Tuesday, October 4, 2011
James Howard Kunstler
It is cosmically ironic, of course, that the same generation of Boomer-hippies that ran in the streets and marched through the maze of service roads around the Pentagon has become a new "establishment" more obtuse, feckless, greedy and mendacious than the one they battled with over 40 years ago. I guess they just don't see that their time has come to get right with reality - or get shoved aside and trampled. The essence of the OWSer's argument is pretty simple: they've got a raw deal; somebody dealt them a bad hand; someone ran their society into a ditch and not a goddammed one of the older generation will set in motion the machinery to correct the situation, or even acknowledge it.
Here Come the OWSers!
Forced Recycling, No Plastic Bags
The arrogance of Portland bureaucrats is simply mind-boggling. Portland City Council has decided that plastic bags are Very Bad, so you can't have them. Never mind that a Tigard company has come up with a way to recycle the bags into fuel - hey, Portland hates businesses equally.
What a difference a few weeks makes
http://maxfaqs.wordpress.com/2011/10/03/what-a-difference-a-few-weeks-makes/#comment-1642
Depressing, huh?
Stupid rotten orange line...
Depressing, huh?
Stupid rotten orange line...
Another story at TriMet Diaries from our favorite doctor Jeff
Words are cheap. Writers far more accomplished than I would fail any attempt to describe that electric moment when my arm touched his, that millisecond of contact. After it happened, I tried to see him more clearly, to put a face on what just happened to me. All I really saw was his backpack, maybe a sleeve and a pants leg, as he disappeared onto a westbound line 24 bus and pulled away. In that moment of touch, though… I knew. I knew the sum of what he is. I felt the dry air of the Sahara and the smooth warmth of the saddle beneath me. I knew the hard planks and peeling paint of the Conestoga wagon, the scent of the ocean and sounds of flapping sail and straining line.
The Eternal Rider
Dissent of the Day: Bikes vs transit?
if you're on a bike, the bus (or the train, especially in-street surface rail) is just another vehicle which poses a hazard, and ought to be calmed (slowed down) to make a safer environment for pedestrians and two-wheelers.
Transit planners, on the other hand, frequently view technological improvements to bus service--including (though not limited to) signal priority schemes--as important tools in the toolbox, as making bus service faster and more reliable not only improves the quality of service for passengers, but lowers operating costs.
http://portlandtransport.com/archives/2011/10/dissent_of_the.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PortlandTransport+%28Portland+Transport%29
Monomodal Fixation Disorder
The opposite approach, and a key to a transportation system that is useful and equitable, is to focus on a multimodal network that gives everyone reasonable access to a variety of ways to travel. This is a system that recognizes the inherent differences between people and respects those differences. I personally find it very easy to ride my bike around the SE and NE, but when going to downtown or beyond, the distance and geographic barriers make me prefer transit. However, my neighbor on one side might prefer to take transit for all her trips beyond walking distance, while my neighbor on the other might ride his bike everywhere for casual trips within town but prefers to drive to work so he's not sweaty and tired. We all have different levels of income, fitness, willingness to endure weather events, and ability to live close to our destinations. Our transportation system has to reflect that.
Good Transit Is Ugly Transit
TriMet, LISTEN:
Spending a lot of money on flashy stations is also not something that Spain, the world leader in cheap and efficient tunneling projects, recommends. In a report on railway expansion in Madrid, tunneling expert Manuel Melis Maynar writes: “Design should be focused on the needs of the users, rather than on architectural beauty or exotic materials, and never on the name of the architect.” And it makes sense – the point of transit is to transport. Money buys movement, and funds are finite. When a system is running well, people aren’t sticking around to stare at the ceiling, anyway.
Spending a lot of money on flashy stations is also not something that Spain, the world leader in cheap and efficient tunneling projects, recommends. In a report on railway expansion in Madrid, tunneling expert Manuel Melis Maynar writes: “Design should be focused on the needs of the users, rather than on architectural beauty or exotic materials, and never on the name of the architect.” And it makes sense – the point of transit is to transport. Money buys movement, and funds are finite. When a system is running well, people aren’t sticking around to stare at the ceiling, anyway.
Jack Bogdanski
Portland City Hall Arrogance, Perfectly Displayed
No Need to go to Wall Street to Act Up
And so on and so on scooby dooby dooby
Portland nanny state going after quarts of regular beer
Why not an Adams Recall 3.0?
What? No bird?
Coming soon to a Starbucks parking lot near you
Reader Poll: Do you care about Amanda Knox case?
No Need to go to Wall Street to Act Up
And so on and so on scooby dooby dooby
Portland nanny state going after quarts of regular beer
Why not an Adams Recall 3.0?
What? No bird?
Coming soon to a Starbucks parking lot near you
Reader Poll: Do you care about Amanda Knox case?
The baby bus incident
Lots of stuff still coming in today about it, but it has considerably died down since Sunday night and Monday.
Baby incident illustrates the bigger problem with the Trimet system
Strange Twist
Interesting that the so-called victim in this whole thing has not once complained to TriMet yet about this?
Interesting comments from the story of the bus driver kicking the mom and baby off the bus
Jon Hunt stands behind driver who kicked mom off bus
There are a few more things, but most of it just repeats what has already been said.
Baby incident illustrates the bigger problem with the Trimet system
Strange Twist
Interesting that the so-called victim in this whole thing has not once complained to TriMet yet about this?
Interesting comments from the story of the bus driver kicking the mom and baby off the bus
Jon Hunt stands behind driver who kicked mom off bus
There are a few more things, but most of it just repeats what has already been said.
@october141927Shanti Witchinghour
Know what I think is dumb? The Portland Streetcar. Only serves biz interests. And lord knows cyclists don't need more wet tracks to cross.
How We Roll
http://howweroll.trimet.org/
humm....TriMet's new thing. They call it a 'blog for TriMet fans'.
Wow. It is quite amusing to read.
humm....TriMet's new thing. They call it a 'blog for TriMet fans'.
Wow. It is quite amusing to read.
Boring is one step closer to withdrawing from TriMet
Steve Kindred of the Clackamas County Elections Division notified Boring Oregon Business Coalition founder Steve Bates on Monday that his petition for withdrawal from TriMet has been certified.
Boring is one step closer to scratching TriMet's service from their taxes. I still don't think it's a good idea, but I've ranted about that so many times I bet you guys are already sick of hearing it.
If the board votes yes, the withdrawal would begin Jan. 1, 2013, and TriMet tax bills around the metro area would increase to make up for the taxes no longer collected in the Boring area.
So just because Boring doesn't think they need TriMet's service (most fully the LIFT service), they get to opt out and make TriMet tax bills get higher for the metro area?
(non bold=excerpts from the article, bold=my thoughts)
Is this cool or what?
TriMet's beta version of the soon to be new trip planner! I'm so excited. :)
http://maps5.trimet.org/opentripplanner-webapp/
Bike Portland wrote on this: TriMet announces release date for open-source, multi-modal trip planner
http://maps5.trimet.org/opentripplanner-webapp/
Bike Portland wrote on this: TriMet announces release date for open-source, multi-modal trip planner
MAX vs. Car...err...empty car...
Original story: http://www.kptv.com/story/15611731/max-train-crashes-into-abandoned-car
Mystery of abandon car on MAX tracks is solved: http://www.katu.com/news/local/131114338.html
Mystery of abandon car on MAX tracks is solved: http://www.katu.com/news/local/131114338.html
@maxfaqs: kptv.com/story/15611731… I think that's a student train.. I'm glad I didn't have anything like that happen when I was a brand new rail student!
Bus vs. Car
@WashCoScannerWash Co Scanner
Trimet bus vs Vehicle - T bone, bus hit car - MVA-HI MECH - SW WATSON AV/SW FARMINGTON RD
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