Light Rail

It used to be that social security was called the third rail of national politics. Well now light rail is the third rail of local politics. Light rail is coming to Phoenix. Its coming to other places like Seattle too. Its in Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Chicago, of course New York and many other fine cities. So why is it such a complete money pit? The answer is simple, nobody rides it. But liberals love it because it satisfy's two of their agendas. I will get to that later.

In two separate studies forecasting their system participation , one in Phoenix and one in Seattle, best estimates in both are that light rail will be used by 2% of the metro population. Wow. Be still my bleeding heart. Meanwhile each city will spend over forty billion dollars to build light rail.

When I lived in Seattle, my wife and I only had one car. Only needed one. The bus system there was superb. The wife took the bus to and from work every day. Worked out great. When we moved to Phoenix, I don't think I saw a bus for four months. I see more now than when we moved here ten years ago but the Valley of the Sun has a horrible, terrible bus transit system for being the 5th largest city in the nation.

But instead of stregthening the metro system they invest in light rail. Why? Light rail has never, ever been a viable (read: profitable) mode of transportation for any city, excluding the subway system of downtown New York. Phoenix is certainly not NYC. The population per square mile in New York County is 66,940 people. In Maricopa County where Phoenix and its suburbs are located has 333 people per square mile. A lot more people benefit from light rail there than here.

Light rail has not even been finished in Phoenix and already there is strain on the traffic system. To fund light rail they siphoned off half of the money from taxes that went to highway building and repair. Well now they can't fill the potholes and have had to extend the time lines on completing much needed freeway systems in the outlaying areas. To combat this problem one local representative thought we could turn the carpool lanes into toll roads and that money would help fix and finish the roads.

The Phoenix project already admits it needs more funding because the architects failed to develop any substantial parking areas for those that will commute with light rail and those few areas they do have don't have any overhead cover. Have you every got into a car after it's sat in the 115 degree sun of desert summer? Its a 140 degrees in there. On top of that do you really think there is an action plan to dismantle light rail if its not able to support itself? Of course not. As the system gets older costs will go up to maintain the equipment and as urban sprawl becomes greater, even less people will available to use the system.

Why would anyone want to use light rail when its a fixed system and a slow one at that. Of course they can't go faster than 30 mph lest some poor pedestrian misses all the curbs, rails and signs and gets hit by a moving train. The average 20 minute commute by car now becomes twice that when factoring waiting for the train to arrive and its slow progress through its stops. Don't forget that with urban sprawl you have to drive your car to get to the rail station.

The real crux is that liberals can accomplish two things with light rail. First, it makes them feel that they are making a real difference helping the less fortunate travel around town and perhaps get some of those fortunate enough to drive gas guzzler to give up their personal freedom for public transportation. When they drive by those light rail trains in their BMW's they can feel just a little bit better about themselves because they are good people.

Secondly, light rail means more taxes for things like expansion, improvement, maintenance and study. What is a grandiose unprofitable Utopian public works project without the inherent oversight committee that makes the failure look like a positive in the media?

What Phoenix really needs is more buses and a finished highway program. Lets bust out to 24 lane highways as was proposed a year after light rail was passed because even liberal law makers agree, light rail won't make a dent at all in traffic congestion. But they feel better about themselves. Why not, they got your money for light rail and they'll get your money when your frustrated about being stuck in traffic as the almost empty rail train crawls by.

For $40 billion they could buy every resident driver of Maricopa county a new 40 mpg hybrid car. Now that would really drop carbon emissions and make a dent in traffic congestion. Those cars are so small you can fit twice as many into a daily traffic jam.

Power Plays

I don't understand how Liberals want to move to alternate fuel sources but won't allow business or government to build a stronger energy infrastructure at all. Its fairly common knowledge that this country has an outdated energy grid. In 2003, NYC along with several states and part of Canada were plunged into blackout because a transmission line in Ohio tripped off. Why in 2007 should close to 20% of our population be affected by one transmission problem?

Liberals bemoan the conservatives calling for new oil refinery's or *GASP* nuclear reactors rallying instead behind solar power, hydroelectricity and wind power. First I have looked into solar power for my house. Living in the desert south west, the costs involved (roughly $15,000 for a residential home) would take me approximately 20 years to recoup my hardware investment in solar power offsets. I don't mind delayed gratification but please. Hydro-electric power is played out in America. We have a great program here and by most estimates are at 85% capacity. Good Job!

That leaves wind turbine generation, the new de jour of alternative power grids. I have driven through Palm Springs. those monster towers are everywhere. For those that don't understand these are not Dutch windmills or like the one on Grandma's farm were talking about here. These are upwards of 500 feet tall with blades 150 feet long in groups of thousands. Thousands. California has 95% of the country's onshore wind power facilities, which all goes to their states power supply. All those generators contributed to 1.5% of the states power. Meanwhile the 5 nuclear plants in California generated over 12% of its state wide power.

While popular in rhetoric, when it comes down to legislating wind power development you can't even get liberal leaders to vote for it. Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass) used his considerable power in DC to withhold plans for an off shore wind plant off Marthas Vineyard and Cape Cod. I don't know why he would do so when it could not be seen from land and his nephew Robert Kennedy Jr. is such a proponent of alternative power; but suspicion has long held its because the site was on prime Kennedy sailing grounds. I think his original argument once it became public, was that the blades would endanger the birds and seagulls. Nice.

What it really comes down to is this. Right now alternative energy sources are not cheap. Individuals who want to do their part with home solar power lose money. People in regions that invest in wind power pay twice as much and sometimes more than for other power options. What environmentalists and global warming advocates are afraid to tell you is that alternative fuels equal higher taxes. They use gimmicky terms like 'caps' and 'offsets' but really what their avoiding is that if you will take the bait by hearing the sizzle, when see the fat on the bacon, its too late, you might as well eat it. If the global-warming-end-of-days people instead said "we will have to raise your taxes...a lot, for this to work" they would get a good chunk of people to say to themselves, "Hmmm, let me look at those studies again. How bad is this and just how much better can it get."

Whether its wind or solar or nuclear, lets all just try to get the damn national power system updated. Lets get it set up today to be more efficient and prepare it for tomorrow when better options present themselves and can be incorporated. It just seems so absurd. If you live in a big city you know every year you will hear the warning bells on the local news that there could be rolling brown outs because of spikes in power. In Phoenix a few years back a power station transformer blew up because it was so damn hot that summer and people were cranking the air conditioning. It turns out it took two weeks to get a used replacement because new units are cost prohibitive to have laying around the warehouse and they are shipped by slow-truck. It takes months for one to get built and put on site.

This is not to mention the absurdly lop sided cost to benefit ratio current solar or wind power projects will have on our country's power system. Litigation on water rights, protection of wildlife habitats, fights with shale coal development and our lack of gas/oil refineries all contribute to a decline in our power grid.

Something has to give on both sides. Our power grid infrastructure must be updated for the 21st century. Alternative systems need to be created and made affordable while we strengthen our current power technology programs. I see no problem with building an oil refinery today only to have it close down in 20, 50 or 100 years when it becomes obsolete. Let the conservatives cheer now and the liberals cheer later. What better way to put Big Oil out of business that to suck the resource dry.

Compass Points Right

Far to often we fine normal upstanding citizens of a wonderful country simply sleepwalk through its daily progression. Our perception becomes reliant on 30 second sound bytes and video feeds from sources biased at best and uninformed at worst designed to make you feel a prescribed way instead of giving rationale intellectual discourse. Far to often its easier to adopt someone else's opinion instead of making your own.

Some people consider conservativism a cope out. That we think only about ourselves and our greedy little nest eggs instead of being empathetic of the down trodden and less fortunate. That business is the king of our lives. Being 'carbon neutral' is not as important as being filthy rich. In some conservative leaders that is true. in some forms of media it makes that point of view counter to all other facts.

The heart of the conservative party is not the far right fringe, nor is it the moderate center. Its a thriving class of people who want to more of the money they earned and less of the interference from people who think they know whats best to do with that money. Its people who want an American car that gets over 40 miles per gallon city but has enough room to sit a family and carry their grocery's and sports gear. Its people who want to find the environmental medium between building an oil refinery anywhere in this country and maintaining habitats and hiking trails at the same time. Its people who think a nation founded on God but ruled by law has become over run with lawyers trying to rule by law and dismiss God.

I have a compass, several actually. But only two are most valuable to me; the physical one in my hand leading me to my destination through the the beautiful environment I care so deeply about and the moral own that guides my head and my heart through many interesting observations.

My compass points right.