Posted on 05/30/2005 10:29:13 AM PDT by MikeHu
One of the great megatrends is this movement towards decentralization rather than increased centralization. The leading paradigm of this is the personal computer and how it decentralized information processing from highly centralized processing of the mainframe computers. The wireless movement took this even further, in liberating us from the limitations of wires.
Rail was the solution for transportation in the 19th century; the automobile supplanted them in the 20th century, and because of that success, created problems of its own. However, it is highly unlikely that the solution to the auto problem is to go back to rail; that would in fact, be an unprecedented development in the progression of anything.
The technological trend is obviously smaller, more options, more versatility. In the transportation discussion, that would mean enabling people to go where they really wanted to go rather than just to a large transit station — which is not the object of my travels. In fact, that is a major hindrance to the use of highly centralized transportation modes — that it merely takes me a place I would not go otherwise.
Unlike in previous times, the recent spike up in gas prices have not caused the response of people conserving, car pooling, buying smaller cars, even developing innovative solutions. Hawaii should be the ideal environment for developing such prototypes — which would be a high-tech skateboard, with seat, rechargeable batteries with a range of 30 miles on a single charge. Such vehicles are already beginning to make their appearance in exclusive retirement communities — where even minimal mobility is a challenge to many. That is obviously the hope for the future.
For the Hawaii adaptation, add the shade option. Most of Hawaii is accessible — given enough time, water and shade. If people are complaining about sitting in traffic at a standstill for two hours, they could be moving along quite nicely on their electric charged scooters — on the safety of the sidewalks.
The even bigger picture facing Hawaii for the long term is this aging demographic requiring options to maintain true mobility and viability. Getting around Honolulu faster on the rail is probably not a high priority for those. Increasing the GET makes the cost of living in Hawaii higher, necessitating the movement of the young elsewhere for more favorable opportunities and markets. The solution is not raising salaries but lowering the cost of living, including less taxes to support expanding bureaucracies.
The cycle should be familiar by now. The boom followed by the inevitable bust. Then you have a rail system for people who have no place to go. Success is always a greater challenge than failure. Those who don’t handle it well, undo the advantages so they can reinvent the wheel again and in that way, achieve success again. The smarter move is to not go back but to go forward and reach even higher levels — where we have not gone before.
I have a feeling this will wind up on the SAT or one of those other standardized tests for students to try to figure out exactly what is being advocated, and why.
The urban rail proponents are all about making money in real estate. The cronies of the politicians buy up the real estate near the stations before the rail goes in and make a killing when its finished. Then they recycle a portion of the profit back to the politicians. The sheeple are forced into using the trains because the traffic gets even worse than before (the trains eat up street capacity). Oh and, DUH, almost all of the political proponenets are Democrats. Who'da thunk it?
I try to write about everything -- in as few words as possible.
As opposed to the minstream media style of using the most words to say little -- or nothing at all.
That sounds suspiciously plausible to me but I'm no expert on every scam in the world.
I thought your comment was such a great insight that I posted it as a comment on the site of the original blog. That whole discussion has been left unsaid -- from all the testimonies I've heard. That's one of those obvious answers that everybody thinks but nobody ever says, so we dance around all the other issues. I'm sure the people of Hawaii thank you greatly for your outsider's perspective.
Living in Hawaii, or any place for a while, one gets so immersed by the conventional wisdom that he loses this outsider's perspective quite easily -- particularly so because even moderates like me get suppressed and censored by the local newspapers. Meanwhile, all the dysfunctional libs get published frequently as the voice "of the people," the voice "of impartiality," the voice "of objectivity."
They start believing their own propaganda.
I spoke to an engineer who worked for the firm that is currently tearing up downtown Houston, taking over lanes from cars, and putting in MetroRail. I asked him why they did not consider alternatives such as monorails that would not take up valuable lanes on the ground. His reply, "The city never considered any alternatives. They wanted light rail, period." The Democratic ties to the real estate barons was repeatedly exposed, but we still ended up with a multi-billion dollar mess forced on the city. Critics pointed out that buses would cost less, move more people, have more flexibility, were safer, and did not require taking over lanes. All to no avail.
Again, I'm sharing your valuable insights in the other forum -- because it is a tale being repeated in many cities across the country -- as though these objections are not universal. The media complicity to suppress these sentiments from one community to the next is revealing.
This is where the power of the blogs is telling. Usually, there are not one set of rules peculiar to one community for which every other has been exempt. But in the past, because of selective editing of the information and news, we've come to believe all those claims produced by our local newspapers that everybody everywhere else is paid more, has a lower cost of living, etc.
Even if there are two supposedly competing newspapers, the print virtually the identical stories -- as our choice.
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