Corinne Kisner, Executive Director, and Janette Sadik-Khan, Chair, of the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), today issued the following statement on the confirmation of Mayor Pete Buttigieg as U.S. Secretary of Transportation:
On behalf of 80 city transportation departments and transit agencies across the U.S., NACTO congratulates Pete Buttigieg on his confirmation as the U.S. Secretary of Transportation.
Secretary Buttigieg takes the helm as the U.S. faces a series of cascading and interlinked crises: the COVID-19 pandemic, a deepening recession, systemic racism, and accelerating climate change. The course his department sets and the actions he takes will directly affect millions of Americans every day, touching every street, sidewalk, and bus in the nation.
As a former Mayor, Secretary Buttigieg knows how streets and transportation networks can build the foundation for a just, sustainable future. The choices made now will set outcomes for future decades, just as unsustainable choices in the past divided communities, created unsafe streets, and locked the U.S. into emitting unsustainable levels of greenhouse gases.
Buttigieg will not be tackling these crises alone, and the Biden-Harris administration has brought many inspired choices to the leadership of USDOT; people that can help define a new direction for American mobility that puts local communities first. We are encouraged by Secretary Buttigieg’s advocacy for stronger transit, safer streets, and a refocus of U.S. transportation policy on the direct needs within communities. Given the gravity of the challenges before the country, we expect Buttigieg to hit the ground running even more; this new team has no time to waste. U.S. cities and transit agencies stand at the ready to build back better, together.
###
About the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO)
NACTO is an association of 86 major North American cities and transit agencies formed to exchange transportation ideas, insights, and practices and cooperatively approach national transportation issues. The organization’s mission is to build cities as places for people, with safe, sustainable, accessible, and equitable transportation choices that support a strong economy and vibrant quality of life. To learn more, visit nacto.org or follow us on Twitter at @NACTO.
For Immediate Release | February 2, 2021
Press Contact: Alexander Engel | [email protected]
Related: See NACTO’s priorities for the new administration