gildone

Actually, one of the things we need to do as the peak oil screws tighten is ship more freight on waterways because waterways are by far the most energy efficient way to move freight. I'm talking more in the realm of navigable waterways here rather than canals.

The subsidies to aviation are huge and no airline company would be "profitable" without them. In fact, the commercial passenger aviation industry, as a whole, has made ZERO money net over its lifetime. It's not as easy to compare subsidies to Amtrak, for example, with subsidies to the aviation as you want it to be because a chunk of the money given to Amtrak goes to pay for things that no airline company has on its balance sheet. For example: the air traffic control system receives about $2 billion per year from the federal government's general revenues. Part of Amtrak's annual subsidy goes to pay for their traffic control system on the Northeast Corridor. There is no airline company that has air traffic controllers and the capital investment in the equipment on its balance sheet. No airline company employs people to maintain runways. Part of Amtrak's subisidy is to pay for maintenance-of-way crews on the NEC. Part of Amtrak's even subsidy goes to pay the retirement benefits for people who NEVER WORKED FOR THE COMPANY. No airline company has an expense like that on its balance sheet. Passenger rail is a much better investment compared to, for example, short-haul flights when you have an honest apples-to-apples comparison. So, if you are going to argue subsidies, get your facts straight. As for rail in Youngstown, public dollar for public dollar, the Ohio Hub will return far more to the local economy than a few short haul flights out of the airport.

All that is needed for the Ohio Hub to be built is for Congress to pass a passenger rail bill like they almost did last year (i.e. Lott-Lautenburg Bill) and then fund it. Once that happens, trains start running in just a few years with the FULL buildout in 25 years. Of course, you can argue that as long as this administration is in power, this won't happen (especially when you consider that the USDOT recently issued a congestion report that made ZERO mention of rail as a means to help alleviate the problem). On the other hand, with the end of cheap oil on its way out, we need to put some serious thought into where our transportation dollars should go. In this context, you may get your "shot in the arm" for a few years in the short run, but over the long run, air travel in Youngstown and other places is a losing investment. Personally, I'd rather do it right the first time and thus spend public tax dollars once rather than twice. So, we agree to disagree...

Actually, if the Pittsburgh-Columbus-Lima-Ft Wayne-Chicago route gets built, there is a good chance that there will be a passenger station serving Port Columbus.

We need the Ohio Hub to be built to serve Youngstown, not more air traffic.

But in the case of the Clinic, there are still Carnegie and Chester Aves to get to the Clinic area and beyond. Have you noticed how comparatively little traffic travels Euclic west of the Clinic? It's because there is no light timing and the street is in such bad shape. I don't think it will be difficult or an inconvenience for those who want to travel beyond the Clinic because it isn't now.

The fact that they are made out of scrap tires is great. Although this isn't true recyling, it's downcycling, it's still a good way to use up the mountains of scrap tires this country has generated. Also, since there is a Peak Oil thread here, I'll add that it's important to remember how energy-intensive the concrete making process is. You have to mine limestone and ship it to a concrete plant where its baked in a kiln at over 1000 degrees to turn it into lime. Cement kilns burn anything from natural gas to used oil to ignitable hazardous waste (i.e. fossil fuels). Then the lime is trucked to a concrete plant where it is mixed with aggregate and sand, both of which are mined and then trucked to the concrete plant too. Then it's shipped on a cement truck to the location where it was poured. Since the tires are already manufactured and are a spent material, it's a lot less energy-intensive to grind up tires and mix them with a few petrochemicals and form them into the sidewalk blocks and ship them to the site where they will be used. With all the freeze-thaw problems we have with pavement in Ohio, rubber is probably a better material to use.

It's certainly better than what we have now which is an ugly, bumpy urban street with no light-timing to speak of. Yeah, rail would have been better, but I'll take this too. The #6 buses get so crowded now that 60 foot buses with pre-paid boarding and the ability of bus drivers to prioritize the traffic signals, it will be a big improvement.

Cleveland Clinic wants pedestrian Mall from e. 86 to e 105. See the posting at Green City-Blue Lake: http://www.gcbl.org/blog/marc-lefkowitz/clinics-public-square-stirs-interest What do folks think? Sorry for the double post, but I posted this as a topic, but it got moved into this thread, without the topic title, so no one would have known what it was about...

I never saw this article, Ken. Do you still have it?

IMHO we need to save that oil for other things besides being burned in our gas tanks. People forget how much our live depend upon petrochemicals.

Cleveland Clinic wants pedestrian Mall from e. 86 to e 105. See the posting at Green City-Blue Lake: http://www.gcbl.org/blog/marc-lefkowitz/clinics-public-square-stirs-interest

The 9x is definitely better than the 6, but any way you slice it, whether the bus or driving, the abysmal lack of timing of the traffic lights right now makes traveling Euclid extremely painful. I can't wait for the corridor to be done...

I think the entire corridor is supposed to by done in by late 2008

For $300 billion, we could probably build all of the currently proposed high speed rail corridors in the US TGV-style. It could build one heck of a nationwide 110 mph system.

Tax credits are a start, but this nation really needs a rail infrastructure program on par with highways and aviation

It's one of the top 5 metropark systems in North America.

This is unfortunate. All the times I've been downtown, no one has ever tried to sell me drugs. I just get panhandled. A few weeks back I had jury duty and I would take full advantage of the 90 minute lunches to walk all over downtown from the Flats to E. 12th. I got panhandled about twice per day, but no offers of recreational pharmaceuticals.

All this stuff is absolutly great. I find it very encouraging. This kind of stuff is very much needed in Cleveland. However, what provisions are being made in an overall plan for things like public spaces, bikeways, greenspace, multipurpose trails, urban gardens (for people to do their own vegetable gardening), and so forth? Great cities have great public spaces. It's great to have downtown development, but people need things to do outdoors-- even in Cleveland's lousy winters. Condos, retail, and offices are great, but for a city to have true quality of life and quality of place, people need more than places to just live, work, and spend money.

Oops, I probably should have posted my comment above on another thread, perhaps the "random projects" one. Sorry, I'm a newbie...

Projects such as this, Pesht, and others in the works are very encouraging and very much needed in Cleveland. However, what provisions are being made in an overall plan for things like public spaces, bike paths, greenspace, urban gardens, and so forth? Great cities have great public spaces. It's great to have downtown development, but people need things to do outdoors.