The Bush Economy

Thanks to The Big Picture.

Victory!

Screamed myself hoarse at the Rutgers game last night. The record-setting crowd stormed the field in celebration after a nailbiter 30-27 victory over #2 South Florida. Rutgers had -3 turnovers, which hurt; but any team with the stones to pull off a faked punt AND a faked field goal in the same game deserves to win. It was electric.

After the game, the crowd was well behaved, but traffic was a nightmare. The bus system struggled with the sheer volume of red-clad people in the streets. Rutgers will have to rethink some of the logistics that come from having a ranked football program (which we only dreamed of when I was an undergrad). One thought would be to offer shuttle buses to and from the Edison NJ Transit rail station on game days.

More good news though: The College Avenue campus is set to undergo a major rebuilding, including the elimination of two large surface parking lots (replaced with a Quad) and elimination of traffic on College Avenue (replaced with Bus Rapid Transit). After a design competition, Enrique Norton's Ten Arquitectos won the bid to reshape College Avenue as a more pedestrian friendly environment. Here's a rendering of their vision for College Ave. Here's another.

Work could start as early as next Spring.

Photos from last night are available here, here, and here (thanks Juan):

Redevelopment in Harrison, NJ: A Step In The Right Direction

Via Curbed, a terrific redevelopment project has finally broken ground in Harrison, NJ. One of the earliest industrial suburbs, Harrison suffered from years of blight and large swaths of desolate, weeded brownfields.

But Harrison has tremendous assets: an underutilized PATH station, a two minute ride to Newark's Penn Station, and convenient access to both NYC and the educational/cultural institutions of Newark (don't laugh . . . Newark has a lot to offer).

While the project also contains a large parking component, it is a boon to transit friendly development. New Jersey (my birthplace) needs more of this.

Visit Curbed for the details.

What Might Have Been: Brooklyn - Staten Island Subway

My neighbor worked for the MTA for many years and told me that long ago, the predecessor to the MTA began a subway under the Narrows to Staten Island. Fascinating stuff.

I forgot about it for a while but then came across the part in The Power Broker detailing the many failures of city works under Tammany in the 1920's and there it was. The Narrows Tube,

The Google turned up some interesting history:

The trans-narrows tube would have shot people and cargo across the Narrows
from St. George to Bay Ridge. The proposed two-mile tunnel section, which alone
would cost about $27 million, would have been the longest underwater tunnel in
the world when completed in 1929. But years passed and the tunnel project sat on
the city planners' shelves neglected. Work would halt a year later and petitioning would begin again. The incomplete construction of 1923 would turn out to be the closest Islanders have ever come to getting a rail connection to the rest of the city. (From the Staten Island Advance)

The NYC Roads page for the Verrazano Bridge has a history of the bridge that includes a history of the still-born tunnel from Brooklyn to Staten Island.

Saving the best for last, the NYC Subways page for the 4th Avenue line
details how the R train would have been extended out to Staten Island:

The original Dual Contracts plan provided for a tunnel under the Narrows from southern Brooklyn/Bay Ridge to Staten Island. The tunnel was intended to
leave the 4th Avenue subway at 65th St, Brooklyn, and would have entered
Staten Island midway between St. George and Stapleton, and would have had
branches to each. The 4th Avenue subway has four tracks between 59th and
65th Streets, two of which were intended for the Staten Island connection.
The Staten Island link might have been built in several different ways.
It is likely that a full 4-track subway to Fort Hamilton would only have
made sense if it led to a Narrows tunnel. A different plan, which got as far
as engineering drawings and even some excavation, would have left the subway
just south of 59th St, and you can see tunnel stub headings running straight
from the local tracks immediately south of the station. Several different
plans were drawn up for the Narrows tunnel, including a two track and a four
track option.
Recent discussions of a railroad freight tunnel across New York Harbor from New Jersey via Staten Island may once again bring about discussion of connecting the subway to Staten Island. It is likely that any tunnel built would be designed to tie into the LIRR's Bay Ridge Branch across southern Brooklyn to East New York, Fresh Pond, and via the New York Connecting Railroad to the Hell Gate Bridge.

Put this down on my wish list for transit projects. If anyone knows about traces of these tunnels that can still be seen/explored, please let me know.

Jay Rockefeller Sells Out to AT&T, Verizon

Glenn Greenwald has the gory details, but Jay Rockefeller, who has taken money hand over fist from telecom interests, has rewarded his bribers by writing immunity from prosecution into the Senate spying bill.

Just think about what is really happening here. AT&T's customers sued
them for violating their privacy in violation of long-standing federal laws and
for violating their Fourth Amendment rights. Even with the most expensive armies
of lawyers possible, AT&T and other telecoms are losing in a court of law.
The federal judge presiding over the case ruled against them -- ruled that the
law is so clear they could not possibly have believed that what they did was
legal -- and most observers, having heard the Oral Argument on appeal, predicted that they will lose in the Court of Appeals, too.
So AT&T and other telecoms went to Washington and -- led by Bush 41
Attorney General (and now Verizon General Counsel) William Barr, and in
cooperation with their former colleague, Mike McConnell -- began
paying former government officials such as Dan Coats and Jamie Gorelick to
convince political officials to whom they
give money, such as Jay Rockefeller, to pass a law declaring them the
victors in these lawsuits and be relieved of all liability -- all based on
assertions that a court of law has already rejected. They are literally buying a
judicial victory in Congress -- just like Carothers warned that third-world
countries must avoid if they want to become functioning democracies under the
"rule of law" ("Above all, government officials must refrain from interfering
with judicial decision-making").

Chris Dodd, who has admirably been railing against immunity, has pledged to do what he can to stop the bill. Dodd has the ability to place a hold on the bill, blocking amnesty. Let him know he has your support.

Cross-Harbor Freight Tunnel Awakes From Bloomberg-Induced Coma

Well, Jerry Nadler has to be beaming today. The NYT reports that moribund plans for a Cross-Harbor Freight Tunnel are seeing new signs of life:

Two years after turning its back on $100 million in federal funds for planning better ways to move freight, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has spun around and decided to accept the money.

This is good news. The CHFT would provide a much needed way to efficiently move freight east of the Hudson River. Currently, rail freight has to go hundreds of miles out of the way (north, and back south) or be barged across the harbor, which is inefficient. The unfortunate result for us is excessive truck traffic on our roads and bridges, which severely damages our infrastructure, creates traffic jams, and leads to health problems due to exhaust levels.

This is a plan whose time has come. The tunnel would run from an existing rail yard in Jersey City to an existying rail yard in Sunset Park.

And wikipedia has a good primer on the proposed tunnel here.

Image credit http://www.moveny.org/

For rail geeks, here's a pdf on the history of the CHT idea.

John Edwards Poll Numbers

This sentence from drunken hobo Joe Klein sparked a thought:

The fact that the two leading Democratic candidates, Obama and Clinton, are
essentially running moderate campaigns--and that John Edwards' populism hasn't exactly caught fire--is an indication that the Democratic base isn't nearly as partisan as the Post seems to think it is.

I've said before and I'll say again, I think John Edwards platform and rhetoric is dead on. Edwards, I fear, hasn't had that special something, charisma, magnetism, je ne sais quoi, whatever, to make it resonate.

But maybe it's just the timing. Watch the housing market. We are headed into a recession in this country, though most people have no idea it's coming. The economic situation is going to get steadily worse between now and the election . . . and as it does, Edwards' star might start to shine a little brighter.

And apropos of nothing, my prediction is, Hillary will not be the Democratic candidate in 2008.