[PRCo] Re: Mr. V will appreciate this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dwight Long
dwightlong at verizon.net
Sun Aug 15 12:48:48 EDT 2010
Bill
I only picked on Pittsfield because you mentioned it. "Except for the names and a few other changes the story's the same one" all over the USA.
There was also a transformer plant on the PRC interurban line from Pittsburgh to "Little Warshington." It was, and is, located in Canonsburg. It is one of the few remaining transformer plants in the USA. Unfortunately, workers can no longer commute to work there on the interurban cars!
Dwight
From: bvolkmer
To: Fred Schneider ; Dwight Long
Cc: Bob Watson ; AB Tower Project ; BillVigrass Vigrass ; Dick Hasselman ; Bob Madsen ; Dave Staplin ; Greg Gagarin ; Joe Schmidt ; John Mcgahern ; Tim Wells ; Alan B Buchan ; Alan Fishel ; Cliff Woodbury ; David Goehring ; Dennis Lamont ; Ernest Clausing ; Richard Enty ; Jack May ; Wayne Koch ; WILLIAM KINNEY ; Robert Watson
Sent: Sunday, 15 August, 2010 12:08
Subject: Re: Mr. V will appreciate this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dwight:
GE didn't "Leave" Pittsfield. They were literally run out of town with a $200 Million dollar bill tacked on their rear end. GE paid for the digging up of the entire Housatonic River for miles on end to remove the PCBs that were a by-product of the transformer manufacturing process. GE opened a smaller plant in Rome Georgia and it too was forced closed in 1997. It appears that transformers and the environment were not meant to co-exist. Take a look at Paoli shop as one example. Today all transformers are made in Brazil and India. There might be one or two small operations left in the US, but I don't know for sure. One was on the West Penn at Scottsdale,PA.
Bill
--- On Sun, 8/15/10, Dwight Long <dwightlong at verizon.net> wrote:
From: Dwight Long <dwightlong at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: Mr. V will appreciate this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To: bvolkmer at bellsouth.net, "Fred Schneider" <fwschneider at comcast.net>
Cc: "Bob Watson" <rwatson at ltk.com>, "AB Tower Project" <abtower at hillintl.com>, "BillVigrass Vigrass" <BillVigrass at hillintl.com>, "Dick Hasselman" <hassel8 at comcast.net>, "Bob Madsen" <bobbackpac at sbcglobal.net>, "Dave Staplin" <dstaplin at comcast.net>, "Greg Gagarin" <gcubed at alum.mit.edu>, "Joe Schmidt" <joeschmidt at peoplepc.com>, "John Mcgahern" <jmcgahern at gmail.com>, "Tim Wells" <trwells at comcast.net>, "Alan B Buchan" <abbuchan1 at comcast.net>, "Alan Fishel" <afishel at interurbans.com>, "Cliff Woodbury" <cawoodbury3 at verizon.net>, "David Goehring" <dgoehring at dejazzd.com>, "Dennis Lamont" <ge13031 at yahoo.com>, "Ernest Clausing" <ernclaw at comcast.net>, "Richard Enty" <richard.enty at sbcglobal.net>, "Jack May" <jack.may at americomm.net>, "Wayne Koch" <tracksofnyc at gmail.com>, "WILLIAM KINNEY" <wckinney at snet.net>, "Robert Watson" <jswatson at bellatlantic.net>
Date: Sunday, August 15, 2010, 12:01 PM
Bill
And I suppose there is a certain cadre amongst those 42,000 that is quite happy that "we don't make things here anymore." All that noise, pollution, and other detritus of manufacturing operations are gone--Hooray! And, most of "those people" are gone too! Now, if we could just get rid of those damn CSX trains, Pittsfield would really be a paradise!
Our collective distaste for making things in this country is, IMHO, one of the more despicable forms of elitism and will have tragic results for our grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Dwight
----- Original Message -----
From: bvolkmer
To: Fred Schneider
Cc: Bob Watson ; Dwight Long ; AB Tower Project ; BillVigrass Vigrass ; Dick Hasselman ; Bob Madsen ; Dave Staplin ; Greg Gagarin ; Joe Schmidt ; John Mcgahern ; Tim Wells ; Alan B Buchan ; Alan Fishel ; Cliff Woodbury ; David Goehring ; Dennis Lamont ; Ernest Clausing ; Richard Enty ; Jack May ; Wayne Koch ; WILLIAM KINNEY ; Robert Watson
Sent: Sunday, 15 August, 2010 10:43
Subject: Re: Mr. V will appreciate this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When I left Pittsfield in 1953 there were 55,000 inhabitants whereas there are 42,000 today. General ELectric had five plants there. Today they have none but one still exists (Naval Ordinance) under another flag. In GE's day it was the Plastics Division and before that it was the Ceramics Division..
Berkshire buses had a destination sign "Ceramics Ave." which was later changed to "Plastics Ave." and the lazy sign makers in later years just put "Plastics" on the curtains.
Bill
--- On Sun, 8/15/10, Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net> wrote:
From: Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: Mr. V will appreciate this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To: bvolkmer at bellsouth.net
Cc: "Bob Watson" <rwatson at ltk.com>, "Dwight Long" <dwightlong at verizon.net>, "AB Tower Project" <abtower at hillintl.com>, "BillVigrass Vigrass" <BillVigrass at hillintl.com>, "Dick Hasselman" <hassel8 at comcast.net>, "Bob Madsen" <bobbackpac at sbcglobal.net>, "Dave Staplin" <dstaplin at comcast.net>, "Greg Gagarin" <gcubed at alum.mit.edu>, "Joe Schmidt" <joeschmidt at peoplepc.com>, "John Mcgahern" <jmcgahern at gmail.com>, "Tim Wells" <trwells at comcast.net>, "Alan B Buchan" <abbuchan1 at comcast.net>, "Alan Fishel" <afishel at interurbans.com>, "Cliff Woodbury" <cawoodbury3 at verizon.net>, "David Goehring" <dgoehring at dejazzd.com>, "Dennis Lamont" <ge13031 at yahoo.com>, "Ernest Clausing" <ernclaw at comcast.net>, "Richard Enty" <richard.enty at sbcglobal.net>, "Jack May" <jack.may at americomm.net>, "Wayne Koch" <tracksofnyc at gmail.com>, "WILLIAM KINNEY" <wckinney at snet.net>, "Robert Watson" <jswatson at bellatlantic.net>
Date: Sunday, August 15, 2010, 10:10 AM
There are limits to how many airports we can have too.
Lancaster, Pennsylvania is the seat of a county of a half million million people. We have off again, on again air service. Right now I think its off again.
There is extensive service to MDT (aka Harrisburg), 28 miles to the west and to Philthydelphia, about an hour and a half to the east, and Baltimore, 2 hours to the south. You really can't serve every airport. There is train service to PHL from here and limo service (using buses) to JFK. There is also train service to Newark airport. It isn't important that we have local service but the chamber of commerce think it is vitally important.
By the way, Pittsfield has a population of about 42,000 and Berkshire County 134,000. I would suspect that Albany is close enough even though the locals may not think so.
I am positive it isn't the only city of 42,000 without commercial airline service but I'm sure the locals would advertise that as fact. Why am I so sure? I maintain, for the fun of it, a list of cities of 50,000 population that I have been to and those I haven't. Most of those that I have been to are incorporated cities that are suburbs of places like Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Los Angeles but they are cities in their own right and I can guarantee you that they don't have their own airports. Sorry about that Bill.
On Aug 14, 2010, at 6:37 PM, bvolkmer wrote:
More pipe dreams and political posturing, Incidentally, Pittsfield has GOT to be one of the largest cities that has never had scheduled airline service as far as I know. Albany Airport is about 40 miles away and has always served the area. No interstate road between the two cities either.
WDV
--- On Sat, 8/14/10, Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net> wrote:
From: Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net>
Subject: Mr. V will appreciate this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To: "Bill Volkmer" <bvolkmer at bellsouth.net>
Cc: "Bob Watson" <rwatson at ltk.com>, "Dwight Long" <dwightlong at verizon.net>, "AB Tower Project" <abtower at hillintl.com>, "BillVigrass Vigrass" <BillVigrass at hillintl.com>, "Dick Hasselman" <hassel8 at comcast.net>, "Bob Madsen" <bobbackpac at sbcglobal.net>, "Dave Staplin" <dstaplin at comcast.net>, "Greg Gagarin" <gcubed at alum.mit.edu>, "Joe Schmidt" <joeschmidt at peoplepc.com>, "John Mcgahern" <jmcgahern at gmail.com>, "Tim Wells" <trwells at comcast.net>, "Alan B Buchan" <abbuchan1 at comcast.net>, "Alan Fishel" <afishel at interurbans.com>, "Cliff Woodbury" <cawoodbury3 at verizon.net>, "David Goehring" <dgoehring at dejazzd.com>, "Dennis Lamont" <ge13031 at yahoo.com>, "Ernest Clausing" <ernclaw at comcast.net>, "Richard Enty" <richard.enty at sbcglobal.net>, "Jack May" <jack.may at americomm.net>, "Wayne Koch" <tracksofnyc at gmail.com>, "WILLIAM KINNEY" <wckinney at snet.net>, "Robert Watson" <jswatson at bellatlantic.net>
Date: Saturday, August 14, 2010, 6:21 PM
iBershires.com
Patrick Wants Commuter Rail in Berkshires
By: Staff Reports On: 08-10-2010 06:25PM
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One of the key problems for businesses and residents in the Berkshires is getting from here to there, and Gov. Deval Patrick is keen on reviving commuter rail in the region to help us out. While it could be many years before passenger trains return to the Western Gateway, plans are already under way to exend the rail line from New Haven, Conn., through Vermont.
The Northeast Corridor had 14 million riders last year, making up more than half Amtrak's total ridershiop. More than 3 million took the high-speed Acela along the Boston-New York-Washington route.
Patrick's been instrumental in getting the regional rail plan in motion. Recently, the federal government provided some $160 million in stimulus funding (the president has put aside $8 billion to revive rail) to Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont. The governor said more funding will have to come in stages.
"All the New England governors and New York submitted a plan to Washington," said the governor, in response to a transportation question from David Rooney, president of the Berkshire Economic Development Corp., at Monday's tourism roundtable. "You have to apply for the funding in chapters; we won the first grant, which is to refurbish the rail bed coming up from New Haven to Vermont through Springfield and Greenfield."
The state's take was $73 million to be used fix the detiorated tracks to Springfield, Chicopee, Amherst and Greenfield. Construction in the Pioneer Valley is expected to start this season and Patrick said a private rail operator has indicated interest.
He's also pushing for high-speed service along the east/west line. Amtrak service "kind of sort of" comes through Pittsfield now, said Patrick, depending on the schedule.
The train trip to Boston can take more than five hours (it's faster to drive) and its erratic schedule can leave passengers waiting an hour or more at the Intermodal Center in Pittsfield, as we, and Patrick, have found from experience.
"This community used to have pretty good rail service connecting different cities and connecting major cities to Berkshire County from outside of Massachusetts and I want to see that restored," said the governor, adding "that's going to have to be part of a long-term agenda."
His championing of rail (and the expansion of the Pittsfield Airport) drew a round of applause and not a few cheers. Still, we don't expect to be sitting by the depot at Western Gateway Heritage State Park anytime soon. But with 21st century broadband heading our way, maybe our dreams of 19th century transportation will come true.
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