[PRCo] Re: Pen's get new luxury hotel

[John Swindler]

Talk is cheap, so these city fathers can plan all they want.  But FTA can only fund a few projects each year.  The money just aint there in the highway/transit trust funds.  
 
How many billion was taken from general funds to prop up the highway trust fund at end of last fiscal year? 
 
The panic among the highway/construction folks is the decline in highway travel and what this is doiing to the highway trust fund.
 
John
 
> From: fwschneider at comcast.net> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Pen's get new luxury hotel> Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2008 14:00:51 -0500> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org> > I'm not going to disclose the name of the friend who wrote this other > than to say the man was in railway equipment engineering all his > life. It came in an e-mail this morning in response to my sending > him the announcement of one more "wet dream" about a streetcar > line. I think this last one might have been the people in Waco, > Texas saying, 'Hey man, we gots to have a trolley.'> "One thing about this emerging development: I am getting a clearer > understanding of how streetcar systems over-expanded in the early > 1900s. We are seeing the exact same phenomenon now...streetcars have > suddenly become the definition of what a modern city should have, and > unknowledgable city fathers are all pushing them without any clear > business plan for whether it makes sense for their city. The only > difference is that now it's governmental money (us) instead of > gullible private investors."> > I can predict that Ken Josephson will agree with him. Jerry might > not. And I'm going to say I want the limited tax dollars put where > they are making sense, that is in cities that are expanding and > proving that rail is making sense and most of those, sadly for most > of us, are well to the west of the Mississippi River. I'm having a > problem with putting it in places like Buffalo, St. Louis, Detroit or > Pittsburgh, where there are massive population declines, and then > proving that it works by having artificially low fares.> > Now if you can figure how to get someone to invest 100,000 high end > new jobs in Allegheny County.... (No that would be too many, in > the end it would result in a million more people.)> > > > On Dec 17, 2008, at 12:27 PM, Derrick J Brashear wrote:> > > On Wed, 17 Dec 2008, Jerry MATT Matsick wrote:> >> >> Perhaps the stir of new Center Avenue area Hotel will convince the > >> city> >> to put a new street car line in?> >> > When a local libertarian proposed a streetcar line on South 21st St > > I knew> > they had some broader appeal. Still, as a realist, "not gonna happen"> >> > I passed the site less than 24 hours ago. Right now the old > > hopsital is> > just a big hole.> >> >> > > > 
_________________________________________________________________
You live life online. So we put Windows on the web. 
http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/127032869/direct/01/