Posted on 10/12/2005 7:13:59 AM PDT by EggsAckley
Strike-weary Santa Cruz County residents have turned to hitchhiking, taxis, jogging, walking and riding bikes. The bucolic campus of the University of California at Santa Cruz has become a huge parking lot in the redwoods, as university officials allow students and staff -- now forced to drive to campus -- to park on campus roads.
The bus strike is the talk of this left-leaning town -- more than the war in Iraq or Supreme Court nominees. Last week, a group of UC-Santa Cruz Republicans clashed with bus strike supporters. The demonstration was followed by a huge protest outside the Santa Cruz Sentinel, which was accused of being unfair to bus drivers.
``Most UCSC students support the strike because they support anybody who strikes because we live in Santa Cruz and that's who we are,'' Hinton said.
But Hinton said he's one of the minority who feel the strikers make a decent wage -- nearly $25 an hour at top scale -- and should be happy with how the capitalist system is treating them.
``I wish we were a socialist country, but we're not,'' Hinton said.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
I wish you could move to a socialist country and experience it for several years...
Bingo. The stupidity level here continues to soar.
Seriously though, this strike is really causing me problems as I have workers who depend on the Metro and aren't able to arrive for work.
$25 an hour to drive a bus? Heck, where do I sign up?
The only reason Santa Cruz is so high and mighty is because of all the great piles of cash that flow into the place from all those commuters driving 17 everyday to work their capitalist jobs in Silicon Valley.
``I wish we were a socialist country, but we're not,'' Hinton said.
Someone should tell this idiot that in a capitalist medium, those drivers would have been fired, replaced, and the crisis would be over.
Not only that, but if you follow the commute off of 17, very few of the vehicles go into the City of Santa Cruz, but instead turn South. It's the south county that pays for the idiocy in the City.
*ping*
Quote corrected
The buses and drivers should be replaced with an automated light-rail or maglev system.
Such machines don't join unions and don't go on strike.
Plus, they can work 24/7/365 without overtime or holiday pay.
;^)
Maglev? On city streets with 10% grades and saturated alluvium both subject to earthquakes?
Just keep talking Willie. You'll convince everybody of what a lovely idea it is to put your personal transportation in the hands of Santa Cruz lefits.
Sure. Actually, that's one of Maglev's advantages over light-rail. Steel wheel on rail relies on friction for traction, and at best can only go up a 3% grade. Any steeper than that and traditional trains/trolleys must resort to some kind of "cog railway" solution or "cable cars" to help pull them up. Maglev propulsion, OTOH, can easily handle grades up to 10%.
Earthquakes? Well, then the Civil Engineers will have to beef up the structure a bit, just like anything else that's built in Kalifornia. It'll cost a little more than building somewhere where there are no earthquakes, but there's no reason why it can't be done.
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