Free Republic

Mayor John Whitmire proposing a 5% cut across the board, except for fire and police departments.. Tax hikes and increased fees for parking and city services are likely .. The Mayor of Houston says the city is 'broke' after overspending for decades. Experts say the problem has existed for years, but COVID handouts from the federal government helped mask them. ... A tax hike through a bond is expected in November. ... The city has been struggling to make firefighters whole, from meeting its contractual obligation to their pension, to paying backpay and wage hikes that have been promised years...

Picture Pittsburgh 50 years from now with these transportation changes: a terminal in a central location to handle a hyperloop system, vehicles for vertical takeoffs and landings, and high-speed trains; aerial trams linking neighborhoods; and new bridges crossing the Monongahela River at Hazelwood for motorized vehicles and at the former Wabash rail bridge piers for bikes and pedestrians. Those might sound like something from a science fiction novel, but they are among the ideas the city says it must consider in a 50-year Mobility Vision Plan released Thursday by Mayor Bill Peduto and Karina Ricks, director of the city’s Department...

A man who was stabbed to death aboard a San Francisco Bay Area commuter train Tuesday may have been trying to stop the theft of another rider’s shoes, authorities said.

DENVER — The Regional Transportation District continues to deal with a widespread shortage of train and bus operators, and that resulted in a large number of canceled trips Monday. As of 6 a.m. Monday, RTD’s website was showing more than 50 canceled trips ... Beyond canceled trips, the shortage has resulted in many operators working six days a week. Officials have been weighing whether to reduce service in some areas to make up for the lack of drivers,

RTD is cutting the number of cars on the light rail R Line that runs through Aurora because of a lack of ridership. RTD says ridership on the R Line is about half of projected numbers. The one-car trains look more like a trolly going up and down the tracks. RTD believes cutting the two-car trains to just one is enough to serve the needs of the R Line passengers and the low numbers for now.

The light rail operator involved in the fatal crash that killed a 29-year-old ballroom dancer was found at fault for the incident but will not be charged. Documents released by Metro Transit show that Abdellatif El Maarouf was discharged in connection to the crash that killed Nicholas Westlake last July. In an internal memorandum, Metro Transit said El Maarouf traveled through a signal on July 19 at Eustis Street and University Avenue in St. Paul, causing the collision. The memorandum was written in August. The memorandum goes on to say, "Light Rail Management investigated the accident and determined Mr. El....

BLACK LIVES MATTER AND ANTIFA BLOCK TRAINS TO SUPER BOWL IN MINNEAPOLIS– The protesters are blocking the light rail to US Bank Stadium in Minnesota hours before the Super Bowl. The protesters chained themselves together to block the light rail to the stadium.

This year, America’s overall infrastructure was awarded a D+ grade, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers’ “Infrastructure Report Card.” Arizona’s infrastructure may be relatively newer by comparison but it is starting to show signs of wear and tear as indicated by the C grade that it received from ASEC. While the state of Arizona’s infrastructure may not be in as dire of shape as other urban areas, the need for new and repaired infrastructure is widely talked about, especially at Valley Partnership. For 30 years now, Valley Partnership has been the rational voice at the table whenever important...

Dozens of public transit projects around the country are in danger of stalling as the White House's plan to boost U.S. infrastructure fails to gain momentum - with thousands of jobs at risk. The uncertainty over these projects has worsened in recent days as President Donald Trump - who had vowed to make the week's focus infrastructure - faced a series of distractions, including a congressional hearing featuring former FBI director James Comey. The president, who had called for $1 trillion in new infrastructure programs to create millions of jobs, now faces an increasing probability that not only will his...

“We have bridges that are falling down,” then-candidate Donald Trump told Fox last August, pledging to double the amount Hillary Clinton wanted to spend on infrastructure as president of the United States. “We’ll get a fund, we’ll make a phenomenal deal with the low interest rates and rebuild our infrastructure.” One year later and eight months into his presidency, Trump has continued to double down on his lofty promises — during “Infrastructure Week” in June, he told his supporters in Cincinnati that the U.S. “deserves the best infrastructure in the world.” But the administration has been slow to move its...

Although it’s still putting together its enforcement policy for when the light rail system goes cashless in July, Port Authority said Friday it does not intend to use racial profiling or other methods to identify illegal immigrants. The authority explained its plans after a handful of riders expressed concerns at the agency’s monthly board meeting that it would use fare checks to identify people with improper immigration papers. The authority expects to switch to a prepaid system on the T in July, where riders will be on the honor system for paying their fare. To encourage payment, the authority will...

MERCER ISLAND, Wash. - The city of Mercer Island plans to sue Sound Transit and the State Department of Transportation over I-90 access, which could freeze the East Light construction project set to begin in June. The City Council unanimously approved the legal action Monday during a packed council meeting. They plan to sue both agencies and seek a moratorium on the construction as they search for short-term solutions to their traffic concerns. In response to the authorized legal action, Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff released a statement calling the decision “highly regrettable.” “While Sound Transit remains ready to reach...

A Maryland board approved a $5.6 billion contract Wednesday for a team of companies to build and operate a light-rail Purple Line that state officials say will rejuvenate older communities and transform a 16-mile swath of the Washington suburbs. The 876-page agreement — believed to be the most expensive government contract ever in Maryland — forms one of the largest public-private partnerships on a U.S. transportation project and will result in the first major light-rail line in the nation’s capital in years. […] Compared with Metro trains, Purple Line light-rail trains will be shorter, carry a maximum of 300 passengers...

Two Arab terrorist cousins, aged 11 and 14, repeatedly stabbed a security guard lightly to moderately wounding him on the Jerusalem light rail two weeks ago. On Wednesday segments of their investigation were published for the first time by Channel 2. The 11-year-old terrorist, Ali Alkam, is the youngest terrorist in the current terror wave - the sixth grader would-be murderer is to go free after receiving medical treatment, and be sent to a special school instead or prison due to his age. His older cousin Muawiyyeh Alkam is in seventh grade; the two hail from the eastern Shuafat neighborhood....

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=308AnrGNYS4 Footage has emerged showing the moment two young Arab terrorists - one of them aged just 11 - carried out a stabbing attack aboard a bus in Jerusalem's Pisgat Ze'ev neighborhood Monday. A security guard was moderately wounded in the attack, but succeeded in shooting and injuring one of the attackers, while the second was detained at the scene. The attack was one of three stabbings or attempted stabbings in the capital Tuesday, ending a period of quiet in Jerusalem which lasted for several days. Shortly after the Pisgat Ze'ev attack an Arab terrorist was shot near the...

PARIS — A gunman opened fire on a high-speed train traveling from Amsterdam to Paris Friday, wounding two people before being subdued by two American passengers, officials said. French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, speaking in Arras in northern France where the suspected was detained, said one of the Americans was hospitalized with serious wounds. Their names were not immediately released. Philippe Lorthiois, an official with the Alliance police union, said on i-Tele that the two Americans were soldiers. In Washington, the Pentagon said it “can only confirm that one U.S. military member was injured in the incident. The injury is...

You know our country is in serious financial trouble when lawmakers are considering selling a portion of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in order to partially replenish the U.S. highway trust fund. Yet, the apparent financial distress doesn't stop the Department of Transportation from continuing to hand out millions of federal matching funds to entice local governments to either expand or build light rails under its "New Starts" program. Several U.S. cities jumped on the fed induced light rail frenzy. The latest example is Lone Tree, Colorado, a picturesque small town with a population of 13,267. The Lone Tree city...

While Metro Transit's Green Line isn't exactly paying for itself through passenger fares, it's doing a better job than most other Minnesota public transit options. Passengers boarding the state's second light-rail line from its debut in June through the end of 2014 paid $6.21 million into the fare box, or about 35.8 percent of what it costs to operate the 11-mile route. "I think 35 percent is a really good percentage," said St. Paul City Council member Dave Thune. "I love it. I think it has been a success. The kind of traffic it's seeing, going from one end of...

The Twin Cities have long been considered one of the best places in the country to live when it comes to health, happiness and job opportunities, but the disparities for racial minorities are striking. A new report looks at yet another area where the experiences of whites and non-whites generally diverge: commute times. The 12-page study finds that black and Asian transit users in the Twin Cities spend 138 and 146 more hours each year, respectively, getting to and from work than white drivers do. For Latinos, the "transit time penalty" increased to 173 hours -- the equivalent of losing...

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - Are they clever ads with a play on words, or are they just outright sexually-explicit? A valley store's new billboards are at the center of controversy, and Valley Metro has already pulled them off their trains. The ads are nothing new; chances are you've seen them on trucks or billboards around Phoenix. The owner of My Sister's Closet said she entered into an advertising agreement, the ads were approved, so she was stunned when the ads were abruptly pulled. "Wanted: One Night Stand, Buy a Bigger Chest, Make a Booty Call," my sister's closet thought these ads...