gildone

I finally got a chance to read the Feb 10, 2008 write-up of the Euclid Corridor project in the Plain Dealer. It's a rare piece of fine reporting. One thing I noticed, a bunch of major Cleveland area developers were mentioned in the article-- except Jacobs and Forest City. Are these two not that interested in the EC? I know Jacobs is pretty clueless about the concept of transit-oriented development, but I thought Forest City would have some major project along the corridor that would get mentioned by the PD. Combined with the February 17, 2008 piece on University Circle, I finally have a good overview of everything that's happening along the corridor, who's involved, etc. It's good to see that institutions like the Cleveland Clinic are trying to work with surrounding neighborhoods to ensure not only that development benefits them but attempts to head off the potential problem of gentrification of those neighborhoods before it happens. The 2/17 article mention the 2006 traffic study that says UC's high-volume streets are "friendly to commuters but hostile to street life." The study read my mind. :wink: I'm very glad that's being addressed!

Transit and Jobs: Number of jobs created by spending $1billion on defense: 8,555 Number of jobs created by spending $1 billion on health care: 10,779 Number of jobs created by spending $1 billion on education: 17,687 Number of jobs created by spending $1 billion on mass transit: [glow=red,2,300]19,795[/glow] ----This was printed in the Spring 2008 issue of Yes! Magazine (p. 16). Source: Dept. of Economics and Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, "The U.S. Employment Effects of Military and Domestic Spending Priorities", October 2007

As an antidote to the normally gloomy peak oil articles, today I thought I'd post one that's solutions oriented: http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/2/15/151252/412 Eliminating fossil fuels is friggin' cheap A third of our military budget could cure our carbon addiction Posted by Gar Lipow at 11:24 PM on 16 Feb 2008 Scientific American's grand plan (http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=a-solar-grand-plan&page=1) to provide a bit over a third of U.S. energy from solar sources provides insight into what it would cost to phase out all or most U.S. greenhouse emissions. Bottom line: a lot less than current military spending. The total cost of the SciAm plan: $420 billion over the course of that 40 years, or slightly over ten billion dollars per year -- less than current fossil fuel subsidies, less than the new subsidies "clean coal" would require...

^The number of air traffic controllers is only part of the problem. Our air traffic control system is antiquated n(it's 25+ years old). Yet another thing this country has been deferring maintenance on. The world's most state-of-the-art air traffic control system is in China.

Or Mike Gravel, that is if he is even still in the race. The guy never had a chance. He refused corporate campaign contributions and PAC money and he wasn't already somewhat familiar on the college lecture circuit like Ron Paul. As far as personal freedoms, I tend to be libertarian, but I don't agree with all the market worship in libertarian economic beliefs. Still, my protest vote may be to declare myself a Republican in the upcoming primary and vote for Ron Paul, even though I know he would do nothing meaningful about the transportation and land use issues we care about on this forum. Mandatory Peak Oil content: Peak Oil: Simmons v. Saudis, Round Two http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2008/02/12/big-peak-oil-debate-redux/ Neil King, Wall Street Journal (Environmental Capital blog/column) Both Nansen Saleri, former chief of reservoir management at Saudi Aramco, and Houston-based investment banker Matthew Simmons are feeling good these days about the famous-and weighty-debate they held four years ago at Washington’s Center for Strategic and Security Studies. Are Saudi Arabia’s massive oil fields in great shape-or falling apart? Can Saudi Aramco help slack the globe’s soaring energy thirst far into the century-or has that ability already peaked?...

Please, all Ohioans sign the Ohio Hub Plan e-petition (and spread it around to any and all other supportive Ohioans you can think of): http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/OhioHubPlan/ Here's what you'll be signing: In recognition that the current state of transportation in the state of Ohio requires bold action and strategic investment in Ohio's rail infrastructure and that fuel prices, congestion, and overall lack of mobility have degraded Ohio's competitiveness over recent years, we the undersigned urge Ohio's political leadership to pursue the development of the Ohio Hub Plan as pursued by the Ohio Rail Development Commission. We recognize the ability of rail development to provide economic development opportunities through increased capacity for passenger as well as freight movement. Over the Ohio Hub Plan's 30-year life, the benefit/cost analysis estimate nearly $9 billion in user benefits and resource savings with $4.9 billion in costs including capital, maintenance, and operating expenses, producing a 1.8 benefit/cost ratio. More specifically, the Ohio Hub Plan will: - Create 16,700 permanent jobs which is equivalent to more than 500,000 person years of work; - Raise the region’s income by over $1 billion over the life of the project; - Increase the average annual household income in the region by at least $90; - Generate more than $3 billion in development activity near stations; - Increase land values and create the potential for communities to develop new retail, office and residential developments near the passenger rail stations; - Create an annual $80 million impact on state tourism by generating 320,000 new overnight trips; - Increase Cleveland Hopkins Airport traffic by 5% and create a $0.5 to $1 billion economic benefit; - Create a potential benefit for freight rail operations in the range of $3 to $6 billion; and - Generate an annual fuel savings of approximately 9.4 million gallons of fuel. Results of this petition will be made known to Ohio's Congressional Delegations, the Ohio General Assembly, and the Governor of the State of Ohio. All signatures will be collected up until All Aboard Ohio's Legislative Summit on April 30, 2008.

^Iran already claims that a sizable portion of their oil sales are in currencies other than the dollar (I forget the percentage, but it's not insignificant). Iran isn't the only nation pushing for this, either. So are a few other mid-East countries, Venezuela, and Russia. Russia is being a lot quieter about it and pushing it behind the scenes. So, the dollar link to oil is already beginning to break. The unfortunate reality is that the dollar is already collapsing due to the fiscal mismanagement of the Administration and their allies in Congress. In early 2006, the Fed announced that they would no longer publish the "M3" figure-- which is the total amount of dollars in circulation. They would never admit it, but the reason is that the Fed has been printing money like crazy. If the world knew the truth about how many dollars are in circulation, it would hasten the dollar's collapse. And, it's not just oil that's internationally priced in dollars, it's precious metals, minerals, and even steel. It's also not easy to admit, but we have no one to blame but ourselves for the precariousness of the dollar-- regardless of what Iran is doing. Nixon took the US off the gold standard because several countries saw what was happening with our fiscal situation during the Vietnam war (our trade gap was widening and we were taking on debt to pay for Vietnam) and they wanted to exchange their dollars for gold and silver. Our currency system was set up so that it was obligatory to exchange dollars for gold and silver when requested. Nixon refused-- which means he essentially forced the country into default-- then he took us off the gold standard and convinced OPEC to price oil in dollars which would force other countries to maintain dollar reserves. Rather than deal with the root causes of our trade and budget deficits, we, as a nation, chose to live on credit and prop our currency up with oil sales knowing full well that it wasn't a real, permanent solution. Then we chose to further hasten the decline of our economy by embracing NAFTA and the WTO-- Ross Perot was right about "the giant sucking sound". We've made all the same mistakes that empires in the past have made: financialization of the economy and allowing our manufacturing base to evaporate, militarization of our foreign policy, and massive indebtedness-- both public and private. Now that we're in this precarious financial situation, we're vulnerable. And, once the dollar peg to oil is broken, you can bet that other commodities will follow, and that's what really will ruin the dollar. Oil sales account for no more than about 10% of dollar transactions. You add in the other commodities, though, and it adds up in a hurry. The thing other thing that is hastening our decline and reducing our global influence more rapidly than anything is our neo-imperialist global agenda. We've taken on a belligerent, self-righteous foreign policy since the fall of the Berlin Wall (which has gotten much worse under the current administration); and our empire of 740+ overseas military bases which is making more enemies than it is friends. To get a good picture of what I'm talking about read the following books: Blowback, The Sorrows of Empire, and Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic by Chalmers Johnson. Some other good ones that speak to some of the issues related to the above are: Sleeping with the Devil: How America Sold Its Soul for Saudi Crude by Robert Baer (a former CIA agent who worked in the Middle East for 22 years); Confessions of and Economic Hitman and The Secret History of the American Empire by John Perkins; Three Billion New Capitalists: The Great Shift of Wealth And Power to the East by Clyde Prestowitz

It's really quite sad that Voinovich's staffer is so uninformed...

vote for passenger rail at this link: http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_294.html It's about S 294. Since we still need a companion bill in the House, it's not outdated. So far the vote is running 50-50

Ohio's two climatic seasons: Winter and Construction although, I don't complain much about construction too much, but sometimes admittedly. I 480 from I 77 to the west for a few miles is about to go back into construction mode again. I'm not sure what they're going to be doing-- I think replacing the center jersey barrier in that they just raised 2 feet in 2004 or 05. The construction company that has been doing the job is about the slowest and most disorganized I've ever seen. In 2006, they had to rip up a portion of I-271 they had just resurfaced due to sub-standard pavement. It doesn't give me confidence that the I-480 bridge I drive on every day was built by the lowest bidder...

^speaking of bombs, I'm expecting any day now for Bush to propose a solution to global warming: create a nuclear winter by nuking Iran. Back to the thread... I'm sure Bush cares even less this year because he's a lame duck. His entire budget is an exercise in ideology. We're going to be in a heap of trouble if we don't start developing non-automotive forms of transport. When Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico planning high speed rail lines, and us doing nothing, it's only a sign that we are a superpower on our way down-- down to declining global influence and declining economic relevance in the global economy.

The only way to save our rear ends is to shift government policy toward promoting energy efficiency (it's cheaper to save energy than to buy it), shift transportation spending more toward rail and transit, and discourage energy-intensive development patterns. The Bush administration doesn't get it and they never will. They are wholly incapable of thinking outside the box. Unfortunately, the Democrats are equally clueless, except that they would do a marginally better job of funding rail and transit. It's going to take the country experiencing a lot of pain for them to wake up.

So taking an hour or so out of their day to do something like this is having too much time on their hands? Got forbid people have a little fun once in a while and break up the humdrum daily routine a little. It's not like this was dangerously disruptive or anything. With all of the cheers after it was done, it looked to me like a lot of people enjoyed it.

Sheryl Crow song, "Gasoline" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr8k66I34VA lyrics: Way back in the year of 2017 The sun was growing hotter And oil was way beyond its peak When crazy Hector Johnson broke into a refinery And the black gold started flowing Just like Boston tea It was the summer of the riots And London sat in sweltering heat And the gangs of Mini Coopers Took the battle to the streets But when the creed was handed down For no more trucks and no more cars They threw cans of petrol through the windows at Scotland Yard Gasoline Will be free, will be free Gasoline Will be free, will be free When the Mounties stormed the palace of the Saudi family They held them up for ransom Without disturbing their high tea But their getaway was shaky They stalled in the Riyadh streets Cause you can't make it very far When your tank is on empty The final can of gasoline was loaded on a truck And driven through the streets of Agra to the palace aquaduct You see, all the majesty of worship that once adorned these fatal halls Was just a target to the angry As they blew up the Taj Mahal Gasoline Will be free, will be free Gasoline will be free, will be free Gary ran a market way down in Tennessee Where all the farmers got together and talked about this great country But when the government turned its back on farming Man, what I hear They dragged the pumps out of the ground With a big vintage John Deere I've got soldiers on my payroll Standing guard on my front drive Snipers on the roof poised at those Who don't want me alive Cause they audited my taxes My family under threat Cause I've got a message and a megaphone And I'll scream it to the death Gasoline Will be free, will be free Gasoline Will be free, will be free You got the farms in Argentina Making fuel from sugar cane You got the bastards in Washington Afraid of popping the greed vain Cause the money's in the pipeline And pipeline's running dry And we'll be the last to recognize Where there's shit there's always flies

That's what happens when you've been a rail advocate in Ohio for the past 20 years--it makes you a few bubbles off center. :drunk:

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23118018-3102,00.html Shell: Fuel Crisis by 2015 Melissa Ketchell January 27, 2008 11:00pm IT will take only seven years for world demand for oil and gas to outstrip supply, according to the chief executive of the world's second-biggest oil company....[snip]

There are 7 single-level sleepers. 5 or 6 look like Heritage/Amtrak equipment. I don't know what the other one or two are. One of the former Amtrak cars has two rows of windows that are offset from one another. They all looked to be in pretty decent shape. They are just sitting in a siding in Lordstown Commerce Park. They are visible from SR 45. The site is located just east of the GM/Lordstown plant, a few miles north of the Turnpike.

^I saw them there about 5 years ago. I have no idea why they are there.

Update on my attempt to get some answers out of Voinovich regarding his vote on SB 294: It has been a month since I e-mailed his transportation staffer asking again for a specific statement on his position. I have yet to receive a reply.

Shell chief fears oil shortage in seven years http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/wef/article3248484.ece World demand for oil and gas will outstrip supply within seven years, according to Royal Dutch Shell. The oil multinational is predicting that conventional supplies will not keep pace with soaring population growth and the rapid pace of economic development. Jeroen van der Veer, Shell’s chief executive, said in an e-mail to the company’s staff this week that output of conventional oil and gas was close to peaking. He wrote: “Shell estimates that after 2015 supplies of easy-to-access oil and gas will no longer keep up with demand.”... [snip]

^All that pesky fact-checking costs money. The bottom line is all the news media cares about anymore.

I agree. The tax cuts and bust ODOT's budget approach to economic development pursued by Taft and the legislature has been a failure. I think it's obvious now that we need a different investment-based approach to helping the economy. One only needs to look at the real estate boom in the cities with stops along the Downeaster corridor between Portland, ME and Boston to see that rail investments work-- even with high oil prices and an otherwise sinking housing market.

Slower boats to China as ship owners save fuel full article at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080120/lf_nm/climate_ships_dc_1;_ylt=ApvgAwyHTcHkwehqze5sxM5rAlMA By Erik Kirschbaum Sat Jan 19, 8:22 PM ET BERLIN (Reuters) - Oil at more than $90 a barrel is concentrating minds in the shipping industry. Higher fuel costs and mounting pressure to curb emissions are leading modern merchant fleets to rediscover the ancient power of the sail.... GO-SLOW

^It's unfortunate. For the time being, we may still be on the top of the heap, but the lack of a sensible transportation policy and the sheer lack of investment in at least what we have, is one of the things that turns us into a second-rate nation.

^It says that we continue to be stupid about our transportation policy.