Internal emails reveal that Federal Transit Administration officials were skeptical of Honolulu’s plan to spend $5.3 billion on a 20-mile rail transit line. City voters approved this line only after an expensive and hard-fought campaign. One FTA email accused the city of Honolulu of “lousy practices of public manipulation” and argued that the FTA should […]
READ MOREThe Antiplanner came away from a trip to Las Vegas last week with a sense of awe that such a place actually exists and a feeling that Las Vegas is what America will be. At least, the retail portions of America, from WalMart to Krogers to Penneys to Macys, will have to be as exciting […]
READ MOREThree months ago, Washington MetroRail’s Blue and Orange lines shut down when parts fell off the braking gear of one of the railcars, damaging another car. Hundreds of riders had to evacuate and train service was delayed for hours. The disk brake that fell off the Metro railcar in December. Metro initially blamed the malfunction […]
READ MOREA few weeks ago, the Antiplanner questioned a streetcar project in Atlanta. Now comes a response from none other than Portland Mayor Sam Adams, who says Portland’s streetcar once had detractors “were afraid that it would be too expensive and people wouldn’t ride it. We don’t hear that so much these days.” As Bojack says, […]
READ MOREAs if projects such as the Honolulu rail line aren’t a big enough waste of money, Secretary of Immobility Ray LaHood is seeking to change the Federal Transit Administration’s process for evaluating grant proposals for rail projects. As if to illustrate the slow and cumbersome nature of federal programs, LaHood originally proposed to revise these […]
READ MOREAre American cities competing to see which can come up with the most ridiculous transit proposals? If so, Honolulu will probably win, hands down. The nation’s 52nd-largest urban area has only about 950,000 people, yet it is spending $5.3 billion, or more than $5,500 per resident, to build a single 20-mile rail line. That’s probably […]
READ MOREApparently, the Kochs and Cato have been feuding since 1991. I have no idea what this is all about, but at least no one can say that I am in the pay of the Koch family and somehow doing their bidding.
READ MOREThe Antiplanner is in Honolulu this week talking with people about the city’s planned $5.7-billion rail line. Rail advocates want to believe the rail plan is set in stone, but not everyone agrees. The project still has many obstacles to overcome. If the transportation bill that Congress eventually passes recognizes fiscal realities, for example, the […]
READ MOREPortland can spend hundreds of millions on streetcars and billions on light rail. But it is letting its most-valuable asset–the city’s $5 billion road system–fall apart, says an expose featured in yesterday’s Oregonian. The city’s transportation department, says the article, has enough money to hire eight new employees to oversee streetcars, build more than a […]
READ MOREThe Antiplanner is headed to Vancouver BC this morning for a debate on whether smart growth and light rail should be applied in Vancouver suburbs south of the Fraser River. The other side of the question will be represented by Todd Litman. The debate will take place at 7:00 pm tonight at the Langley Municipal […]
READ MOREIn an unusual move, Toronto’s transit commission fired its chief executive, Gary Webster, because he didn’t think it was cost-effective to build an expensive subway. (Usually, transit chiefs are fired for building an expensive rail line.) Actually, Webster thought that light rail was more cost-effective than subways. But Toronto Robert Ford wanted subways. He asked […]
READ MOREMany people are chortling that the libertarian Heartland Institute, one of the leading skeptics of anthropogenic climate change, had documents about its campaigns stolen and published. This is only fair, they say, since Heartland didn’t complain when someone stole the emails of leading government-funded climatologists that showed that the scientists were manipulating the data to […]
READ MOREHampton Roads Transit is claiming success six months after opening its light-rail line in Norfolk. The line is carrying an average of 4,642 riders each weekday, which is far greater than the 2,900 that had been forecast. “Crowds” of as many as dozens of people look bored and apathetic at the opportunity to take free […]
READ MORERail advocates responded to the Antiplanner recent visit to Charlotte, NC, by inviting William Lind, who bills himself as “a conservative who supports rail transit,” to comment on Charlotte’s proposed Red Line project. “Real conservatives like commuter trains,” says Lind. How does he know? Because the average income of people who ride commuter trains in […]
READ MOREAmy Oliver Cooke, Director
Email: Amy@i2i.org
Phone: 303-279-6536, ext 107
Amy Oliver Cooke, Director
Email: Amy@i2i.org
Phone: 303-279-6536, ext 107
Foster and kinship children too often miss out on supplemental services and activities. A new breed of program called a Supplemental Educational Support Account (SESA) would provide a set amount of annual funding for each student that can be used for services such as tutoring, therapies, music lessons, specialized programs, transportation, and a wide variety
READ MOREWho knew it would be such a busy week? Before I head off to go play in the snow or jump in a pile of leaves or two — you never know with the weather here in Colorado — I thought you’d like to see the new results from the Association of American Educators nationwide […]
READ MOREAs explained by author Marya DeGrow, conflict between some Colorado public school districts and parents led to the adoption of a 1988 legislative bill that established guidelines for home education.
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