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Re: (rshsdepot) report from "6 minutes ago"
You are right and someday all those things built around LA might slide into the sea f the big quake hits
- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Ivan Berger" <oldmaven_@_comcast.net>
To: <rshsdepot_@_lists.railfan.net>
Sent: Sunday, September 04, 2005 10:57 AM
Subject: Re: (rshsdepot) report from "6 minutes ago"
: It's not just Bush's fault.
:
: The disaster happened on his watch, and nobody was in much of a rush to
: check it out, let alone send assistance; further, the National Guard was
: away on phony business. Money for aid has all been pre-refunded to the
: rich. We were less prepared for this than we were for 9/11, despite
: having days of pretty specific warnings. (I know Bush doesn't read
: newspapers, but doesn't he at least watch The Weather Channel?)
:
: BUT, Bush is just the latest, phoniest, and least responsive in a long
: long line of politicians underfunding infrastructure, from the federal
: down to local levels E.g., not enough money was going to NO's levee
: system under Clinton, though Bush lowered it further. At least twice.
: Our railroads are no match for Europe's or Japan's (haven't been to
: other places)--not even in the Northeast corridor, where population
: density is similar to theirs. Mass transit suffers all over the place.
: Every politician wants his name on a new bridge, but few want to spend
: our money maintaining the old ones.
:
: In the 1950s, The Netherlands (which is on a delta like NO, is mostly
: below sea level, and has been gradually reclaimed from the sea since the
: 12th Cent.) had a massive flood. They immediately set about a huge
: public works project, the Delta Project, to prevent it from recurring,
: even though the country's population at that time was only 7 or 8
: million people.
:
: In 1955, I was flooded out of my home in Connecticut. Though that flood,
: caused by 17 days of heavy rain, covered areas from Vermont to
: Pennsylvania, it was nowhere near as disastrous as the NO one. (Those
: areas are hilly, so most of those flooded had dry land a few miles
: away.) It was also, due to the primitive state of remote TV coverage,
: far less well publicized. But we had rescue helicopters in the air that
: day, National Guardsmen on the street the next day, food and drinking
: water being trucked in . . . and seven new dams in Connecticut alone
: within the following few years.
:
: And that was under a Republican, too -- Eisenhower. But Ike was a
: middle-of-the-roader, smart, responsible, reasonably compassionate, a
: real leader, and a guy who cared about the infrastructure (much as some
: RSHS folks must curse him for the Interstate Highway System's effect on
: the railroads).
:
: Ivan Berger
:
: PS: Enough with the political vituperation--this, more than any list,
: should belong to people who know their stations.
:
: =================================
: The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
: railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
:
=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
------------------------------