Video of Rep. Mark Olson Making a Fool of Himself (Again)

In this video of a House floor debate in 2005, Rep. Mark Olson blurs the line between church and state when he argues against same sex marriage:



Contrast Mark Olson's rambling and confused speech with Rep. Keith Ellison's eloquent defense of the rights of minorities against a bigoted majority:



I have a wife and two children and I agree with Keith Ellison.. my marriage has not been effected by the marriage of same sex couples.

Rep. Mark Olson Versus The Hiawatha LRT Line

The thought occurred to me today that many voters in 16b may not have seen the new Hiawatha LRT. They would not know how convenient, fast, quiet and dependable the LRT is. They may not know how beautiful the stations are.

I made this video so people can see for themselves what and other anti-transit politicians like Rep. Mark Olson, Michele Bachmann, Rep. Vandeveer and former Minneapolis Councilman Dean Zimmermann have opposed all these years.

Personal Rapid Transit: "...computers are not the magic bullet that will save us."

From the Minneapolis Issues:

Ignoring all of the problems with actually building the [PRT]
infrastructure, I will focus in on the area of my professional
expertise: large-scale computing systems.

The idea that computers can automatically control a distributed
network of machines that by their nature have a human interaction
component and that this system will work at peak efficiency
with vehicles traveling inches behind one another is absurd.

We have plenty of examples of much smaller and less complex
systems have taken years to get right, if at all. A few that
come to mind:

- Denver airport's baggage handling system

- MSP airport's trams (which only go from one single, fixed point
to another!)

- Metro Transit's GoTo card system

As a computer professional, I can state with utter certainty that
computers are not the magic bullet that will save us. At one
level they are extremely simple machines. But at another level,
they are incredibly complex. Debugging distributed software is
no easy task. Programs will always have bugs. The question is,
can the developer get rid of enough of the critical ones to make
the system mostly functional? Is mostly functional good enough?

In technical terms, the problem of optimally scheduling a
distributed network of traveling objects is likely NP-complete
(I haven't done the formal analysis). That means that the
computer will have to make guesses and I can guarantee that
it will guess wrong in some cases. That doesn't mean the
system will break down, but it won't always achieve the peak
efficiency that its promoters proclaim.

A system like PRT will need many layers of redundancy, and that
adds cost. I just don't buy the claim that private companies
will pay for it and make a profit. If that were the case, why
does PRT need any subsidy at all?

I work in the supercomputing industry developing the software
that users need to develop their applications. I also do some
high-level hardware architecture work. A system like PRT will
need something equivalent to a low-end supercomputer to work.
I know how difficult it is to get these systems to function.

The claims made by PRT proponents are pie-in-the-sky nonsense.
They are made by people who have no real understanding of the
underlying technology needs and complexities.

David Greene
The Wedge

"AHS TO HIPPIES: PRT is American and you are not"

This from American Hot Sausage:

AHS TO HIPPIES: PRT is American and you are not

A local Minnesota inventor created the "J-Pod," or at least a low-tech prototype of what PRT would look like. It would require 140 miles of track to carry 100,000 pods, but the savings would be $600,000 per day. Wow. Also, it's considered a moving internet. You search it's computer for your destination and it takes you there. It's like a taxi, except you can carry alcohol and eat pork.

As you might guess, Mr. Avidor is against JPods too. He has plenty bad to say about them. However, this only masks his anti-Americanism. AHS is pretty sharp and we can spot a phony a mile away. Sure, he tries to make it about creating rational public policy, but his sinister intentions are made clear by inspecting the picture of the JPod. Look closely and you'll see what really has Mr. Avidor and his liberal band of kook-aid drinkers hot.

That's right, look to the right door panel, just below the tinted window, and you'll see what really has PRT critics up in arms. It's the support our troops sticker with American colors. Yes, we're on to you liberal wackos and your hatred for the innovation of this country. Left up to you Saddam would still lead Iraq and we'd all be riding bicycles to the unemployment office. No, way buddy. We're Americans. We're right and your not.

Mr. Sausage must be talking about these PRT-promoting Americans (Green Party's Gary Dean Zimmermann and Dave Bicking):

Bad Hair Day for Rep. Mark Olson

Today, the Saint Cloud Times editorial board endorsed Jim Huhtala. The SC Times editors also scolded Mark Olson for not responding to their request for an interview and for promoting PRT:

...Olson, who in 14 years of legislative service has cast more than his share of truly confusing votes and taken some bizarre stands on issue. Tops on the list: He opposes Northstar but supports personal rapid transit, a yet-unproven transit system involving individual cars on yet-to-be-built tracks.

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Here is a short clip of Mark Olson trying to bamboozle a weary legislature into voting for his ridiculous PRT amendment during the 2006 session:

Saint Cloud Times: "Huhtala pushes for bipartisan solutions"

The Saint Cloud Times editorial board endorsed Jim Huhtala today.The SC Times editors also scold Mark Olson for declining to respond to the editorial board's survey and for promoting PRT.

Published: October 24. 2006 1:00AM

This is part of a series of endorsements from the Times Editorial Board regarding the Nov. 7 elections. Our View represents the majority viewpoint of the board and is based on information gleaned from interviews, surveys and media coverage.

Today's endorsements cover legislative District 16.

To read unedited responses from these candidates to an editorial board questionnaire, go to www.sctimes.com/opinion and click on the icon accompanying this Our View.

Voters in legislative District 16 have interesting, difficult and even extreme choices to make on Election Day.

But there is one choice that's easy. It's voting for Jim Huhtala in the House District 16B race.

Why? For starters, Huhtala, a DFLer, embraces moderate stances on issues such as education funding and fair and reasonable tax policies.
More so, though, we believe he is the candidate most in touch with constituent needs in the fast-growing district, which includes Clear Lake, Becker, Big Lake and Zimmerman. For example, he supports the Northstar Corridor commuter rail line. He also says he is willing to put aside partisan bickering to make progress at the Legislature.

Which brings us to his opponent, seven-term Republican Mark Olson. He declined to respond to this editorial board's survey, noting that he didn't believe it was important to his re-election.

The relevancy of this board's endorsements is certainly subjective. What's not, though, is any candidate for public office refusing requests from constituents for information on what they stand for and how they might vote.

That's especially true for Olson, who in 14 years of legislative service has cast more than his share of truly confusing votes and taken some bizarre stands on issue. Tops on the list: He opposes Northstar but supports personal rapid transit, a yet-unproven transit system involving individual cars on yet-to-be-built tracks.

Transit issues aside, whether it's arrogance or incumbency or both, any time a politician adopts the attitude of being unwilling to share views with constituents, it's time for a change.

Mark Olson in His Own Words...

You can also see this movie at You Tube.

Mark Olson Throws "Personal Rapid Transit" Under the Bus

After years of fighting rail transit, Mark Olson now says he supports Northstar in his campaign literature:



I could find no mention of PRT in Olson's campaign literature. The voters shouldn't be fooled. Olson is still a PRTista... he said so in this letter to the Sherburne County Citizen a few weeks back. What's changed is that he knows that Northstar is very popular now with voters.

I hope the voters in 16b remember that Olson wasted many years in office promoting a bogus transportation concept:



Here's a few other interesting pictures in Olson's weird and mostly incoherent campaign literature:



That's a hilarious photo... Rep. Frank Hornstein was PRT's biggest foe in the Minnesota Legislature. Rep. Hornstein should get a medal for saving the taxpayers tens of millions of dollars that would have been wasted on Olson and Bachmann's PRT bills... speaking of God's "Chosen One" for the 6th Congressional District...



...Bachmann didn't show up for the forum last night in Princeton, but people at the forum were still talking about her bizarre performance at the Living Word Church. Links and transcripts of Bachmann's wacky antics HERE..

Forum in Princeton

I'll have something on the forum later in the week... stay tuned.

Personal Rapid Transit: Perfect for Mark Olson Because it "...will never be built."

An excellent letter in the Sherburne County Citizen:

To The Editor,

I have to say that Mark Swanson’s Letter to the Editor pointed out some great facts. Building the PRT is easy; just get off the drawing board and onto the street. Private companies will build it and maintain it and the only people who will pay for it will be those who actually use it. It’s already designed so all we need is someone to build a working model, test it for a few years then we find an investor who will underwrite it, acquire the land, get an ok from all the towns, cities, county’s etc.

To get the ball rolling we will give some tax breaks to the investors. I’m amazed no other town has done it. It shouldn’t take more than twenty or thirty years to get this up and running in some areas. But how does this help us? The PRT was never meant to be used for our area. It will do nothing to relieve the congestion on Hwy. 10 or I94 the area Olson represents. Comparing the PRT to the NorthStar is apples to oranges. They are used for different purposes. And that’s the point. Mark Olson knew this.

He knew PRT was decades away from maybe being useful. He knows building a 20 foot high rail system around the metro area would never pass all the hurdles one would have to jump through. He knows no one will ever be able or willing to raise the mega bucks required. And if you think that the ridership alone will pay for this then I’ve got a bridge I’d like to sell you.

Yet he still voted to spend our money on this. Rep. Olson is not naive. He knew that PRT was the perfect mass transit system for him, one that will never be built.

Tom Beckfeld

Campaign Manager, Jim Huhtala for 16B

Big Lake, MN

Here is another letter from Olson's opponent, DFL-endorsed Jim Huhtala:

To The Editor,

It’s great to see all the lively debate going on in these pages the last few weeks. I have been called on to explain my position on several issues. I am limited to using 300 words so I’ll cut right to the point.

I’m for the NorthStar. It’s the quickest, cheapest and best plan we have to relieve our traffic congestion. Of course I’m for the Hwy. 10 bypass through Anoka and Elk River but let’s face it, most of us will be dead and gone before this project is undertaken. The NorthStar is a good start but it’s just the first of many steps we will need to take.

I will not be satisfied with our education system until we are once again the best in the nation and the world. I am against the federal mandates. I’m against the state telling local school districts how to spend their recourses. I am in favor of more state funding to relieve the dependence on local property tax.

I am appalled that here in Minnesota we have 400,000 people without health care, 80,000 of those are children. The head of a “non-profit” health insurance company being paid 1.6 billion dollars is obscene. From 2000 - 2004 health insurance premiums in Minnesota increased by 73%. At this rate by 2010 the average cost of family health insurance will be $22,000 per year. I’m for: allowing small employers to purchase coverage through MinnesotaCare, expanding MinnesotaCare not cutting it, establishing a bulk purchasing program for prescription drugs to lower their cost.

There is much more to discuss but my space here is limited. Please feel free to contact me at (320) 260-6830 or visit my web page and e-mail me any questions.

Jim Huhtala

Clear Lake, MN

Wow! A candidate who talks about real issues instead of wedge issues like gay marriage and PRT!

Olson Tries to Defend His Personal Rapid Transit Boondoggle

There was a couple letters in the October 14 Sherburne Citizen Newspaper from Rep. Mark Olson and Mark Swanson who called me a "left wing author" in his last letter. I think Mark Swanson is Mark Olson's old campaign manager.

I'll respond to Olson's letter first;

OLSON: Mr. Avidor called PRT an “imaginary transportation concept”. This is puzzling because PRT has been developed entirely from existing technologies.

AVIDOR: Horns, wings and hoofs exist on different animals yet nobody has seen a flying unicorn... or a working PRT system.

OLSON: There is also one being built at the Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom...

AVIDOR: Sorry, last I heard, ULTra has a few development hurdles to jump before construction begins. Anyways, what relevance does a battery-powered buggy that cannot operate in snow or ice have for Minnesota? The other would-be PRT company he mentions, Vectus is yet another sham PRT "testing facility" project. For forty years, PRT was always on the verge of some breakthrough that never happened. Here's a long list of PRT projects that never happened and never will.

OLSON: ...but none as advanced as ours: www.skywebexpress.com.

AVIDOR: Skyweb Express/Taxi 2000 never advanced beyond the shiny red pod prototype. Taxi 2000 has failed to update its news page on its website since 2004... when Olson's bills failed in the legislature. A dead website usually means a dead company.

OLSON: The travesty is that we are falling behind the world technologically.

AVIDOR: There is no technology. When Taxi 2000 sued J. Edward Anderson in 2005, Anderson claimed there were no PRT patents.

OLSON: Our U of M technology is by far the most advanced in the world

AVIDOR: The U of M is no longer interested in PRT.

OLSON: ...and it may soon be taken overseas for us to watch its development there, after we spent $30 plus million to develop it.

AVIDOR: Where have we heard that pitch before? "...and if you don't buy that used car right now, I can't guarantee that it will be on the lot tomorrow."

OLSON: Mr. Avidor also raised some good concerns with our Local Government Committee hearings on my PRT bill.

AVIDOR: No I didn't. Mark Olson scratched the bill the two occasions I showed up to speak against his bills at his committee.

OLSON: I have checked the record and am aware of Mr. Avidor being scheduled to testify once on my PRT bill. As the chair, I have however taken steps to avoid my position from being used to push my bills inappropriately. My bill was put on the agenda as a time permitting item a couple times. It is very likely that this was not communicated to Mr. Avidor. I would like to apologize for my failure to make sure proper communications occurred when setting tentative agenda items.

AVIDOR: What a lot of jargon! Mark Olson was not the chairman of the House Transportation Finance Committee on April 12th when I was scheduled to testify.The meeting began at 12:30. My name was on the agenda posted outside and copies of my statement were sitting on a table. Mark Olson walked in at 2:00 and whispered in the ear of the Chairperson Liz Holberg, then he walked out. At 3:00, the meeting adjourned. When I asked Liz Holberg why I didn't get a chance to testify, she told me "Sometimes things get ugly up here at the Capitol".

I should add that Gary Dean Zimmermann, now a convicted felon had no trouble testifying for Olson's PRT bills... you can hear Zimmermann testifying at Olson's committee HERE.

On to Mark Swanson's letter;

SWANSON I am writing to agree with Mr. Avidor. It is not about right vs. left, it is about what makes sense for the taxpayers of Minnesota.

That’s where our agreement ends. According to his letter last week, we should not be using our imagination to come up with innovational ways to solve our transportation issues. That old train will get us there...using that kind of thinking, maybe we should just go back to the horse and buggy.

AVIDOR: Mr. Swanson obviously hasn't ridden the Hiawatha LRT... LRT is a completely modern, state-of-art technology. PRT on the other hand has not advanced further than the concept stage which is hardly different than the 1960's concept of PRT.

SWANSON The technology to run the PRT is hardly imaginary, just bringing the pieces together and the programming a system to run it is yet to be developed.

AVIDOR: Which hasn't been done for three reasons because nobody can figure out how to do it, nobody wants to pay the cost o developing it and nobody wants a transportation system that requires communities to cut down half the trees on their streets for a monorail with a clear view into their bedroom windows.

SWANSON That is why we should be supporting it with a test track at the fair grounds.

AVIDOR: And which would-be PRT vendor is proposing that "test track"? Some PRT scam artists tried to hoodwink the Saint Paul City Council into approving a PRT test track in Falcon Heights last year... read about that here.

SWANSON In fact, the University of Minnesota holds several of the patents on the technology and stands to make millions in royalties when it is implemented

AVIDOR: Wrong. J. Edward Anderson said no PRT patents exist at Taxi 2000.

SWANSON: The other great part about PRT is that it would be put together by private industry, no tax dollars for continued operation and maintenance like the train will have.

AVIDOR: This is one of the big lies of the PRT disinformation campaign. No transit system can be built and operated without subsidy. PRTistas like Swanson claim that PRT is so cool that people would pay any price to ride it. The ridership figures for monorails, the closest thing to PRT falls far short of rail transit. The Morgantown "PRT" (which isn't a true PRT system) went way over budget during construction and is loathed by its passengers.

SWANSON: A final point is that a bill to give tax breaks for the private development of PRT passed in both legislative bodies (i.e. was actually approved) but removed by legislative leadership, e.g. senate majority leader Dean Johnson (DFL)

AVIDOR: It wasn't just Johnson. PRT had little support anywhere in the legislature. In 2005, Mark Olson's PRT amendment was voted down 26 to 107.

Here's a blog sums up what most transporation professionals think of PRT:

Putting the PRT myth to rest for good

"Like gold standard crazies, intelligent design ideologues and cold-fusion enthusiasts, Personal Rapid Transit nuts see something the rest of the world doesn't see and think they are visionaries as a result. Since there is no "true" PRT system anywhere in the world for these people to spend all day riding around in, they spend their time comment-spamming blogs like ours. A similar blog, publictransit.us, had enough of it and decided to fact-check the PRT claims. They found claims of systems that don't exist and studies that were never conducted.

I think that pretty much ends the discussion."

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

Open Letter to the Star Tribune About Personal Rapid Transit

Here we go again... the Strib's Laurie Blake has another puff piece about PRT. Fox news also ran a puff piece about J-Pods featuring a clueless Minneapolis Council President Barbara Johnson... and you can watch it here. The "inventor" of J-Pods, Bill James claims that his wacky invention will be the "dominant form of transportation in 15 years". Of course, Fox reports that J-Pods can be built for "4 million a mile" compared to "$70 million a mile" for LRT... geeee, which candidates do you think that bit of disinformation is going to help?

Unlike the shiny red Taxi 2000 prototype, the J-Pod is obviously a joke. I don't expect Fox News to be able to sort fact from fiction, but it's disapointing to to read yet another PRT puff piece that repeats the same anti-LRT disinformation from the Strib's transportation reporter, Laurie Blake.

Here's my letter to the Strib about Laurie Blake's article:

Date: October 13, 2006 11:46:31 PM CDT
To: readerrep@startribune.com
Cc: Laurie Blake , sberg@startribune.com, Eric Black
Subject: J-Pods: " $4 million a mile "?

Kate Parry (Reader Representative),

I have written to you about this before.

This article is the fourth or fifth article by Laurie Blake about PRT. I think it's time to take a more skeptical look at PRT.

The "J-Pod" she is referring to is model made by a PRT hobbyist using plywood, metal tubing, carpet remnants and duct tape.

PRT is an issue in several elections this year. PRT is a stalking horse for anti-transit individuals and groups who claim LRT is too expensive. Several candidates have promoted PRT including Michele Bachmann, Mark Olson, Alan Fine, Alan Shilepsky, Ray Vandeveer and Michael Cavlan.

Please assign future PRT stories to an investigative or political reporter.

If you would prefer, I could write an opinion piece about PRT for the Star Tribune. I have had opinion pieces about PRT published in several newspapers. Here's one I wrote for the Seattle Post Intelligencer:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/237556_antiprtop.html

Thank you.

-Ken Avidor

Here's Laurie Blake's article:

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/709182.html

Inventor shows off way to go

Inventor Bill James of Burnsville demonstrated his elevated people mover, the JPod, to Minneapolis City Council President Barbara Johnson on Thursday in downtown Minneapolis. Johnson tried the cab of the JPod, which is powered by electricity as an alternative to the car and other oil-dependent forms of transportation. James is looking for private investors to help him build the first network of the gondola-like pods in Minnesota. Each weighs about 240 pounds and carries four people using standard roller-coaster technology. As the inventor envisions it, a network of JPods could take the place of cars in an area downtown, at a college or business center. The cost would be $4 million a mile, compared with about $70 million a mile for light rail, James said.-LAURIE BLAKE

16b Debate in Princeton October 23rd

Princeton Union Eagle:

Posted: 10/11/06

Candidates forum scheduled Oct. 23

A candidates forum for state District 16, Princeton School Board and Congressional District 6 is scheduled Monday, Oct. 23, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at Princeton Middle School.

The state legislative candidates who have confirmed they will attend are Sen. Betsy Wergin, R – Princeton, and her opponent DFLer Glenn Resman of Milaca; Rep. Sondra Erickson, R – Princeton, and her DFL opponent, Gail Kulick Jackson of Milaca; Rep. Mark Olson, R – Big Lake, and Jim Huhtala, the DFL candidate from Clear Lake.

Mark Olson's Personal Rapid Transit Fantasy

A letter appeared in the Sherburne County Citizen on September 30th that carried this attack on yours truly :

"As I read the letter in last week’s paper from Joyce LeClaire, I couldn’t help but wonder how our priorities got so messed up. On top of which she has numerous factual errors...probably from the false “expert” Ken Avidor (left wing author of numerousblogs..."

My October 8th response:

To The Editor,

The Citizen published a letter from Mark Swanson that states that I am a "false expert". Mr. Swanson is attacking the messenger instead of responding to the message. Mr. Swanson then goes on to denounce me as a "left wing author" even though Mark Olson worked very closely alongside the Green Party’s Dean Zimmermann (recently convicted of bribery) to promote PRT.

This is not about right versus left. This is about reality versus fantasy.

For many years Rep. Olson promoted an imaginary transportation concept that doesn't exist anywhere in the world. Olson has claimed for years that his PRT fantasy was better than light rail and commuter rail.

When Mark Olson attempted to attach his PRT amendment to this year's Capital Investment bill, it was voted down 26 to 107.

In 2005 I went three times to Mark Olson's committee at the Capital to testify against Mark Olson’s PRT bills and at all three hearings, Olson scratched his PRT bill from the agenda so I wouldn't be able to testify. I welcome an opportunity to share what I know about PRT with the citizens and voters of Sherburne County in a forum or debate.

Ken Avidor
Minneapolis, MN

Bachmann Supported Funding For Transportation System That Does Not Exist.

From the Wetterling Campaign website:

Bachmann supported incentives to help with funding for personal rapid transit, a futuristic idea where transit pods “whisk travelers along on elevated tracks.” Incentives included asking the state to borrow as much as $12 million, giving tax breaks to companies that operate the system, and allowing local governments to borrow money so that they could build systems of their own. According to a column in the St. Croix Valley Press, PRT “was little more than a stalking horse for the highway construction industry and individuals belonging to anti-rail transit groups.” Plans for the PRT never evolved past computer designs and online simulations. [ Saint Paul Pioneer Press, 2/11/2004; Saint Croix Valley Press, 5/25/2006]

"Mark Olson in Trouble Over Wacky Transportation Policies"

Eva Young at Lloydletta has the story:

Mark Olson in Trouble Over Wacky Transportation Policies

Here's the election results.

STATE REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 16B
Republican Candidate Totals Pct
MARK OLSON 933 100.00
STATE REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 16B
Democratic-Farmer-Labor Candidate Totals Pct
BRUNO S GAD 199 17.18
JIM HUHTALA 959 82.82

Mark Olson should be worried.

Northstar has a lot of support from leaders in the Republican party... that's a big problem for Olson.