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Boondoggle in the Motor City: Detroit's Train to Nowhere ( Choo-choo! )
Reason ^ | Oct 13, 2010 | Reason

Posted on 10/17/2010 6:18:36 AM PDT by Leisler

Youtube link.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; US: Michigan
KEYWORDS: boondoggle; detroit; lightrail; michigan; rail; sirspendsalot; urban; willie; williegreen
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To: Leisler

Willie is an industrial engineer? Funny, he told me he was an economics guy with an MBA. Sounds to me as if he is just a crank.


61 posted on 10/17/2010 9:13:27 AM PDT by Buckeye Battle Cry (Conservatives want a CHOICE not an echo - No more RINOs!)
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To: Leisler

Will it connect to the Mugger-Mover?


62 posted on 10/17/2010 9:13:45 AM PDT by tcrlaf (Obama White House=Tammany Hall on the National Mall)
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To: Paladin2; All

Look folks, I am a train fan, but I do understand economics.

I also understand that one of the responsibilities of government is to create the infrastucture that supports the growth of the economy.

Without the government helping to pay for rail development, the West wouldn’t have been opened for decades. Same for the interstate highway system.

That said, the inane politics of Democrat pork has turned rail into a public-financed nightmare.

Instead of doing things like rebuilding the National Line as a high-speed rail corridor to St. Louis, taking the pressure off of Chicago, we are spending BILLIONS on almost useless trains like the NorthStar, Rail Runner, or this Detroit nightmare.


63 posted on 10/17/2010 9:22:26 AM PDT by tcrlaf (Obama White House=Tammany Hall on the National Mall)
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To: tcrlaf
As I pointed out to Willie; Warren Buffett has plenty of dough that he plans to eventually donate to leftist causes. He could easily try an experiment and set up passenger rail on the BNSF system. He hasn't. Willie didn't want him to because it was private enterprise.

Chicago was built around the railroads. I'm not sure they are at capacity.

64 posted on 10/17/2010 9:35:59 AM PDT by Paladin2
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To: Willie Green; All

65 posted on 10/17/2010 10:07:19 AM PDT by wheresmyusa
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To: cripplecreek
If the people recognize the ammount of land that would need to be siezed for the nationwide rail project, it would die a painful death.

Good point.

66 posted on 10/17/2010 10:47:00 AM PDT by Tribune7 (The Democrat Party is not a political organization but a religious cult.)
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To: Leisler

This is simply about more union jobs.


67 posted on 10/17/2010 10:47:53 AM PDT by Mark was here (It's either Obama or America. There cannot be both.)
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To: gunsequalfreedom

He’s not been zotted.


68 posted on 10/17/2010 10:49:37 AM PDT by Tribune7 (The Democrat Party is not a political organization but a religious cult.)
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To: gunsequalfreedom

Oh, I commuted in and out of DC for 17 long years on the Metro system. Hope you and my fellow Freepers don’t mind having paid me for it.


69 posted on 10/17/2010 12:21:51 PM PDT by Doctor 2Brains
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To: Paladin2
I find it annoying that many towns don't connect their airport to the local transit system. A direct connection to the a/p is a necessary condition to having a "great" transit system.

You can thank the taxi lobby for that missing link.

70 posted on 10/17/2010 12:55:03 PM PDT by Lorianne (During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. ___ George Orwell)
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To: truthfreedom

You are not going to, ever, get fast trains on the east coast.

The train lines were built through the then village centers, now deep in urban areas and right through hevily populated, bridged suburbs.

And why is that a problem? You have to straighten out the rails and curves, which means the most expensive land takings, local disruptions ALL along the route. Think a trillion dollars. Maybe more.

You are never going to get the money, ever. It will take you decades in court, and you will lose politically because some of this would go though the wealthiest, most politically hooked up areas. In this day and age, the unwashed muddle class working stiffs are not going to have their burb town ripped up while elitists get favors.

Lastly, I don’t see any real economic need to move lawyers, academics, federal grant writers, hipsters and the occasional tourists much faster.


71 posted on 10/18/2010 4:34:26 AM PDT by Leisler ("Over time they create a legal system that plunders and a moral code that glorifies it." F. Bastiat)
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To: wheresmyusa

HA! Good.


72 posted on 10/18/2010 4:37:18 AM PDT by Leisler (g)
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To: Arrowhead1952

I just got tired of his posting every . . . single . . . article . . . promoting mass transportation every . . . single . . . Day.

I remembered that way back in the early years of FR a FReeper called Don Morgon posted “Ash Alerts” on every thread that a Troll with any one of a multitude of screen names. (all had some form of “ash” in them)

That is how / why behind the Choo-Choo posts.

I guess Jim got tired of them too.


73 posted on 10/18/2010 9:49:31 AM PDT by Petruchio (I Think . . . Therefor I FReep.)
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To: Leisler
One only has to look at I-75 from the 12 mile overpass at 8:00 a.m. to see where the workers are headed......North to Troy and its surrounding communities.

If you drive Woodward ave. from 8 mile into downtown Detroit you would swear you were driving thru war torn Lebanon or some other such place.......

74 posted on 10/18/2010 10:44:48 AM PDT by Hot Tabasco (There's only one cure for Obamarrhea......)
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To: Leisler

I tend to agree. It may very well be that the one place that a super fast maglev type 300 mph train would work it would be impossible to build.

I was just saying Boston to Washington does have the people to support it. Perhaps building it 20 30 40 miles from 95 could work? But then it might defeat the purpose.

Not a big fan of fancy new trains going from one place where there aren’t many people to another. Super fast, super expensive trains need a huge number of people to ride them. And it would be cool if it could happen. But it probably won’t.

I definitely wouldn’t start with the assumption that a new train is needed.


75 posted on 10/18/2010 4:12:33 PM PDT by truthfreedom
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To: Petruchio
I just got tired of his posting every . . . single . . . article . . . promoting mass transportation every . . . single . . . Day.

I read several of Willie's Choo Choo threads and noticed he would always talk down to people in his replies. I think he must be a liberal anyway and wants taxpayers to pay for mass transit. If mass transit or Amtrak would be profitable, there would be people all over the US selling that or a similar product.

76 posted on 10/19/2010 5:17:23 AM PDT by Arrowhead1952 (Remember in November. Clean the house on Nov. 2. / Progressive is a PC word for liberal democrat.)
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To: Buckeye Battle Cry
What happened to Willie Green?

Self imposed disappearing act from FR because Jim threatened to ZOT him. The last sentence in his profile now reads as follows:

"It is with deep regret that I no longer find this to be an acceptable venue for those efforts.
It has become merely another setting where tactics of intellectual thuggery and intimidation are used to maintain the status quo and keep people disinformed and misguided."

77 posted on 10/19/2010 5:23:03 AM PDT by Arrowhead1952 (Remember in November. Clean the house on Nov. 2. / Progressive is a PC word for liberal democrat.)
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To: Tribune7
He’s (Willie Green) not been zotted.

Self imposed absence from FR due to being threatened by the founder. See above post by me and read the last line in his profile.

78 posted on 10/19/2010 5:25:39 AM PDT by Arrowhead1952 (Remember in November. Clean the house on Nov. 2. / Progressive is a PC word for liberal democrat.)
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To: GonzoGOP

Light rail projects might be good in a few select places. I don’t mind the Federales funding them as demonstration projects. But just about all the ones I’ve recently seen are obscene wastes of taxpayers money. Rip-offs similar to ethanol.

Willie Green would thoughtlessly promote any and every light rail scheme


79 posted on 10/19/2010 5:31:50 AM PDT by dennisw (- - - -He who does not economize will have to agonize - - - - - Confuscius.)
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To: Leisler

Many on the Left, instead of addressing the true causes of the decline of Detroit, believe that the decline was caused because Detroit lacked a mass transportation system like other major cities. Thus, they now erroneously think that building a mass transportation system will restore Detroit.


80 posted on 10/19/2010 5:36:21 AM PDT by CharacterCounts (November 4, 2008 - the day America drank the Kool-Aid)
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