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

[Schneider Fred]

The only place where a car line makes sense to me in Pittsburgh today  
is an extension of the subway (or light rail perhaps in a curb lane  
taking away parking spaces) from downtown to Oakland to serve all the  
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Presbyterian Hospital,  
Childrens Hospital, Magee Hospital plus University of Pittsburgh,  
Carnegie Mellon University and Chatham University.      You might  
want to extend that as a light rail line following the old 71 Negley  
Highland line because that is the heaviest bus route in the east end  
today and Morningside is become a yuppie neighborhood.

But, in general, I'm having trouble with investing a lot of money in  
Pittsburgh because I'm seeing a city that is continuing in decline.    
Every year sees fewer people in the area.   The youngers have moved  
out and the old farts are dying.   By 2020 I would not be surprised  
to see Allegheny County under a million people and the city of  
Pittsburgh under 250,000.   The hospitals only have viability to  
treat the elderly.  When they die, why do we need all those hospitals?

Until we can find some reason to bring jobs into the area that  
attract young people, I would rather put my money for light rail /  
subways / commuter railroads into developing areas, i.e. the west and  
south.   Yes, I know those areas are spread out but when people  
finally wake up that oil is running out (i.e. when the recession or  
depression ends and gas prices go back up where they belong ... $4 or  
$5 a gallon ... which will start another recession).    I'm going to  
be dead before the idiots wake up.


On Dec 17, 2008, at 7:33 PM, Jerry MATT Matsick wrote:

> Fred is absolutely correct about having a "Wet Dream and have to  
> have a Trolley Line", through out the
> fast growing South, just about every city is talking trolley line  
> and many all ready have them, don't think
> Jacksonville will have one all though over 1 million plus live  
> here,, the population is to spread out.
> one thing about Pittsburgh is the news or reports from first time  
> visitors to the Burg tell me,  it would be
> great to have a trolley to the strip or university section of the  
> city, with the New Pen Arena and new
> business and entertainment going in on Center Ave a trolley would  
> make sense, but not CENTS!
> J
> From: Jerry "Matt" Matsick
>
> AGING: Eventually you will reach a point when you
> stop lying about your age and start Bragging
> about it.
>
> -------------- Original message from Schneider Fred  
> <fwschneider at comcast.net>: --------------
>
>
>> 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.
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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