Source: Neal Peirce, Citiwire.net, May 25, 2012

Stalled in gridlocked Washington, a key idea pushed by President Obama — to create of an infrastructure bank to move our roads, rail and water systems up to competitive world standards — is getting a test run at the city and state level.

In Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has inaugurated a Chicago Investment Trust, aiming for $7 billion in funding both from government and top private sector investors…To the west, California is beefing up the impact of its 13-year old Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank by putting it in a joint office with key workforce and small business promotion efforts in “GO-Biz” — Gov. Jerry Brown’s Office of Business and Economic Development….But perhaps the most dramatic effort is in New York State, where Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s infrastructure fund and process — dubbed “New York Works” — represents a dramatic turn on dual fronts….