gildone

USEPA promotes transportation choice and smart growth in Growing Smarter, Living Healthier: A Guide to Smart Growth and Active Aging guide Contents Growing Smarter, Living Healthier cover graphic http://www.epa.gov/aging/bhc/guide/ Introduction 1. Staying Active, Connected, and Engaged Where and how we choose to live can affect our health and well-being 2. Development and Housing Healthy neighborhoods offer diverse housing choices, gathering places, and ways to connect 3. Transportation and Mobility We can build choice back into our transportation system — and make it easier for people of all ages to get around 4. Staying Healthy Finding healthy food, keeping active, and getting help when you need it can be easier in an age-friendly community 5. Conclusion: Next Steps How you can get involved and act

\ As a percentage of our economy, manufacturing has been on a steady decline for 30+ years. Algae oil can't be "abiotic" abiotic implies "without life".

Ohioans spend 5.5% of their income on gasoline: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/08/12/states.oil.price.vulnerability/index.html#cnnSTCOther1 Study ranks states' vulnerability to oil prices http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/08/12/states.oil.price.vulnerability/index.html By Shelby Lin Erdman CNN Decrease font Decrease font Enlarge font Enlarge font (CNN) -- Americans are still far too dependent on foreign oil, and states aren't doing enough to change that, according to a study by an environmental group ranking states on an "oil vulnerability" scale. The annual index compiled by the Natural Resources Defense Council measures the effect of oil and gas price increases on people's incomes. The survey also ranks the states that are doing the most to promote alternative energy sources...

Dan, it's not just the east coast locations with good transit, and this point has been made before too. Oklahoma/Texas, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Raleigh to Charlotte, NC are among the corridors in the 14 other states.

They are building bicycle superhighways in Copenhagen: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/08/copenhagen-bicycle-superhighways.php Cyclists cause less than 10% of bike-car accidents: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/08/cyclists-cause-10-percent-of-accidents.php

I don't understand this obsession with drive times. If drive time was the only consideration of travelers, then not a single one of the corridors in 14 states that did exactly what Ohio is trying to do with the 3-C-- a start-up level of service that takes longer than driving-- would have been successful. And many of those trains STILL take longer than driving (one example: the Piedmont in North Carolina), yet the ridership keeps going up, often by double digits. If the model didn't work nobody would be riding these trains, but they are riding them in healthy numbers. Why are some people treating this 3-C start up service like it is something new, mysterious, and unproven? It's based on a SUCCESSFUL model that has already been proven in 14 states. And, it's not the first time this point has been made on UO, either, yet it just doesn't seem to sink in with some.

This is the problem-- the lead time that we have left to make the transition. Most experts agree that a smooth transition requires 20-30 years of lead time. It's looking like we have 10 if we're lucky, but that's until the permanent production declines set in. There will be price more price disruptions before then. The depletion curve has set in for 54-55 of the 65 oil producing countries in the world. Which means we have 10-11 countries that are helping to maintain a production plateau-- for now-- and that's being helped by the down economy. Recently, the International Energy Agency upped its estimate of the global depletion rate from 4% to 6%. The IEA has, until recently, always been optimistic with respect to its view of future oil supplies. For them to change is a monumental shift. Anyway, markets do certain things well, but they don't do everything well (likewise government is bad at some things but not everything). One of the things markets don't do well is foresee major changes, such as in resource availability, that will occur 20-30 years into the future. The peak oil crowd has been saying for years that the price signals with respect to oil would come too late for a smooth transition (by the way, it's not that no transition will occur, it's how smooth the transition will be). It's looking like that's pretty much what happened/is happening. We will use all of the alternative energies and all of the technologies that are/will be available to us, but there are oil-dependent parts of all of them, particularly for the transition phase. Oil is so integral to just about everything in our economy and the lead time so short now that supply and price disruptions will definitely complicate the transition. To what degree is what's uncertain. Even Jim Kunstler didn't predict the end of the world in The Long Emergency. What he predicted is a rough transition stemming from an unprepared economy and society.

It's still overkill. In some ways, the terrorists won after all. The "Seattle brouhaha" was overblown. I've heard interviews/read interview transcripts from different people who were there. They all say the "rioters" were a tiny minority, but controversy sells news, so it was hyped up beyond reality. I agree. Not a good way to show off the city. How can you show off what no one can get to?

IATA warns of ‘de-globalisation’; latest traffic casts doubt on the bottoming of air travel declines http://www.centreforaviation.com/news/2009/07/17/iata-warns-of-de-globalisation-latest-traffic-casts-doubt-on-the-bottoming-of-air-travel-declines/page1 Premium air travel markets continue to deteriorate, despite positive signs from some of the world’s leading economies, prompting a worrying new warning from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The deterioration in international air travel in, to and from Asia during May, despite recovering economies in the region, says IATA, is a troubling sign of “what is being called ‘de-globalisation’”.

^Amen :clap:

Whether mail or parcels, I agree with the guy in the article-- it's not being done as well since. You can't get overnight mail between New York and Chicago anymore, for example, for the price of a first class stamp. And, back in the day, many people didn't carry any more than an overnight bag with them when they went on a trip. A few days or so ahead of time, they would call the REA for a pick-up or drop by the local depot, ship their luggage and find it waiting in their hotel room, cottage, aunt's house, etc when they arrived at their destination. If you had a row boat or canoe and were going to vacation at a cottage on a lake somewhere, they could ship that too, if you wanted. My wife and I tried to ship a backpack carrier via UPS (for hiking with our son) to Flagstaff, AZ a couple of years ago. The place where we stayed (time share condo) wasn't too keen on having the box sitting around their office, even for just a day or part of a day. They somewhat reluctantly allowed us to do it, though. It's hard to believe that this kind of thing was once routine.

The same is true with parcels and the Railway Express Agency. The customer service at FedEx, UPS, etc can't touch the now long departed REA. Read: Ten Turtles to Tucumcari: A Personal History of the Railway Express Agency by Klink Garret and Train Time: Railroads and the Imminent Reshaping of the United States Landscape by Joseph Stigloe.

Hence the idea "enter into talks with KDOT" before November and make sure the press knows about it. Regardless of the ultimate outcome (which wouldn't even have to be reached until sometime after November--actually, given the short time frame a conclusion probably couldn't be reached by then anyway), it would drive home the point that Cincinnati could be easily passed by, ignored, and forgotten if the amendment passes.

Having seen the Nashville Station up close, I would have to say that it would be better than the depressing, ugly building that is Cleveland's current station. I would have no problem with a station similar to Nashville's being a temporary structure until the NCTC is built, or being a temporary station in any of Ohio's major cities. Just my opinion... The more I think about this, the more I think this is a great idea. Who knows, the State of Kentucky might even be willing to pay to get the 3-C trains across the Ohio River. Maybe ODOT/ORDC should be talking to KDOT? In fact, it would be a good strategy. Start talking to Kentucky now and make sure the press is notified that the two states have "entered discussions about the possibility of terminating the train in Covington" if the initiative passes. The message wouldn't have to be any more detailed or or any more certain than "Nothing is certain at this point. Ohio is just evaluating potential options" in case the initiative is approved, and "we need to start evaluating them now since we'd like to see a 2011 start-up for the trains."

This is one reason I said on the 3-C thread that I'd seriously consider leaving Ohio if we don't make some progress on the 3-C this time. We've had 30 years of talk. That's about 25 years too long. But, KJP "talked me off the ledge" so to speak today, so it looks like I'll stick around for a while. Thanks KJP.

Yep. This is 100% it in a nutshell...

I really don't have to justify myself to anybody Dan. Suffice it to say, I'm a native Ohioan. It may seem like a weak reason to you and some others, and that's fine with me. If I want to seriously consider leaving for a more forward-thinking state for any reason, then as you stated, yes, I know best, and it's up to me. I could go through all of the logic and reasoning, one of many reasons being how the problems of forced car ownership are going to get worse for me as the years progress, but it's really not what this thread is about. The rub is, as I also stated, that there may really be nowhere else to go because everyplace has its own problems, and a lot of those problems are getting worse over time. Cheers

I see a Kasich for Governor banner at the bottom of this page today. Judging by his lack of support for rail when he was a congressman, this guy is not going to be supportive of passenger rail on the 3-C. "A new way, a new day" my rear end. If we can't overcome the political hurdles in this backwards state and make the 3-C happen, I'll have to seriously consider moving elsewhere. The problem is, things are becoming more and more of a mess just about everywhere.

^Politics infects everything, and I see it getting worse. KJP: A departed friend of ours who was active in the Ohio politics once told me: "Unfortunately, winning elections is often more important [to politicians] than solving problems". The pace at which we are falling behind the rest of the industrialized world with respect to transportation seems to be accelerating, and few in Congress seem to care or understand what it really means for our global economic competitiveness. All the real leadership about where we should be going as a nation is coming from primarily local and state governments, but they don't have enough resources to fully follow through. Often at the federal level, the proposals start out good, but by the time they go through the corporate lobbying and campaign contribution meat grinder, what comes out looks very different and results in far less effectiveness than what went in. I'm amazed that anything at all ever gets done at the federal level anymore. rant off...

^The haplessness and abject cluelessness of our elected officials (in BOTH parties) never ceases to amaze. We need a primal scream emoticon...

Transforming cities/reducing traffic can happen faster than we think: Check out the short video here: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/07/video-pedestrian-friendly-new-york-city.php

^Initially she wanted to rob federal transit funds to fill the gap in the highway trust fund...

^I wonder if we could do at the state level and the state gas tax like former US Senator Roth did with the "Taxpayer Relief Act" and Amtrak back in 1998/99 and get a "refund" from the Ohio gas tax on all the money it used for so many decades from non-highway gasoline receipts that it spent on highways. The refund could be paid out over a period of years...

Wikipedia list of Car-Free Places: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_carfree_places

Auto-ban: German town goes car-free Vauban hopes to forge a model community without that great staple of modern life – the car. Now the sound of birdsong has replaced the roar of traffic and children can play in the street By Tony Paterson Friday, 26 June 2009 In the German town of Vauban the cyclist is king... http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/autoban-german-town-goes-carfree-1720021.html DANIEL SCHOENEN In the German town of Vauban the cyclist is king The Germans may have given the world the Audi and the autobahn, but they have banished everything with four wheels and an engine from the streets of Vauban – a model brave new world of a community in the country's south-west, next to the borders with Switzerland and France...