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Monthly archive for February, 2009
Dirty, Dirty Clean Coal
Friday, February 27th, 2009
[SButtonZ button="digg"] The fraternal duo that gave us Barton Fink and Fargo is now lending a hand to the effort to debunk “clean coal” technology. In this spot by Joel and Ethan Coen, a lovely family gets fooled by a Read more ›
February’s Headlines
Friday, February 27th, 2009
Feb 27: The 2010 budget is out. Highlights include: $1 billion-a-year high speed rail grant program to the states; $1.3 billion in USDA loans and grants for rural broadband from the USDA; A proposed carbon cap and trade program that Read more ›
Schwarzenegger: “We Have to Come Up With a Sexier Word Than ‘Infrastructure’” (Can You?)
Thursday, February 26th, 2009
The Governator was the star panelist in a discussion last weekend in the National Governors Conference about the infrastructure crisis. It was generally a smart and useful chat. (We’ve got more to say about it, in fact — stay tuned). Read more ›
The World’s Most Extreme Escalators
Thursday, February 26th, 2009
With all the talk about whether our trains will ever rival Europe’s or Asia’s, here are some notable examples of another elegant but understated mode of human transport. For your viewing pleasure, some people-mover porn: 1. Shortest escalator: Okadaya Mores Read more ›
Big Box of Trouble: Dealing with the Coming Plague of Empty Superstores
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009Felix Rohatyn: Don’t Treat Infrastructure Spending as an “Expense”
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009
Felix Rohatyn, the financier who helped save New York City from going broke in the 1970s and the author of a new book about public spending, did a turn on CNBC this morning to discuss Obama’s stimulus program. The $800 Read more ›
The Subway Series
Monday, February 23rd, 2009
Do more people ride the subway in NYC or Mexico City? Which has a more expensive fare, Seoul or Moscow? Go look at this beautiful chart comparing usage, system length, and fares for rail transit systems around the world. It’s Read more ›
Things Get Snippy Over the Vehicle Miles Tax
Monday, February 23rd, 2009
[SButtonZ button="digg"] Transportation policy nerds everywhere watched with interest last Friday as Ray LaHood got kneecapped by Obama’s press secretary for raising the possibility of a national vehicle miles traveled, or VMT, tax. It would be levied by putting GPS Read more ›
Outsmarted by the Smart Grid?
Monday, February 23rd, 2009
[SButtonZ button="digg"] America has had more than its share of delusions about energy. The latest concerns the “smart grid” – that this bright new technological miracle will help us overcome reality. Al Gore, Thomas Friedman, Amory Lovins and Silicon Valley Read more ›
New Amtrak President Declares War on Dead End Bureaucrats
Friday, February 20th, 2009
On CNBC yesterday Jim Cramer went on a rant about why bank nationalization is a bad idea. Executive summary: “The government can’t run anything!” Example A: “Look at Amtrak!” Poor Amtrak. So many haters. If new president Joseph Boardman is Read more ›
Cyclist-Hating Cop To Explore Professional Options
Friday, February 20th, 2009
The thoroughly hateable Patrick Pogan has been canned by the NYPD. Remember Patrick? He’s the cop who decided to express himself with a random act of violence against a cyclist taking part in a peaceful demonstration for safer and more Read more ›
Amtrak Ads Through the Years
Thursday, February 19th, 2009
If you are of a certain age, you’ll remember some of these. There’s one with the amazingly catchy show tune-style chorus of “All aboard! All aboard! All aboard Amtrak!” And one, clearly from the mid-70s, with a lounge singer crooning Read more ›
Magazine Claims Women Don’t Have “The Driving Gene”
Thursday, February 19th, 2009
From the Department of Uncomfortable Reads comes this effort by Middle Eastern laddie magazine UMen to enumerate the top ten reasons why “Women Can’t Drive.” The conceit would be tricky to pull off even in a part of the world Read more ›
America’s First Infrastructure Stimulus Project: A Bridge to Nowhere?
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
Missouri was really eager to get bragging rights on this whole “shovel-ready” thing. The governor and various other officials, including state transportation director Pete Rahn, staked out a rural bridge yesterday while Obama prepared to sign the stimulus bill. As Read more ›
Obama Talks Infrastructure On Air Force One
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
[SButtonZ button="digg"] Obama gave a wide-ranging on-the-record interview last week with five political columnists, including E.J. Dionne from the Washington Post. (The full transcript is now available.) His remarks about bank nationalization have gotten most of the ink so far, Read more ›
Take Away All Dick Fuld’s Money — Use It To Buy Streetcars
Tuesday, February 17th, 2009
[SButtonZ button="digg"] A clawback, as you probably know but many of your fellow Americans do not, is the repossession of a reward that should never have been bestowed in the first place. It’s something of buzzword these days since the Read more ›
Does America Still Have a Nuclear Industry?
Tuesday, February 17th, 2009
The nuclear industry was born in America. But today while it’s booming in the rest of world, it seems to be dying here. In the halcyon days of the ’60s and ’70s, the three largest builders of reactors were all Read more ›
Angry Lady Doesn’t Care She’s in a Beautful Airport
Tuesday, February 17th, 2009
Our newest YouTube uber-celebrity coined her fame by throwing the most amazing hissy fit ever over a travel delay. It took place in the Hong Kong International Airport, which has been praised by NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman as the Read more ›
All Aboard the “Fancy Gambling Train”! (Or Not)
Friday, February 13th, 2009
[SButtonZ button="digg"] Somehow $8 billion in funding for high-speed rail dropped like mana from heaven into the stimulus bill this week. Transportation nerds were agog and overjoyed. Then came the “news” today that it was all going to go to Read more ›
Why the Vehicle-Miles Traveled Tax Is Getting Short Changed
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009Deron Lovaas is the National Transportation Policy Director at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Robert Puentes is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, where he focuses on issues related to metropolitan growth and development. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s suggestion Read more ›