Maybe because.....
These were the laborers of yesteryear who would take any job......
And this is who we are stuck with today.....
Posted on 09/08/2010 3:14:47 AM PDT by Willie Green
We live in strange times: so many people without work and so much work to be done. While millions of Americans languish without jobs, the nation’s bridges, roads, and rails are falling apart. Meanwhile, as America sleeps at the wheel, China, India, and Europe are developing the next generation of infrastructure.
In Washington State and across the nation, infrastructure may be the key to our future. As the body count mounts from the "Great Recession," America is still without a vision of how to revive an economy built on sand. Over the past 30 years, as we developed a bubble economy based on speculation and hyper-consumption, our infrastructure has crumbled.
We need to get back to our foundations in more ways than one. It's time to plan for a new national infrastructure based on smart investments. Surprisingly, this won't be the first such plan. America's history of planning for "the basics" nationwide gives us strong precedents for laying out a new National Infrastructure Plan 3.0.
National Infrastructure Plans: 1808 & 1908
Our recent trend of neglect goes against our history. Infrastructure is in the very DNA of American culture. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson jettisoned the weak Articles of Confederation for a Federal Constitution in part because of the need to build infrastructure between fractious states. They knew such projects could secure the nation’s prosperity and independence.
President Thomas Jefferson initiated the Gallatin Plan (1808), which outlined a 100-year national vision for canal and roadway development. It laid the groundwork for the Erie Canal, the Intercontinental Railroad, and the Homestead Act. President Theodore Roosevelt looked back to the Gallatin Plan when he brought together the Inland Waterways Commission (1908). The plan guided our national infrastructure development for another 100 years and provided the early seeds for conservation, hydropower, and the Interstate Highway System.
Both Jefferson and Roosevelt understood infrastructure to be a central part of the American political economy. Jefferson saw infrastructure as a means of equalizing opportunities for wealth and political participation. Roosevelt wanted to break the power of the railroad monopolies by offering transportation alternatives. He also wanted to protect the nation's natural heritage from greedy exploitation and conserve such natural treasures as Mount Rainier National Park.
In the depths of the Great Depression, FDR cut unemployment in half by providing infrastructure jobs. Through the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), millions were put to work building the infrastructure that became the platform for prosperity after World War II. Schools, bridges, levees, roads, and park trails were all built during this period. Today we are largely living off that legacy. Now it's our turn to build.
National Infrastructure Plan 3.0: Some suggestions
In the other Washington (D.C.), crafting a national infrastructure plan must be the main entrée on the menu. So far in the stimulus package it has been treated as a garnish. Both parties have to make it the focus of national debate for the next two years. All the ingredients are there for long-term job creation, economic competitiveness, innovation, environmental restoration, energy independence, and a better quality of life for all Americans.
Infrastructure projects will provide immediate and long-term jobs doing the work that needs to be done. Far from throwing money down a sinkhole, this is a tremendous investment in our future that will reap huge dividends if done right. We can fix broken bridges and levees while lifting up broken people and communities. Let’s rebuild together.
Michael Godfried has degrees in architecture and structural engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Washington. He was co-founder of Save Our Sanctuary, which helped lead the successful grassroots effort to preserve the historic First United Methodist Church in downtown Seattle. He works in an architecture firm specializing in sustainable urban infill housing.
Anyone doing "infrastructure" work will have to be union. I am sick of these lazy union slobs forcing their way into my savings account.
So he suggests that we now start paying for projects such as these today?
Nine years ago this week, the towers fell, and today there is nothing more than a well groomed hole in lower Manhattan where they once stood. Three Black Rock Canyon (Hoover) Dams could have been built in succession during that time if they applied the means of the day then even without all of the great advancements in construction we have today.
With the rate things get done today, this guy’s justification for major projects to get people back to work is foolish. It most likely will not be until 2021 until something is finished at GZ.
One just needs to look at the proposed memorial park at Shanksville. They don’t anticipate the first phase of the project to be complete until sometime in 2014!
This article is making the argument for spending more stimulus money. No thanks. If Detroit wants to rebuild their city, then let them pay for it. If California needs bailed out, then let them pay for it. I live in Indiana and I want my tax money to stay in Indiana.
Maybe because.....
These were the laborers of yesteryear who would take any job......
And this is who we are stuck with today.....
Great idea, Michael. Why don’t you take your hard earned money and invest in it, and see how you do? Meanwhile, keep your hands off everyone else’s money.
How does a lazy slob build a freeway overpass in 110 degree heat and keep the work moving on schedule?
And then they can use that money to payoff friends (again).
It's not about the infrastructure.
Absolutely true. It would have to be union under Obama and the Democrats. AND all contracts would have to be through approved Democratic donors and friends at massively inflated rates.
It's not about the infrastructure.
Yes it is.
Unfortunately, it is the GOP who is irresponsibly trying to pretend that we don't need to maintain/upgrade our infrastructure.
That's simply foolish.
Great idea, Michael. Why don’t you take your hard earned money and invest in it, and see how you do? Meanwhile, keep your hands off everyone else’s money.
Provision of public infrastructure is a legitimate government function.
If you don't want to pay the same taxes as the rest of us,
then simply put your money where your mouth is and stop paying your taxes.
I thought the massive “stimulus” bill took care of infrastructure. I’ve seen a number of highway and bridge repair projects completed under that bill.
Projects like the Hoover Damn and Erie Canal can not be compared to the infrastructure projects mentioned. The Erie Canal opened a vast area of this country to commerce and population growth. Hoover Dam wasn’t a mere “make work” project either - it supplied electric power to a large part of the Southwest and encourage another population shift, resulting in new towns, new cities and increased commerce.
Upgrade our Existing Power Systems. Vicki VanZandt, a former Bonneville Power Administration vice president, helped modernize the Northwest’s electrical grid. She co-sponsored the Non-Wire Solutions Roundtable that explored innovative ways to meet increased demand while reducing the need to install more miles of expensive high-voltage wires. By combining new fiber-optic technology and repairing existing equipment, she avoided cutting vast swaths through forests to build new lines.
Maybe I missed something in this, but how, exactly, do fiber optics have anything to do with power transmission?
Oh, an architect once again tells us how to fix society.
The road in front of our neighborhood has been under construction for several years. I’d say we already took that advice...they’re called TOLLROADS.
Who in the GOP is suggesting we should not maintain our public infrastructure?
Fix it First. The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that it would cost $2.2 trillion dollars to fix our existing infrastructure systems, from ailing sewage treatment plants to cracked levees. That’s a lot of jobs. These projects do not involve new disruptions of the environment or expensive purchases of rights-of-way. Local governments can identify a shortlist of priority projects like Seattle’s South Park Bridge.
Excellentg idea. But since these are local projects and it is unethical to expect someone in Indiana (for example) to pay for a bridge in Seattle (for example)where can we come up with the money? It can't be federal dollars as that would be wealth redistribution. Stealing money from me to pay for stuff I'll never get any benefit from.
Here's what we can do. Cut federal taxes to the bone. Return all gas taxing authority (beyond the bare minimum needed to maintain existing federal roads) to the states and let them spend their own money on their own projects.
Call a National Infrastructure Convention. We need a national vision that sets long-range strategic priorities, funding, and oversight, and we need states to identify local needs and provide the innovation.
The only national infrastructure that is constitutionally allowed is for defense purposes. Local roads and sewage treatment plants do not contribute to the defense of this country. Therefore the only national convention we need is to figure out how to keep federal government's greedy hands out of our pockets.
Renew the Blue-Collar Middle Class. It's very bad news for a democracy when the blue-collar middle class disappears. The latest federal data show that over the last decade Seattle lost 45,000 manufacturing jobs. On an anorexic diet of unbalanced free trade we have downsized and outsourced too much. Ed Rendell, governor of Pennsylvania and founder of Building America’s Future, points out that for every billion dollars spent on infrastructure, 20,000-40,000 jobs are created.
Accepting the words of democRAT Fast Eddie Rendell on economic policy is like putting the James Gang in charge of bank security.
While rebuilding the middle class is a good thing (as long as it is elevating the poor instead of tearing down the rich) it is NOT a federal government function. For that matter, it's not a local governemnet function. The government putting people on what are essentially welfare chain gangs is not a good idea.
Upgrade our Existing Power Systems. Vicki VanZandt, a former Bonneville Power Administration vice president, helped modernize the Northwest's electrical grid. She co-sponsored the Non-Wire Solutions Roundtable that explored innovative ways to meet increased demand while reducing the need to install more miles of expensive high-voltage wires. By combining new fiber-optic technology and repairing existing equipment, she avoided cutting vast swaths through forests to build new lines.
Excellent idea. Something that the electric generation and supply industry should be attacking. (Please note that not one dime of tax money should ever go to support a private venture such as this)
Implement Conservation Retrofits. Millions of homes and buildings across the nation could be retrofitted with new windows, plumbing fixtures, insulation, solar panels, etc. The energy and water savings from these retrofits would be immense.
Excellent idea. Lowes, homo depot, menards etc would be glad to sell each individual homeowner the materials needed to upgrade their own home.
The City of Seattle recently received a federal grant for residential retrofits. Van Jones, author of The Green Collar Economy, has spoken eloquently before the Seattle City Council and Mayor McGinn about the great opportunity to provide green jobs and training to disenfranchised inner-city youth and unemployed blue-collar workers.
Here's where the idea turns to crap. What business does anyone have spending money forcibly taken from me to improve somoen else's house? Absolutely none. Spending tax money on ANY private enterprise is criminal!
Restore Infrastructure and Land Simultaneously.
Great idea. The problem is that the watermelons will use it to steal other people's property (again). You know why we call environementalists watermelons? Because they are environmentalist green on the outside but communist red to the core.
Create Multi-Purpose Projects. Storm-water runoff is now the primary culprit in concocting a toxic cocktail for Orcas and other marine creatures, according to People For Puget Sound. The chemicals on our roadways are baked on during dry weather and then flushed by the rain directly into our waterways. We can improve aging stormwater infrastructure and put in place Low Impact Development while saving the Sound. This will create jobs and free Willy from the threat of extinction.
Another great idea for business to address
Build Green Infrastructure.
Good idea. And if it is really feasible, business will find a way to do it.
From sea to shining sea, only 4 percent of the American landscape is set aside for conservation.
So you plan to steal other people's property (say through the endagered species act or some other government theft program) and force it into conservation? Why not just let people determine how to use their own property (as long as they are not injuring anyone else)?
Right here in Puget Sound we have the know-how to build the next generation of high-speed rail cars and to take the next leap in solar-panel technology, while being leaders in recycling, composting, and energy conservation.
Choo Choo!! Unfortunately mass transit almost never works in this country. If it did, business would be beating down the doors to build more rails etc.
Teach American Students About Infrastructure. One reason why infrastructure fell off the national radar is that the topic is almost totally absent from school curricula. It is possible to go right through to graduate school and never understand where your tap water comes from, or the power for your laptop. Think of all the grade-school boys who have been deprived of the opportunity of visiting a sewage treatment plant! We also need infrastructure degrees at our trade schools, community colleges, and universities. We need a multi-disciplinary approach that combines construction and maintenance with beautiful and sustainable design.
Excellent idea. The program is called civil engineering. THe solution is to get the politically correct garbage (like environmentalism) totally out of the schools so we can teach what really matters.
Build Small, Too. Small is beautiful. Worldwide, it is the small-scale infrastructure that will make the biggest difference for public and environmental health. Centralized systems tend to be inflexible, hugely capital-intensive, and unable to serve the growing and dispersed population throughout the world. Solar panels and hot water heating, geothermal energy, rainwater collection, etc. are taking hold in this country and abroad.
Another good idea. Local projects with local control and local money. No reason whatsoever for the fedgov to steal our tax dollars to advance these things at all.
Avoid the Edifice Complex. Large-scale projects will always have their place in the infrastructure palette. However, an over-reliance on them will further bankrupt our nation. Poorly planned, wasteful, environmentally destructive projects will alienate public trust. Building "bridges to nowhere" will get us nowhere.
Federal money linked to federal regulations ("art requirements" ect) always leads to wasteful large scale projects. Always. How much would the big dig have cost without federal involvement?
In the other Washington (D.C.), crafting a national infrastructure plan must be the main entrée on the menu.
Here. I'll do it for you. Federal gas taxes are cut to the bare minimum to support existing federal roads (primarily the section of the interstate highway system that crosses state borders, defense installations and certain water type projects (flood control, navigable waterway control) that affect more than one state). Fuel taxing authority is returned to the states. Every project within the borders of a state is funded, designed, and managed by that state.
Plan complete. There wasn't that easy?
It is a legitimate function of local government. There is nothing in the Constitution that allows the fedgov to do infrastructure projects not related to defense.
If Washington state wants to raise their local taxes to pay for more infrastructure I say more power to them. But don't come picking the rest of the countries pockets to pay for stuff we will never benefit from.
We’re desperate for jobs, so why not put people to work fixing America’s decaying infrastructure?
Well gee,,,,why not????
Thats what your 900freakinBILLION dollar porculous bill was supposed to do.
Didn’t work, did it?
Maybe I missed something in this, but how, exactly, do fiber optics have anything to do with power transmission?
Good question!
I'm really not familiar with Bonneville Power's operations, but it looks like they're somehow involved in telecommunications, and not just power generation.
Anyway, that's what I assume since Google turned up an article about how BPA was using fiber-optics to replace microwave communications equipment: BPA's Fiber Optics Can Help Rural Northwest Economically.
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