Raildudes dad

And Byron Township is just going to give up that part of the township and that commercial / industrial tax base? Byron won't give any more to Wyoming north of M-6. They're drawn the line in the sand after Metro Health.

And where do you think the federal money is coming from? The federal money tree? Oh that's right, I forgot, they just print it and add it to the federal debt. There is a good mass transit system down Division already (and there has been for the history of busses in GR) and in the GR area for that matter. I just can't see the BRT generating all the development they say it will. I was in the 68th / Division area today and I got thinking why start at 60th? Go to 76th and pick up a number of apartment complexes, Pine Rest and the mobile home communities, more potential riders. Then it dawned on me - Gaines Township doesn't belong to the Rapids. No millage, no service

I understand mass transit, how it works and the benefits , but don't try to sell me on the BRT with this stand alone statement . That's all the point I was trying to make.

Uh, then I park under the Devos Place Place for a max of $10 for the day or I'll park in the Scribner lot for $3.00 in coins for the day and I know I'll beat the BRT. I know I can get a parking spot in both lots at 7AM. Middle of the day...maybe not so easy.

The BRT schedule estimator says 29 minutes from 60th / Div to Michigan & Monroe. You can wait up to 15 minutes for the BRT. I'll bet you I can drive 131, park in a DASH lot and be in the courthouse in less than 36 minutes. 29 + 1/2 of 15 minutes (avg wait). Most days I bet I can equal the BRT time of 29 minutes. Now if we got rid of all those parking lots.......

That's the "wish list" I was referring to. Couldn't remember the details - CRS disease

The trail's south end is at 60th. There are no plans to connect it to the M-6 Trail at this time. I did a feasibility / cost study last fall to make the connection. Relativity easy to do and reasonable cost but no funding source available. It was supposed to go on a "wish list" but I have not heard any more.

The USER pays the tax, the government does not pay, it collects the tax from the USER (ie person/company that buys license plates and fuel) and returns it to the highway agencies to construct and maintain the highways. Private companies either own their own trucks that pay the USER taxes or hire companies with trucks that pay the USER taxes. Back in the 20's the farmers in MI graded the roads in front of their property in lieu of property taxes. The Good Roads movement converted the tax from a property tax base to the user tax we have today. If you don't want to fund highways, quit driving.

The interstate construction is funded by the federal fuel tax $0.40 on every gallon of fuel purchased in MI. Maintenance is funded by the state fuel tax $0.19 on every gallon of gasoline bought in MI. State, county and city roads are funded with their respective share of the State Fuel tax and vehicle registration. NO general fund money in MI is used for roads - check out the state budget if you don't believe me. Some cities and some townships put some general fund money into road work but it isn't the major funding source. The highway fuel taxes funds roads, the user pays . My problem with the BRT is it duplicates an existing route and while the tax is small, they say "we can't afford to pass up $48 million in Federal and Sate funding" like it's "free". Where do they think those funds come from? I don't have any problem voting "yes' on a millage that improves service on the entire system. But a millage to improve 1 route? If it's going to create so much development use a TIF along the to finance the route.

4 close enough to look like they can touch each other . VAI, MSU, Children' Hospital and today's installation. The long boom went up about 6PM. 4 iron workers up top to install the pins and cables. Sorry , no photos, left the camera home.

Another tower crane going up this weekend on "The Hill" between the Cancer Center and the MSU building. Michigan Street was closed Friday night and still is today. Erickson's is putting up the pieces.

I think "we" are getting way off topic. Take it to another thread folks

Rizzo: IMHO, area wide millage's need to benefit the area wide system ie more frequent service, longer hours system wide. Why should folks in Walker, EGR and Grandville fund an improvement that only benefits GR, Kentwood & Wyoming. Let a TIF in those cities pay for it or they can vote in a millage. If it's such a sure fire winner for generating development, why does it need federal funds?

We may have "evolved" but regardless, our history is the city was the furniture capital of of the US and perhaps beyond. All the old big factories - furniture factories, Heritage Hill, homes of furniture company exec's. West MI is still the home of the "big 3" office furniture companies. To just ignore our history - I have a hard time with that. There are many other cities in the US whose "nicknames" reflect their history so we're not alone being dry and boring

I'd suggest you read some of their financial reports http://www.jrkyushu.co.jp/english/summary.html. This particular private railway company, a subsidiary of Japan Railways reported it's first profit in 2003, 16 year after it began. Not a shining example for privatizing passenger rail. One of the other company's reports show passenger service to be a minor part of their business. Others company reports are only in Japanese

Amtrak was created out of what was left of the passenger trains still being operated by what are today's freight railroads. Passenger trains went from being profitable in the 50's to losing money in the 60's. By that time only the Southern Railways' passenger operations were still profitable. The Southern carried on for a few more years but the popularity and convenience of the automobile turned their trains unprofitable and those trains were also taken over by Amtrak..

Our building had an atrium added in 1987. I figured for sure the aluminum mullions for the roof section would leak but knock on plastic , they still haven't leaked

I got a call today from a "client" that has a highway project partially designed with a current Federal allocation of $1.5 mil. That's not enough to complete the project. He was asked if he was given $2.1 mil more, was it enough and could he get it under contract this year?

I think if you if you check you will find that the big guys get their own models with a price point lower than the independents. The repair guy that repairs our appliances says those models are cheaper built, less insulation etc than the models the independents sell. So it sounds like you get what you pay for

The house had a full copper roof. From the looks of the picture, it wasn't being salvaged. I've done business with the contractor demoing houses and normally they don't salvage anything. Crunch and munch and off to the landfill by the truckload. I know the family has done a lot for West Mi and GR but sometimes they just flaunt their wealth. There is no humbleness or "commoner" in their actions. Compare to Fred and Lena Meijer who used walk around in their stores to pass out ice cream coupons to the Purple Cow

Yup

It is my understanding that for transportation related projects, road, transit, air, the projects need to be in the current transportation improvement program for the respective Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) in Kent's case, Grand Valley Metro Council. That's the reason the transit projects most likely won't qualify. The other requirement is either a 90 days to actual contract or 180 days to contract. Since the local agencies will have to follow the same guidelines as current federally funded projects, that's not a lot of time to prepare and get the contract documents approved. You will see mostly resurfacing projects is the best guess at this time. There's absolutely nothing close to even being in writing as to what will be approved or $$$ amounts. It's a real wish list and guessing game at this point.

It's my understanding the signal failure was an usual circumstance. Normally snow has no effect on them. A power failure usually puts them in battery mode flashing but no train. Yes Federal regs require the train to "stop & flag" a signalized crossing that is not operating. The train approaches the crossing and stops. The conductor must get off, wade thru the snow to the crossing. he lights a fusee and lays it in the road, stops any traffic and has the train pull onto the crossing and stops it so he can get back on. This is done at every signalized crossing and there's lots of them on that route. In addition, the CSX track side signals were out. The train is restricted to traveling at a speed that they can stop in 1/2 the distance they can see. It appears from the log, they were traveling about 15 mph due to visibility - that in its self makes for a long trip. Unfortunately a lot of things went wrong on this trip (many outside of Amtak and the crew's control) and things snowballed into a 16 hour trip (I know bad pun ). Folks need to remember there were air travelers for up to 3 days at O'Hare and multicar pileups on the Interstates - wasn't a good time for any type of of travel.

Those trusses were added shortly after it was originally constructed because the roof sagged . It was a garage for Greyhound buses between the Rockets & Atlantic Mills.