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marmar
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marmar's Journal
August 7, 2014
from the Detroit Free Press:
LANSING — The head of the state housing authority has rung up tens of thousands of dollars in expenses since taking office in 2012, dining on filet mignon, escargot and foie gras, staying in hotels that cost $400 to $500 a night, and traveling in a stretch limousine, records show.
Most — but not all — of the expenses have been paid by the state agency. Officials who vet expense vouchers have rejected hundreds of dollars in reimbursements Scott Woosley has sought, such as a $47.60 “dinner” receipt from a Washington, D.C., bar for which the only items consumed were three glasses of 15-year-old El Dorado rum.
In June 2013, the state agency paid $1,253 for Woosley and other Michigan State Housing Development Authority officials to drive across Nebraska in a stretch limousine after a mix-up sent the state-owned plane they flew in to Omaha instead of Lincoln, where their meeting was to take place, according to the records obtained by the Michigan Democratic Party under the Freedom of Information Act.
Woosley, who is paid $135,000 a year, made no apologies for his expense vouchers in a telephone interview Wednesday, though he said any reimbursement requests he made for alcohol charges were unintentional. He said he generally submits the expenses he incurs believing the state will reimburse him for only those charges they deem appropriate. ...............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.freep.com/article/20140807/NEWS06/308070035/Michigan-housing-chief-runs-up-thousands-in-bills-expense-records-show
Looting and plundering the public trough, Republican-style: Michigan edition
from the Detroit Free Press:
LANSING — The head of the state housing authority has rung up tens of thousands of dollars in expenses since taking office in 2012, dining on filet mignon, escargot and foie gras, staying in hotels that cost $400 to $500 a night, and traveling in a stretch limousine, records show.
Most — but not all — of the expenses have been paid by the state agency. Officials who vet expense vouchers have rejected hundreds of dollars in reimbursements Scott Woosley has sought, such as a $47.60 “dinner” receipt from a Washington, D.C., bar for which the only items consumed were three glasses of 15-year-old El Dorado rum.
In June 2013, the state agency paid $1,253 for Woosley and other Michigan State Housing Development Authority officials to drive across Nebraska in a stretch limousine after a mix-up sent the state-owned plane they flew in to Omaha instead of Lincoln, where their meeting was to take place, according to the records obtained by the Michigan Democratic Party under the Freedom of Information Act.
Woosley, who is paid $135,000 a year, made no apologies for his expense vouchers in a telephone interview Wednesday, though he said any reimbursement requests he made for alcohol charges were unintentional. He said he generally submits the expenses he incurs believing the state will reimburse him for only those charges they deem appropriate. ...............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.freep.com/article/20140807/NEWS06/308070035/Michigan-housing-chief-runs-up-thousands-in-bills-expense-records-show
August 7, 2014
from the Progressive:
By Ruth Conniff
If you are not in the Chicago media market, you might not know much about Bruce Rauner, the Mitt Romney-like candidate for governor in Illinois, who is running ahead in the polls against Democratic Governor Pat Quinn.
If Rauner wins, Illinois will have a lot more in common with its neighbor, Wisconsin. Politically, Rauner resembles union-basher and school privatizer Scott Walker. Only Rauner is much, much richer.
In an interview with the Chicago Sun Times, Rauner talked about his career at GTCR, the Chicago-based private equity firm he founded.
“I made a ton of money, made a lot of money,” he told Sun Times reporter Natasha Korecki. .............(more)
- See more at: http://www.progressive.org/news/2014/08/187805/tax-dodger-running-governor-illinois#sthash.lpVu6Eif.dpuf
Tax dodger running for governor in Illinois
from the Progressive:
By Ruth Conniff
If you are not in the Chicago media market, you might not know much about Bruce Rauner, the Mitt Romney-like candidate for governor in Illinois, who is running ahead in the polls against Democratic Governor Pat Quinn.
If Rauner wins, Illinois will have a lot more in common with its neighbor, Wisconsin. Politically, Rauner resembles union-basher and school privatizer Scott Walker. Only Rauner is much, much richer.
In an interview with the Chicago Sun Times, Rauner talked about his career at GTCR, the Chicago-based private equity firm he founded.
“I made a ton of money, made a lot of money,” he told Sun Times reporter Natasha Korecki. .............(more)
- See more at: http://www.progressive.org/news/2014/08/187805/tax-dodger-running-governor-illinois#sthash.lpVu6Eif.dpuf
August 7, 2014
(In These Times) During Andrew Cuomo’s tenure as attorney general of New York, he noted, “In New York, the biggest pool of money is the state pension fund.” This is true with public pension funds across the nation—and Wall Street firms have leaped to take advantage of the bounty, often in unsavory ways. Over the last five years, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has routinely unearthed “pay-to-play” scandals, in which overseers of pension funds make investment choices based on personal gain.
In most cases, politicians control the investment-making decisions at pension funds. A select few, however, are controlled by their members—meaning they could invest in projects for the public good on Main Street rather than private investment funds on Wall Street. One such fund is the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund (CTPF), a nearly $10 billion pool charged with assuring the retirement security of tens of thousands of education professionals. Despite a Board composed of 12 member-elected trustees, however, Wall Street still has its hands in the kitty. Here are six ways America’s biggest investment firms have the potential to sink Chicago teachers—and just how the CTPF board can stop that from happening.
1. Underperformance
Historically, pension funds have been extremely conservative investors out of caution for their members’ finances. Only in the past 20 years have they amped up their allocations to higher-risk endeavors. And as Wall Street has quaked, so too have member livelihoods.
Over the past five years, the CTPF’s assets in traditional investments—domestic equities (stock in large, financially sound companies) and fixed income (stable bonds)—have been far more profitable than the portfolio as a whole. In that time period, the former returned 7 percent annually; in other words, if the fund had invested $100 in 2008, it would have made roughly $140 by 2014. Fixed income bonds, meanwhile, returned 6 percent. A traditional 60 percent stock, 40 percent bond portfolio, then, would have returned 6.6 percent. In order to be considered fully funded, the CTPF’s investments must return 8 percent; though neither stocks nor bonds fulfilled this completely, they were still far closer than the CTPF’s total investment return, which was a paltry 4.6 percent—a loss of around $200 million per year. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/17020/six_ways_wall_street_is_hosing_chicago_teachers
6 Ways Wall Street Is Hosing Chicago Teachers
(In These Times) During Andrew Cuomo’s tenure as attorney general of New York, he noted, “In New York, the biggest pool of money is the state pension fund.” This is true with public pension funds across the nation—and Wall Street firms have leaped to take advantage of the bounty, often in unsavory ways. Over the last five years, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has routinely unearthed “pay-to-play” scandals, in which overseers of pension funds make investment choices based on personal gain.
In most cases, politicians control the investment-making decisions at pension funds. A select few, however, are controlled by their members—meaning they could invest in projects for the public good on Main Street rather than private investment funds on Wall Street. One such fund is the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund (CTPF), a nearly $10 billion pool charged with assuring the retirement security of tens of thousands of education professionals. Despite a Board composed of 12 member-elected trustees, however, Wall Street still has its hands in the kitty. Here are six ways America’s biggest investment firms have the potential to sink Chicago teachers—and just how the CTPF board can stop that from happening.
1. Underperformance
Historically, pension funds have been extremely conservative investors out of caution for their members’ finances. Only in the past 20 years have they amped up their allocations to higher-risk endeavors. And as Wall Street has quaked, so too have member livelihoods.
Over the past five years, the CTPF’s assets in traditional investments—domestic equities (stock in large, financially sound companies) and fixed income (stable bonds)—have been far more profitable than the portfolio as a whole. In that time period, the former returned 7 percent annually; in other words, if the fund had invested $100 in 2008, it would have made roughly $140 by 2014. Fixed income bonds, meanwhile, returned 6 percent. A traditional 60 percent stock, 40 percent bond portfolio, then, would have returned 6.6 percent. In order to be considered fully funded, the CTPF’s investments must return 8 percent; though neither stocks nor bonds fulfilled this completely, they were still far closer than the CTPF’s total investment return, which was a paltry 4.6 percent—a loss of around $200 million per year. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/17020/six_ways_wall_street_is_hosing_chicago_teachers
August 7, 2014
(In These Times) During Andrew Cuomo’s tenure as attorney general of New York, he noted, “In New York, the biggest pool of money is the state pension fund.” This is true with public pension funds across the nation—and Wall Street firms have leaped to take advantage of the bounty, often in unsavory ways. Over the last five years, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has routinely unearthed “pay-to-play” scandals, in which overseers of pension funds make investment choices based on personal gain.
In most cases, politicians control the investment-making decisions at pension funds. A select few, however, are controlled by their members—meaning they could invest in projects for the public good on Main Street rather than private investment funds on Wall Street. One such fund is the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund (CTPF), a nearly $10 billion pool charged with assuring the retirement security of tens of thousands of education professionals. Despite a Board composed of 12 member-elected trustees, however, Wall Street still has its hands in the kitty. Here are six ways America’s biggest investment firms have the potential to sink Chicago teachers—and just how the CTPF board can stop that from happening.
1. Underperformance
Historically, pension funds have been extremely conservative investors out of caution for their members’ finances. Only in the past 20 years have they amped up their allocations to higher-risk endeavors. And as Wall Street has quaked, so too have member livelihoods.
Over the past five years, the CTPF’s assets in traditional investments—domestic equities (stock in large, financially sound companies) and fixed income (stable bonds)—have been far more profitable than the portfolio as a whole. In that time period, the former returned 7 percent annually; in other words, if the fund had invested $100 in 2008, it would have made roughly $140 by 2014. Fixed income bonds, meanwhile, returned 6 percent. A traditional 60 percent stock, 40 percent bond portfolio, then, would have returned 6.6 percent. In order to be considered fully funded, the CTPF’s investments must return 8 percent; though neither stocks nor bonds fulfilled this completely, they were still far closer than the CTPF’s total investment return, which was a paltry 4.6 percent—a loss of around $200 million per year. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/17020/six_ways_wall_street_is_hosing_chicago_teachers
6 Ways Wall Street Is Hosing Chicago Teachers
(In These Times) During Andrew Cuomo’s tenure as attorney general of New York, he noted, “In New York, the biggest pool of money is the state pension fund.” This is true with public pension funds across the nation—and Wall Street firms have leaped to take advantage of the bounty, often in unsavory ways. Over the last five years, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has routinely unearthed “pay-to-play” scandals, in which overseers of pension funds make investment choices based on personal gain.
In most cases, politicians control the investment-making decisions at pension funds. A select few, however, are controlled by their members—meaning they could invest in projects for the public good on Main Street rather than private investment funds on Wall Street. One such fund is the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund (CTPF), a nearly $10 billion pool charged with assuring the retirement security of tens of thousands of education professionals. Despite a Board composed of 12 member-elected trustees, however, Wall Street still has its hands in the kitty. Here are six ways America’s biggest investment firms have the potential to sink Chicago teachers—and just how the CTPF board can stop that from happening.
1. Underperformance
Historically, pension funds have been extremely conservative investors out of caution for their members’ finances. Only in the past 20 years have they amped up their allocations to higher-risk endeavors. And as Wall Street has quaked, so too have member livelihoods.
Over the past five years, the CTPF’s assets in traditional investments—domestic equities (stock in large, financially sound companies) and fixed income (stable bonds)—have been far more profitable than the portfolio as a whole. In that time period, the former returned 7 percent annually; in other words, if the fund had invested $100 in 2008, it would have made roughly $140 by 2014. Fixed income bonds, meanwhile, returned 6 percent. A traditional 60 percent stock, 40 percent bond portfolio, then, would have returned 6.6 percent. In order to be considered fully funded, the CTPF’s investments must return 8 percent; though neither stocks nor bonds fulfilled this completely, they were still far closer than the CTPF’s total investment return, which was a paltry 4.6 percent—a loss of around $200 million per year. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/17020/six_ways_wall_street_is_hosing_chicago_teachers
August 6, 2014
from truthdig:
Time to Tame the Monster
Posted on Aug 6, 2014
By Eugene Robinson
The CIA now admits that it spied on a Senate investigation into the agency’s shameful program of secret detention and torture. Do we need any more proof that the spooks are out of control?
An internal “accountability board” will look into the incident, an agency statement said, and might recommend “potential disciplinary measures” or even “steps to address systemic issues.”
Somehow, I don’t feel reassured.
You will recall that when Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., alleged in March that the CIA was rummaging through her panel’s computer files without permission, CIA Director John Brennan scoffed at the complaint with high-handed derision. “I think a lot of people who are claiming that there has been this tremendous sort of spying and monitoring and hacking will be proved wrong,” he said.
Oops. An internal CIA probe discovered that, well, a good deal of spying and monitoring and hacking did take place. Brennan has reportedly apologized to Feinstein and Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., the ranking Republican on the committee—both of whom have been among the CIA’s staunchest supporters on Capitol Hill. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/time_to_tame_the_monster_20140806
Eugene Robinson: Time to Tame the Monster (CIA)
from truthdig:
Time to Tame the Monster
Posted on Aug 6, 2014
By Eugene Robinson
The CIA now admits that it spied on a Senate investigation into the agency’s shameful program of secret detention and torture. Do we need any more proof that the spooks are out of control?
An internal “accountability board” will look into the incident, an agency statement said, and might recommend “potential disciplinary measures” or even “steps to address systemic issues.”
Somehow, I don’t feel reassured.
You will recall that when Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., alleged in March that the CIA was rummaging through her panel’s computer files without permission, CIA Director John Brennan scoffed at the complaint with high-handed derision. “I think a lot of people who are claiming that there has been this tremendous sort of spying and monitoring and hacking will be proved wrong,” he said.
Oops. An internal CIA probe discovered that, well, a good deal of spying and monitoring and hacking did take place. Brennan has reportedly apologized to Feinstein and Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., the ranking Republican on the committee—both of whom have been among the CIA’s staunchest supporters on Capitol Hill. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/time_to_tame_the_monster_20140806
August 5, 2014
from TomDispatch:
How Many Minutes to Midnight?
Hiroshima Day 2014
By Noam Chomsky
If some extraterrestrial species were compiling a history of Homo sapiens, they might well break their calendar into two eras: BNW (before nuclear weapons) and NWE (the nuclear weapons era). The latter era, of course, opened on August 6, 1945, the first day of the countdown to what may be the inglorious end of this strange species, which attained the intelligence to discover the effective means to destroy itself, but -- so the evidence suggests -- not the moral and intellectual capacity to control its worst instincts.
Day one of the NWE was marked by the “success” of Little Boy, a simple atomic bomb. On day four, Nagasaki experienced the technological triumph of Fat Man, a more sophisticated design. Five days later came what the official Air Force history calls the “grand finale,” a 1,000-plane raid -- no mean logistical achievement -- attacking Japan’s cities and killing many thousands of people, with leaflets falling among the bombs reading “Japan has surrendered.” Truman announced that surrender before the last B-29 returned to its base.
Those were the auspicious opening days of the NWE. As we now enter its 70th year, we should be contemplating with wonder that we have survived. We can only guess how many years remain.
Some reflections on these grim prospects were offered by General Lee Butler, former head of the U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM), which controls nuclear weapons and strategy. Twenty years ago, he wrote that we had so far survived the NWE “by some combination of skill, luck, and divine intervention, and I suspect the latter in greatest proportion.” ...............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175877/tomgram%3A_noam_chomsky%2C_why_national_security_has_nothing_to_do_with_security/
Noam Chomsky: Why National Security Has Nothing to Do With Security
from TomDispatch:
How Many Minutes to Midnight?
Hiroshima Day 2014
By Noam Chomsky
If some extraterrestrial species were compiling a history of Homo sapiens, they might well break their calendar into two eras: BNW (before nuclear weapons) and NWE (the nuclear weapons era). The latter era, of course, opened on August 6, 1945, the first day of the countdown to what may be the inglorious end of this strange species, which attained the intelligence to discover the effective means to destroy itself, but -- so the evidence suggests -- not the moral and intellectual capacity to control its worst instincts.
Day one of the NWE was marked by the “success” of Little Boy, a simple atomic bomb. On day four, Nagasaki experienced the technological triumph of Fat Man, a more sophisticated design. Five days later came what the official Air Force history calls the “grand finale,” a 1,000-plane raid -- no mean logistical achievement -- attacking Japan’s cities and killing many thousands of people, with leaflets falling among the bombs reading “Japan has surrendered.” Truman announced that surrender before the last B-29 returned to its base.
Those were the auspicious opening days of the NWE. As we now enter its 70th year, we should be contemplating with wonder that we have survived. We can only guess how many years remain.
Some reflections on these grim prospects were offered by General Lee Butler, former head of the U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM), which controls nuclear weapons and strategy. Twenty years ago, he wrote that we had so far survived the NWE “by some combination of skill, luck, and divine intervention, and I suspect the latter in greatest proportion.” ...............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175877/tomgram%3A_noam_chomsky%2C_why_national_security_has_nothing_to_do_with_security/
August 5, 2014
WASHINGTON –- Oil companies BP and Cobalt International Energy agreed in December 2011 to provide $350 million to construct a research institute in Angola, as a condition of gaining drilling rights for an offshore block of the African country's coast. So far, the companies have paid half that amount -- but there's no evidence the project actually exists.
The United Kingdom-based nonprofit Global Witness flagged the project in a report released Tuesday, as leaders of African nations are in Washington for a summit with U.S. officials. The payments, the group says, show the need for greater transparency in oil and gas industry transactions abroad, particularly in regions with a history of corruption.
Houston-based Cobalt, BP Exploration Angola and state-owned Sonangol announced the contract signing for the offshore area in December 2011, noting that it was "the most sought after block" in the round of bidding for offshore contracts. Cobalt listed the funding for the Sonangol Research and Technology Center, or SRTC, and other "social projects" in a December 2011 production-sharing contract filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. ...............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/05/oil-transparency-africa-bp_n_5649291.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000013
Oil Companies Are Funding Mysterious Angolan Research Center That May Not Exist
WASHINGTON –- Oil companies BP and Cobalt International Energy agreed in December 2011 to provide $350 million to construct a research institute in Angola, as a condition of gaining drilling rights for an offshore block of the African country's coast. So far, the companies have paid half that amount -- but there's no evidence the project actually exists.
The United Kingdom-based nonprofit Global Witness flagged the project in a report released Tuesday, as leaders of African nations are in Washington for a summit with U.S. officials. The payments, the group says, show the need for greater transparency in oil and gas industry transactions abroad, particularly in regions with a history of corruption.
Houston-based Cobalt, BP Exploration Angola and state-owned Sonangol announced the contract signing for the offshore area in December 2011, noting that it was "the most sought after block" in the round of bidding for offshore contracts. Cobalt listed the funding for the Sonangol Research and Technology Center, or SRTC, and other "social projects" in a December 2011 production-sharing contract filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. ...............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/05/oil-transparency-africa-bp_n_5649291.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000013
August 5, 2014
Another Descent Into Hell
Tuesday, 05 August 2014 09:47
By Richard Lichtman, Truthout | Op-Ed
I sometimes think I can remember exactly how I came to my present estimate of Israel, but of course it was prepared very slowly, laboriously and largely unformulated over time. The fact that my current understanding has very deep roots does not mean that its growth was simply an extension of earliest held beliefs, nor rather a reversal, instead. It was neither of these. Not all developments proceed by enlargement of a previous moment, or a strict negation of what has gone before.
My current recollection begins with my sense of my mother, father and the extended family made up of many uncles, aunts and grandparents. I was born in 1931, and so I reached what I can regard as my developing political sensibility at roughly the time Israel created itself as an independent state. But long before that historically articulated event of such enormous importance in my nuclear family, I had the growing sense of what is was to be Jewish, achieved not through intellectual accomplishment, but through the sense of family relations in which the fact of Judaism was of paramount importance.
Of course, being Jewish meant not being gentile, so my identity, as perhaps all identities, was formed by negation, by coming to understand what I was not, and this sense is most acute when one cannot help but realize that one is weaker, subordinate and dependent upon another segment of the population. Those who are dominant in any society rarely reflect on their own identity unless it is challenged by a group that expresses dissatisfaction with their hierarchical arrangement. And this experience was paramount to me as a child and even long into by developing adulthood.
Now, in the midst of the chaos and terror that Israel is unleashing upon Palestine, I tend to think of myself neither as Jewish nor gentile, but as one horrified by what is occurring there as viewed not through the lens of any particular religion, but rather through an identity composed of a commitment to justice and mercy that continues to be eviscerated. This may seem pompous and grandiose, but it is my sense, and I bear it with very great sorrow. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/25313-another-descent-into-hell
Another Descent Into Hell
Another Descent Into Hell
Tuesday, 05 August 2014 09:47
By Richard Lichtman, Truthout | Op-Ed
I sometimes think I can remember exactly how I came to my present estimate of Israel, but of course it was prepared very slowly, laboriously and largely unformulated over time. The fact that my current understanding has very deep roots does not mean that its growth was simply an extension of earliest held beliefs, nor rather a reversal, instead. It was neither of these. Not all developments proceed by enlargement of a previous moment, or a strict negation of what has gone before.
My current recollection begins with my sense of my mother, father and the extended family made up of many uncles, aunts and grandparents. I was born in 1931, and so I reached what I can regard as my developing political sensibility at roughly the time Israel created itself as an independent state. But long before that historically articulated event of such enormous importance in my nuclear family, I had the growing sense of what is was to be Jewish, achieved not through intellectual accomplishment, but through the sense of family relations in which the fact of Judaism was of paramount importance.
Of course, being Jewish meant not being gentile, so my identity, as perhaps all identities, was formed by negation, by coming to understand what I was not, and this sense is most acute when one cannot help but realize that one is weaker, subordinate and dependent upon another segment of the population. Those who are dominant in any society rarely reflect on their own identity unless it is challenged by a group that expresses dissatisfaction with their hierarchical arrangement. And this experience was paramount to me as a child and even long into by developing adulthood.
Now, in the midst of the chaos and terror that Israel is unleashing upon Palestine, I tend to think of myself neither as Jewish nor gentile, but as one horrified by what is occurring there as viewed not through the lens of any particular religion, but rather through an identity composed of a commitment to justice and mercy that continues to be eviscerated. This may seem pompous and grandiose, but it is my sense, and I bear it with very great sorrow. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/25313-another-descent-into-hell
August 5, 2014
DETROIT (CBS Detroit) – The sounds of jack hammers pulverizing concrete replaced the roar of engines Monday on Woodward in downtown Detroit as construction began on the M-1 Rail project.
Crews closed Woodward between Grand Circus Park and Campus Martius to start construction on the 3.3-mile project – which runs from Jefferson to Grand Blvd. – to bring light rail to Detroit.
The start of the project marked the start of an effort to bring a railway system back to Detroit after nearly 50 years.
“This is history,” said Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who sees the project as the start of something larger. “We ultimately need to build this rail not just to Grand Blvd., but out to 8 Mile and out to Pontiac.” ...................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://m-1rail.com/history-made-construction-starts-m-1-rail-project/
Construction underway on Detroit's light rail line
DETROIT (CBS Detroit) – The sounds of jack hammers pulverizing concrete replaced the roar of engines Monday on Woodward in downtown Detroit as construction began on the M-1 Rail project.
Crews closed Woodward between Grand Circus Park and Campus Martius to start construction on the 3.3-mile project – which runs from Jefferson to Grand Blvd. – to bring light rail to Detroit.
The start of the project marked the start of an effort to bring a railway system back to Detroit after nearly 50 years.
“This is history,” said Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who sees the project as the start of something larger. “We ultimately need to build this rail not just to Grand Blvd., but out to 8 Mile and out to Pontiac.” ...................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://m-1rail.com/history-made-construction-starts-m-1-rail-project/
August 5, 2014
WASHINGTON (WJLA/AP) –The D.C. Department of Transportation began training streetcar operators in traffic for the first time Monday, along H Street and Benning Road in Northeast Washington.
Transportation officials say each operator will train with supervisors under various traffic scenarios—part of the process in order to be certified to carry passengers.
“It allows the operators to become very familiar with the alignment, understanding where the stops are, where the calls are,” said DDOT Deputy Associate Director Ralph Burns. “It also gives them a sense of understanding of how to be more safe.”
Passenger service is expected to start later this year, something many locals are looking forward to. The project is already running a year behind schedule. .......................(more)
Read more: http://www.wjla.com/articles/2014/08/d-c-streetcar-operator-training-begins-this-week-105726.html#.U994CNyMOBs.twitter#ixzz39Waz9pIk
D.C. streetcar operator training begins this week
WASHINGTON (WJLA/AP) –The D.C. Department of Transportation began training streetcar operators in traffic for the first time Monday, along H Street and Benning Road in Northeast Washington.
Transportation officials say each operator will train with supervisors under various traffic scenarios—part of the process in order to be certified to carry passengers.
“It allows the operators to become very familiar with the alignment, understanding where the stops are, where the calls are,” said DDOT Deputy Associate Director Ralph Burns. “It also gives them a sense of understanding of how to be more safe.”
Passenger service is expected to start later this year, something many locals are looking forward to. The project is already running a year behind schedule. .......................(more)
Read more: http://www.wjla.com/articles/2014/08/d-c-streetcar-operator-training-begins-this-week-105726.html#.U994CNyMOBs.twitter#ixzz39Waz9pIk
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