January 7, 2015

(Transit) Openings and Construction Starts Planned for 2015

from the Transport Politic blog:


Openings and Construction Starts Planned for 2015




The failure of the U.S. federal government to increase the gas tax since 1993 — in spite of inflation, an increasing population, and degraded infrastructure — has dominated the discussion on transportation policy since the late 2000s.* All that discussion, though, has failed to result in the development of long-term national revenue sources that accommodate the needs of municipalities interested in expanding their local transportation systems, and funding has stagnated. As a reaction to that state of relative austerity, policymakers from Arizona to Maine have argued for “fix-it-first” policies that emphasize enhancements of the existing system over any new construction.

The lack of expansion in federal revenues, however, has not produced a cut in spending on construction of new transit lines operating in fixed guideways — far from it, as localities and states have become adept at cobbling together varying sources of funding for their projects. As this summary of major transit investments shows, in 2015 there are expansion projects underway on about 100 projects in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, in addition to dozens of additional projects in various stages of planning. There should be no doubt about the interest of American metropolitan regions in investing in the future of their public transportation networks.

.....(snip).....


[font size="1"]7 train line extension work in New York[/font]

The following regions are expected to have new or expanded lines open to the public this year:

* Bus Rapid Transit: Chicago, Hartford, Salt Lake City, San Jose, Toronto, and Waterloo.
* Streetcar: Charlotte and Washington.
* Light Rail: Edmonton, Houston (2 lines), Phoenix, Portland, and Sacramento.
* Heavy Rail: New York and San Francisco.
* Commuter Rail: Boston, Los Angeles, and Toronto.
* Stations: Chicago, Miami, and New York.

.....(snip).....


[font size="1"]M1 Rail construction in Detroit[/font]

There are dozens of additional transit projects in cities throughout the continent that commenced construction prior to 2015 and which will be completed next year or later. What is unquestionably true is that the overall investment in transit is enormous: There is more than $90 billion being spent on new projects under construction and more than $7 billion being spent on major renovations underway in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico (these are costs across the board, covering the entire construction process, which in almost every case is a multi-year affair), accounting for a total of 667 new miles of fixed-route transit services.

That’s down from 737 miles of projects under construction last year — though in 2014, bus rapid transit projects made up a larger share of overall investments compared to 2015. .......................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2015/01/05/openings-and-construction-starts-planned-for-2015/

January 7, 2015

Amtrak San Joaquin Corridor At Near-Record Ridership And Revenue Levels

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — One Bay Area Amtrak rail corridor nearly set a record for ridership and revenue in November, despite lower gas prices, Amtrak officials have announced.

November data for the San Joaquin line to Bakersfield from both Sacramento and San Francisco show that November ridership and revenue was at its second highest level in more than a decade.

The San Joaquin is the fifth busiest corridor in the Amtrak nationwide system, according to the company.

“Intercity passenger rail is an important component of a sustainable, multimodal transportation system for today and the future,” said Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/12/28/amtrak-san-joaquin-corridor-nears-ridership-revenue-record/

January 7, 2015

Deep Questions Arise Over Portland's Corporate Water Takeover

Deep Questions Arise Over Portland's Corporate Water Takeover

Wednesday, 07 January 2015 09:22
By Victoria Collier, Truthout | News Analysis


A simmering water war is about to come to a boil over the fate of historic, well-loved public reservoirs in Portland, Oregon. At the heart of the controversy is a breakdown in public trust that reflects the dangers of corporate-led water privatization schemes in the United States and around the world.

In an emotionally charged public meeting on November 18, 2014, Portland residents bombarded two of their city commissioners with questions about what they believe is a cronyism-driven plan to kill the elegant, gravity-fed, open water reservoir system that has reliably served their city safe, clean drinking water for more than 100 years.

The plan to disconnect the five Mt. Tabor and Mt. Washington reservoirs and replace them with costly covered reservoirs was triggered by a 2006 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ruling - called LT2 - mandating the protection of public water against a lethal parasite, Cryptosporidium.

.....(snip).....

Meanwhile, the City of Portland is racing to move forward with its development project, even while under fire of increasingly uncomfortable allegations.

Most troubling are charges of decades of revolving-door cronyism surrounding Joe Glicker, a vice president of CH2M Hill, the company awarded the contracts to build the new covered reservoirs for Portland. Not only was Glicker a former chief engineer of the Portland Water Bureau (PWB), he also worked as a core consultant with the EPA to write the very LT2 rules that now require these massive "emergency" water infrastructure projects. It's a conflict of interest that has local water rights advocates' heads spinning and steaming all at once. ........................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/28390-deep-questions-arise-over-portland-s-corporate-water-takeover

January 7, 2015

Detroit: Abandoned Wurlitzer Building likely to become a boutique hotel

The 14-story Wurlitzer Building in downtown Detroit is within days of salvation, if all goes as planned.

Brooklyn-based developer and interior design firm, ASH NYC, is expected to close on a deal to purchase the long-abandoned, graffiti-strewn building as early as Thursday, the deadline imposed by the notoriously neglectful owners, Wayne County Circuit Judge Daphne Means Curtis and her husband Paul Curtis, according to people close to the deal.

ASH NYC wants to convert the Renaissance Revival building at 1509 Broadway into a boutique hotel with retail and restaurant space on the lower floors. The company specializes in converting distressed, historic buildings into stylish hotels, apartments and condos, often in urban areas experiencing a real estate resurgence.

Ari Heckman, one of the founding partners of ASH NYC, expressed enthusiasm but said he couldn’t discuss details yet because the deal wasn’t final. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://motorcitymuckraker.com/2015/01/07/abandoned-wurlitzer-close-to-being-sold-to-trendy-brooklyn-developers/

January 7, 2015

Professor Richard Wolff's Economic Update: Economics of Denial (audio link)

Listen at: http://rdwolff.com/content/economic-update-economics-denial

January 7, 2015

"The democratic process in Greece is a threat for Germany and its allies, the political elites"

via Naked Capitalism:



By Mathew D. Rose, a freelance journalist in Berlin


The austerity policy dictated to the Eurozone by Germany has failed to generate a recovery. The news goes from bad to worse – and even worse. Nowhere is that more tangible than in Greece. Just to repeat the otherwise well known facts for the German readers of Naked Capitalism, who are withheld such facts in their own media: 1 million people have lost their jobs (approximately 25 percent of the working population); youth unemployment is well over 50 percent despite massive immigration; a third of business have closed, salaries have sunk almost 40 percent; pensions have been reduced almost by half; the economy has contracted by a quarter; there has been a 43 percent increase in child mortality and the health system has broken down; the Greek economy is in deflation; and, since the imposition of the austerity programme in 2010 the public debt has increased from 130 percent of GDP to 175 percent.

All these figures hide the most important fact: What is occurring in Greece is not so much an economic crisis as a humanitarian disaster. That the Greeks have raised the question of the appropriateness of austerity by precipitating elections is proof that democracy has survived these pernicious times and deserves our greatest respect. I sincerely do not believe that German democracy would have survived under similar conditions.

The democratic process in Greece is a threat for Germany and its allies, the political elites in Europe. They have a serious problem with democracy. When in 2011 the then prime minister of Greece, George Papandreou, announced a referendum to determine if the Greek people wished to adopt the imposed austerity programme, he was forced from office by the Germans and EU and replaced by a hand selected EU bureaucrat, a former vice-president of the European Central Bank. With the balance sheets of German and French banks in danger due to their extensive exposure to Greek bonds, that was no time to be consulting the Greek people.

Helping the Greek people in their time of need has never been an issue for the Germans and the EU. We know from Timothy Geitner’s book “Stress Test” that at the inception of the Greek crisis “EU leaders were obsessed with crushing terrible Greeks” and Germany’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble was just as obsessed with throwing Greece out of the Eurozone (which he still is). ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/01/mathew-d-rose-not-eurozone-crisis-european-union-crisis.html

January 7, 2015

US Transportation Sec. Foxx announces $996 million to extend Green Line (Boston)

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx on Jan. 5 announced a $996 million federal grant agreement to extend Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line light rail service from East Cambridge to Somerville and Medford.

The extension will provide faster and more efficient travel to jobs in downtown Boston and will serve some of the region’s most densely populated communities. Secretary Foxx and Acting Federal Transit Administrator Therese McMillan participated in a ceremony to commit the funds with Gov. Deval Patrick, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Congressman Michael Capuano, representatives from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) and MBTA, and other officials.

“This project will put time back in the lives of commuters along this corridor, but the real story is about the potential for change this smart investment will bring for residents,” said Foxx. “We are proud to support projects like this one because when you connect people to more jobs, education, and medical care, you create the ladders to opportunity that strengthen families and the communities in which they live.”

The 4.7-mile light rail extension will extend existing MBTA Green Line service from a relocated Lechmere Station in East Cambridge to Union Square in Somerville and College Avenue in Medford. The project will serve some of the Boston region’s most heavily populated areas not currently served by rail transit – where 26 percent of residents do not own or have access to cars. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.masstransitmag.com/press_release/12031684/us-transportation-secretary-foxx-announces-996-million-grant-agreement-to-expand-green-line-light-rail-service-in-boston-area

January 6, 2015

California: State's drought having pronounced effect on wildlife

(Los Angeles Times) Starving baby squirrels in parts of Northern California are so hungry that they are jumping out of their nests to search for food and getting lost on the way home.

The increase in suddenly motherless squirrels is just one example of how the state's prolonged drought has affected wildlife, experts say.

"If the drought continues, we expect next year to be much worse," she said. "Fewer babies will make it through to adulthood as sources of food become scarce."

Baby squirrels are just one of many animals fleeing their homes and risking their lives to search for food sources that have been diminished by drought.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials said drought has forced more bears and deer to venture onto mountain highways, where many are struck and killed by vehicles. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-drought-animals-20141228-story.html

January 6, 2015

Troubled New York reactor's costs test the future of nuclear power

NEW YORK — Exelon Corp., the biggest U.S. owner of nuclear reactors, needs to almost double power prices to keep a New York plant running in a move that promises to show just how far regulators will go to keep uneconomic plants operating.

After recording losses that exceeded $100 million from 2011 to 2013, Exelon will need to charge about 83 percent more than wholesale prices to earn a profit at its Ginna plant, based on company cost estimates. State regulators have set a Jan. 15 deadline for a new power contract that’s rich enough to keep the Rochester-area plant running.

Last month, Entergy Corp. shut Vermont’s only operating reactor citing low power prices. Ginna is one of 10 other nuclear plants that can’t compete in current markets, Moody’s Investors Service said in November. Retiring the reactors, which account for 10 percent of the nation’s nuclear output, would undercut a push to produce power without greenhouse gases as renewables such as wind and solar are just emerging.

“Ginna nuclear power plant is an important asset in the state’s generation fleet,” Patricia Acampora, a commissioner for New York’s Public Service Commission, said at a Nov. 23 meeting. “It’s important, reliable, carbon-free energy.” ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.tulsaworld.com/washingtonpost/business/troubled-new-york-reactor-s-costs-test-the-future-of/article_dc3a470f-42d8-5bfb-9a27-14706b30cadb.html

January 6, 2015

Wind turbines generated enough power to cover 98% of Scotland's household needs in 2014

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) —

Some 41% of the electricity consumed in Scotland annually is for households, while industrial and other facilities use the other 59%.

With regard to the households, i.e. domestic energy consumption, Scotland’s wind turbines generated enough to cover 98% of it in 2014. In addition, in some months of the spring and summer, those homes that have solar panels generated all the electricity the household used. Scotland tripled its solar installations in 2014.

Scotland is well on its way to getting 100% of its energy from renewable sources by 2022.

In Germany, renewables (wind, solar, hydro and biomass but mainly wind and solar) for the first time topped 25.8%of the total energy generated in that country and became the single largest source of electricity, outstripping lignite coal. Critics of Germany’s Energy Switch in recent years have snidely pointed out that as it closed nuclear plants, its use of coal was increasing. But Germany is rapidly replacing nuclear and coal with wind and solar, so much so that coal use was down 11% last year. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.juancole.com/2015/01/supplied-scotlands-household.html