Bush kicks off drive to stop bullet train plans

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Jeb like his brother G DUHbya will stop at nothing to assure the dominance of big oil.

TALLAHASSEE - Four years after Florida voters approved a bullet train, Gov. Jeb Bush wants them to derail it.

With the Legislature unwilling to help, Bush and Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher turned Thursday to a citizen initiative, hoping to collect the more than 488,000 signatures needed to put a repeal on the November ballot.

Bush wants voters to kill the train system they approved in 2000. He said the state can't afford such "a luxury item."

Hours after the announcement, the man who heads the state's High Speed Rail Authority said such drastic action is premature.

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http://www.sptimes.com/2004/03/05/State/Bush_kicks_off_drive_.shtml

[Cat Atomic]

1. This sort of thing borders on treason in my book.

I used to live in Pasadena, CA. Pasadena once had a nice trolly system that took people into the downtown area, and even into central Los Angeles. It was a very effective public transit system, and very popular as well.

Oil lobbyists managed to have it dismantled. It was bad for everyone but them. They destroyed our infrastructure to line their own pockets.

[I AM SPARTACUS]

2. you mean you don't prefer the expressway to a quiet ride on a trolly???

ever seen "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" (seriously...)

[baby_bear]

8. You are referring to the Red Cars, Cat Atomic!

My mother told me all about them because she grew up in the area of Culver City in the 30s. When I lived in Venice while attending UCLA, I lived on Electric Avenue, which was so named because it had once been the "end of the line" for the Red Cars coming from downtown. What a shame that big oil and the auto industry sacked them.

A neat web site to read about them is at http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/la/historic/redcars/

Thanks for reminding me.

s_m

[Cat Atomic]

10. Yes!

And thanks for the link (reading it now). :)

[Karenina]

18. Been dumbfounded for decades

that the monorail Disney proposed went down in flames... Told my 5th grade teacher that there probably were enough smart people to figure out what to do about our looming environmental problems, but that there were too dmany dumb people who would prevent them from doing it.

[BiggJawn]

16. It happened everywhere in the 50's.

Lots of cities had streetcars and trolley systems, and here in Indiana, we even had an electric interurban train that operated until I think the 40's.

GM (Generous Muthas) wanted to get their motor coach business going, so they hired lobbyists to pressure the cities to do away with their "antique" trolleys. "Buy modern, Diesel-powered busses! They don't need that expensive-to-maintain overhead system, and you can change routes, since you don't need trackage!"

I used to have a map from the 1920's of Indianapolis. Interesting, in that "West Indianapolis",Speedway, and other small towns were still autonomous tpowns, not just neighbourhoods, and the map showed the trolley routes. Compared to a modern bus route map, it doesn't take a traffic engineer to see that the public transit sytem actually had beeter coverage 90 years ago.

Sure, "People bought cars and didn't ride the trolley anymore" but how did it progress? Did the trolley service stop because people were driving themselves, or did people buy cars because they couldn't rely on the trolley anymore?

[Bridget Burke]

3. Which Florida airline is behind this?

The Texas TGV project was planned to connect Houston, Dallas & San Antonio with high-speed rail. It was to be privately funded, but forces within the state worked to have it canceled in 1994.

"Southwest Airlines, a low-cost airline serving the short haul market in the Texas Triangle, lobbied hard against the Texas TGV project, since it was clear that Southwest's business in the area would be drastically impacted."

http://mercurio.iet.unipi.it/tgv/texastgv.html

[spinbaby]

13. I don't think this is a long-distance thing

If I remember correctly the train was to go from the airport to the tourist area.s There was a problem with Disney because they didn't want to allow it on their property if it also went to Universal. I may be thinking of a different project, though, so don't take this as gospel.

[Bridget Burke]

14. No, it would "connect Florida's major population centers"

It would be useful for short runs but also for long runs, allowing Floridians & visitors to avoid long drives--and short flights.

www.floridabullettrain.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=PostWrap&file=index&page=vision

[Wapsie B]

4. Many cities

used to have trolley systems. Des Moines, heck even Mason City had 'em at one time.

[not systems]

5. Noting your logo Iowa City also.

:hi:

[AP]

15. In Detroit, the big three bought up all the train lines, paved over them,

built buildings, and generally made it almost impossible ever to put them up again.

A big reason the city is a mess and people live in slavery to their cars (at huge expense to the working class) is because the auto and oil industry get a huge cut of the cost of the circulation of labor.

This crap cost the city and the regioun MILLIONS and MILLIONS of dollars, all which was transferred to the pockets of a huge big industries.

[R Hickey]

6. The only thing the Bush's want to build are giant PRISONS

Jeb knows that for the price of one bullet train, you can build a hell of lot of prisons. Prisons for the non-violent trivial offender are the wave of the future, in a Bush-controlled world.

Jeb wants his father's Wackenhut private-prison corporation to become as big as Wal-Mart.

Bushovic-style police-states seek to lock up all the non-millionaires in any government they take-over. It cost's Florida a lot of money to fund a Stalin-style, super-sized Gulag.

Besides, since Jeb squandered $350 million of the Florida Teacher's Pension fund, as a personal favor to Ken Lay, (propping-up the swindler's collapsed Enron stock,) any money for Florida's non-oil-consuming infrastructure is out of the question.

[SideshowScott]

7. Just about every town had a trolly system..The the tyranny of oil came...

And that was it...Im not suprised that Bush going all out to stop it..His masters wont have that. The one thing I truly hate about republicans is that they would rather have the few make money than a better america for all. They are agianst progress and the future

[onethatcares]

9. the class size ammendment is another sore point with this guy

Remember when he was caught saying he had "devious" plans to take care of it. But the state can afford 516 million for Scripps to come to Palm Beach and pay the salaries for the top executives for the first five years.

[JCMach1]

11. Class-size... one of the devious plans was to have students

finish in 10th or 11th grade... :grr:

The guy ran against in 2002 was behind the legislation

http://www.thesyndrome.com/archives/00000333.htm

[Gore1FL]

12. 'He said the state can't afford such "a luxury item."'

In fairness, he has been the governor for a while -- He has run FL's economy intot he ground (witht hthe help of his brother) -- so they probably cannot afford such luxuries... :)

[Bridget Burke]

17. Government subsidises highways & air travel....

But trains are "too expensive".

[Gore1FL]

21. if you prioritize bankrolling the rich

everything is too expensive.

[leesa]

19. Ah yes, it's the old 'trash the economy so much that positive

things can't be afforded'...the Republican evil dream. The oil companies will be pleased as we waste fuel sitting in endless traffic every day.

[OneTwentyoNine]

20. Henry Flagler spinning in his grave.....

Does Bush and the other nay sayers think that the only money collected would be from people living in Florida. My GOD man,people from all parts of the US would FLOCK to Florida just to ride the damn thing.

I've been down that way twice and would definitely go again.It would be fantastic if they could get it all the way to Key West like they told Flagler would be impossible.

David