RSS - Posts
Filed under: Uncategorized
I tend to laugh when they say he helps keep them informed, yet those ware “informed” by his one sided antics complain that Fox news is one sided.
He can google and photoshop. Yea.
He only tells one side of the story, that is all evil.
Take this for instance, pasted wherever he can:
Mike Buettner Says:
August 20, 2008 at 11:47 pmRichard Marks report on the forum
“I had thought that someone on the panel would be from organized labor. Nope.”
What is the real answer?
Lee Sandahl, Legislative Representative for the ILWU (Longshoremen’s
Union), will answer questions regarding the political environment
surrounding port investment and job opportunities associated with an active
port was on the panel.
Plus Sid Berg stood up and gave a speech.
He didn’t know that because he didn’t show up. Yet he encouraged others to do so! yet nowere you ever see him correcting his mistakes.
Another favorite:
Rail removal firm will pay Montco to complete work
By MARGARET GIBBONS
07/24/2008NORRISTOWN — The Montgomery County commissioners normally are spending money when they award contracts.
However, a contract recently awarded by the commissioners will put money into the county’s coffers.
The county contracted with Railroad Resources and Recovery of Bethlehem to remove 2.4 miles of railroad track materials, including wooden ties and steel tracks, along the western border of the county’s Lorimer Park in Abington.
The company will pay the county $205,100 for the job and materials it removes.
I called that company listed in that article, he didn’t know anything about the the article. Asked about he money, he said could be. I asked him about recycling the NWP, he wouldn’t do it, “totally different market”. So we have one article that one company might be paying to scrap a railroad. This doesn’t mean any company will pay to scrap our local railroad. Our railroad is different, the area most likely to be scrapped is mountainous. It isn’t easy to get into, or remove anything from. California has a different set of rules, this also adds cost.
Mike Buettner said…
“That is the kind of clean up Hauser is talking about.”
And at nearly $100K per mille for salvage of 300 miles of track that’s $30,000,00. You don’t think that wouldn’t help pay for the clean-up?
11:47 AM
NCRA doesn’t own 300 miles of railroad, part is owned by SMART. Thus he is proposing to scrap a commuter train, in an area that can make a good go of it.
How about, posting the old line of the harbor isn’t doing enough about the ballast water issue, after I already posted that it is a state regulation. So come one, speak, man, speak, do you really think local regulations override the state?
It is on the RAPIT/Humboldt Green Port blog, which hasn’t shown up yet on the Humboldt Blog pipe yet.
Staff Report
Article Launched: 08/24/2008 12:02:30 AM PDTA similar effort led by the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District failed in 2006. It carried Sonoma County with almost 70 percent of the vote, but its relatively weak 57.5 percent positive showing in Marin caused it to narrowly miss the needed two-thirds super majority, garnering a 65.3 percent “yes” votes in the two-county district.
Before the campaign gets under way, it’s time to look as the accuracy of some of the promises made by SMART as well as complaints emanating from its opponents.
- Will SMART solve the traffic jams on the freeway?
The simple answer is no. There is no realistic solution to the perpetual rush-hour traffic jam. Even widening Highway 101 will not do the trick. Suburban highway gridlock is a nationwide phenomenon caused by a land-use model based on single-family homes sprawled over a wide area. What SMART can do is provide an auto-free alternative.
- SMART will only help Sonoma.
Yes and no. The biggest effect of the commuter train will be to take Sonoma-residing workers to their jobs in Marin. As long as Marin refuses to build much low- priced housing, its labor force needs to live somewhere. Many logically choose more affordable Sonoma. It’s in Marin taxpayers’ interest to facilitate the commute for workers essential
Advertisement
to the county’s economic health and to do so in an environmentally sensitive manner.- There are other less costly solutions.
The reality is the retail clerks, office staff, restaurant workers and building trades employees who live in Sonoma County and form the backbone of Marin’s economy can’t telecommute. A separate busway costs almost as much as rail and will, like SMART, run through some San Rafael and Novato backyards and cause noise. Futuristic dreams such as a Jetsons-style monorail will be far more expensive than rail even in the unlikely event that their technical aspects are perfected. Remember, Buck Rogers technology costs big bucks. Anyone who claims their proposal will not cost taxpayers a cent is either a charlatan or hopelessly naive.
- SMART is 19th century technology.
Untrue. The Europeans, Japanese or Chinese are all expanding both their commuter and long-distance rail lines to 21st century standards. Modern rail systems are regarded worldwide as an environmentally sensitive way to move large numbers of travelers. It’s the single-passenger petroleum-propelled auto that represents the technology of the past.
- Will anyone ride SMART once its in operation?
That is a fair question with no definite answer. Will the trains run empty or will long-term spikes in gas prices boost patronage past SMART’s projections? Proponents of new rail systems tout ridership successes and opponents emphasize failures. If the numbers are substantial, the naysayers will disappear. If they tank, the North Bay will never hear the end of it. Of course, when the Golden Gate Bridge was proposed, some claimed that few would ever pay a toll to cross a highway bridge.
History shows with new commuter rail lines that people ride the train in higher numbers than what was projected. Fuel will only get more expensive. You have to start somewhere.
EDITOR: Another accident, another freeway closure. You have to ask yourself, how many times does this have to happen for people to rise up and say enough? There has to be an alternative to the freeway. When it comes to reliability, the freeway doesn’t provide it. If you want to go to San Rafael from Novato, you don’t know whether it will be 15 minutes or an hour and 15 minutes. You don’t know if an accident will close all of the lanes or just enough to back up traffic for hours.
We need the passenger train that Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit would provide. A train gives us an alternative. An alternative to only one great gray vein of freeway. An alternative to being stranded and at the whims of careless drivers. An alternative to paying more than $4 per gallon for gas.
Come on people. Let’s give one another some choices. I urge you to make the very small investment in a transportation alternative that could mean a world of difference to each and every resident of Marin County. Please vote in favor of the SMART ballot measure this November.
DAVID PORTER
Novato
Lane merger on Highway 101 triggers rollover Reminds me, I love traffic.
Staff Report
Article Launched: 08/23/2008 08:33:57 PM PDTTraffic was backed up for miles Saturday afternoon as a vehicle rollover closed two southbound lanes of Highway 101 in Corte Madera.
A woman was taken to Marin General Hospital with minor injuries after her late-model Toyota SUV flipped twice after she bumped another vehicle at about 3:40 p.m. while merging just north of the East Blithedale offramp. Two lanes were closed for about an hour.
“Traffic was messed up for a long time,” said Pete Davis, battalion chief with Corte Madera Fire Department.
Davis said airbag deployment was “one of the reasons why this lady did so well.
“The roof got crushed down on that car.”
In the past year, I’ve had scores of people ask me, “When are we going to get a train?” A principal in a San Rafael school brought it up out of the blue, as she lives in Petaluma and is tired of the commute. A group of parents in Novato wants to use the bike path for their kids to get to school. Teachers would use it to get to work. Mothers, seniors, young people, commuters and other ordinary citizens are impatient for Marin to enter the 21st century. They want economical, green ways to get around. They’re tired of the same small group of naysayers ruining it for everyone else. Marin wants to be a leader in sustainability with green energy, waste reduction and alternative transportation systems. The vast majority of people in Marin want a clean, reliable, modern train system.SMART is a public transit system that we can afford that serves the vast majority of people who live in Marin and Sonoma. It takes advantage of the former railway that is owned by the public and runs through the most developed areas of the two counties that grew up along the former railway. Please join me in supporting SMART.—Wendi Kallins, Forest Knolls
With two posts on the Green Wheels blog, Southward Sustainable Transportation: Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (and bike trails!), and I love traffic.
In the meantime, I am helping out Friends of SMART to help make it happen. Check out the campaign website here. And a great way to show and share your support with Marin & Sonoma area friends is with the Facebook Group I’ve created with a few others, Vote SMART: Sonoma-Marin Transportation for the 21st Century. 213 members and counting.
I love traffic:
As a sidenote to my last blog post on SMART, or Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit, I thought I’d note a little experiment I’m trying — I created a Facebook group to save traffic and traffic jams in the Sonoma and Marin Area. So far, it just has two people, but I haven’t sent out the invites yet.
I was offered to help, but truth be known, nobody is better than he. I just don’t have the skills, or knowledge to do what they are needing.
My take on the whole NWP operator’s ranting is 100ft setback is too much. On the Northeast Corridor they have a trail along side with a setback of 30ft while Amtrak runs 100 to 120 mph. 100ft is just not going to happen. The anti-SMART/NWP folks want you to believe that this is real policy that has to be abided by. No it isn’t, it is proposed policy. It still has to go through three more meetings of comment only, then it will be decided in December when it gets back up here.
Published: Thursday, Aug 21, 2008
Editor: Always fun to read the Argus poll each week, particularly when one agrees with the results. But the paper warns that the results are not intended as a statistically valid representation of public sentiment.
Two-thirds of the responders in last week’s poll were against SMART rail. Have we possibly witnessed an online poll manipulation by a small group of anti-train people looking for headlines? Suspicious that the online vote was not correct, I checked the professional, statistically correct poll taken recently among 1,200 voters regarding the SMART train: 83 percent in Sonoma County favored SMART, and guess what — 71 percent in Marin County favored SMART. Headline material indeed.
Bill Kortum, Petaluma
Part 2 in the rumors of a recall. Something you consider is this is the Marin city most likely to go bankrupt.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008 10:59 AM PDT
Paul S. Mamalakis
This is the second installment on the potential recall movement against Mayor Pat Eklund and Councilmembers Jim Leland and Carole Dillon-Knutson.Needless to say, the mayor feels the charges are overblown and don’t rise to the level of justifying a recall.
Eklund admits there’s a common denominator to the departure of former City Manager Rod Wood and Dan Keen, slated to leave for Concord next week. Both were presented with career opportunities they couldn’t pass up.
Wood received big bucks and generous perks to become the head honcho in cash-flush Beverly Hills. Similarly, Claycord.com’s July 2 posting read, “New city manager just struck it rich. Concord’s incoming city manager, Dan Keen, just hit the jackpot. The terms and conditions of his new contract (yet to be approved) have just been released, and boy are they nice!”
As Novato’s city manager, Keen earned $175,000 annually plus an incentive package. In Concord, his yearly base pay will balloon to $235,000. Adding $15,500 for a deferred compensation account, $7,200 vehicle allowance and $7,050 401(k) contribution, Keen will get a hefty $264,750. He’ll also receive a $300,000 home loan, temporary housing allowance of $2,000 monthly for a year, reasonable moving expenses, 40 days paid annual leave, full payment of medical, dental and long-term disability insurance premiums, lifetime medical and guaranteed severance pay of $176, 250.
Moreover, Concord presents significant professional challenges for Keen. The city has a population of 122,000, employs 500 full-time and 135 part-time workers, and operates on a budget of $177 million — five times more than Novato’s.
Asked about the deal breaker that caused the cessation of negotiations for the purchase of the old downtown movie house, Eklund claims, “The city council wanted a commitment from Tallen and Keshen that the Novato Theater would be used for film and/or performing arts. Tallen and Keshen indicated they could not make that commitment.”
According to the mayor, the city was recently contacted by individuals who have proposed new ways to convert the long-vacant theater into the desired venue. This would entail forming a public, private and non-profit partnership — modeled after the theaters in Larkspur and San Rafael. On Sept. 9, the council will revisit the prickly issue to develop a new game plan.
Last year, Eklund says city officials learned that, “The North Coast Railroad Authority is anticipating up to 60 railcars coming through Novato and along Highway 37 per day. The NCRA had not evaluated the impact (noise, vibration, etc.) to the residents living/working along the rail line nor committed to mitigation measures to reduce or eliminate those impacts.”
Therefore, Eklund maintains that the council felt compelled to protect Novato’s citizenry and sued the railroad authority for failure to comply with California’s Environmental Quality Act. The County of Marin and the Friends of the Eel River subsequently filed amicus briefs supporting Novato’s position. To date, the city has spent $212,800 in legal fees. A trial is set for Aug. 26 in Marin County Superior Court.
Whether or not a recall campaign materializes, Eklund, Leland and Dillon-Knutson should treat the threat as a sign they’re not performing up to snuff.
