Citiwire.net

Welcome to Citiwire.net! Former Amtrak president Tom Downs knows how to take on opponents of world-quality rail service in America–and does it with gusto, targeting columnist Bob Samuelson’s constant anti-rail stance in his Citiwire.net column this week … My topic: prepare for an era of rental housing–and, for once, let’s think equity in how we hand out the federal subsidies. (Already, there’s a push to extend and possibly expand an $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers that is due to expire in November–even while thousands of low-income renters–some 75,000 in Brooklyn alone–are threatened with eviction in a recession that hits the poorest the hardest).