Momentum for buses and trains

[GBS-StPaul]

Mary wrote:

I hope they ban cars so you stupid Republican Bastards have to ride with us common folks on the bus and train! The nimwit we have for a President has been holding us down while the rich Republican Oil men steal our money! The state should confiscate all oil and gas profits and give it back to the people! Rich people should start paying their fair share. 80% of our nations money is in the hands on 1% of the people. I say tax those people at 80% for the common good of us all!

Mary - You seem to hate America and our Freedoms. I do not think “we” owe you anything. This is not a socialist nation but a democratic republic. I personally think that all forms of welfare (business subsidies, farm subsidies, personal welfare, socialized health care, and legislator pork barrel projects) should be eliminated. Everyone would probably pay 50% less in taxes by just getting rid of all the garbage. We do not need more tax money; we need legislators that believe in the constitution and the declaration of independence. We need leaders who will stop wasteful spending and give back the freedoms they have stole from us along the way. IMO – Bush 2 Patriot Act and other laws need to repeal. We should be allowed to drink at 18, buy alcohol on Sundays, buy vehicles’ on Sunday, etc. etc. The Government has no business telling us how to live and when we can purchase legal products. We need to get back to America’s roots!

[Super Wayne]

News to Some wrote:

<quoted text>
....I do not have a need to boast about volunteer work I have done. I am sure you actually did what you mentioned, but really, there is no way to prove it. I think volunteer work should be done to help others and benefit one's soul, not used as a bargaining chip in an on-line discussion. I am sorry if that is a frustrating answer, but I have no intention of cheapening the work I have done by bragging about it.....

You sir are either very funny in a drab and mornic way or you are simply a moron.

So its off limits for you to brag about all of the volunteer work you do yet in the first few posts you made in this thread you openly claimed to make much more money then someone else? Lemme find that quote... There it is;

"contribute to the local economy because I make lots more money than you do"

Its good to know that you are "ok" with cheapening the work you do for a living yet are morally above doing so with what I am sure is simply unquantifiable amounts of volunteer work.

And you mentioned for someone else to get over themselves? Really?

You would be amusing if I thought you were not serious.

[Red Ryder]

GBS-StPaul wrote:

<quoted text>
Mary - You seem to hate America and our Freedoms. I do not think “we” owe you anything. This is not a socialist nation but a democratic republic. I personally think that all forms of welfare (business subsidies, farm subsidies, personal welfare, socialized health care, and legislator pork barrel projects) should be eliminated. Everyone would probably pay 50% less in taxes by just getting rid of all the garbage. We do not need more tax money; we need legislators that believe in the constitution and the declaration of independence. We need leaders who will stop wasteful spending and give back the freedoms they have stole from us along the way. IMO – Bush 2 Patriot Act and other laws need to repeal. We should be allowed to drink at 18, buy alcohol on Sundays, buy vehicles’ on Sunday, etc. etc. The Government has no business telling us how to live and when we can purchase legal products. We need to get back to America’s roots!

Mary sounds like she hates anyone not working for the gubermint or getting a gubermint check.

You sound like a possible libertarian.

[News to Some]

Super Wayne wrote:

<quoted text>
You sir are either very funny in a drab and mornic way or you are simply a moron.
So its off limits for you to brag about all of the volunteer work you do yet in the first few posts you made in this thread you openly claimed to make much more money then someone else? Lemme find that quote... There it is;
"contribute to the local economy because I make lots more money than you do"
Its good to know that you are "ok" with cheapening the work you do for a living yet are morally above doing so with what I am sure is simply unquantifiable amounts of volunteer work.
And you mentioned for someone else to get over themselves? Really?
You would be amusing if I thought you were not serious.

Pal:
I make no claims at being a good person. I can be crass and boastful, just not about everything. I treat different topics differently. It is my personal choice to keep some topics off limits. In addtion, usually I have a reason for what I write - the income comment was to counter all of the knuckleheaded comments about "welfare" people using public transit.
I really don't care if my choice of what I will reveal about myself gets your dress in a knot. Get over it. Try responding to the many questions I have posed in my posts today.

[Kevin MN]

Libertarian wrote:

<quoted text>
Not really. I don't recall any case where highway workers that went on strike that shut down the entire highway system. On the train, the train system cannot run without someone running the train.
One is not congruent with the other.

And highways can't operate without constant maintenance and a lot of those jobs are union. Highways are completely subsidized by the government, so light rail should be even better because it is partially paid by users through fares.

[News to Some]

Franklin Adams wrote:

<quoted text>
You have done nothing. A typical big talker and no action.

I really don't care what you think about this topic. This is the internet - I could say I single handedly saved the entire popluation of Embarass MN from certain destruction if I wanted to. Just saying something on the Internet means nothing.
And again - the POINT of my responses on this thread with you were that your volunteer work is admirable on a personal level but insufficient on a systemic level because there is more need that there are volunteers.
That lasat sentence is directed more at others reading this post than you - since you apparently don't want to deal with that uncomfortable fact.
Duh.

[Kevin MN]

Franklin Adams wrote:

<quoted text>
BS. Slavery ended long ago. There was not rampant poverty and things overall may well have been better in the 19th century.

You're so incredibly wrong I'm not sure where to start. Living standard for people living in the cities used to be terrible unless you were rich.

http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/projects/bluetele...

Have you ever read a book in your life?

[News to Some]

Red Ryder wrote:

<quoted text>
Mary sounds like she hates anyone not working for the gubermint or getting a gubermint check.
You sound like a possible libertarian.

Still waiting for an answer Red Menace - you are typing away - can you defend your actions in addition to flirting with the purdy photo?

[News to Some]

Tonys Bozo wrote:

parody. when we used to gamble, we used a parody and hoped to roll snake eyes.
not that there's anything wrong with that...

OK fine, you're comic releif. Take this post - please.

[News to Some]

Franklin Adams wrote:

<quoted text>
BS. Slavery ended long ago. There was not rampant poverty and things overall may well have been better in the 19th century.

Welcome to Planet Franklin

[Super Wayne]

News to Some wrote:

<quoted text>Try responding to the many questions I have posed in my posts today.

1) I am surely not nor ever will be your pal. Sorry, not my type.

2) Respond to the questions you have posted? What, just as you yourself have done in maybe what? three of the bazillion posts you've made in this thread? I see you are a "do as I say, not as I do" type.

Maybe read back through your own posts and you will see the absolute idiocy and flat out crap you have posted today in this thread alone. You sir truely need to heed your own advice and get over yourself.

[Big Laker]

Dan wrote:

Every time I play SimCity, I overbuild the public transit, none of the Sims ride it, and my city goes bankrupt.

Funny how that happens. Just like real life, eh?

[Chubba Wubba]

people who volunteer are chumps. I volunteer for gubermint till around May 1st just by working a full time job.

that's enough.

[tired of hearing it]

Drip Drip wrote:

<quoted text>
I have a job and I work for significantly less money in order to provide a public service because I believe in the public good. And guess what? You benefit from what I do.
I know it's unbelievable in this country, but some people actually care more about society as a whole and the people around them than they do about their own personal gain.
...and I think that's more American than trying to make a million dollars and keeping it all for yourself.

Pay attention here. Since I make about that amount, I am taxed at 35% by the feds, and 13% by the state. So far, 48%. I have to pay unemployment insurance, workers comp insurance, health care costs( with minimal coverage for my employees but still cost a fortune) In the end i am lucky to have over 30 % of my money. But that's right, making a million dollars is un American and because I am a conservative I am not paying my fair share. If I were a liberal I would be paying too much. Guess its time to change political affiliations.

[G Orwell]

Drip Drip wrote:

<quoted text>
I have a job and I work for significantly less money in order to provide a public service because I believe in the public good. And guess what? You benefit from what I do.
I know it's unbelievable in this country, but some people actually care more about society as a whole and the people around them than they do about their own personal gain.
...and I think that's more American than trying to make a million dollars and keeping it all for yourself.

I dissent, Readers. It isn't American. It's socialist-European. Europeans are facing extinction and aren't a good model for anybody. They are suffocating in their own Nanny-State bureaucracy, and the Welfare State has convinced them they don't need to get married and have children. As a result, their birthrates have shrunk to the point that they are importing Muslims to work the low-paying jobs and pay taxes to support the ravenous Welfare State.

Before too long, native-born Europeans will become museum pieces. Until that time, they will have to contend with the tender embrace of home-grown terrorism and creeping Sharia Law.

Welfare-state bureaucracy is an insidious disease and a sugar-coated form of totalitarian control. Beware of government "help."

[Disgruntled Outstater]

Kevin MN wrote:

<quoted text>
And highways can't operate without constant maintenance and a lot of those jobs are union. Highways are completely subsidized by the government, so light rail should be even better because it is partially paid by users through fares.

I thought that new gas tax was a user fee for the roads.
The difference between roads and the Choo-Choo is who pays the "fee". With roads, the users pay, with the LRT boondoggle non-users pay to subsidize a system they will never use because they don't commute.

[Red Ryder]

If pursuing profit is greed, then greed is good, because it drives us to do many good things. Those areas where people are motivated the most by greed are the areas that we're the most satisfied with: supermarkets, computers, FedEx. By contrast, areas where people say we're motivated by 'caring'" -- public education, public housing etc.-- are the areas of disaster in our country.... How much would get done, if it all depended on human love and kindness?

Greed gets people to cooperate. If you want to benefit from other greedy people, you have to make sure they benefit from you. Consider one of the wonders of our age, the supermarket. There are thousands of products on the shelves. How'd they get there?

[Hawkeye]

Drip Drip wrote:

<quoted text>
The train isn't meant to serve downtown to downtown trips explicitly. It's meant to add capacity to a near capacity bus transit corridor that serves the entire stretch of people between Minneapolis and St. Paul. The model predicts that the route will take approximately 36 minutes to go from downtown to downtown, which is faster than the current limited stop route the 50. But again, it's about capacity and reliability.
And seriously people, can we get over this "transit fares don't even cover the operating costs" argument? It's a government service. Roads are subsidized by property taxes and general revenues, too. Home mortgages are subsidized by the government to the tune of nearly $700 billion a year. Investing in transit is part of creating a sustainable transportation system where everyone has a reasonable amount of accessibility. If you've ever rode the 16 or the 50, you know they're packed and sometime slow. The train will help. I know that most conservatives that live in suburban communities appreciate the investments we've made in new sewer lines, roads, parks, etc. that allow them to escape the "scary inner city" with all its people of different color and economic status.
And Libertarian, you're making an awfully poor case about the sales tax. It's dedicated to transit infrastructure. Transit has strong advocates that won't allow it to be used on other projects. It would have to be reauthorized by government after it sunsets. This is becoming common practice across the country and the Twin Cities needs to compete or fall behind.
I can go on and on about the urban American dynamic and why transit is a neccesary evil. The fact is, gas prices are surging, congestion is getting worse, and transit ridership is growing.
And related to the LRT subsidy. The regional fare is set to maximize ridership and we actually have a relatively high fare recovery compared to other cities in the nation. Places like Seattle and Portland are more like 20% while we're at 30%.

If the bus routes 16 and 50 are too "packed," save the $900 million and add a few more buses during peak hours. Problem solved, money saved.

I have heard contradictory reports about the relative speed of the Route 50 and Route 94 buses, versus the proposed Light Rail. So, I encourage readers to double-check the claimed travel time of 36 minutes. It would be much cheaper to synchronize University Avenue's traffic lights for the buses or to give buses the semaphore-preemption equipment that has been proposed for the train. Forget the $900 million train and let the buses sail down University Avenue. Problem solved.

After attending about a dozen meetings during the Central Corridor Planning process, driving down University Avenue at rush hour, doing some selective reading of the massive Draft Environmental Impact Statement, and talking with long-term resident critics of the Central Corridor, I seriously question the claim that the University Avenue / Central Corridor is "near capacity." Traffic-control and bus-scheduling options as I dicussed above were not seriously examined in the planning process. Instead, the process and the personnel were transparently INTENT on recommending light rail and PUSHING IT THROUGH, no matter what. This became obvious from close reading of documents and careful observations of public meetings.

When all is said and done, the prime motivation is gentrification and redevelopment of University Avenue, using the train as a taxpayer-subsidized amenity for a new crop of residents served by well-connected developers and scheming politicians. All the rhetoric about transit improvement is hollow nonsense spread by salaried propagandists.

[Taxpayer 007]

Kevin MN wrote:

Stupid Dummycrats want to spend all of my tax money on public transportation! WHAT IDIOTS! Everyone knows that all the most successful cities in the world don't have stupid things like trains and buses. New York City, Tokyo, London, Paris - Look at how well public transportation has worked out for them. It just lets the poor, black people without cars mix with us upstanding white people who actually pay taxes.

These "successful" cities and their regimented transit systems are propped up by heavy taxation feeding a ravenous bureaucracy. Let's get real.

[Red Ryder]

Taxpayer 007 wrote:

<quoted text>
These "successful" cities and their regimented transit systems are propped up by heavy taxation feeding a ravenous bureaucracy. Let's get real.

it helps to have a war that leveled most of your city so you can rebuild it around rail,too.

let's go! bomb the metro!