bus on tiles

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLbhhdoCdl0&t=73s

Rail Bus

Bus lanes might solve some congestion problems. But where are we going to put them? Take the case of a bus lane from Lynn bus station to the Blue Line in Wonderland. Where would we put it?

Suppose we had a bus that could ride roads as usual and could lower some rail wheels and ride the commuter rail.

Here is how it would work.
1) The "Rail Bus" starts at the Lynn Bus Terminal
2) It gets on the commuter rail headed south. Behind the Toyota dealer.
3) It travels south for about 2 miles.
4) It stops at Wonderland, gets off track, crosses the Lynnway, lets passengers off at Wonderland subway stop


Advantages:

1) Minimal construction costs
2) An expensive ADA compliant station does not need to be built at Wonderland
3) Quick. Not much needs to be built.
4) Flexible, routes can change easily
5) Bypasses the congested Lynnway
6) Get more use out of rail system

Disadvantages
• Where do we get a rail bus?
• The commuter rail operator would require compensation for signaling
• Rider acceptance
• How long does it take the "rail bus" to get on and off the rail.

Picture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road%E2%80%93rail_vehicle#/media/File:Dual_Mode_Vehicle.jpg

Bus Train A dual mode road/rail vehicle is being tested in Japan by Toyota and its truck-manufacturing division Hino Motors. The bus bridges the gap between road and rail with 4 rubber tires for road use and 4 steel wheels for riding on rails. It can hold 25 passengers and is based on the Toyota Microbus. The bus has been in service in Japan for the past 18 months, and there are plans to produce a newer version by June of 2008. Hino spokesperson Kenichiro Baba has stated that the bus “is expected to be another step toward more practical use of the dual mode vehicle.” This could be the mass transit vehicle of the future for Japanese commuters.

https://www.hino.com/hino-trucks.html

https://www.facebook.com/HINOTRUCKSUSA
General Truck Center, Inc.
23.1 miles
109-115 Lindberg Avenue
Methuen MA 1844
United States
Phone: 978-686-1800
Fax: 978-689-2215
Website: www.hinoofmethuen.com

 

Individual vs. community rights?

What is your leadership style?

 What is the value of individual vs. community rights?

World Health Organization COVID19 Dashboard: https://covid19.who.int/

Research and Analysis Based

https://vietnamnet.vn/en/society/us-media-outlet-details-why-vietnam-has-had-so-few-covid-19-cases-634592.html

Vietnam quickly employed a variety of successful tactics to detect cases and reduce the risk of the epidemic from spreading, including widespread quarantining and aggressive contact tracing. These methods have subsequently won praise from the World Health Organization and the CDC for its transparency in dealing with the crisis.

Algal Oil

Algal Oil

350 LTE

Welcome to the 350 MA Letters-to-the-Editor team. We're glad you joined. Here's a link to a short slideshow that gives you a high-level view of what we do: http://bit.ly/350ma-lte-slides And here's the link to our "user guide" document: http://bit.ly/350-LTE-Team Please take a quick look and let us know if you have more questions. Fred Hewett, Larry Rosenberg, Mary Memmott fred.hewett@gmail.com larry.rosenberg@gmail.com memmottm@gmail.com

Green Economics

An Empirical Survey of the Ramifications of a Green Economy

CourtWatch

CourtWatch as a Model for something we might do

• a description of court watch
• my experience
• how this might this something like courtwatch could be used by 350

Description

• Who: Sponsored by ACLU or other community organizations. Some paid organizers and the rest volunteers.
• What: Apply pressure on DA's and elected officials with facts.
• Where: There are many CourtWatch projects world wide. Seems like every state. Many countries: Poland, France. Multiple project around the state.
• Why: Mostly focussed on helping poor people get fair treatment in court, which includes people of color and immigrants.
• How: Volunteers collect data by race. Analysis by researchers. Lawyers present findings to DA and press.

My Experience

• About a year ago I signed up for the Bail Fund. They got my name from my Synagogue, Shirat Hiyam. They never called me back. But they did give my name to ACLU's CourtWatch. 
• I helped accused say "Judge I do not understand the charges. I want to talk to my lawyer". You get more time. Might get dismissed. Flawed cases.
• Some judges welcomed me. My presence changed things for the better.
• Security guard from Lynn said everyone knew when I was in the building.
• Turned in about 10% of the cases. 40 times.
• Saw first hand how wealth tips the scales of justice. We are wasting money.
• Rollins, globe, changes in cell phones in Lynn.

How we might adapt this

• Collect data on constituencies, new programs and bills passed
• Analyze, compare, present and publish

Income inequality in Massachusetts

Income inequality in Massachusetts
https://www.epi.org/multimedia/unequal-states-of-america/#/Massachusetts

https://statisticalatlas.com/state/Massachusetts/Household-Income

https://www.tpi.org/sites/default/files/pdf/the_transfer_of_wealth_in_greater_boston_the_toll_of_the_recession_and_prospects_for_the_future.pdf

Economic Policy Institute

Economic Policy Institute | epi.org/blog

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
cbpp.org | offthechartsblog.org

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_United_States

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_United_States

Census

https://2020census.gov/en.html

List of U.S. states by Gini coefficient of income inequality

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_Gini_coefficient

wealth-gap-widens-as-boston-booms/

https://www.baystatebanner.com/2018/10/17/wealth-gap-widens-as-boston-booms/

Wealth inequality in the United States

Wealth inequality in the United States

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_United_States


Household Net Worth Top 1% 90th to 99th 50th to 90th Bottom 50% Total
Q4 2016 ($ trillions) 29.18 34.59 26.53 1.08 91.38
Q4 2019 ($ trillions) 36.80 41.69 31.63 1.66 111.78

Bottom 50% has 1.5% of the wealth.


https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/fiscal-fact/median-value-wealth-race-ff03112019
Brookings Institute

White 170k, 60%
Hispanic 21K, 18%
Black 17k, 13%

Koch Network, Charlie Baker and Transportation

Koch Network, Charlie Baker and Transportation

1. Charlie Baker was one of the founders of the Pioneer Institute, a Boston-based libertarian think tank. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Baker
2. Pioneer Institute Lies about MBTA. Transportation Union objects
3. The Politically-Driven, Koch-Backed Campaign to Undermine Boston Transit Baker inflates absenteeism. 
4. How the Koch Brothers Are Killing Public Transit Projects Around the Country "Americans for Prosperity (AFP), which is financed by the oil billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch .. ". They use a ..."data service built by the Kochs, called i360, that helps them identify and rally voters ..".  "Early polling ...suggested that the $5.4 billion transit plan would easily pass." In a few months AFP had defeated the plan. The Koch conglomerate is a large producer of gasoline and asphalt. They are pushing driverless vehicles, claiming they give Americans the freedom they want.
5. The Koch brothers hate public transit. But they can’t always stop projects in their tracks The Koch network focuses on conservative cities.
6. Uber and the Koch unite in their animosity towards Mass Transit. "rideshare corporations and oil tycoons share a financial interest in a car-centric future". "Uber, together with its main competitor Lyft, boasted more lobbyists in 2016 than Amazon, Microsoft and Walmart combined". 
7. Kochs Mobilize to Kill Public Transit Plans "Americans for Prosperity counters that public transit plans waste taxpayer money on unpopular, outdated technology like trains and buses just as the world is moving toward cleaner, driverless vehicles." Americans for Prosperity is a Koch Network  "propaganda" machine.

Frank kashner - unchaindemocracy.org

http://unchaindemocracy.org/ his page on Koch

Charlie Baker - How two Republican governors in bright blue states will survive the blue wave

How two Republican governors in bright blue states will survive the blue wave

From American Exercise Institute.

Environmental Governor Needed!

Environmental Governor Needed! Your help is vital!

gailhampshire from Cradley, Malvern, U.K [CC BY 2.0]

Social Animals, like the dark, go where other cockroaches are, consume and multiply.

Putting an environmentalist in the governor's office will help us achieve 350's goals. Governor Baker is a barrier to progress. Being apolitical is often associated with environmentalist. I believe big money has been used to manipulate would be environmental activists to be politically passive. Environmentalists must get involved with political activities if they are going to save the planet. We are in the 11th hour. Loss of the Amazon represents 30% or our oxygen production. Unions are powerful political players. We need to emulate them.

Our Republican governor is more popular with Democrats. Wait, what?
"Still, it’s notable that Governor Charlie Baker, a Republican seeking a second term in November, had a higher job approval rating with independents and Democrats, 76 percent and 71 percent, respectively, than he did with Republicans, 59 percent of whom gave him high marks in a recent poll from Suffolk University and The Boston Globe."

"This matters given that a Morning Consult poll last month found Massachusetts to be the most anti-Trump state in the nation." " Massachusetts likely voters surveyed said Baker is anti-Trump,"

There is a nagging feeling that Governor Baker is not on our side. Why is that? It helps to understand Baker's connection to the Koch Network.

I first got interested in the Koch network after reading "Democracy in Chains" by by Nancy MacLean. I helped a friend, Frank Kashner, set up: 

http://unchaindemocracy.org/. The site shows 85 Koch organizations. Climate change denial is an important activity for the Kochs.

Charlie Baker on Wikipedia. "In the late 1980s, Baker was hired as co director of the newly founded "Pioneer Institute", part of the State Policy Network.

EXPOSED: The State Policy Network  The Powerful Right-Wing Network Helping to Hijack State Politics and Government

Exposed How Rights State Based Think Tanks Are Transforming Us Politics

Affiliate: Pioneer Institute, Massachusetts, 185 Devonshire Street Unit 1101 Boston, MA 02110 Phone: 6177232277. Contact: Micaela Dawson

What does the Koch Network want? David Koch ran for president in 1980 as a Libertarian. This was his platform: End all of the following:
• Aid to the poor
• All Taxation
• Department of Energy
• Department of Transportation
• Medical insurance regulation
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Federal Aviation Administration
• Federal Election Commission
• Food and Drug Administration
• Medicare and Medicaid
• Minimum Wage Laws
• Obamacare
• Public highways and railroads and waterways
• Public Schools
• Social Security
• Support for Abortion Services
• US Postal Service
• Welfare

But they are keeping the police and prisons! They believe in meritocracy, except when it applies to their relatives and friends. No estate tax for them.

Baker made secret trip to conservative meeting. By Jim O’Sullivan Globe Staff,March 16, 2016, 6:53 p.m. Baker’s trip took him to Sea Island, home to posh resorts, for the so-called World Forum, an elite, off-the-record gathering of right-leaning power brokers hosted by the American Enterprise Institute. The American Enterprise Institute's head of energy studies, Benjamin Zycher, has suggested there is doubt about man-made climate change: [5]

“The issue of the climate sensitivity of the atmosphere to increasing GHG concentrations is nowhere near resolution.”  ref: https://www.desmogblog.com/american-enterprise-institute

The Politically-Driven, Koch-Backed Campaign to Undermine Boston Transit"MBTA has its flaws, the charges against it don’t stem from a good government campaign so much as an ideologically-driven assault, filled with exaggerations and lies and backed by groups affiliated with the Koch brothers"

https://www.politicalresearch.org/2016/11/18/privatizing-massachusetts. Privatizing Massachusetts, The Right-Wing’s Blue State Game Plan

Baker Keeps a low profile How two Republican governors in bright blue states will survive the blue wave

THREAT TO PUBLIC EDUCATIONNOW CENTERSON MASSACHUSETTS "Governor Charlie Baker has made charter expansion a top priority, mirroring his privatization efforts involving transportation and other public services. Baker vows to hold the line on taxes despite the myriad unmet needs that persist year after year for our public schools, colleges and universities, as well as for early childhood education. Make no mistake: The governor remains faithful to a hard-line conservative ideology even as he puts forth a moderate front."

References:
Income Inequality
desmog database of deniers

https://apps.bostonglobe.com/spotlight/secret-courts/

massachusetts bill aims to reduce traffic congestion but will it help climate

https://energynews.us/2019/08/16/northeast/massachusetts-bill-aims-to-reduce-traffic-congestion-but-will-it-help-climate/

massachusetts bill aims to reduce traffic congestion but will it help climate