If Anyone is Still Reading....

In keeping with my New Years resolution not to spend a lot of time on the internet, I'm not going to blog here anymore.

The statistics don't justify me posting and nobody is paying me to flog a dead horse for the few readers who bother to read DMO.

I probably will add one more update when Rep. Mark Olson is officially dumped at the polls.

Until then, the blog will remain as a resource for opposition research.

PRT Supporters Lose Special Election in Minnesota

(Cross-posted at Dump Bachmann)

The Northfield News:

Dahle won today's special election with 55 percent of the vote, defeating Republican Ray Cox of Northfield with 42 percent and Independence Party candidate Vance Norgaard of Northfield with 2 percent.

Ray Cox claimed in a debate that there was a PRT facility in Duluth. Cox later admitted to Eva Young and PRT promoter David Gow the the facility did not exist.

Message to Rep. Mark Olson and Michele Bachmann: Being a PRT supporter doesn't win elections.

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Daventry's PRT Promoters Want to Pave a Public Swimming Pool for a Parking Lot

Daventry Today:

THERE will be no replacement outdoor pool, no refund to the townspeople who paid for it, and the former site is likely to be built on.

That was the response of Cllr Chris Over, Daventry District Council’s economic and regeneration portfolio holder, to questions asked by Daventry Town Council and the Swimming Pool Association over the future of the former outdoor pool site in Chaucer Way.

Last week the town council wrote to Daventry District Council (DDC) asking if there would be a replacement for the old outdoor pool and if not would DDC reimburse the people who paid for it the estimated current value of £2 million.

The town council also asked if the former site would remain as public open space.

The pool was filled in and the buildings demolished at the beginning of last year by DDC after the Government Office For The East Midlands (GOEM) decided not to examine the planning application on the basis that the site would remain as open public space. At the moment it is fenced off and inaccessible to the public.

Cllr Over said: “The district council is not going to provide a new indoor or outdoor pool as has previously been suggested.

“The current leisure facilities meet the needs of the community at this time, but there will be reviews as the town grows to make sure that remains the case.

“It is my understanding that there will not be a ‘reimbursement’ based on the current value of the former buildings or the land.

“The Chaucer Way site is being considered for a temporary car park, but in the long term the land will be used for the benefit of the community.

“It think it’s unlikely it will remain as open space, but would be put to good use as there are plans for new leisure and cultural facilities.”

In the past DDC has said it planned to expand the existing Chaucer Way car park over the old Outdoor Pool site to create an additional 240 spaces as a temporary measure while other car parks in the town are redeveloped.

In the longer term DDC’s own masterplan for the town’s growth indicates the outdoor pool land would be used for retail units, associated parking, and part of the marina project

... but ... but ... I thought the podcars that the DDC proposed last year were supposed to make cars and parking lots obsolete?

I remember when the PRT promoter Gary Dean Zimmermann voted to demolish two homes in my neighborhood for a parking lot (the demolition began on Earth Day). Like Zimmermann, The Daventry District Council peddles PRT-pie-in-the -the-sky-by-and-by while doing nothing about the pollution, inequity and land-use problems associated with automobile-centric urban planning.

The town council’s questions were prompted by Bob Waldock, from Daventry Swimming Pool Association, who asked the authority to find out DDC’s current plans.

Mr Waldock said: “What we want is what we’ve said all along – a brand new facility. We’re going to get a brand new town, so why can’t we get this brand new facility?

“In the short-term all the district council has to do is mow around the site and put some benches in to make it into a recreation site again.

“What we want in the long-term is for the site to remain as recreational use, and ideally for a new facility to be built so that children can learn how to swim in a safe environment before the marina and canal get built.”

Yet another example of the Personal Rapid Transit public relations gimmick used to mask the true intentions of people who want to privatize, build on and pave over everything.

Ithaca's PRT Promoters Know Better Than You

On another blog, a persistent troll accused me of representing the interests of "the light rail lobby".

It's a ridiculous claim, but it gives me an opportunity to say what I stand for.

I am in favor of full and meaningful citizen participation in decisions that effect the neighborhoods they live in. That is why I volunteered to oppose the 35W Access Project.

Meaningful citizen participation requires that citizens be given the power to make decisions based on the best available information.

The PRT promoters of Ithaca seem to have another idea... no meaningful citizen participation.

This is from the local Green Cities blog:

THE GOVERNMENT: Top down approach. This is how any really major change has ever happened in the world of environmentalism. Without governmental guidance or support very little will get done in a short period of time.

And what sort of "major change" do these self-styled "green" tyrants want to force on Ithaca?

Personal Rapid Transit:

Goal 1: To engage the Cornell community in learning, discussing, and eventually approving the vision of Connect Ithaca, which includes collaborative planning for an Ithaca-wide personal rapid transity (PRT) system.

Goal 2: To outreach to the downtown Ithaca community about Connect Ithaca and work with any other parties in promoting PRT in Ithaca.

Looks like the Connect Ithaca Team is going about the business of lining up support for their top-down pod revolution. Here is a resolution passed by the Cornell Student Assembly.

And the Chair of Connect Ithaca Jacob Roberts is also going about the business of lining up support:

Ithaca is well positioned to become a beta-site for one of the first modern PRT networks in the world. Various Industry leaders, International PRT NGOs, and even other US city Mayors are already supporting Connect Ithaca and its effort to situate Ithaca, NY and Tompkins County as the testing, development and manufacturing hub of the first major North American PRT network. Very exciting, indeed!

What Jake means by "beta-site" is that Ithaca is where the PRTistas plan to work out the bugs in their ridiculous concept.

Here's Jake talking about the Podcar Conference:

Click To Play

How Old is Personal Rapid Transit?

In the last post I showed a newspaper clipping that showed that J. Edward Anderson has been wasting everyone's time with his "new" and "innovative" PRT concept since the Nixon Era of the early 1970's.

A PRTista cranked up his keyboard to send me what he thought was a correction:

...PRT ideas trace back to the 1950s....

I suppose he means the sort of "futuristic" crackpot gadgetbahn ideas in this 1958 Disney movie:



... I suppose you could go back to Leonardo's sketchbooks to find a mention of PRT... hey there it is:



.... and look, there's PRT in the caves of Lascaux:



.... wow, they were working on "new" and "innovative" ideas way back then!

Personal Rapid Transit is a Nixon Era Concept

For over thirty years, J. Edward Anderson and his pals have been wasting our time with PRT:



Yes, that is Nixon's face in the photo.

The CPRT's David Gow Calls Rep. Mark Olson a "Certifiable Wacko"

Over at the Dump Bachmann blog, the Citizens for Personal Rapid Transit's Seattle representative David Gow ( Mr_Grant) left this comment:

May I make a strategic suggestion? You should be trying to organize a campaign to recall Slappy Olson. He seems to be the most irrelevant politician in Minnesota and a certifiable wacko, it shouldn't be that hard of a sales job.

It looks as if the CPRT has thrown Rep. Mark Olson under the bus... er ... pod.

The PRTistas were much more loyal to Dean Zimmermann. Even after Zimmermann lost his appeal on his bribery conviction, they still have his PRT plan for Minneapolis on their website.

J. Edward Anderson signed a statement of support for Dean Zimmermann calling the former Minneapolis councilman a "political prisoner".

Not very smart of the CPRT to turn their back on Rep. Mark Olson.

Rep. Mark Olson knows a few things. If the PRTistas turn their back on him, he could find the right publisher for his memoirs and tell all about how the PRT flim-flam operates. It might even become a bestseller.

Heck, I might even help him write it.


Dump Mark Olson in BMRD's Top Seven List

Dump Mark Olson is # 5 on Hal Kimball's years end list of blogs:

5. Dump Mark Olson: Avidor's work this past year on the Mark Olson domestic violence case and his PRT boondoggle have been excellent and consistent. No one is better with photoshop either! I'm looking forward to Avidor covering the Olson House race in 08.

Check out the other blogs on Hal's list.