Comments on twin city sidewalks: Pothole Pawlenty Packs a Punch

I like the name "Pothole Pawlenty". If the cost of...

2007-08-10T12:36:00.000-06:00

I like the name "Pothole Pawlenty". If the cost of fixing everything with only a gas tax increase is 35 cents a gallon, then passing a 5 cent increase should be a minimum investment. Borrowing and abandoning some parts of the highway system, maybe. But I would start from a balanced budget goal. Stupid self-interested republicans have made no new taxes more of a matra than having a balanced budget, to the point they have become the "Borrow and Spend" party.

The streetcar systems of the United States began t...

2007-08-03T14:39:00.000-06:00

The streetcar systems of the United States began their decline in the 1920's, as they had more capacity than was necessary. Government intervention in their fare structure, forcing unprofitable routes to be maintained, accelerated their decline.

However, it was only the construction of the freeway systems that made streetcars unable to survive. Without government funded freeways, the value of the streetcar systems would have been too high for GM to afford. It was only with the massive losses of major urban streetcar systems in 1948-1960 that made the broke systems so easy to buy and shut down.

GM is a company with no corporate ethics. It was they that pushed for massive public investment in freeway infrastructure during that period.

It will be the return of private, profitable, streetcar systems that will mark a return to normalcy.

I'd like to believe you, I just can't. Wasn't it p...

2007-08-03T08:10:00.000-06:00

I'd like to believe you, I just can't. Wasn't it private enterprise (in the form of GM's shadow companies) that purchased and removed the streetcar systems in the 50's?

Railroads were privately funded, but that came with a large cost as well. (environmental damage, steep social stratification)

Government and private enterprise are so frequently intertwined now, its almost impossible to think one without the other. Where would Halliburton be without the US Military?

Under proper libertarianism, there would be no pub...

2007-08-03T00:35:00.000-06:00

Under proper libertarianism, there would be no publicly subsidized state highways. The private railroads and transit operators would still be in business. The city would still be compact, and vibrant.

It is the program of state funded freeway building that put our railroads and streetcar systems out of business and made suburban sprawl possible.

While the automobile would have taken away some market share from the existing modes, sufficient congestion would have resulted quickly enough to cap market share at under 20%. We might have seen privately financed subways by the 1960's if not for the program of freeway building.

Now that we've built a freeway system so large that we can't afford to maintain it anymore, the only rational decision is to figure out which parts of the freeway system to abandon as such. Naturally, the inner city freeway routes make the most sense for initial removal, along with restoration of the original street grid.