Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Infrastructure Crimes of the Last Century
by Tom Bozzo
A Star Tribune website section (now seemingly vanished) on the Hiawatha LRT debut linked a 1954 story about the Great Progress represented by replacing those 523 miles of streetcar lines with modern diesel buses. As the era of cheap motoring ends to the point where just about everyone outside the Reason Foundation reconsiders how great automobile dependency is, this should lead to a costly do-over.
This is the historical marker for the late Minneapolis streetcar network at the Linden Hills station:
A Star Tribune website section (now seemingly vanished) on the Hiawatha LRT debut linked a 1954 story about the Great Progress represented by replacing those 523 miles of streetcar lines with modern diesel buses. As the era of cheap motoring ends to the point where just about everyone outside the Reason Foundation reconsiders how great automobile dependency is, this should lead to a costly do-over.
Labels: Trains Planes and Automobiles, West Wisconsin or East Dakota
Sunday, August 26, 2007
He's Good Enough, He's Smart Enough...
by Tom Bozzo
More from the fair later.
Addendum from the Dark Side:
Here's Norm "There Must Have Been Long-Acting Psychedelic Substances in the St. Paul City Hall Water Cooler" Coleman's booth, which was a lonely place.
Based on that sign, Team Franken is way ahead in the graphic design race.
Meanwhile, at the Minnesota Republican Party booth, they had a straw poll on. Here are the results as of around 11:30 A.M. (click to embiggen):
The tally-taker's penmanship leaves something to be desired, but it looks like Ol' Basset Hound Fred was either commanding a plurality of the vote or at least neck-and-neck with Moneybags Mitt — who either didn't buy enough votes, or sent too few of his sons to stuff the ballot box. Meanwhile, the hardcore nutballs didn't seem to be going over that well with the Twin Cities crowd as they did in Iowa.
...and doggone it, he got his picture taken with a liberal blogger from Wisconsin.
More from the fair later.
Addendum from the Dark Side:
Here's Norm "There Must Have Been Long-Acting Psychedelic Substances in the St. Paul City Hall Water Cooler" Coleman's booth, which was a lonely place.
Based on that sign, Team Franken is way ahead in the graphic design race.
Meanwhile, at the Minnesota Republican Party booth, they had a straw poll on. Here are the results as of around 11:30 A.M. (click to embiggen):
The tally-taker's penmanship leaves something to be desired, but it looks like Ol' Basset Hound Fred was either commanding a plurality of the vote or at least neck-and-neck with Moneybags Mitt — who either didn't buy enough votes, or sent too few of his sons to stuff the ballot box. Meanwhile, the hardcore nutballs didn't seem to be going over that well with the Twin Cities crowd as they did in Iowa.
Labels: Politics, West Wisconsin or East Dakota
