Truck Strike Needed to Educate Elites About Importance of Highways

As exemplified by the movie "The Day After Tomorrow" Manhattan and D.C. elites have about zero understanding of road transport infrastructure, as if the food just appears in supermarkets like magic.

This strike regards fuel costs, but it really is needed to educate the elitists in places as N.Y.C.'s Manhattan and Washington, D.C. NW about their pathological-jesuitical "new urbanist" disregard of highway maintenance and expansion.

The strike is to be nation-wide, but since truckers like everyone must earn to live, the strike is only to last one week (April 1 - April 7).

A better approach would be a far, far longer strike that targets the areas of the wealthy elites: aka Manhattan below 116th Street and the entire NW area of Washington D.C. and its adjoining area inside the I-495 Beltway and northward to Potomac where significant elitists live.

Also, places as Bayville and especially Rye N.Y.

http://www.topix.com/forum/business/truck-drivers/TN8JSAN3IIVG779D9

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=60155#

'Congest' Pricing for More Bureacrats, Not Infrastructure

"Congestion" Pricing Advocates have a religion that's against any new roads, but which favors creating many new bureaucratic jobs to produce little or nothing in benefits.

Any politician voting in favor of this jesuitical tax scheme ought to lose their job!

City jumps the gun on 'congest' jobs

By PATRICK GALLAHUE Transit Reporter

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03282008/photos/news004.jpg

March 28, 2008 -- The city is already seeking résumés for high-paying gigs with its congestion-pricing initiative - despite the fact it might never be approved.

And, according to the salaries being offered, drivers aren't the only ones who'll pay if the plan gets off the ground.

The Department of Transportation posted 10 positions - paying up to a combined $1.2 million - for engineers, planners and spokespersons who would work in a variety of capacities promoting and managing Mayor Bloomberg's contentious plan to charge drivers $8 to enter Manhattan's business districts.

"Starting the search now is necessary, so we can quickly hire the engineering and planning professionals we need to implement the many components of congestion pricing efficiently within one year of approval," said DOT spokesman Seth Solomonow.

The gigs, advertised on the DOT's Web site and on Craigslist, run the gamut from press officers to planners.

The position of "administrative city planner" can earn a maximum of $162,790 while an "administrative public-information specialist" can make up to $135,240.

Even low-end salaries in DOT's want ads are in the ranges of $50,000 to $60,000.

But several lawmakers - who must approve the plan to charge $8 to drive below 60th Street during business hours before it can go into effect - said they felt the city "put the cart before the horse."

"[It] still has several major hurdles to clear before becoming a reality and it is shameful that DOT has already taken the liberty of posting employment opportunities," Queens City Councilman Tony Avella said.

He and several other council members plan to rally against congestion pricing today at the 59th Street Bridge.

Even Councilman John Liu, who chairs the Transportation Committee and is a supporter of the plan, said, "I think it will happen, and I know the time frame is short, but this is jumping the gun."

The federal deadline for the plan to be approved by the City Council and the state Legislature is April 7, but the closing date Albany set for itself is Monday.

If the council and Legislature do not approve the plan, the city could miss out on $354 million in federal mass-transit funds.

The jobs are in DOT's Office of Sustainability and Planning, and the salaries would be paid from congestion-pricing revenue.

patrick.gallahue@nypost.com

Obama Endorses 'Congestion' Tax Scheme WITHOUT Anything for Roads

ObUma- PLONK!

Not because what he says is necessarily bad in the abstract.

But rather, it's bad in the context of the strict doctrine of no new highways and that of NYC's infamous book-keeping, along with its new cameras that would be most useful for dissident tracking.

Without elaboration upon 'infrastructure' that takes a stance against the religious doctrine of no new urban highway links, this translates to just some 'mass' transit with bloated bureaucracy.

Just another panderer to the elites who want to raise more taxes without providing more benefits!

Obama: Congestion Pricing ‘Thoughtful’ and ‘Innovative’

Mar 28, 2008 in Congestion Pricing, Politics, Transportation

In an exclusive interview with a New York television station, Senator Barack Obama described congestion pricing as a thoughtful and innovative approach to the problem of congestion. In the interview he described it as a way to reduce congestion, reduce pollution, and invest in infrastructure and mass transit. With an April 7th deadline approaching, New York City appears poised to approve a historic congestion pricing plan. (See Streetsblog for exhaustive congestion pricing coverage.)

More room on the existing roads for our limos, frat brother...

and no new urban roads to offend elites...

NY Times Calls for Conjestion Pricing to Ignore Highways

From today's NY Times editorial page:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/opinion/26wed4.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

(excerpt)

Riders have a right to be skeptical, especially after the M.T.A.’s recent flip-flop. Lawmakers must include tough language to ensure that all congestion pricing revenues are dedicated to promised improvements in transit. That is essential for public support and to coax commuters out of their cars and on to mass transportation.

Wrong. Pay back the Westway funds as a start before embarking on any new such tax schemes.

Open up the MTA books to the public, as canceling Westway was a subsidy for dishonest mass transit bureaucratic bookkeeping, and a distraction from all of the funds squandered by the Pentagon and such criminal entities as the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (tobacco cigarette mercantilism protection scheme).

'Conjestion Pricing' Tax Scheme's Disregard Highway Planning

Proposed new tax schemes to fleece vehicularists -- $2.75 billion annually around and within Washington, D.C. -- with ZERO capacity additions.

Report for the Greater Washington, D.C. 'Council of Governments' limits new lanes to a single new I-395 Virgina HOV/HOT lane, and NONE anywhere within Washington, D.C.

Yet it's estimated $2.75 billion revenue intake could pay for a $25 billion capacious primarily existing corridor footprint new design underground Washington, D.C. "Big Dig" with a linear park covered "North Central Freeway" multi-model Grand Arc Mall Tunnel that includes an undergrounded and capacity added Red Line (Metropolitan Branch B&O Corridor) connection to an underground 'Inner Loop' described here....

Nonetheless the 'COG' report bears false witness about the physical feasibilities any such highways -- a Washington, D.C. "Big Dig" enjoys far more favorable soil conditions than Boston's.

Meanwhile, New York City Mayor Bloomberg is pushing hard for such a program with likewise ZERO highway additions- despite the clear needs and feasibilities.

The problem is not physical, but rather political.

Earthquake Hazard Battery Park City Underscores Official Plannings Disregard for Safety

Foolishly Placed Buildings on Landfill WITHOUT Foundations to Bedrock May Imperil Vital Transportation Links.

http://www.greatgridlock.net/NYC/nycadd4.html

As for the subsoil conditions in NYC itself, the well-known Manhattan bedrock rises to the surface in the northern part of the island, extending also to the north. The bedrock falls deeper as we go to the south and east, forming still a reachable foundation for buildings in Midtown, but generally not as far south as in Downtown. Because bedrock forms a solid base for a building, it, despite also transmitting seismic shockwaves effectively, will be a better choice than soft soil. The ample soft soil in New York would be the cause for the city's major harm in case of an earthquake. Not only does it amplify the seismic waves and direct them to the surface, but parts of the city land are also prone to so-called liquefaction, an abrupt loss of soil cohesion. The sand particles lose their friction resistance under the earthquake vibration and get mixed up with water beneath the ground surface, naturally losing any support it gives to a structure. A particularly clear example of its effect was the accident in Brooklyn, where building a sewer in reclaimed land with a vibratory pile driver collapsed four houses within two blocks with the loss of a life. The agitated soil had given way even from that distance and led to the collapse. Much of the waterfront is filled-in and reclaimed from the rivers with soil that is prone to liquefaction, especially below water level. The most notable of these landfills is the Battery Park City in Downtown Manhattan, which would face severe problems in a major earthquake -- as would do many other vital services, like several major hospitals or the Long Island airports on fills, with JFK also near Rockaway.

An earthquake could make BPC buildings tilt, possibly towards the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel portal approach, requiring their subsequent demolition as a hazard to transport.

Perhaps this is also applicable to the irresponsibly placed Chase Manhattan buildings immediately along the south side of the Holland Tunnel in New Jersey? I would not be too surprised given the extreme disregard to transport amongst 'new urbanist' planning.

New N.Y. State Gov. Patterson Sells Out on 'Conjestion' Pricing

Gov. Patterson

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/22/nyregion/22congestion.html?em&ex=1206331200&en=85525bdb332c0d91&ei=5087%0A

Gov. David A. Paterson added his support on Friday to the idea of charging drivers to enter the busiest sections of Manhattan, rescuing the controversial program from the brink of death by submitting a bill to the State Legislature to establish it.

The turnaround came after an impassioned pitch to the governor from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg behind closed doors at City Hall on Wednesday, when Mr. Paterson privately expressed support for the proposal, city officials said. He warned the mayor that he first had to tell Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who has shown little inclination to approve it, the officials said.

Mr. Paterson’s blessing, which came as Bloomberg aides have been furiously lobbying the city and state lawmakers whose approval is needed for the program, could prove crucial in making the proposal to charge most drivers $8 to enter the zone below 61st Street on weekdays a reality.

Congestion pricing addresses two urgent concerns of the residents of New York City and its suburbs: the need to reduce congestion on our streets and roads, and thereby reduce pollution, and the need to raise significant revenue for mass transit improvement,” Mr. Paterson said in a statement.

Winning the support of Mr. Paterson, who has far more experience and good will among state lawmakers than his predecessor, Eliot Spitzer, represents something of a coup for Mr. Bloomberg, who has made congestion pricing an important element of his second-term agenda.

The Throgs Neck Bridge, which opened January 11, 1961, and which represents Long Island's only continuous modern interstate highway route to the mainland (via the Clearview Expressway to the Long Island Expressway) is in such poor shape that trucks are limited to using the middle lane in each direction with a 30 mph speed limit.

The Verazano Narrows Bridge, which opened November 21, 1964, with its lower deck opening June 28, 1969, represents Long Island's only other modern interstate highway route to the mainland (though without a continuous modern interstate highway route connection via the pre-WW2 spec Gowanus Expressway), and is the latest such structure constructed. Although it was to have a easterly connection via a proposed Cross Brooklyn Expressway that would connect to an Atlantic Expressway along the Sunrise 'highway' (surface street) corridor, that, along with every other planned but not yet built highway was canceled en-mass by then New York City Mayor Lindsey in 1969-71. A planned modern interstate highway bridge connecting Long Island's Route 135 to Westchester County's I-287 would be canceled in 1973, while a modern replacement for Manhattan's antiquated West Side Highway would be politically raped for appropriating its funds for non-highway subways by 1985.

Although 'conjestion' pricing funds shall come from vehicularists, who already have their toll monies so diverted, all we seem to hear about these funds being used is non-highway mass transit.

Obviously, this is sustained by a nexis of political money power largely centered around Manhattan's Central Park of people who exemplify a near total disregard of the importance of road infrastructure that we saw in the movie "The Day After Tomorrow" about a Manhattan flooded and frozen, with nothing coming into the city, yet no one seems to mind the lack of food.




A look at Gov. Patterson's Secretary 'ex' Jesuit Charles J. O'Byrne

Constructing Buildings Over Existing Roads

http://www.wowflutter.com/2008/01/05/constructing-buildings-over-existing-infrastructure/

NYC Building Collapse Highlights Real Estate/Road Proximity Issues

March, 2008 collapse of building in Manhattan next to Metro North RR

New Jersey side of the Holland Tunnel with buildings recently erected close

This building collapse shut down the use of the neighboring adjacent Metro North RR, even without directly having a physically conflict.

What then about such things as the recently erected real estate ventures -- with the logo of the Chase Manhattan Bank -- that immediately along the southern side of the New Jersey approach of the Holland Tunnel?

NYC area Toll Hike RipOff

Cross-Hudson vehicular tolls to go to $8 tomorrow;
not a single lane built since the lower deck of the GW Bridge some 45 years ago!