gildone

We're headed down a dangerous path with ethanol. The competition between food vs. fuel has been driving up food prices: Exploding U.S. Grain Demand for Automotive Fuel Threatens World Food Security and Political Stability The amount of corn it takes to fill a 25 gallon tank of an SUV with ethanol would feed a person for one year The only way ethanol will work as a major transportation fuel for the US is if we take all the necessary steps to reduce driving needs by at least 60%, lightweight what motor vehicles are left through carbon fiber construction (and ultra-light steel), and run them with hybrid engines. We also have to use other sources for ethanol besides grain-- particularly things that can be grown on marginal lands or utilize Biomass pyrolysis to make biofuels from things like yard and crop wastes. Biomass pyrolysis should be one of the widely used methods to create biofuels because after all energy inputs are taken into account, the fuels would be carbon negative. If employed on a large scale, biomass pyrolysis would actually remove CO2 from the atmosphere-- provided the carbon that is created from the process is returned to the soil and not burned. The carbon would actually improve soil productivity and reduce the need for petrochemical-based fertilizers (moreso in tropical regions than temperate ones, but still useful in most climates). Grain prices are already up world-wide. As if we don't have enough foreign policy problems already, the last thing we need is to pit American SUV owners against hungry people in the rest of the world.

^this is very true. I think David Gunn tried to make that point when he was heading up Amtrak. Every time Amtrak services have been cut, this has happened. Greyhound is suffering a similar fate, I think-- they've been trying to cut their way to prosperity too.

Ridership isn't quite the issue it's being made out to be. Where quality mass transit and quality intercity passenger rail service is provided, people will ride in droves. It's not a chicken-and-egg problem, it's a problem of quality supply.

^people do get it, it's our elected offcials that don't. Intercity passenger rail is one of several policy areas where the American people are way ahead of our policitians.

That figure isn't just for roads an bridges. It says "roads, bridges, dams, water systems and airports" At $1.6 trillion, those numbers aren't off the mark. We've been deferring maintenance on just about every major form of infrastructure in this country for the past few decades.

There are a couple of really intellectually challenged people on that lakewood observer site. I registered to try to post your links and one that lists the economic development that has occurred because of the DART system, but for some reason, my account is still inactive.

^Gee what a concept-- build it and they will ride...

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1187576751202450.xml&coll=7 Less Driving is More Cash for Portland Urban living - The metro area saves on mileage, a study finds, and mostly uses it to fill the local economy's tank Monday, August 20, 2007DYLAN RIVERA The Oregonian Staff Because Portland-Vancouver drivers log 20 percent fewer miles a day than most U.S. urban dwellers and spend less on cars and gasoline as a result, the region's economy saves $2.6 billion a year, or about 3 percent of the area's annual economic output, according to a new study for the Chicago-based CEOs for Cities... Dylan Rivera: 503-221-8532; [email protected]

Submitted without comment:

Below is an excerpt from a "Smart Jitney" proposal from a peak oil group in Yellow Springs, Ohio. While I think they have a point in trying find a way to combine automobile trips in the short term to start saving oil, the document appears to discount rail transit as being part of the solution to peak oil at all. It seems that the assumed comparison is to compare autos with trying to make light rail and other transit options fit in auto-centric sprawl settings rather than using them to revitalize existing urban cores and encourage more efficient redevelopment in outlying areas. A representative of the group asked me for my opinion, but that's about all I have so far (with a toddler in my household my time is limited for providing in-depth analysis-- I've admittedly only skimmed the document). Besides there are people here with more of the necessary details at their fingertips than me. I only ask that we be civilized in our responses. Firm, constructive, fact based criticism is fine, but let's not bash. The Peak Oil and Community Solutions group is basically asking for help and opinions, so let's be helpful in return. They're trying to find solutions to the Peak Oil dilemma that will work on the community level. Full document at: http://www.communitysolution.org/pdfs/NS12.pdf Excerpt: Our urban sprawl has no precedent in history, so the feasibility of a mass transit system has yet to be proven – a true mass transit system for the U.S. today may, in fact, be impossible. In addition, the energy savings of mass transit, in the context of implementing such a system in today’s configuration of cities and urban sprawl, may be highly overrated. Figure 6 shows that existing mass transit systems do not provide significant fuel savings.11 It depicts the Btus of energy per passenger mile (assuming average passenger densities) for each type of transportation. Figure 6: Mass Transit Overrated (Btu per passenger mile) Private Car 3,549 Light Truck (SUV) 7,004 Bus Transit 4,160 Airplane 3,587 Amtrak Train 2,935 Rail Transit 3,228 Mass transit offers only a small improvement over private vehicles for personal travel, and is hardly applicable. As previously noted, it is not obvious that a mass transit system can be implemented on top of our current sprawl. The mantra of “We need light rail” provides no evidence that a light rail system would work. Modeling of this complex system is required but has not been done to date. That leaves us with the private car as the only option. In spite of its numerous benefits, the many conveniences and the sense of freedom associated with the automobile, it is unlikely that the concept of the private car, as we know it today, is viable for the future. Traffic is worsening all over the world. We can’t continue using a machine that has been so devastating for the planet. As energy resources deplete and pollution worsens even a 100 to 200 mpg automobile cannot be the main vehicle for billions of people. Another option is needed.

I took the Hound from Cleveland to Columbus and Back on Fri/Sat. On the way down, they put us in a Lakefront Lines coach. I heard the driver at one point say something about how Greyhound sub-contracts with them sometimes, but I couldn't here the details. It also sounded like she was saying that Lakefront was looking to expand some of their common carrier services, but I'm not sure. Anyone have any details on any of this?

Feagler needs to take a camera crew out and get some footage of the building renovations that are going on (Thanks to Musky for posting some pics here a few days ago). Don't just sit in the studio and complain. They need to get off of their rear ends and go take a look for crying out loud... There's a Barnes and Noble going in. They aren't going to just throw their money away on an area that's not going to generate business for them.

^I see there are already two comments posted on the PD site about this article-- both negative. And probably neither of them have actually checked out the project and seen the building renovation activity that has already begun along some parts of the corridor.

KJP and Noozer, I agree. To steal a phrase from James Howard Kunstler: Americans have come to believe that we can have something for nothing. We want both tax cuts and public services-- freeways, parks, lower college tuition, etc. We don't think sewer and water rates should ever have to rise. The list goes on. Well, we can't have it both ways. Granted, our coin-operated political system has resulted in corporations getting their tax burdens reduced while they've also gotten more corporate welfare at the expense of individual tax payers, but even if that's taken into account, we're still so far behind the 8-ball with the state of our infrastructure that either we all start paying more or our infrastructure continues to crumble and it eventually takes jobs and the economy down with it. The deferred maintenance bill just for what we have now is $1.6 trillion and mounting. You get what you pay for.

nor I

28 miles for $1 billion-- that's $35.7 million per mile. TGV-style rail averages $25 million per mile. We can do the Ohio Hub for $3.8 million per mile and it will provide significant economic benefits in 5 states. Besides, with the world staring down the barrel of peak oil and no combination of alternative fuels will be able to let America keep driving at the levels we are now, we really need to think hard about investing in more highways vs. more energy efficient forms of transportation.

I hear Joe Calabrese was on 1100 AM recently on a morning program. The host apparently tried very hard to bad mouth the entire Euclid Corridor project, but according to the person who listened to the program and told me about it, Calabrese remained calm and responded rather well.

I think each member of the delegation needs to sacrifice a little something in his/her own district for the sake of the economy of the entire state, and support the earmark for the Hub.

^damn... why did it go down this time? Checked out the video-- the Downeaster is a good example for Ohio to look to.

Well, it's still kind of dead bet. E 55th and E. 65th, but beyond 65th is where I saw things happening. I drove between E. 65th (Gallucci's) and that big round church (forget the name and what the cross street is too... sorry. As many times as I've driven by there the past few years you'd think I'd remember!). One building was a nice old brick one with a lot of wood trim.

Published on Friday, July 20, 2007 by Associated Press Blast Shows Age of US Infrastructure by David B. Caruso http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne+News/World/Story/A1Story20070720-19124.html NEW YORK - With a blast that made skyscrapers tremble, an 83-year-old steam pipe sent a powerful message that the miles of tubes, wires and iron beneath New York and other U.S. cities are getting older and could become dangerously unstable... The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that it will take $1.6 trillion over the next five years to get the nation’s roads, bridges, dams, water systems and airports into good condition.... Associated Press writers Adam Goldman and Karen Matthews contributed to this report. © 2007 The Associated Press.

What a dumb idea for a solution (that's illegal anyway). It's not the crews' fault. They just do what the dispatchers tell them to do or they stop because they outlaw. Invest in the infrastructure, damnit!

Checked out the Euclid Corridor construction yesterday afternoon when I was in the area. Construction seems to be moving at a good pace. Another station has been erected, though I didn't check to see what the cross street is (next station from W. 40th). The concrete bases appear to be completed for several stations, too. What surprised me was all of the building renovation and construction going on, particularly east of Gallucci's.

It appears as though a couple of the glass panes at the W. 25th st station have been vandalized. I was on it a few weeks a go and two panes were shattered. People just have no respect for anything anymore...

^I doubt we'll be able to get away with either. The Iraq war is only using up America's political capital in the world at an accelerating pace and we're losing influence in the middle east. The Saudi's don't need us to buy their excess oil anymore because they don't have any. Besides, the way the US is careening toward insolvency, we're going to end up being too broke to support expanded military operations over there.