Streetsblog NYC Feb 27, 2017
The controversy over Uber’s impact on Manhattan traffic has been settled. Uber, Lyft, and other app-based ride services are unequivocally worsening gridlock in the Manhattan core as well as northern Manhattan and the western parts of Queens and Brooklyn, according to a report released today by transportation analyst Bruce Schaller.
The new ride services, known as transportation network companies, or TNC’s, last year caused a net increase of 600 million vehicle miles traveled in the five boroughs — a 3 to 4 percent jump in citywide traffic, Schaller found. This trend marks a troubling inflection point — for the first time in many years, car-based services, not transit, account for most growth in travel.
Category Archives: Environment
Why have 2,500 New York subway cars been dumped in the sea?
At first sight it looks like a waste of money, a major act of pollution and a criminal act – but these New York subway cars being dumped into the sea are actually helping the environment. These truly remarkable photos detail just a small number of over 2,500 old subway cars from the Big Apple that have been used to create artificial underwater reefs on America’s Atlantic coast. Photographer Stephen Mallon of the Front Room Gallery snapped the images over a period of three years, and the photos are now are being shown in an exhibition in New York.
The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) of New York has been running this project for over 10 years, and ensures that on being decommissioned, the cars are cleaned, and every part which can be removed (seats, straps, windows, doors, wheels) are either recycled or sold. They are then loaded onto barges and dumped into sea to form artificial reefs. Click read more for some truly fantastic photographs…
An estimated 95 per-cent of the seabed off the US eastern seaboard is bare sand, a relatively inhospitable home for fish and crustaceans. But reefs provide protection from predators and so are attractive to fish, which inturns help build an eco-system with mussels, shrimps and crabs and eventually marlin and dolphins. And in addition to the envoronmental benefits, US corals are estimated to boost the economy by $200 million (£131 million) per year. The depositing of man-made structures to become artifical reefs is not uncommon, with tanks, armoured personnel carriers, oil rigs and even an aircraft carrier, the USS Oriskany being used.
Monsanto vs. Freedom of Information Act
Ralph Nader, who I admire. Me who hates Monsanto. gree on this.
ext year, the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) will celebrate its 50th anniversary as one of the finest laws our Congress has ever passed. It is a vital investigative tool for exposing government and corporate wrongdoing.
The FOIA was championed by Congressman John E. Moss (D-CA), who strove to “guarantee the right of every citizen to know the facts of his government.” Moss, with whom I worked closely as an outside citizen advocate, said that “without the fullest possible access to government information, it is impossible to gain the knowledge necessary to discharge the responsibilities of citizenship.”
All fifty states have adopted FOIA statutes.
As the FOIA approaches its 50th year, it faces a disturbing backlash from scientists tied to the agrichemical company Monsanto and its allies. Here are some examples.
On March 9, three former presidents of the American Association for the Advancement of Science—all with ties to Monsanto or the biotech industry—wrote in the pages of the Guardian to criticize the use of the state FOIA laws to investigate taxpayer-funded scientists who vocally defend Monsanto, the agri-chemical industry, their pesticides and genetically engineered food. They called the FOIAs an “organized attack on science.”
The super-secretive Monsanto has stated, regarding the FOIAs, that “agenda-driven groups often take individual documents or quotes out of context in an attempt to distort the facts, advance their agenda and stop legitimate research.”
Advocates with the venerable Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) do worry that the FOIA can be abused to harass scientists for ideological reasons. This is true; for example, human-caused global warming deniers have abused the FOIA against climate scientists working at state universities like Michael Mann of Pennsylvania State University.
Read more about the Monsanto MONSTER
GE to establish energy firm combining several businesses
HARTFORD, Conn. — General Electric Co. has established an energy company that combines its LED, solar, energy storage and electric vehicle businesses and a software system to help customers improve efficiency.
The Fairfield, Connecticut-based conglomerate said Wednesday the company, known as Current, will begin with more than $1 billion of revenue and build on the company’s energy businesses. It will be based in the Boston area and have a presence in California’s Silicon Valley, though exact locations weren’t provided.
Through its software GE will analyze energy consumption and provide customers with data detailing patterns of use and recommendations to improve efficiency.
GE says customers include Walgreens, Hilton Worldwide and JPMorgan Chase.
Current is expected to create about 200 jobs. Maryrose Sylvester, a former president and CEO of GE Lighting, will serve as CEO.
Nuclear Bombings in 1945 and New killer bombs of the 21st century
The atomic bomb was more than a weapon of terrible destruction. It was a psychological weapon.
-Henry L. Stimson,1947.
Do you remember what happened on today’s date, 70 years ago, on 6th August 1945? No? On 9th August 1945? No? Ok. Let’s re-read about the world’s biggest catastrophic and prodigal attacks related to a warfare. THE ATOMIC BOMBINGS OF HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI. The attacks occurred during world war-2 on Japan, in the final phase, The pacific war. This was one and the only war, in which a atomic bomb was used as a weapon. A Nuclear weapon. The war that crossed all its limit.
You cannot imagine the carnage those atomic bombs created! An atomic bomb made up of Uranium named TINY BOY was dropped on Hiroshima on 6th August, 1945. Thousands of people died on the spot with thousands of people died on the following days due to…
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MTA Works to Minimize Record Crowds on New York City Subways
Overcrowded subways are causing more delays across the city’s transit system.
According to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, there were nearly 13,000 delays because of overcrowding in January. That’s almost double the number of delays in the same month last year.
The Second Avenue subway is expected to ease overcrowding on the Lexington Avenue lines and the MTA says three of the new stations will open by December of next year.
Transit officials say work on the 86th Street stop needs to be sped up to avoid delaying the project’s completion.
Crews are still working to get the 7 train to the far West Side this spring, but they’re dealing with some issues regarding the installation of elevators at the 34th Street/Hudson Yards station.
Long overdue repairs to the 168th Street and 181st Street stops in Washington Heights are being pushed back.
We brought you a story in 2013 about bricks…
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River Dogs
Weimeriner puppy, Remington, is enjoying his time spent on the river. Shannon Demers, photographer
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Pedalling away
Grade Crossing Accidents Coast-To-Coast
Motorist questioned in California train crash that hurts 28
A commuter train crashed into a truck and derailed Tuesday, injuring dozens of people in farmland northwest of Los Angeles.
The collision sent three cars of the Metrolink train tumbling onto their sides. A total of 28 passengers were taken to hospitals, four with critical injuries, according to the Oxnard Fire Department.
Authorities were questioning the truck driver, whom they said fled and was found several miles away. For reason that are not yet clear, his truck was sitting on the tracks at a marked crossing around 5:44 a.m. as the train approached, fire officials said.
“The conductor noticed the car early and established emergency protocol. He anticipated the crash from a far distance,” Oxnard Fire Battalion Chief Sergio Martinez said.
Little was left of the truck except scorched and mangled wreckage, with some debris in a nearby intersection and some…
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U.S. Steel closing Gary Works coke plant
New comments added March 27, 2015
U.S. Steel plans to close its Gary Works coke plant in May, displacing about 300 workers. It will mark the end of a coke-making era at the steel plant that once operated three coke batteries.
U.S. Steel spokeswoman Courtney Boone said Thursday the company notified United Steelworkers of America officials on Wednesday of the permanent shutdown. She said it was a strategic decision based on market conditions and the company’s long-term coke strategy.
U.S. Steel applied for a permit last year to construct an electric arc furnace at its Fairfield Works plant in Birmingham, Ala., to replace an existing blast furnace. U.S. Steel officials say the electric arc furnace will improve its operations so it can adapt to global demand, while reducing its capital spending and maintenance costs related to running a blast furnace.
Made from crushed coal cooked at…
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Ancien Hippie 