slowing Clean Energy Projects, BU Researchers Find
More than half of US mayors—6 out of 10—saw little or no impact from the Inflation Reduction Act in the first year after its passage, attributing the unimpressive imprint of one of President Biden’s signature legislative achievements to the challenging grant application process and the public’s lack of familiarity with its details. That is one of the takeaways in the 2023 Menino Survey of Mayors by Boston University’s Initiative on Cities (IOC).
2023 Menino Survey of Mayors: Building for a Green Future
Passed in 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) features unprecedented federal investment in environmental initiatives. It provides around $370 billion in resources for clean energy technology. To better understand local communities’ experience of the IRA, Boston University’s Initiative on Cities surveyed a nationally representative sample of 118 mayors leading cities. These interviews give us insights into mayoral experiences, as well as the experiences of individual households trying to access IRA resources.
ELECTION 2023: Being mayor is a tough job, why do these two want it?
Gentrification is happening in cities all around the globe: an influx of more affluent residents and rising housing prices pushes out existing tenants, changing the character of a neighborhood or community. The process can be driven by a host of factors, from the economics of development to climate change. Thursday, October 26, through Saturday, October 28, the Initiative on Cities and BU’s Department of Sociology are hosting “Gentrification & Displacement: What Can We Do About It? An International Dialogue.”
Nearly all US mayors worry about climate change’s local effects: report
The Inflation Reduction Act marks a landmark investment in climate, featuring hundreds of billions of dollars in commitments toward transforming American energy use and emissions reductions. Local leaders are key allies in putting these dollars to work, as frontline communities are centered in its implementation. America’s mayors feel a sense of urgency to act, as their communities face real and immediate climate impacts, including drought, extreme heat, flooding, and air pollution. Just 3% of mayors say they are not concerned about any local effects of climate change.
Report: Police response to homelessness is inherently punitive
Clearing encampments and arresting those living on the streets might temporarily remove homelessness from the public eye, but it doesn’t help unhoused residents retain housing or recover their longterm stability. Even so, a new policy brief from the researchers behind Boston University’s annual Menino Survey of Mayors finds the majority of American cities still rely on police departments to address homelessness.
Most mayors say housing is the biggest challenge in U.S. cities, survey finds
After a tumultuous year in the housing market amid inflation and soaring interest rates, local governments of major U.S. cities are facing a slew of economic challenges. According to the Boston University Initiative on Cities’ 2022 Menino Survey of Mayors, which polled 118 mayors from U.S. cities with more than 75,000 residents, housing costs are at the forefront of those challenges, with 81% of mayors indicating that the issue is among their cities’ top economic priorities.
Report: Concern among mayors over housing costs dwarfs other issues
Soaring housing costs and rising inflation are driving up the cost of living in communities across the United States. Mayors are very concerned. More than 80 percent of mayors interviewed in the latest report from the Boston University Initiative on Cities’ annual 2022 Menino Survey of Mayors—which is based on interviews conducted last summer with 118 sitting mayors leading cities with populations greater than 75,000 people, representing 38 states—ranked housing costs as their top concern. The latest report covers economic, health and safety challenges faced by American city leaders.