|
 |
5/6/2009
'Socialists running wild on Other People's Money'
Well, I didn’t say that. It was an expressive guy commenting on an intriguing Superior Telegram article – posted on FP News Friday. “Students Find Flaws in Rail Study.” Imagine that. The piece describes a study by a group of UW-Superior urban planning and transportation systems students who analyzed a study of a proposed train to run between Superior/Duluth and the Twin Cities - the “Northern Lights Express.” It’s a quick read – if you didn’t read it earlier, take a look.
Below are the types of issues these inquiring (doubting Thomases?) kids unearthed.
- "We found some errors, and some wishful thinking -- estimates that I don’t think are anyway near what is reasonable,”
- “It’s definitely a politically-backed project … The numbers can say one thing but what actually happens – [the] Great Lakes Aquarium [all over again].” [Among other problems, projections for the Aquarium were double what the actual maximum attendance has been.]
- Among the errors discovered were miscalculations for earthwork, drainage and utilities, as well as property acquisition errors that together would add $7.5 million to the overall cost, calculated at $298 million in a feasibility study completed in 2007.
- “The study definitely contradicts itself in some places.”
- Travel time between Superior and Duluth, including a 10-minute turnaround time in Duluth, was “sufficiently unrealistic” to make the proposed four daily trips, unlikely.
- Talking to officials with Amtrak, students learned it takes about 30 minutes to turn around Hiawatha, not the 10 minutes suggested in the study for Duluth.
- Historically, the fastest a train moved on the proposed route between Duluth and Superior was 20 minutes, when Soo Line achieved the feat in 1953. The study allows for 14 minutes travel on the same route.
- The track infrastructure has changed significantly since 1953; it’s now a 10 mph speed limit between Duluth and Superior. Achieving the speed necessary to make the trip in 14 minutes would require significant improvements not included in the $298 million price tag.
- The students estimated a round trip would take five hours and 18 minutes rather than the four hours and 20 minutes suggested in the TEMS study.
This stuff is unbelievable. When I was an alderperson, Appleton paid big bucks for these fancy studies – and at some point, you’ve got to take the word of the experts. This story says it better than any theoretical situation – sad thing to have to say, but always have an expert analyze your experts. Geeez.
Here’s an interview from 2008 with the chief cheerleader for the train, president of the Duluth Depot and head of the technical advisory committee pushing for the train. No wonder the study the students looked at was seen as “political.”
Q: The project will cost close to $400 million. How can something that expensive possibly be ready by 2011?
A: 2010 would be the optimum year; 2011 would be a fall-back year. We're working as hard as we can to get to 2010 to start this running. If you can build a $350 million bridge in one year, you can certainly build a railroad. Oh yeah, that makes sense. And $298 million. $400 million? To ride a train for 5 hours to get to the Twin Cities? From Duluth or Superior? Where will enough traffic come from to warrant those kind of bucks? (And whichever of those figures is correct, it’s probably a ways off on the light side.) Geeez again.
Q: How much money will the city of Duluth have to chip in for this project?
A: We plan to go to the federal government for 80 percent of it; for the match we plan to go to the rail authorities and the state of Minnesota. So the answer in the big question is that Duluth won't pay a dime. Anyone want to bet?
Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
COMMENTS
I have a theory. It is pretty well established that "public transport" was successful before we became so rich. As people could afford, they opted for personal vehicles for "mass transit." So given the economic downturn, which is still far from bottoming out, it is likely there will be a whole lot more poor people, willing to suffer the inconveniences of "public transportation." So maybe there is hope these systems will be "profitable."
With enough subsidies....
So this will not cost local folks a dime??? Do they not pay state and federal taxes? And have I not heard similar arguments before-like in funding our government indoctrination centeres-aka "public schools." You do not suppose that a pie in the sky attitude, the notion that someone else will pay, is in large part what has led to our economic demise?
Ken Van Doren (Wed May 06 10:21:39 2009)
Bureaucrats Gone Wild.
Dear People of Duluth / Superior,
Please read about the Menasha Utilities Steam Plant. It was pushed forward as a 'sure fire money maker' regardless of realities ... just like this proposed project.
Take your time - ask all the questions, and by all means KEEP THOSE STUDENTS CLOSE BY!
There's no such thing as a free lunch, much less a free railway.
Jeff Riedl (Wed May 06 10:22:15 2009)
The rail is a federal idea that he is wed to because he took federal money (as though there really is such a thing). If the feds borrow money in my name and give it to Doyle to fill his budget holes, is that not just an additional state income tax?
It's the dumb blonde syndrome, "I cant be broke, I still have checks"
David Martin (Thu May 07 21:31:22 2009)
|
|
Blog Archives
| 2010 |
  December
|
November
|
October
|
September
|
August
|
July
|
June
|
May
|
April
|
March
|
February
|
January
• Solberg: Healing After an Abortion
• Basketball fans eyeing extension of Miller Park sales tax
• Nanny sex-ed bill goes to Doyle
• A first. Village limits pension contribution for employees
• Nanny State update: Toothbrushing mandated
• Obama pushes education inflation
• WI Investment Board votes to borrow to juice up returns
• So Republicans have brought nothing to the table?
• You have got to be kidding me
• Nygren: Governor Continues Terms of Failure in State of the State
• Sen. Fitzgerald: Governor down the wrong track at high speed
• Phosphorus is the new CO2. $Billions in Wisconsin
• More Obama giveaways
• A reprimand? Would you keep him on the job?
• Burri: Sarah Palin for Prez troubles me
• Quote of the Day – Obama after the pie-eating contest
• Populism, abused and trampled
• Fitzgerald: Senate Republicans Propose Real Job Creation Agenda
• Stripped down health insurance – it’s about time
• Ok GOP, scrap the Party of NO; time to lead
• No way Feingold is a Coakley. Is Wall a Brown?
• Burri: Conservatives off the chart for a RINO?
• Paltry quid pro quo?
• Doyle says ARRA has ‘created or retained’ 44,000 WI jobs
• Does most of the public fall for this stuff?
• When you get signatures, always get a couple extra
• Blame it on the outmoded computers
• Scott Brown victory does not scuttle health bill
• 8th Congressional Candidate Forum, Jan. 25
• Scott Walker Meet-and-greet, Monday, Jan. 18
• Aren’t consumers taxpayers too?
• MORE taxes on investment income - dreadful and wrong
• Join the blaze orange army and say ‘Enough is Enough’
• The future of government-run health care
• Tax on banks is a really bad idea
• Roth, Savard on the stump, grassroots style
• Savard speaking in Appleton, 8 PM, Wed., Jan. 13.
• Rahmlow: Savard, Bies frontrunners for State Senate
• Burri: Failing Political Correctness 101
• School contracts and Race to the Top
• Senator Feingold worrisome and big red flags
• Psephological?
• This is really important. Contact Rep. Kagen. Now. Please.
• This is exactly what we need from Governor Doyle
• This guy is my hero
• Why am I not surprised?
• Talk health reform with Feingold (Th), Petri (today)
• Give the Mayor power over MPS - if he can break contracts
• Burri: Yup, Dems really are going to bypass a conference
• The $2.7 billion Wisconsin deficit no one told you about
• Walker launches county accountability website
• Rahmlow: Why is Van Hollen dodging the Nebraska deal?
|
| 2009 |
December
|
November
|
October
• The Lawton-Bader files
• Yup, it’s the TAX LEVY, not the tax RATE
• Ellis: costly automobile insurance laws must be rolled back
• If not Barrett, who?
• The subsidy game
• Burri: Bailouts, Banks, Health Care, and the Mob
• Attend Appleton Schools budget meeting tonight
• A public option WON’T increase costs? That’s delusional!
• Appleton Schools budget meeting Monday
• Wisconsin should be screaming for accountability
• Burri: If anything, we need more obstructionism around here
• WI on the leading edge - in the wrong direction
• Rep. Montgomery: Utility Customers Join State’s Crime-Fighting Efforts
• Public Conservation and Recreation Lands Total 16.5% of State
• In the crow's nest of the Titanic, shouting 'Iceberg!'
• Is Rep. Nelson a political hack?
• Health care: The road ahead will be brutal
• Kagen's pandering again
• Birthers - good stuff for you
• How much do we bend over backward for seniors?
• The trouble with health care is paying for it
• Two-parent families: The Gold Standard
• Burri: Kids... the joys and blessings
• Very, very worried about health care
• Rep. Huebsch: Wisconsin is proof government health care isn’t the answer
• School district contracts push up tax levy
• What? Obama, the Peace Prize?
• TODAY - hearing on Campaign Finance Reform
• Appleton School District tax levy up way too much
• CBO report is out - and the bill isn't even written yet?
• So, how much do YOU budget for health care?
• Burri: Copenhagen trip was amateurish
• “Sotomayor, you have blood on your hands...”
• Cap and Trade. Always follow the money
• Rep. Kagen gets (almost) free health services
• I actually agree with Rep. Kagen
• Future Wisconsin Conference for Conservatives, October 10, Wauwatosa
|
September
|
August
|
July
|
June
|
May
|
April
|
March
|
February
|
January
|
| 2008 |
December
|
November
|
October
|
September
|
August
|
July
|
June
|
May
|
April
|
March
• Important votes Tuesday, including Appleton Common Council
• Democrats are becoming supply siders??
• Further debunking Hillary myths
• WEAC has created an unsustainable monopoly
• From Mark Gundrum: One of the greatest honors an American can experience
• 'Operation Chaos' working?
• Joe Martin the best candidate in Appleton's 8th
• State programs to cut? - Volume II
• Oh the naivete of youth
• Not just disingenuous - flat wrong
• Steve - you will be missed
• Make cuts only AFTER you're elected....
• Getting serious: What programs can we cut?
• Rep. Steve Kagen joining me on Jerry Bader Show today
• Rep. Van Roy: Dental Care Pilot Program
• Has Dave Obey turned the corner on earmarks?
• Speaker Huebsch: Governor turns down Federal Aid?
• Mark Rahmlow: "We're Broke."
• As taxpayers, how do we know if it's a Chevy or a Lexus?
• This is trash talk - about a veteran
• Frank Lasee: Take time to get the Compact right
• 'The Gableman Ad' - is it racist?
• Roth thankful, Kagen shaking money tree
• Gov. Doyle's office not enamored with Freedom of Information
• Governor Doyle will never do it
• Leadership on smoking ban? Not Hanna
• Rep. Van Roy speaks out about smear ads
• You're threatening me about potholes?
• Losing the Hastert seat is NOT a trend and NOT curtians for the GOP
• First suggestion for 'slashing' programs
• Big money-saver for municipalities
• More one time fixes. Nuts.
• Any chances???
• I'm doing the Jerry Bader Show, today, the 11th
• Representative Frank Lasee: Final Waltz of the Season
• Guest Blog: It's not the county's business to be in the nursing home business
• Yup, Hillary won Texas and Ohio
• Gableman/Butler race featured - and it isn't pretty
• Lies from Planned Parenthood and NARAL
• He who sacrifices liberty.....
• Duh.
• The Troha sentencing, Doyle and that $200K
• Guns, passion and "originality"
• How hard is it anyway, to shut down a government program?
• Voting is a PRIVILEGE. And so are property taxes....
• Guest Blog: Governor Doyle, cancel your Ireland trip
|
February
|
January
|
| 2007 |
December
|
November
|
October
|
September
|
August
|
July
|
June
|
May
|
April
|
March
|
February
|
January
• Lots of ideas. No money.
• The Cigarette Tax - "Poor Policy Instrument?"
• School budget Lite?
• Frankenstein - not in the library, but in the legislature
• A librarian, a legislator, a president
• $1.25/pack - NO, NO, NO, and NO
• Kagen and Reagan in the same breath?
• Menasha: behind the 8-ball, but not biting the dust
• Any way you slice it, Wisconsin government wants (further) in on health care
• The World is Flat...what about health care?
• The PAC - too precious to fail. Day 3
• News follow-ups: Appleton West, Kagen at the White House
• Fox Cities PAC - too precious to fail - Day 2
• Fox Cities PAC - too precious to fail
• New Transit Tax coming your way
• Rep. Petri has his finger in the dike - I guess
• AASD Retirement Costs Burdensome
• Health care, health care, health care, health care
• Water rate increase was no slam dunk
• Education for all is just a bad dream
• New Year's resolutions from a parade snob
|
| 2006 |
December
|
November
|
October
|
September
|
| 2000 |
May
|
|
