Representatives of the Association of American Planners applauded the Supreme Court’s health-care decision that a Congressional requirement to buy health insurance was a tax, not a mandate. “This provides us the tools we need to fix everything that’s wrong with America,” said association CEO Paul “Precious” Farmlands. The association’s government affairs staff immediately began crafting […]
READ MOREThis week’s Rolling Stone has an article on the “sharp, sudden decline of America’s middle class.” The only problem is that few if any of the people discussed in the article are in the middle class; instead, they are working class. As the Antiplanner has noted elsewhere, Americans often pretend to ignore the line between […]
READ MORETriMet, Portland’s transit agency, has made the largest cuts in its history, including reductions in bus service, fare increases, and elimination of free rail rides in downtown Portland (the free bus rides were eliminated last year). Meanwhile, it is using nearly $10 million of money supposedly dedicated to the Milwaukie light-rail line to remodel its […]
READ MORECalifornia’s high-speed rail project seems to be dead. At least, that’s the conclusion of a Washington DC writer commenting on a report that Governor Brown has given up on the idea of exempting high-speed rail from environmental reviews. Without that exemption, the writer thinks, the state will never be able to build the line. However, […]
READ MORETonight, the Antiplanner will speak in Camarillo, California (some 40 miles west of Burbank) about smart growth and high-speed rail. If you are in Ventura County, I hope to see you there. This short trip will be a relief after a rather grueling schedule last week (which included a trip to New York City on […]
READ MOREWhen Congress created the New Starts fund for new rail transit projects in 1991, it required that the grants be awarded to projects that were “cost effective.” This same requirement was applied to the small starts fund, for transit projects costing less than $250 million, which Congress created in 2003. The Obama administration, however, is […]
READ MOREWalking through Portland airport recently, the Antiplanner noticed a sign from the Oregon Lottery claiming that 97 cents of every dollar paid for lottery tickets was “returned to Oregon.” As the Lottery’s web site says, “97 cents of every dollar played comes back to Oregon . . . money that goes to jobs, schools, parks […]
READ MORESomeone made a little poster designed to convey the value of high-speed rail. I made a couple of modifications that I think improve it quite a bit.
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