TOWERING OVER ALL – THE CELL PHONE TOWER CONTROVERSY

Zoning officials today are caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to siting cellular-phone towers or other antenna installations. Although legally, local authorities cannot refuse them or attempt to design zoning regulations based on health effects, the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 does give local governments and entities the right to regulate the placement, construction, and modification of such towers.

SEC. 704. FACILITIES SITING; RADIO FREQUENCY EMISSION STANDARDS.
(a) NATIONAL WIRELESS TELECOMMUNICATIONS SITING POLICY- Section 332(c) (47 U.S.C. 332(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
(7) PRESERVATION OF LOCAL ZONING AUTHORITY-

(A) GENERAL AUTHORITY- Except as provided in this paragraph, nothing in this Act shall limit or affect the authority of a State or local government or instrumentality thereof over decisions regarding the placement, construction, and modification of personal wireless service facilities.

(B) LIMITATIONS-
(i) The regulation of the placement, construction, and modification of personal wireless service facilities by any State or local government or instrumentality thereof–
(I) shall not unreasonably discriminate among providers of functionally equivalent services; and
(II) shall not prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting the provision of personal wireless services.
(ii) A State or local government or instrumentality thereof shall act on any request for authorization to place, construct, or modify personal wireless service facilities within a reasonable period of time after the
request is duly filed with such government or instrumentality, taking into account the nature and scope of such request.
(iii) Any decision by a State or local government or instrumentality thereof to deny a request to place, construct, or modify personal wireless service facilities shall be in writing and supported by substantial evidence contained in a written record.
(iv) No State or local government or instrumentality thereof may regulate the placement, construction, and modification of personal wireless service facilities on the basis of the environmental effects of radio frequency emissions to the extent that such facilities comply with the Commission’s regulations concerning such emissions.
(v) Any person adversely affected by any final action or failure to act by a State or local government or any instrumentality thereof that is inconsistent with this subparagraph may, within 30 days after such action or failure to act, commence an action in any court of competent jurisdiction. The court shall hear and decide such action on an expedited basis. Any person adversely affected by an act or failure to act by a State or local government or any instrumentality thereof that is inconsistent with clause (iv) may petition the Commission for relief.

GenCom has a variance request in front of the Fort Wayne Board of Zoning Appeals to allow it to construct a 150-foot cell phone tower at 1427 Broadway, which is included in our West Central Neighborhood boundaries. The tower will then be leased to Centennial. The tower will sit close to the street and will be completely visible driving Broadway north to south. The tower will also be visible, due to its height, from the opposite direction.

GenCom has not made any effort to work with the West Central Neighborhood on this issue other than to have a Centennial spokesman attend our last meeting. He did not have all the facts or data with him as it related to the need to establish a tower, and it became evident as we continued to ask questions.

One piece of information that did come out of the meeting was the fact that the tower is not needed for residential reception. It primarily is needed to boost cell phone reception by motorists driving through a very minimal “dead zone.” The hypocrisy of this is that we admonish drivers not to talk on their cell phones while driving yet companies turn around and attempt to make reception available in every possible area so that motorists can talk on their phones on their homeward-bound drive.

The following clip is from YouTube and shows the creative ways in which some companies are actually trying to be a “good neighbor.” Apparently, some companies feel it is important to work with communities to reach a solution as to disguising the stark, ugliness of a straight metal structure jutting into the air.

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To give an idea of the height of the tower, compare it to the Statue of Liberty – a symbol with which we should all be familiar. The Statue of Liberty is 306.8 feet from the bottom of the base to the top of the torch. From the Statue’s feet on the base to the torch is 152.2 feet. So imagine a tower the size of the Statue plopped down in a highly visible area of heavy traffic.

 

 

Photo Credit: Statue of Liberty Facts

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We have every right to request the zoning board to deny this variance – to have the tower placed elsewhere. But, if the zoning board decides to approve the variance, then we should demand that it impose restrictions on the construction so that it conforms to the guidelines of the West Central Plan adopted by the City. Those guidelines state:

“Encourage new construction designs to be complementary to the historic nature of the neighborhood.”

The argument that it can’t be done is superficial. Fort Wayne Newspapers, Starbucks, and St. Joe Hospital have all done outstanding work on their designs to bring them into conformance with the West Central Plan. It is time residents and citizens made their thoughts and concerns known as to how our neighborhood will be perceived. It is our neighborhood, and we have the right and the obligation to ensure that new structures do, indeed, complement the historic nature of West Central.

WHAT: Public Hearing
WHERE: City-County Building, Room 126 (first floor)
WHEN: Janaury 31, 2008
TIME: 6:00 p.m.

MICHAEL MONTAGANO – ANNOUNCES CONGRESSIONAL INTENTIONS AT THIRD DISTRICT BREAKFAST

Today was our Third District Democrat breakfast at Brevins in Churubusco, Indiana. Our monthly breakfasts are held in a back dining room, and we have speakers each month. I really enjoy them; the company is great and the conversations are always stimulating. I also get to see my brother and sister-in-law, Glen and Patty Weybright. Patty is the Whitley County Democratic Chair, so I guess our love of the political scene runs in the family.

Michael Montagono and his wife, Bethany, were in attendance today. Mr. Montagano will be announcing his run for the Third District congressional seat on Monday in Fort Wayne at the Embassy Theater. Of course we all insisted that he speak, so he inspired us by us talking about his ideas and his vision for the Third District. He will be facing incumbent Mark Souder – assuming Souder gets past any primary challenges.

Photo Credit: Montagano for Congress

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Souder has been in office now for 14 years – 2 years past his pledge to limit himself to six terms. Yeh, I know everyone came up with reasons why he shouldn’t be held to that pledge. Boundary changes, dangerous times, the dog died, the computer crashed, and on and on. Regardless of the reason, Souder was absolved from keeping his promise, but it is time to change the guard.

And Michael Montagano is just the new face we need. Mr. Montagano is young and energetic. He has been traveling the state for the last nine months, meeting citizens – listening to citizens. And he doesn’t just listen as a courtesy – he is involved in the conversation. He pays attention to what is being said.

True listening is an art. Some listen to words go in one ear and out the other without really paying attention, and others listen and become a part of the conversation. Mark Souder falls in the first group – he always seems anxious to end the conversation and get away. Michael Montagano falls into the second group. One needs only to spend a few minutes talking with him to realize he listens and engages in a meaningful conversation about issues and concerns.

Yes, another congressional election looms on the horizon, and it really is time to change the guard.

BAAAH! MEDIA LEADING US LIKE SHEEP

In the scope of things, the media – right, left and in-between – has all but decided it shall determine the next presidential nominee from the democratic party. We are no longer in charge, folks. The media’s bias against covering Edwards and for covering Clinton and Obama is downright ludicrous. And, given the lack of coverage and lack of exposure, Edwards has every right to be up-in-arms about the unfairness of the media’s tactics.

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In my mind, it becomes a question of which comes first, the chicken or the egg. If the media determines to focus on Clinton and Obama and ignore coverage of Edwards, then the media is determining what coverage we should see and not see. If it determines what coverage we see, then it is determining the news we get about each of the candidates, how often we hear their messages, and how often we see them in forums and headlines. We are bombarded every day with news about Clinton and Obama, but what about coverage of John Edwards? The media seems to have all but forgotten he is still in the race. Some time ago Edwards pledged not to take PAC money for his campaign – something that Clinton and Obama both do.

Photo Credit: Edwards for President website

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The following breakdown shows what happened to PAC contributions in the 2005-2006 cycle. Obama isn’t included because he wasn’t raising money yet, or at least it wasn’t an issue yet in the 2005-2006 cycle.

• McCain donated nearly $500,000 from his PAC in 2005-06 to GOP candidates and causes in South Carolina, according to the analysis of campaign-finance records collected by the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics. The donations included $204 to South Carolina Citizens for Life and nearly $50,000 to the Aiken County GOP.
• Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani’s PAC contributed more than $500,000 to candidates in 2005-06 from his PAC, which was created in 1998. Giuliani set up a presidential account in November.
• New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton spent 1 in 4 dollars from her PAC on PAC salaries. The PAC’s executive director, Patti Solis Doyle, now manages Clinton’s presidential campaign. The PAC was launched in 2001; Clinton’s presidential fund opened in January.

And John Edwards? Here’s what he did with his PAC money:

• Former North Carolina senator John Edwards gave no money from his PAC to any candidate in 2005-06. Instead, according to Nick Baldick, a senior adviser to the Edwards campaign, Edwards used the PAC money to advance his anti-poverty agenda. It is a theme central to the Democrat’s White House bid.

Photo Credit: Edwards blog website

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The committee funded $120,000 in travel to states such as Iowa. Baldick said Edwards went to Iowa but also went to Oregon and other states to support like-minded state legislators or minimum-wage hikes. Edwards chose to help some Democrats but did so in the context of fighting poverty, not donating money to their campaigns.

The debate over whether or not to take money from lobbyists and PACs is more about symbolism than pragmatism. But isn’t that what we are looking at in the Clinton – Obama race for the White House? We have Clinton and Obama – the first of each category – gender and race – to actually have a chance at taking the White House. But instead of breaking barriers, they are pulling the Democratic party apart.

And now with the South Carolina primary over, we will hear a week of incessant analyzation of the politics of race just as we heard the politics of gender repeated over and over in New Hampshire. The two front runners don’t appear to be uniting anyone; they seem to be dividing this country along race and gender lines.

The following is a letter to John Edwards from Martin Luther King, III. He urges Edwards to continue the fight and not give up.

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January 20, 2008

The Honorable John R. Edwards
410 Market Street
Suite 400
Chapel Hill, NC 27516

Dear Senator Edwards:

It was good meeting with you yesterday and discussing my father’s legacy. On the day when the nation will honor my father, I wanted to follow up with a personal note.

There has been, and will continue to be, a lot of back and forth in the political arena over my father’s legacy. It is a commentary on the breadth and depth of his impact that so many people want to claim his legacy. I am concerned that we do not blur the lines and obscure the truth about what he stood for: speaking up for justice for those who have no voice.

I appreciate that on the major issues of health care, the environment, and the economy, you have framed the issues for what they are – a struggle for justice. And, you have almost single-handedly made poverty an issue in this election.

You know as well as anyone that the 37 million people living in poverty have no voice in our system. They don’t have lobbyists in Washington and they don’t get to go to lunch with members of Congress. Speaking up for them is not politically convenient. But, it is the right thing to do.

I am disturbed by how little attention the topic of economic justice has received during this campaign. I want to challenge all candidates to follow your lead, and speak up loudly and forcefully on the issue of economic justice in America.

From our conversation yesterday, I know this is personal for you. I know you know what it means to come from nothing. I know you know what it means to get the opportunities you need to build a better life. And, I know you know that injustice is alive and well in America, because millions of people will never get the same opportunities you had.

I believe that now, more than ever, we need a leader who wakes up every morning with the knowledge of that injustice in the forefront of their minds, and who knows that when we commit ourselves to a cause as a nation, we can make major strides in our own lifetimes. My father was not driven by an illusory vision of a perfect society. He was driven by the certain knowledge that when people of good faith and strong principles commit to making things better, we can change hearts, we can change minds, and we can change lives.

So, I urge you: keep going. Ignore the pundits, who think this is a horserace, not a fight for justice. My dad was a fighter. As a friend and a believer in my father’s words that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, I say to you: keep going. Keep fighting. My father would be proud.

Sincerely,

Martin L. King, III

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This primary season will be over in a few months and then we have to work on getting a democrat elected. Edwards will “stay the course”, and he will continue to be shoved to the sidelines by the Clinton and Obama squabbles. We are truly being duped by the media into thinking we have a choice of either Clinton or Obama. While Clinton and Obama are biting at each other’s throats, Edwards is trying to get his message out to the public.

But that can be pretty difficult when the media decides to jump ship on its responsibility to provide coverage of the candidates so that we, as voters, can make an informed decision.

We have another choice and that is John Edwards.

IT’S BAAAACK!! THREE RIVERS PARADE TO RETURN TO WEST CENTRAL

Yes, the Three rivers Festival Parade will once again grace our fair neighborhood. The last time the parade wound its way through West Central was 2002. The next year was the Flood of 2003, and Thieme Drive, the route of the first leg of the parade, was deep under water.

I remember my disappointment because my home is right on the route of the parade. For several years, all I had to do was step out on my front porch and enjoy the parade. I had friends over, and we munched on snacks and coffee and beverages as we relaxed in comfortable seats or just sat on my front lawn.

While the parade is back in West Central, it will be taking a slightly altered route – one that, even if it did flood again, would not stop the parade from going on. The new route will cross the Main Street bridge and turn south on Rockhill, stepping lively by the Carol Lombard house. It will then turn east on Wayne Street and head toward Van Buren. Although it will not take in as much of West Central as in years past, the mere fact that it will be back is good enough.

West Central has some amazing architecturally significant homes, and, what a treat for those who rarely journey into our area to be able to get a glimpse of the different styles and designs.

Welcome back and thank you to the Three Rivers Festival Director, Shannon White, for returning a long-standing tradition to our neighborhood. Join us this July for the return of the Parade to West Central. Below our just a few of the myriad architectural styles that you will enjoy during your visit to our neighborhood! Aren’t they gorgeous?

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE PACIFIC VORTEX – GARBAGE MERRY-GO-ROUND

In the 1967 film “The Graduate,”
Mr. McGuire offers one word of advice to
Dustin Hoffman’s character, Benjamin Braddock

“Plastics”

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Today, plastic items of all kinds travel far and wide in their journey into eternity. One of those destinations is in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California and north of Hawaii. There it has decided that it is so comfortable that it swirls along with other throw away items in a mass of garbage called the “Pacific Trash Vortex.”

The very thing that makes plastic items useful to consumers – their durability and stability – also makes them a problem in marine environments. Around 100 million tons of plastic are produced each year. About 10% ends up in the sea with roughly 20% of this is from ships and platforms, and the rest from land.

The North Pacific sub-tropical gyre covers a large area of the Pacific in which the water circulates clockwise in a slow spiral. Winds are light. The currents tend to force any floating material into the low energy central area of the gyre. There are few islands on which the floating material can beach. So it stays there in the gyre, in astounding quantities estimated at six kilos of plastic for every kilo of naturally occurring plankton. The equivalent of an area the size of Texas swirling slowly around like a clock, entangling sea creatures in its snares.

Photo Credit: calvintang.com

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Unlike naturally occurring compounds, plastic does not photo-degrade, it simply breaks up into ever-smaller pieces and lingers in the environment as an invisible toxic dust. Walk along any beach anywhere in the world and washed ashore will be many plastic bags, bottles and containers, plastic drums, expanded polystyrene packing, polyurethane foam pieces, pieces of polypropylene fishing net and discarded lengths of rope. Together with traffic cones, disposable lighters, vehicle tires and toothbrushes, these items have been casually thrown away on land and at sea and have been carried ashore by wind and tide.

 

Photo Credit: Greenpeace

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Fortunately, some businesses are starting to realize the environmental harm that can be wrought by some plastic items, namely plastic grocery bags. Whole Foods has announced plans to stop offering disposable, plastic grocery bags in all 270 stores in the USA, Canada, and the United Kingdom by Earth Day — April 22. That means roughly 100 million plastic bags will be kept out of the environment between that date and the end of 2008.

Whole Foods decision comes as other cities and countries are moving in the direction of freeing us from those plastic bags that seem to multiply like rabbits. San Francisco banned them; Oakland is considering a ban. New York and New Jersey require retailers to recycle them, and China announced a ban this month.

Now, if China – that great energy-guzzling, product-spewing nation can ban plastic bags, then we are really behind as a society. Yup, plastics is the word, but it sure doesn’t have the same sense of destiny today that it did in the day of “The Graduate.”

THIEME DRIVE – SAFE FOR NOW

Quite some time ago, I wrote about Thieme Drive and the St. Marys River, both of which are within a few dozen feet of my front door. In July 2003, we experienced what was labeled a “100-year” flood event with the St. Marys cresting at its highest level ever at 21.20 ft. on July 9, 2003.

After the waters had receded, the City requested that the United States Army Corps of Engineers undertake a Section 205 Study. Section 205 of the 1948 Flood Control Act, as amended, provides authority to the Corps of Engineers to plan and construct small flood damage reduction projects that have not already been specifically authorized by Congress. The City made such a request and the Corps submitted the Section 205 Study results in February 2005. The Study was released just a month after the third highest crest of the St. Marys at 19.06 ft. on January 14, 2005.

The Study identified four areas that had flooded in July 2003 that were not protected subsequent to the Flood of 1982 and its aftermath of building berms, levees, and walls. One of those areas was the Thieme-Berry area, with the suggestion made by the Corps to place an 1100-foot wall along Thieme Drive. The Study noted that not many homes in the Thieme-Berry location were impacted. After the release of the Section 205 Study, the City decided to go ahead with meetings to obtain input from the public on the four sites analyzed by the Corps.

Thus, began my fight against “the wall.” I attended meetings that were held not only in my neighborhood but also in other neighborhoods included in the Study. I wrote to the City numerous times, and I attended my neighborhood association meetings to ask for help in fighting the wall. The West Central Neighborhood Association was and has been extremely helpful, and we sent two letters to the City to let them know that a wall was not wanted.

All I could envision during this time were the monstrosities along St. Joseph Boulevard in the Lakeside area and along Camp Allen Drive in the Nebraska Neighborhood. Camp Allen Drive intersects with Main Street just across the Main Street bridge. The homes on Camp Allen Drive face a wall along the west side of the river, and driving along Camp Allen is like driving in a tunnel. The same can be said for driving along St. Joe Boulevard from Tennessee Avenue to the Columbia Avenue bridge. The traffic lanes restrict motorists, edging the drivers against the Wall in the traffic lane closest to the wall heading toward the Columbia Avenue bridge.

Concrete wall along Camp Allen Drive

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In a charrette held this past summer, a number of West Central residents impacted by the flooding of the St. Marys gathered with representatives of the City to discuss options to help with the flooding. No one supported an 10-foot wall, much to my relief. Those of us who actually suffer the flood waters stated that the water comes through our basement walls as the water filters through the ground. When I flooded in July 2003, I only had about an inch or two of water in my basement – most coming from oozing through the northwest corner of my basement wall. My home also sits at the low point on my side of West Berry, so the flow of water is naturally to my home and its foundation.

After much discussion, what was settled on as a consensus was a 4-foot wall with intermittent columns where barricades could be lowered into place to block the flood waters. These plans were then carried to the City by the two city employees who had facilitated the charrette.

I still did not want a wall of any type. Erecting even a 4-foot wall would have meant destroying the river bank environment since any wall would have required setting foundations in place deep in the ground. Trees would have been removed, many of them decades old. I realize to some this is not important, but we have very few river drive views left in Fort Wayne. Many once-visible river banks are now hidden either behind concrete walls or earthen levees and berms.

After the charrette, the City took soil borings, and, much to my delight, found that Thieme Drive is mostly fill with no way to support the footings that would be necessary for any type of wall. The City has determined that it would not be cost effective to go forward with a wall given that only a few homes are impacted by the flooding.

While I was elated at this news, it does not mean the fight is over. The City could place the project in the hands of the Army Corps of Engineers. But if the Corps becomes involved, it will trigger a Section 106 review. The following are the mandates of Section 106:

Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 requires consideration of historic properties in the thousands of federal actions that take place nationwide each year. The law and regulations require federal agencies to consult with the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) and/or Tribal Preservation Officer and give the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation an opportunity to comment before projects are implemented. The Section 106 process also provides for public input in the decision making.

This is relevant to Thieme Drive because Thieme Drive has been included in a multi-property document filed with the state and national historic registers, thus providing protection of a historical nature. Let me explain a little about the historic nature of Thieme Drive.

Thieme Drive History

Thieme Drive is named after Theodore F. Thieme, an early Fort Wayne entrepreneur who started the Wayne Knitting Mills and who donated the home where the Arena Dinner Theatre is located. He was also active in city improvement projects and was an early supporter of the beautification of our rivers. The overlook at the junction of Rockhill and Thieme Drive was built by Mr. Thieme on what was an old dump site. He donated his home to be used as an art studio, and it now houses the Arena Dinner Theater. One of my prized possessions which I found at the Hyde Brothers Book Store is a personally-autographed book of Mr. Thieme’s life titled “Theodore F. Thieme: A Man and His Times” by Ross F. Lockridge. I cannot help but think from reading the book that Mr. Thieme was a true “renaissance man.”

Around 1907, the citizens of Fort Wayne combined their effort with the local government to implement plans to beautify their city. The first plan was submitted by Charles Mulford Robinson of New York in 1909. This plan was followed by a park and boulevard plan by noted landscape architect George Kessler in 1911. The Plan highlighted and capitalized on the city’s most important and significant asset – its three rivers and the opportunity they presented.

After the Flood of 1913, the River Improvement Association was formed to review options for control and prevention of floods. The existing River Front Commission hired Kessler to supervise the work of revising the park system and beautifying the river banks. Kessler’s plan called for connecting the nine miles of rivers running though the city via parkways and boulevards.

The 1912 Kessler Park and Boulevard System for Fort Wayne included Present Parks and Parkways, Proposed Parks and Parkways, and Proposed Boulevards. A parkway includes the river, its bank, public green space along the bank, the vehicular drive along the landside of the green space. At the time of the Plan, the city had only two lengths of existing parkway:

• one running along the east bank of the St. Joseph River south from the Tennessee Boulevard to link to the Maumee River at its confluence, and
• one associated with Thieme Drive, along the east bank of the St. Marys River extending south from Main Street to Swinney Park.

The river drive along St. Joe Boulevard is encased on the river side by a cement wall over which no one can see from the street. Thieme Drive is the only river drive left of the original Kessler Plan. It is also one of the few drives left in Fort Wayne where motorists can actually drive right along the river – a rare sight indeed in today’s Fort Wayne landscape of berms, levees, and concrete walls hiding our rivers from view.

But Thieme Drive is neglected. Its river side is overgrown with unsightly brush and weeds and Trees of Heaven, which grow quickly and overtake almost any area they invade. The Drive is need of upkeep and care – it needs cleaned and weeded. The River Greenway runs alongside the river, but no formal path exists – I don’t know why because one could surely be established. This would require turning Thieme Drive into a one-way running from Washington Boulevard to Main Street, but that could be accomplished.

So, as I leave my home each morning and turn onto Thieme Drive and drive along the river, I breathe a sigh of relief – Thieme Drive is safe for now. I can only hope that somehow, someway the powers-that-be will soon look at Thieme Drive in a new light – a light that sees it for what it is – an historic river drive in need of care and attention to turn it into what could be a beautiful reminder of the man who gave it its name – Theordore F. Thieme.

THE NAFTA SUPERHIGHWAY – THE ROAD TO A NORTH AMERICAN UNION

On January 15, 2008, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) formally began a massive public reeducation and public relations effort in an aggressive and expensive attempt to stem the chorus of objections voiced thus far over the Trans Texas Corridor (TTC).

The Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) is a multi-lane highway system that would include toll roads for automobiles and rail lines and would run parallel to the eastern side of Interstate Highway 35 in Texas. Two corridors are being proposed, one parallel to I-35, named TTC 35, and another that will run from Northeast Texas down to Mexico, referred to as TTC 69.

 

Photo Credit: Texas Department of Transportation

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The Trans-Texas Corridor is the first leg of a new superhighway which will extend from Mexico to Canada so that the North American Free Trade Agreement, better known as NAFTA, can function even more “smoothly” to remove American jobs as if NAFTA hasn’t done enough already. The highway will take about half a million acres of Texas out of agricultural production – and according to opponents hasten the advent of a North American Union.

How does anything like the Trans-Texas Corridor impact us here in good, old Indiana? Think Interstate 69 from Indy to Evansville. The route is an extension of the Interstate which already runs through northeast Indiana. The website of the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration has the following description of plans for the I-69 corridor:

Corridor from Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, through Port Huron, Michigan, southwesterly along Interstate Route 69 through Indianapolis, Indiana, through Evansville, Indiana, Memphis, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Shreveport / Bossier Louisiana, to Houston, Texas, and to the Lower Rio Grande Valley at the border between the United States and Mexico, as follows:

1. 1. In Michigan, the corridor shall be from Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, southwesterly along Interstate Route 94 to the Ambassador Bridge interchange in Detroit, Michigan.
   2. In Michigan and Illinois, the corridor shall be from Windsor, Ontario, Canada, through Detroit, Michigan, westerly along Interstate Route 94 to Chicago, Illinois.
   3. In Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana, the Corridor shall–
      1. follow the alignment generally identified in the Corridor 18 Special Issues Study Final Report; and
      2. include a connection between the Corridor east of Wilmar, Arkansas, and west of Monticello, Arkansas, to Pine Bluff, Arkansas
   4. In the Lower Rio Grande Valley, the Corridor shall-
      1. include United States Route 77 from the Rio Grande River to Interstate Route 37 at Corpus Christi, Texas, and then to Victoria, Texas, via United States Route 77; [I-69 East]
      2. include United States Route 281 from the Rio Grande River to Interstate Route 37 and then to Victoria, Texas, via United States Route 59; [I-69 Central] and
      3. include the Corpus Christi North-side Highway and Rail Corridor from the existing intersection of United States Route 77 and Interstate Route 37 to United States Route 181, including FM511 from United States Route 77 to the Port of Brownsville.

 

Photo Credit: Smokescreendesign.com

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Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP):

The SPP is a Bush White House-led initiative among the United States and the two nations it borders – Canada and Mexico. The “goals” are to increase security and to enhance prosperity among the three countries through greater cooperation. The SPP is based on the principle that our prosperity is dependent on our security and recognizes that our three great nations share a belief in freedom, economic opportunity, and strong democratic institutions.

The SPP outlines a comprehensive agenda for cooperation among our three countries while respecting the sovereignty and unique cultural heritage of each nation. The SPP provides a vehicle by which the United States, Canada, and Mexico can identify and resolve unnecessary obstacles to trade, and it provides a means to improve our response to emergencies and increase security, thus benefiting and protecting Americans.

The SPP is short for dumping on the American people again by the Bush Administration. Unnecessary obstacles to trade can be read to mean more profit for the large corporations as they whiz the jobs out of the United States via the superhighway. And, you can almost hear the hum of the truck traffic from Mexico bringing in cheap goods produced in a country ridden by poverty and lax on environmental standards as well as worker standards.

The only ones who will benefit from this NAFTA Superhighway are the corporate powers that have their hands in Bush’s pocket and their cash in Bush’s wallet.

 

NEW YEAR – NEW CAFO LEGISLATION MOVES FORWARD

Last year not one of the three CAFO-related bills made it out of the legislative session.  This year, maybe common sense and the reality of environmental and health issues intertwined with huge factory farms will prompt our legislators to do what they are supposed to do:  pass laws that protect citizens.

New legislation regulating CAFOs would require annual inspections and other tightened regulations under a bill given initial approval by a House committee.   The House Agriculture and Rural Development Committee last week voted along party lines, with seven Democrats endorsing it and five Republicans opposing it.

The current bill would affect Indiana’s roughly 2,200 confined feeding operations, of which 625 are large enough for a separate distinction of concentrated animal feeding operations. The sprawling farms with thousands of hogs, cattle, or chickens are often opposed by neighbors because of their odor and potential impact on property values and the environment.

Several GOP members had concerns about additional regulations on the industry possibly driving up food prices.  That argument is simply a red herring.  The increased meat production is to benefit up and coming economies such as China, whose middle-class population is growing at an astounding rate, and, with that growth, the desire to live on a meat-based diet. 

“This bill is very troubling,” said Rep. Eric Gutwein, R-Rensselaer who, along with others, wanted to wait until an agricultural regulatory task force established by Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman finalized its recommendations.  You bet they wanted to wait.  That would be like waiting for the fox to tell the chickens how to protect themselves. 

Daniels and Skillman came up with their “Possibilities Unbound” plan in 2005 which focused on increasing pork production while backing off regulations.  One of the goals of the Plan was to review regulations to make Indiana a more “business friendly” environment.  In other words, Daniels and Skillman wanted to reduce regulations as much as possible. 

Among other provisions, the bill would require farm operators to disclose “good character” information, including violations in other states or pending legal action. It allows the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to consider this information before granting a permit.  This session our legislators appear to be ready to step up and make some tough but necessary decisions to protect us from the health and environmental impact of CAFOs.

Photo Credit:  Wikipedia

IRAN HOSTAGE CRISIS ENDS 27 YEARS AGO TODAY

January 20, 1981 : Iran Hostage Crisis ends

The Shah of Iran

Photo Credit: Mr. Dowling.com

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Minutes after Ronald Reagan’s inauguration as the 40th president of the United States, the 52 U.S. captives held at the U.S. embassy in Teheran, Iran, were released, ending the 444-day Iran Hostage Crisis.

On November 4, 1979, the crisis began when militant Iranian students, outraged that the U.S. government had allowed the ousted Shah of Iran to travel to New York City for medical treatment, seized the U.S. Embassy in Teheran. The Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran’s political and religious leader, took over the hostage situation, refusing all appeals to release the hostages.  However, two weeks after the storming of the embassy, the Ayatollah began to release all non-U.S. captives, and all female and minority Americans, citing these groups as among the people oppressed by the government of the United States. The remaining 52 captives remained at the mercy of the Ayatollah for the next 14 months.

President Jimmy Carter was unable to diplomatically resolve the crisis, and on April 24, 1980, he ordered a disastrous rescue mission in which eight U.S. military personnel were killed and no hostages rescued. Three months later, the former shah died of cancer in Egypt, but the crisis continued. In November 1980, Carter lost the presidential election to Republican Ronald Reagan. Soon after, with the assistance of Algerian intermediaries, successful negotiations began between the United States and Iran. On the day of Reagan’s inauguration, the United States freed almost $8 billion in frozen Iranian assets, and the hostages were released after 444 days. The next day, Jimmy Carter flew to West Germany to greet the Americans on their way home.

SLIGHT OF HAND – DANIELS AND JOB COMMITMENTS

As a starter, here are the JOBS LOST numbers for 2007 under the Guv:

January – 911
February – 334
March – 569
April – 1836
May – 962
June – 111
July – 570
August – 1088
September – 908
October – 1115
November – 118
December – 483

9005 Hoosiers out of work.

Daniels is astute at using the podium from which to announce job “commitments” while in the background Hoosiers are losing jobs.  Many of the new jobs Daniels brags about are two to three years in the future.  A commitment is simply that – it mean a pledge or promise.  And pledges and promises can be broken as the Guv has learned with Getrag.  For those who don’t recognize the name, Getrag is a leading manufacturer of manual automatic transmissions.

Earlier this month, Inside Indiana News reported that autoparts supplier Getrag had suspended construction of a $530m dual sequential gearbox (DSG) transmission plant in Tipton County. Starting in 2009, the factory was set to produce 700k transmissions per year and employ some 1400 people.

Photo Credit: The Truth About Cars website

Indiana had provided several incentives to Getrag.  The Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) ponied up $8.75m worth of performance-based tax credits and offered up to $500k for training grants. The state was on the hook for $3.4m for local road improvements.  According to Getrag Human Resource Director, Randy Cyman, the plant is on hold indefinitely while Chrysler and Getrag work out a supply agreement. 

But look for the Guv to step up his job announcements this next year. Something tells me we will be hearing more and more “commitment” announcements which have no impact on unemployed Hoosiers today.