Seattle Monorail & California High Speed Rail Move Forward

bscottid writes "Woo-hoo! The monorail passed in Seattle!. And, it was driven by an amazing grass-roots effort of people who saw a way to use technology to get us moving again here in The Emerald City. Everyone mark your calendars, because in 2007 you're invited up here to take a quick, scenic ride around the beautiful city of Seattle! (Begin Simpsons references now)" It's also worth pointing out that in the recent california election, a pair of bills were passed which put aside approximately $10b for the construction of California's high speed rail project.

Comments

What I want to know is...

[Cyclopedian]

Will Leonard Nimoy be spearheading the opening festivities?

-Cyc

Re:What I want to know is...

[BitGeek]

I see, you're getting taken to the cleaners to keep politicians stocked up on whores and you think we should be too? Well we are, already.

Doesn't make it RIGHT.

Oh, and the government doesn't do SQUAT about pollution. Except lie about it and create more of it-- the biggest threat to the environment in this country is the government's bad management of it.

That's a good start

[GeckoFood]

Seattle Monorail & California High Speed Rail Move Forward

Now if they could just get the damn things to actually stop when they get to a destination...

Re:Last thing...

[cscx]

Yeah they should have used the money to fix the potholes on main Street.

Bad Parody courtesy of me

[Migelikor1]

[Anonymous Coward] I hear those things are awfully loud.
[Article] It glides as softly as a cloud
[Enginerd] Is there a chance the track could bend?
[Article] Not on your life, my Slashdot friend
[Frequent poster] Why Seattle, those braindead slobs?
[Article] There were only so many Starbucks jobs
[Oil Companies] Were you sent here by the devil?
[Article] No, good sir, I'm on the level
[Cowboy Neal] I feel attracted to a man.
[Article] Go outside and get a tan!
I swear it's Seattle's only choice
Throw up your hands and raise your voice!
Monorail!
What's it called?
Monorail!
Once again!
Monorail!
[Poster] But our educational system's all cracked and broken
[re;] Sorry, man, the mob has spoken
[All] Monorail! Monorail!
Monorail!
Monorail!
[Homer] Mono- d'oh!

This terrible parody brought to you by a bored college student.

About time

[foodb4nk]

I wanna apply to be a MONORAIL DRIVER.

North Haverbrook

[cscx]

Now where did I hear that name before...?

Re:Ok, pardon my bitterness

[Osty]

(d) WA doesn't have an income tax, so the brunt of payment is falling on non-new car owning citizens (new cars aren't taxed), and disproportionately on the poor.

New cars aren't taxed in Washington? GOD DAMMIT! I want my $5500 back!

Re:Last thing...

[helix400]

Simpson's quote: [All] Monorail! Monorail!

I was laughing my head off thinking about that eposide, when I read this line from the article:

"Supporters chanted "Monorail! Monorail!" at a rally held at Westlake Center after the vote count was announced."

I was just waiting for some politician to be quoted as saying, "We believe that monorail will put Seattle on the map, right next to Ogdenville, North Haverbrook, and Brockway." =)

-----
Old actors don't die, they just go to Old Navy

Re:fast rail in CA is a good thing...

[nurightshu]

The government apathy towards the commuter rail industry is too extreme to be accidental.

Just out of curiosity, how does one develop "extreme apathy?" Wouldn't that be like "record-breaking mediocrity?" Or is it an ESPN2 show for the lazy kids -- XTREME APATHY! This week: laying on the couch and not fucking moving! Also: highlights from the 2002 North American Shrugging Championship.

Re:Yah right it really "passed"

[ameoba]

Actually, the monorail is just part of a plan to reduce traffic in the region. The idea is to simultaniously come up with an ass-load of new taxes to cover stupid, useless, projects while also driving out major employers and cutting funding for education. The net result will be to force people to move to other states, reducing the population to pre-1990 levels, returning traffic to a somewhat sane level.

Re:Last thing...

[American AC in Paris]

Hate to be the bearer of bad-news, but they aren't "pollution-free transit." They need electricity from somewhere to power the electric motors, whether it be oil/coal/nuclear. The only solution might be geo-thermal/solar/wind/wave ... but they don't provide a signifigant portion of the world's power yet. There is a threshold of ridership, beyond which they become more environmentally friendly than a car, but we are a long way from "pollution-free" forms of transportation.

I know this comes as a great suprise to all of you driving those stupid little Neighborhood Electric Vehichle ... you are just moving the pollution to some other poor-bastards neighborhood, while you get all the really good parking spots at the mall.

There's this big ol' thing in Washington State called the Grand Coulee Dam.

Rumor has it that it's the world's third largest producer of power.

Rumor also has it that it's about as pollution-free as power comes.

But hey, what am I saying? Stupid little Neighborhood Electric Vehicles! If you really cared, you'd be driving a Fnord Behemoth 150 or a Chevee Soverign Nation to and from the Quickie Mart--at least then you're not dumping all that hydroelectric pollution on the poor saps who live near the dam, you insensitive clod!