Mark Olson's October Surprise?

A year ago, during one of the debates between Gary Dean Zimmermann and Robert Lilligren, Zimmermann announced that ULTra had two big contracts to build PRT systems, one in Dubai and the other in one of Heathrow Airport's parking lots. Since then I've seen no evidence of actual construction on either of these projects. Like every PRT project in the last thirty years, Heathrow and Dubai will likely be flops or fakes.

So, I've been expecting that the PRTistas would try to help Mark Olson by announcing some phony projects like they did a year ago for Zimmermann.... some happy PRT news so Olson can say that PRT is alive and well. Well it's been announced that there will be an Advanced Transit Association (ATRA) conference in Santa Cruz hosted by Green Party-endorsed Santa Cruz Councilman Ed Porter in November (You can always count on the Greens to help the right-wingers).

Last session, Olson proposed that ATRA be involved in planning the Central Corridor. His suggestion was denounced by Representative Ron Abrams and it was voted down.

It's interesting that J. Edward Anderson isn't appearing at ATRA's conference.

The last time I saw Ed Anderson, he was sitting in the back of Mark Olson's committee at the Capital. Olson scratched his PRT bill from the hearing so I wouldn't be able to testify. Olson rescheduled those hearings and I returned for those hearings two more times and Olson took his bill off the committee agenda on those occasions also. The first time he removed his bill from the agenda, a lobbyist sitting next to me turned to me and whispered "Olson's afraid of you".

I'd like to know if Anderson is supporting Bachmann, Vandeveer and Olson in this election. I'm sure his liberal friends at his Universalist Church would have a few questions about why Ed Anderson supported these right-wingers.

Let's see who is appearing at the ATRA conference...

Jeral Poskey . He worked alongside convicted felon Gary Dean Zimmermann lobbying the City of Minneapolis to buy Taxi 2000's testing facility. Poskey also played a key role in the Taxi 2000 lawsuit against J. Edward Anderson. Jeral Poskey discovered that Anderson had tampered with the hard drive of the company computer. Poskey's retrieval of Ed Anderson's nasty e-mails led to the lawsuit. Taxi 2000 hasn't had anything new added to its website's news page since 2004. A dead company website means a dead company.

Bill James . James is a rising star in the PRT firmament. He seems to be the only PRT entrepreneur these days willing to exhibit a PRT prototype. Of course, he built his J-Pods out of metal tubing, plywood, industrial carpets and black duct tape sealing the plastic windows... and a "support the troops" yellow ribbon.

Larens Imanyuel . Now there's an interesting fellow:

Larens Imanyuel, a Berkeley assistant physics professor who has studied the bombing, is one such advocate. Imanyuel's analysis, which appeared in Veritas newsletter, indicates that the wide extent of the collateral damage was not consistent with a conventional explosion. As Imanyuel writes:
There was some very sophisticated bomb that was capable of causing a tremendous blast atmospheric pressure wave that blew out windows in so many of the surrounding buildings. This had to be some sort of very high-tech dust explosive-like bomb — one that creates a widely dispersed explosive mixture in the very air and then detonates it with a secondary charge. This last spectacular high-tech bomb served the purpose of convincing the general public that the alleged solitary truck-bomb was powerful and "devastating" enough that it could wipe out and collapse a nearby building.

Dick Gronning . He's a "Founding member of the Citizens for Personal Rapid Transit". The CPRT no longer has a website. I heard the CPRT had some problems with the IRS after they committed some flagrant electioneering on behalf of convicted felon Gary Dean Zimmermann.

Skytran PRT Representatives . Skytran has got to be the silliest PRT concept. It's supposed to be 15 times cheaper than LRT because it is built by robots.

What I want to know is where do these fools get the money to hold a conference?

*****UPDATE*****

The Seattle PRTista Dennis Manning has a post on the Seattle Yahoo list:

(Note: This is a temporary web site set up due the ATRA web server being out of service for an unknown period)

EXTRAORDINARY SHIFTS ARE TAKING PLACE IN CALIFORNIA AND AROUND THE WORLD. CONCERN FOR OIL SECURITY, GLOBAL WARMING, CONGESTION, AND SECURITY IS MAKING PRT ATTRACTIVE TO POLICY MAKERS. THESE ARE EXCITING TIMES.

All ATRA members are encouraged to attend this unique gathering. In order to foster "Next Steps" for PRT development, this conference will bring together national and international PRT experts, Santa Cruz officials, and engaged citizens. The aim is to create an exchange between PRT advocates and Santa Cruz locals on ways to overcome the barriers to PRT deployment. The focus is on the "Next Steps for PRT".

Remembering the famous word's of Tip O'Neill, "All politics are local." So too with PRT deployments. Even though of modest size, Santa Cruz’s mobility issues are relevant to most communities. Exploring them in Santa Cruz will benefit all.

It's ironic that these ATRA PRTistas claim to be on the cutting edge of technology, but can't seem to fix their website.

If the Santa Cruz "officials, and engaged citizens" have any sense, they'll pack these ATRA hucksters into a J-Pod and run them out of town.

Another Personal Rapid Transit Corporate Shake-up?

This announcement reminds me of when Taxi 2000 gave J. Edward Anderson the ol' heave-ho prior to their nasty lawsuit in 2005.

ATS, the would-be vendor for the British PRT "system" ULTra is looking for a new CEO:

Founder Martin Lowson has steered the strategic development of the company to this point, assisted by his fellow executive and non executive directors.

Now however, with the emphasis moving from R&D to operations, corporate development and worldwide sales, he and the Board wish to appoint a seasoned CEO with experience of these activities.

There's the usual PRT nonsense on this site, but this caught my eye:

The Board is chaired by Trevor Smallwood who has 34 years of public transport experience and was co-founder of First Group Plc. Trevor has been chairman for 6 years.

First Group doesn't seem to have a very good reputation among transit riders in the U.K.:

Around 300 people marched through Sheffield last Saturday to protest against First’s bus fares rise. As one woman put it, “I only want to ride on the bus, not buy it!”

First seems to be one of the the worst when it comes to privatizing transit:

In 1999, First defended its profits rise despite being the operator of one of the trains involved in the Paddington rail crash of that year, insisting that profits were not being prioritised above safety.

More about First in this BBC story. Interesting that First operates a fleet of school buses in America. The potential for growth in the corporate school bus business lies mainly in the creation of suburban sprawl rather than transit-oriented communities. Can't have those kids walking or taking transit to school... bad for the bottom line.

As it is in the USA, PRT in the UK seems to be a stalking-horse for individuals and organizations that want to do something nasty to public transit.

For more about ULTra go to the PRT is a Joke website.

Alan Fine, Republican 5th District Candidate Promotes PRT

Alan Fine... new member of the PRT Pod Squad.

Read more at Lloydletta.

4 Black Holes in Personal Rapid Transit's Cyberspace Dream

As this excellent Light Rail Now article explains, PRT only exists in computer graphics on the many PRT websites all linked to one another. But the cyber-illusion is starting to fall apart. Dead links are starting to spread like varicose veins as the websites for dead and moribund PRT projects like E.D.I.C.T. blink off. Here's four examples:

1) The Citizens for Personal Rapid Transit website featuring convicted felon Dean Zimmermann's bizarre PRT plan for South Minneapolis has been down for a week or more:

www.cprt.org

I heard the CPRT had a little trouble with the IRS after they violated their non-profit status by electioneering for Zimmermann and other PRT-promoting candidates in the 2005 election. You can still view archived pages from the cprt.org website at the Wayback Machine.

2)Years ago, the city council of Cardiff, Wales was hoodwinked into supporting the phony PRT project called ULTra. When ULTra turned out to be a tortoise-slow, battery-powered, magnet-guided, gussied-up golf cart, they apparently pulled the plug on the web page heralding the ominous-sounding program they called E.D.I.C.T.

www.cardiff.gov.uk/edict

Here's what happened to E.D.I.C.T.:

The lead partner in EDICT was the Welsh capital Cardiff which has been planning an ULTra system for several years. The city is home to ULTra's 1 km-long test track, which opened in 2002, and the council originally hoped to have a commercial system running by 2004. Progress slowed, however, after political disagreements and the withdrawal of funding by the Welsh Assembly in 2003.

Translation: another failed PRT project flushed down the memory hole.

3) Skyweb Express (the Taxi 2000 Corporation) still rides the cyber-waves, but the would-be PRT vendor is manned by a ghostly crew and hasn't posted any news on its website's news page since 2004. Mark Olson links to Taxi 2000's website on his campaign website.

4) Skyloop has been dead as a doornail since 2001. Skyloop's website is a relic from PRT's go-go years in the late 1990's... hilarious stuff.

"Personal Rapid Transit"... Mark Olson Dares Not Speak Its Name

You can read Rep. Mark Olson's weasel-worded letter to the Sherburne County Citizen HERE.

In two previous campaigns, the Olson Volunteer Committee raised money and spent thousands of dollars to publish many reasons why we should not support Northstar and inform people about the misleading taxpayer funded publications that pushed the train. After proposing a better, more comprehensive solution to address Metro congestion and hearing from more people who contacted me to oppose Northstar, shouldn’t I keep faith with my words? I certainly hope so.

So what is that "better, more comprehensive solution"? Why can't Mark Olson even utter the letters "PRT" anymore?

Maybe it was the Taxi 2000 lawsuit last year.

Maybe it was the humiliation of having his idiotic PRT amendment to the 2006 bonding bill voted down 107 to 26.

Maybe it was his pod-pal Zimmermann's bribery conviction last month.

How long will the media allow Mark Olson to hide the truth from the voters of 16b?

The Shrinking Circle: 3 Candidates Reject Personal Rapid Transit

The circle is getting smaller... Olson may soon be the only politician in Minnesota who promotes PRT... at least the only politician not searving time in a Federal penitentiary.

Senate District 41 Julie Risser, the Green Party candidate says:

After researching PRT, reading the Sierra Club's position and the Transit for Livable Communities' website, I have come to the conclusion that PRT is not viable for Minnesota. Minnesota has made a committment to lightrail. We need to continue this committment. The Southwest Corridor is a logical continuation of the lightrail network. We also need to continue our committments to bike paths, side walks, and buses. The Twin Cities is decades behind other metro areas in terms of transit.

also:

Independence Party Candidates distance themselves from the IP platform's PRT plank:

"Lighter moment: Fitzgerald said he opposed government subsidization of personal rapid transit, when asked to cite a major difference with his party."

John Binkowski, the IP candidate in the Sixth Congressional District also rejected PRT.

I would like to see the media investigate why Bachmann, Olson, Vandeveer and Zimmermann promoted PRT instead of treating the issue as a "lighter moment".

A few years ago, there was nothing "light" about the disruptive tactics PRT supporters used to stop rail transit in Minnesota and elsewhere.

Many rail transit advocates remember when PRT promoters used to disrupt meetings about transit. In one memorable encounter, a deranged man interrupted an art workshop my wife and I were giving at Macalester College, shouting that PRT is the “only transportation solution", threw a dozen Taxi 2000 Corporation brochures at us and stormed out.

That's probably what Mark Olson and Ed Anderson really meant when they said that said that PRT was a "disruptive technology" in this article.

Learn more about the PRT scam at the PRT is a Joke web site.

Jim Huhtala Wins DFL Primary

Looking forward to November...

Bachmann to Appear at Mark Olson (16b) Fundraiser

See the invite HERE.

He and Michele Bachmann promoted the PRT boondoggle with convicted felon Dean Zimmermann.

Pulse Editor and Publisher Ed Felein Says Personal Rapid Transit "Was Idiotic"

Ed Felein is the Editor and Publisher of Pulse and a former Green Party candidate.

In a cover story in this week's Pulse, Felein defends his friend and fellow Green Dean Zimmermann who was recently convicted of bribery.

On the Minneapolis Issues List, The Greens rallied to Zimmermann's fallen standard. Senate candidate and PRT promoter Michael Cavlan accused the Star Tribune (which has always given Zimmermann favorable coverage) of being... get ready to laugh... "corporate". Another list member, Chris Johnson accuses "special interests" of being "out to get Zimmermann".

David Greene responds:

You're kidding, right? This is why the Green party is difficult to take seriously. It's not about what other people have done. It's about what DEAN did. If all of our other councilmembers were members of the mafia, it wouldn't change the fact that what Dean did was wrong.

Now, I was no fan of Dean, I'll freely admit that. His work for PRT set back getting real transit going in the metro area quite a few years. In the end, he was a fairly ineffective councilmember but he did just enough damage to transit by diverting resources to pie-in-the-sky vaporware that has not a chance of succeeding. He simultaneously encouraged anti-transit legislators to gum up the conversation using calculated efforts to sell PRT as "real transit" in order to kill systems like LRT that are proven to work. This did not, in my mind, serve the community.

Then Ed Felein weighs in...

I find myself in the curious position of agreeing with David Greene at the same time I disagree with him. I agree that PRT was idiotic and that our energies should be directed toward making LRT as safe, fast, non-polluting and economical as possible.

Are the Greens throwing PRT overboard to save their sinking ship?

Will the Media Ask Risser, Bachmann, Olson and Vandeveer About PRT?

UPDATE: Julie Risser no longer promotes PRT.

Spot at The Cucking Stool blog gets right to the heart of the issue:

"....it sure looks like the Republicans are using the Greens to oppose legitimate transit solutions."

With the recent bribery conviction of Dean Zimmermann, the media needs to take another look at the bogus transportation scheme Zimmermann spent so much time promoting.

The stockholders in the Taxi 2000 Corporation could have made big profits if Zimmermann, Olson and Bachmann had been successful in passing legislation that would benefit Taxi 2000.

The media needs to get a list of everyone who held shares in Taxi 2000.

Contact the media and insist that their political reporters ask Risser, Olson, Bachmann and Vandeveer, why they promoted Dean Zimmermann's PRT boondoggle.

Julie Risser - Another Green PRTista Helping to Elect Republicans

UPDATE: Julie Risser no longer promotes PRT.


UPDATE: Julie Risser no longer promotes PRT.