The problem for liberals is that they feel duty bound to be for anything some part of labor is for, and against anything that could be an alternative.
"(Some part of) labor wants it, therefore we're for it!" is the liberal mantra. In this case the part of labor we're concerned with is the building trades. Building trades is for any project that brings them money, and the bigger and more expensive (the more for them) the better. So, they LOVE stadiums, the more the better; the quicker junked and built again, the better. No matter that the taxpayer gets shafted; they calculate that the extra tax they personally pay is much less than the cash they get for the job. So they could care less if all the rest of us lose. Building trades LOVE freeways - endless reconstruction every 20 years, widening old freeways every now and then, ramming a new freeway thru an old neighborhood - and then the big boxes that spawn at freeway exits are another bonanza (unless the corporation brings in cheaper labor from some other city - then they are livid). And building trades LOVE LRT. LRT costs a huge bundle of cash per mile, MUCH more than PRT, so guess which mode they will favor? Guess which mode will make them go ballistic? And LRT, since it makes relatively few stops, favors gentrification around each stop, clearing out the ugly poor folks and their ratty little businesses, BUILDING new condos and upscale stores - more job cash! What's not to love? Now, what's the MUCH cheaper transportation alternative, so cheap it could have many stations (stops)? The one that favors people walking and biking, not driving, not using the freeways, not chained to big boxes, that uses much less energy (eg oil), that favors the philosophy Small is Beautiful? You got it, PRT. So which transportation choice will the building trades (and their attached liberals) love, and which will they with an all-consuming passion hate? --David Shove Roseville On Wed, 5 Jan 2005, Sheldon Mains wrote: > Barbara--this site is about the Seattle Greenline Monorail. It is not about > PRT. There is a sigificant difference in scale. A 3 to 4 passenger PRT > vehicle requires a much smaller support structure than a light rail sized > monorail train. There is much more difference here than apples to oranges. > (I also thought it was funny that the "loss of trees" section showed before > pictures in the summer--with leaves-- and the after pictures in the fall or > winter--without leaves). > > I find it interesting how PRT has generated a love-hate culture. Either you > love it and can not see any of the flaws or you hate it and can not see any > of the benefits. I am not necessarily a supporter of PRT--it is one of many > options that should be considered. > > Lets try to stick with honest comparisons. > > sheldon > ................................. > Sheldon Mains > Seward Neighborhood, Minneapolis, Minnesota > > > Barbara shared: > > The problem of visual pollution of monorail structures > > is explored on this website: > > http://www.WhatDoesItLookLike.com/ > > > > > > > REMINDERS: > 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL > PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. > 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. > > For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html > For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract > ________________________________ > > Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy > Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] > Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls > REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
