[PRCo] Re: Europe ....

[Dennis F. Cramer]

Europe has much better rail systems because they have managed to keep their 
systems though constant upgrades over the past century, plus they have 
relatively high population densities in a much smaller area.  Fuel prices 
have always been higher and the Europeans have a much greater sense of 
history;  they do not tear something down just to build something else in 
the same place, they tend to find ways to reuse structures.
Will we ever return to what they have, I highly doubt it.  We will never 
have the tax dollars to do it and there is just too much open space with 
little population density.  We love our cars too much.

Mass transit works on the east coast because of the ratio of people to 
space, but look at the vast number of commuters who still insist upon 
driving great distances just to get to work.  The Delaware Water Gap region 
is home to many New York workers and they drive the I-80 corridor every day.





http://www.time.com/time/covers/20061030/where_we_live/

http://www.census.gov/popest/gallery/maps/


We all know there is a lot of nothing out there.  More people live in the 
metro Harrisburg area than all of the state of Wyoming.

How long will it take us to understand?  We had our first energy crisis in 
1972-73 and we have done little to fix it.  I noticed relatively fewer huge 
SUVs on the road this summer and now that prices are going down, sales will 
go up.  Detroit is so far behind, I do not think they will ever get it.

The news says the economy is in the tank, but cell phones, PDA's and other 
electronics seem to be everywhere.  I had 7th grade students with over 
$100.00 a month cell phone bills!  Let's keep the economy rolling by using 
those credit cards.  Uncle Sam (or insert country here) will bail us out.

We are stuck paying for others mistakes and reluctance to change.

Two things about change:

Change is inevitable-----People resist change!


Dennis F. Cramer
      Trombone



-- Attached file removed by Ecartis and put at URL below --
-- Type: image/gif
-- Size: 46k (48027 bytes)
-- URL : http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/k3worldpop.gif


-- Attached file removed by Ecartis and put at URL below --
-- Type: image/jpeg
-- Size: 64k (66012 bytes)
-- URL : http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/County-Population-07.jpg