Local Government

Local governments with more fiscal and administrative resources are at an advantage for obtaining numerous intergovernmental grants. Although many studies have examined the impact of this local capacity bias on grant getting, there has been minimal research on how grant programs could reduce it. We evaluate the effectiveness of two actions that federal and state grant programs have taken to decrease local capacity bias for economically disadvantaged communities, providing matching fund waivers and preferential scoring.

The following memorandum presents five key potential financing strategies for a north-south bicycle/pedestrian path connecting the member cities of the Managers’ Mobility Partnership or MMP (Redwood City, Menlo Park, Palo Alto and Mountain View). The proposed path would span four cities and two counties, requiring non-traditional forms of financing to facilitate jurisdictional collaboration.

Due to major economic and population growth in the Mid-Peninsula, communities are struggling with increased traffic congestion despite increases in some public transit use. Joint Venture Silicon Valley (JVSV) has facilitated the Manager's Mobility Partnership (MMP) working group — a coalition of Redwood City, Menlo Park, Stanford, Mountain View, and Palo Alto — whose interests include creating an interconnected regional bike network. JVSV and the MMP engaged the Senior Practicum to develop proposals for advanced cross-regional bikeways.