Did no one else smell this story? Is no one shocked that a respected public servant who was trying to do his job now faces three years in jail, $50,000 a day in fines, and the destruction of his career for a mechanical error that happened on his watch and resulted in no evidence of environmental damage? Or that county taxpayers have to pick up the tab for $170,000 in fines, not to mention all future paychecks for a new “environmental compliance officer”? This, of course, after they went to the enormous expense of carefully transporting their dredging spoils to specially built holding ponds in an effort to comply with a preposterous Army Corps of Engineers regulation that prohibits simply moving the dirt from one side of the river to the other.
Wake up sleepyheads. Every time the EPA or the Corps of Engineers or any of the dozens of other agencies with some jurisdiction over the lands and waters we use decides to lower the permissible level of some obscure contaminant from 3 parts per million to 2 parts per million, companies go out of business, people lose jobs, the cost of providing public services goes through the roof (ditto our tax burden), and the entire economy is taken down another notch.
The benefit to the environment is zero. The only dogs benefiting here are the environmental activist groups and their lawyers, who grow richer and bolder with every lawsuit. This is not justice. It is insanity.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Bridge to Justice?
Oh wait. Turns out Sam Adams is not the craziest poodle on the PDX City Council. Newbie commissioner Amanda Fritz thinks the bridge planning team ought to include "specialists on health and environmental justice."
What are they putting in the dog food down at City Hall?
What are they putting in the dog food down at City Hall?
Bridge to Nowhere
Now I know why liberals think Sam Adams is so smart. His proclamation on the proposed Columbia River Crossing is so packed with tortured metaphors and bureaucratic clichés that it could only have been written by someone who has spent his entire adult life in committee meetings, surrounded by chart packs and earnest discussion about how many ways you can get words like “impacts” and “partnerships” and “innovation” into the departmental mission statement.
Normal people build bridges. For Portlanders, it's got to be a “performance-goal-based thermostat” that increases safety, reduces carbon footprints, actively manages daily mobility, and shows the world "a smarter way forward" (not to mention a slew of new acronyms). I can see now why the price of the Portland Aerial Tram ballooned to four times its initial cost estimate.
After reading this piece three times, I figured out that it’s just Sam’s way of saying he wants a few more lanes on the bridge, which of course will be “phased and managed” by Sam and the other smart folks at City Hall whose contribution to the science of traffic management thus far has been to jam Portland’s neighborhoods with speed bumps and curb extensions.
Back on earth, most of us think the purpose of the bridge is to get people from one side of the river to the other as efficiently as possible. Hopefully the politicians will get out of the way and let the engineers build a bridge that gets the job done. With any luck, it might even be beautiful.
Now there’s something future generations might actually thank us for.
Normal people build bridges. For Portlanders, it's got to be a “performance-goal-based thermostat” that increases safety, reduces carbon footprints, actively manages daily mobility, and shows the world "a smarter way forward" (not to mention a slew of new acronyms). I can see now why the price of the Portland Aerial Tram ballooned to four times its initial cost estimate.
After reading this piece three times, I figured out that it’s just Sam’s way of saying he wants a few more lanes on the bridge, which of course will be “phased and managed” by Sam and the other smart folks at City Hall whose contribution to the science of traffic management thus far has been to jam Portland’s neighborhoods with speed bumps and curb extensions.
Back on earth, most of us think the purpose of the bridge is to get people from one side of the river to the other as efficiently as possible. Hopefully the politicians will get out of the way and let the engineers build a bridge that gets the job done. With any luck, it might even be beautiful.
Now there’s something future generations might actually thank us for.
Mad Dog
It's not easy being me. Big. Black. Newfie (mix actually; I have spaniels in my family tree). I'm loyal, sweet tempered, affectionate, love children, blah, blah, blah. But I'm not like the other dogs in the park. I think about things. And I worry. That's because I live in a crazy place. It's run by a bunch of French Poodles who spend all their time sniffiing each others' butts. These puppies are totally oblivious to what goes on in the real world.
The guy I walk with every day, Mr. B., says being conservative in Portland is like being a snowball in hell. He may be a grouchy old man, but I think he's got that right. I guess you could say I'm a dog on the hunt for common sense in a field of foolishness. If you sniff any out, let me know.
The guy I walk with every day, Mr. B., says being conservative in Portland is like being a snowball in hell. He may be a grouchy old man, but I think he's got that right. I guess you could say I'm a dog on the hunt for common sense in a field of foolishness. If you sniff any out, let me know.
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