Post-Interstate: The next 50 years

As we commemorate the founding of our Interstate Freeway system, it's time to look to the future.

For all intents and purposes, the Freeway system is finished. A few spurs and beltways are under construction, but all the original freeway routes are complete. Other than widening some roads and general maintenance, the greatest public peacetime construction project in the history of the United States is done. Now what?

As our urban freeways clog up with traffic, air pollution increases and oil prices become more unstable, it's time to do for public transit what we did for cars 50 years ago. The federal government threw money at freeways, providing 90% of construction costs for each project. Meanwhile, cities and states have to fight tooth and nail to get, maybe, 50% federal funding for transit projects. Washington love spending money, so let's at least throw some in the right direction.

America needs a high-speed interstate rail system to connect our major cities. And each state would benefit greatly from intercity and regional rail systems to take the pressure off their crowded roads. Most of us only have one way to move. Our public transit systems are underfunded, and our communities are built in a way that discourages walking or using transit. By supporting transit today in the same way the government supported highways 50 years ago, we can give all Americans a real choice in how to get around.

And at the same time, we can still improve the freeway system. Too many neighborhoods, especially poor black ones, were devastated to build freeways. These roads cut through our cities like great asphalt scars. Wherever possible, we need to bury these roads and rebuild the urban fabric.

Some freeways run below street level in cities, such as portions of I-83 in Baltimore, and can be covered up, or "capped." New development can then be built over them. Essentially a tunnel after the fact. Others, when feasible, ought to be re-routed through tunnels to free up land above for urban redevelopment.

In this way, we can have the best of both worlds. A freway system admired the world over, and a public transit system of equal merit.

Ghana defeats Brazil in Amazing Upset!

Yeah.

Anyway.

I don't know much about soccer, but that seemed a wee bit like a lopsided match-up. I mean, I was pulling for Ghana.

Not to win. No, no. I may be an American, but I know Brazil is the powerhouse. But, I mean, I kinda hoped they might score, y'know ... one goal.

But, being at work, I didn't get to actually see the game, except for the last few minutes at the Comcast kisosk at the Mall. So, for all I know, they did their darndest.

Oh well.

Notes from the undisclosed location

I forgot just how much apartment-complex living sucks. I already miss the sidewalks and trees of our "old" neighborhood -- seems so strange to call it that when we're so close and still have recycling in there -- and having a grocery store around the corner.

Not that I can't walk to Whole Foods now, but it's too far to just run over if we need something. It's just far enough to where I have to plan it out ahead of time if I want to walk.

And the walls are pretty thin here, surprisingly. K and our host are heavy sleepers, so it doesn't bother them, but I can't fall asleep with any noise. Oddly, once asleep, noises don't wake me up. And someone downstairs keeps playing the same music over and over again, and on our first night was holding some sort of party/illegal daycare with a pack of manic children running around screaming, laughing and banging into anything that vibrates up to our apartment.

But, I was the only one who noticed.

Not sure where we'll end up yet after our Big Adventure, but I already know what kind of neighborhood to live in. If we can only afford a condo, it has to at least have thick walls. And sidewalks. And something to actually walk to.

The wheels on the Baltimore Bus go round and round

But do they go fast enough?

So we had to test-drive the bus recently so K could figure out how to get to her summer job at Hopkins. The bus wasn't in any hurry to get to us, but maybe just because it was in the middle of the day and not during rush hour. Once it reached us it was easy to pay the fare and fast enough getting where we needed to be. I especially liked the clear automatic announcements of each upcoming stop. But I have a few complaints. Of course.

The MTA Web site is terrible. Not enough information on how to use the system, poorly designed, and the maps don't reflect any of the "Greater Baltimore Bus Initiative" Changes ... or do they? I don't know, but the maps still warn riders that the light-rail will be shut down to the north from 2005 to early 2006 for double track construction that ended months ago so I'm guessing no, it's not up-to-date. Not that the maps in the bus shelters are, either.

How do you make a transfer from one bus to another? Can you transfer to the light rail , or is that a separate fare? Why does the Web site not say anything, one way or another?

Monthly passes should be for a 30-day period that starts the day you buy them, rather than for one particular month. And you should be able to buy them whenever you want, rather than in a certain time each month.

None of the vehicles, bus or train, run often enough to be much help. If Boulder can get their buses running every 8 minutes or so, why can't Baltimore?

I hear the light rail is running more frequently and more reliably than before, thanks to the double tracking, but haven't had the chance to try it out. Now that we are temporarily living in an undisclosed location near the Mt. Washington station, we can try it out again. Maybe things are improving after all.

News you can't use

Word.

So, obviously I have not been keeping up with my blogging duties lately, and for that I apologize. So much going on, you know.

And if you don't know, you won't know.

But those who do know what a pain in the keister it is to do all the things we've had to do in the last few days to prepare for the you know what.

Observations, otherwise:

La Copa Mundial esta awesome! Although, even harder to understand while watching Univision. Unfortunately I picked a couple of losers to follow, US and Poland, so that's about it for me. Might keep an eye on things.

Kuba Kuba in Richmond is still a great little place to eat. Dig them Plantains. It's a small miracle when a restaurant is as good as you remember.

Downtown Concord is actually pretty neat. An organic grocery store, Argentinean bakery/Coffeeshop, some stores. Folks getting priced out of Charlotte but still looking for the urbanish life?

Sidewalks. Gotta have 'em. Although the middle of Concord has that old-school charm, the rest is crap. Hard to jog when you're looking over your shoulder to avoid cars.

Prius Update

Our little green machine hit 50.2 mpg this week.

This is the long-term average for all driving since mid-December, when I decided not to reset the mileage calculator after each fill-up, meaning more than 9,000 miles have been covered.

Not bad for an "older" Prius.

W's favoritist movie ever leads to new nature reserve

So this ginormous new wildlife preserve in Hawaii came into being becuase a movie about the islands "fired up" George Bush's imagination.

Aside from the fact that this creates an image of George in his cowboy PJs flinging the popcorn bowl into the air as he "leaps" up all excited about saving the turtles and seahorsies, this puts me in the mood to send our impressionable president a few new DVDs. After all, if thousands of scientific reports and impassioned pleas by concerned citizens don't work, what else do we have?

If we send him one about how fucked up Iraq is, do you think he might suddenly realize his "Stay the Course" policy is getting us nowhere?

Maybe if we send him a DVD about cute black kids living in a poor, crack-ravaged neighborhood in Baltimore, he'll put some actual resources into rebuilding our cities? Maybe if they look like the Cosby kids?

Any ideas out there? Leave a comment.

You know it's a slow week when ...

The biggest thing to happen at work all week is that they installed a new coffee brewer so the coffee will taste better.

Good news: it worked.

James McMurtry and the Heartless Bastards

When we made our way down to the 8X10 to see James McMurtry and the Heartless Bastards last night, we didn't actually think we'd see him standing on the sidewalk as we came up.

With nothing to say except the typical "oh my god, you're so cool, can you sign my left nipple?!" junk that goes over soo well, we just passed by quietly -- secretly happy that he was engaged in conversation with some other folks anyway so we had the excuse of not wanting to be rude. K said Bob Dylan complained that the worst thing about being famous is that every jackass wants to acost you in public, so that you could be thinking of some great new song and have it wiped out by some blathering idiot who has nothing better to say than "oh my god, you're so cool, can you sign my left nipple?!"

Besides, James McMurtry has that Crazy-Vietnam-vet-could-crack-at-any-moment look about him. No need to disturb him.

Anyhow, we thought we were arriving late, but then, so did the opening act. But, they were actually pretty good, so we didn't mind. Ryan Montbleau band. Funky little folk rock band out of Beantown. Hit all the right notes, including anti-war song and Black Crowes cover. Better than the hideous performance of Whispertown 2000 at the Recher a few months ago. And it looks like their Baltimore fan club was out in full force. Including the guy in the orange T-shirt who kept shouting encouragments and requests. A little too much. Overall, worth a second look.

And of course, James McMurtry himself. A fantastic set covering songs both new and old. What I really like about him is his ability to weave country-style stories with rock and roll music, creating this Texas redneck world of real people and places, all the while driving it with great force and hushed tones in all the right places. I can't really say much more, since I am shite at writing about music. All I can say is, I felt for just a moment as if we were back in Austin, and the last few months were only a strange dream.

Alas.

Mr. McM is in Charlotte tonight at the Visulite, for all my peeps in the greater Metrolina area.

Aimless in Amish Country

Some childhood memories ought to stay in the hazy, soft-colored past.

Spent the day in Amish Country yesterday while K took the LSAT -- and kicked ass, I should say. Not that her score will be available anytime soon, but we can all safely assume an excellent score.

The only testing site anywhere near Charm City was Millersville, PA, right on the edge of Amish Country, USA. So while she sweated it out on the test, I wandered around aimlessly in search of chocolate (great!) shoofly pie (no dice) and decent gifts for various folks (yeek!).

It all started our so well, with a quick trip to Lititz, north of Lancaster, home of the Wilbur Chocolate Factory. The sweet, warm smell of chocolate flooded my senses as I stepped out of the car, bringing a smile to my face. Surely this is the greatest factory to live next to. Better than the smells that come out of Eddie's on some mornings.

I quickly made my way across the street, camera at the ready to catch the Oompa Loompas at work, only to find that they don't actually do a factory tour. However, they have a nifty little museum space with lots of chocolate-related items, and a store full of Wilbur items. Good stuff. I felt like a kid in some kind of store. It was hard to figure out what to buy, but I finally made some small purchases and left, a little sad that I couldn't take a picture of the smell to show K.

If I had known how little else there was to do in Amish Country, I would have stayed longer and eaten more chocolate.

We quickly discovered the night before that Lancaster City has little going on, while most folks seem to hang out at the Barnes and Noble on the edge of town. Aside from the very nice Italian Bakery near the courthouse, which closes too early, the city offered little of interest.

Not that the surrounding countryside did. I thought I'd spend the rest of the day taking in the sights and stealing people's souls with my camera, but the sights weren't much, and I felt bad about acosting the Amish. After all, they don't drive cars, they rarely use electricity and they're pacifists. Not bad.

Nothing left to do but shop, but every store was essentially the same as every other. Losts of country-ass kitsch, peppered with a few T-shirts and boxes of foodstuffs with Amish children on them. Not worth it.

Anyway, The LSAT is over, and I'll never go to Amish Country again. Except maybe the Train Museum. I missed that.

I see Gay people

So we've decided to placate a small but vocal segment of our society by discriminating against another small but vocal segment of our population.

I know. Most states have already passed bans on gay marriage. So, that reflects the will of the people, right? Well, people have been wrong before.

But, if so many states already have these bans, and the insidious Defense of Marriage Act allows said states to ignore the marriage laws of other states that allow gay marriage (Massachusetts, anyway), why, exactly do we need a Constitutional amendment?

As wrong-headed and bigoted as these bans are, they work fine without writing discrimination into the Federal Constitution as well. In fact, you might expect the States Rights, Limited Federal Powers Republican party to leave the issue to the states on principle.

Why, oh why, then, is the federal government all in a tizzy about gay marriage?

Let me check my calendar. Oh, yes. An election year. And really, what principle is higher than getting reelected?

"One big Fiesta for Illegal Aliens and Homosexuals"

Oh boy.

Should I see it as progress when a black candidate running for office in North Carolina acts like Jesse Helms?

Vernon Robinson's ads attacking democrat Brad Miller seem a little, shall we say peculiar. I expect someone any day to come out and announce that his whole campaign has been a huge practical joke: NC 13th district voters, you've been punk'd!

I hope it's all true, honestly. Especially the part about the big gay illegal immigrant fiesta. Although, I'm pretty sure Catholic latino immigrants aren't exactly the most pro-gay folks around.

If they are, though, it'll be one hell of a party.