Issues
Infrastructure
California’s population is expected to increase by more than 20% over the next 20 years. To meet the needs of this population growth, and to facilitate the economic development that will sustain the state’s competitiveness, California must make significant and long-term investments to restore our statewide infrastructure network. According to California’s Strategic Growth Plan, more than $500 billion in infrastructure investment is required in the years to come to meet California’s vast infrastructural needs.
Sustained infrastructure investment is more crucial than ever to California’s economic recovery – ensuring job growth, long-term economic competitiveness, a higher quality of life and improved public safety. Highest on the list of priorities are investments in our transportation network, including roads, bridges, high-speed rail and traditional rail lines, improved water storage resources and facilities, local public infrastructure projects like schools and housing and more efficient energy systems.
In San Francisco, Mayor Newsom has initiated some of the largest infrastructure projects in the city’s history. Investing in housing, transportation, water and the city’s streets and parks have been a priority of Newsom’s administration and have led to an improved quality of life in San Francisco.
Capital Investment Plan: In 2009, Mayor Newsom proposed the largest Capital Investment Plan in the city’s history of nearly $30 billion in capital spending for San Francisco through 2019. The 10-year plan is geared toward job creation – an estimated 200,000 jobs will be created – and toward rebuilding the city’s streets, parks, libraries, civic and economic centers, emergency networks and general infrastructure.
Capital Infrastructure Investments: San Francisco’s Department of Public Works is initiating a series of contracting reforms to the city’s Public Works Code to further expedite the construction of large-scale, job-generating infrastructure projects that are sufficiently funded, including: extensive renovations to the Moscone Center funded by the new Tourism Improvement District, the rebuild of the region’s water infrastructure, the airport’s $383 million rebuild of Terminal 2 and the $900 million rebuild of San Francisco General Hospital.
Water Infrastructure: Mayor Newsom recently signed a $1.9 billion appropriations bill to construct 28 major regional water system pipelines, tunnels, pump stations and dams in six California counties. The modernization project is expected to provide thousands of jobs for the region and clean water for decades. San Francisco’s Water System Improvement Program (WSIP) is one of the nation’s largest water infrastructure programs and the largest infrastructure program ever undertaken by San Francisco.
Building America’s Future: Mayor Newsom is a participating mayor in President Obama’s national coalition Building America’s Future, dedicated to making infrastructure spending a top American priority. Mayor Newsom will be overseeing the almost $300 million granted to San Francisco in federal stimulus money and has launched a cutting edge informational web site – RecoverySF.org – to increase transparency and keep San Franciscans informed about the progress and nature of stimulus spending in San Francisco. More than half of the federal money will be dedicated to improving San Francisco’s housing and transportation infrastructure.
Join Our Policy Team: Gavin Newsom believes that the best plan is a better idea. If you would like to share your ideas and insights on how to reshape California's Infrastructure policy, please email us at issues@gavinnewsom.com.
