J. Edward Anderson Says "LRT Lobby" Killed "Personal Rapid Transit" (PRT)

The wacky professor has a paper posted on Professor Schneider's wacky gadgetbahn site called:

Questions and Answers following a presentation on High-Capacity Personal Rapid Transit to an audience of about 60 persons at a meeting sponsored by The Institute of Theological and Interdisciplinary Studies held at Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota, March 23, 2007.

J. Edward Anderson sounds way tired and way old. He makes a lot of unsupported claims and accusations. He whines and complains that the "LRT lobby":

It has become clear to me that the LRT lobby has Minnesota quite locked out of considering anything but LRT. How they do it I can only guess, but I am aware that they have many paid lobbyists working the Legislature using public money to lobby for private interests. On March 26, 1974 the Minnesota Senate passed an Act (S. F. No. 2703, Chapter No. 573) “directing the metropolitan transit commission to plan an automated small vehicle fixed guideway system, . . .” This unfortunately put the fox in charge of the chicken coop. The MTC, which no longer exists, had strongly lobbied against this Act and contracted with a firm also opposed to new systems. Notwithstanding strong objections they used the large guideway and large cost of the Morgantown people mover as representative of PRT, which resulted in costs and visual impact far too high, which resulted in abandoning interest in PRT. Since the vast majority of people have no interest in transit issues, light-rail proponents became dominant on the Metropolitan Council. They were able to continue to use this bogus data to misrepresent PRT, which enabled them to keep PRT out of the picture. Over two decades ago the circumstantial evidence was strong that two staff members were fired for trying to compare light rail with the PRT system we were developing at the University of Minnesota. No staff member aware of that will dare to venture a favorable opinion about PRT.

No Ed. It's not the "LRT lobby"... here's a clue:

Question: How do we deal with squirrels, birds, raccoons, etc.?

Answer: Small creatures could nest in the bottom corners of my covered guideway without bothering anything. But, the plan is to build a maintenance vehicle equipped with a light, a television camera, and a high-pressure hose. It will be operated from time to time late at night to inspect the guideway interior to remove debris.

Right, lots of cities are going to want a transportation system that rains soggy critters and their crap on pedestrians, buildings and vehicles.

Swedish Government Minister Goes California Gadgetbahning

Andreas Carlgren, an ethically-challenged Swedish Minister for Sustainable Development was in California a couple months ago promoting Personal Rapid Transit to Lt Governor John Garamendi, Energy Commissioner Jim Boyd, Mayor and Council members of Santa Cruz.

Here's a report on the trip (PDF) available on the Pod Car site:

Preliminarily results:

•Initiate city friendship relation between the City of Santa Cruz and the municipality of Värmdö, Sweden. Both cities have in autumn 2006 completed feasibility studies for podcars. Both cities see the benefits of joining forces in their implementation
strategies.

•Initiate West Orange County Group for Podcars. Ten cities, from Anaheim to Huntington Beach, with Fountain Valley as the driving force, are setting up for a large regional feasibility study of podcars. OCTA are positive to fund the work through
their “Go Local” program.

•Irvine sees podcars so interesting that they may defer their decision on which public transport system they will choose for Great Park. The plans of Great Park are to convert a closed airport (the former marine airbase El Toro, e.g. where Nixon landed his Airforce One) into a business and recreation park with strong sustainable profiles. Mr Agran (board of Great Park & council member of Irvine) agreed to come to Uppsala in September to test ride Vectus PRT.

•Cooperation on standardization issues of podcars, “General Transport System”, were further formalized with the University of Irvine.

•The top political officials at the summit meeting, Lt Governor John Garamendi and the Swedish Minister of Environment Andreas Carlgren, were positive to give political support to podcar initiatives.

The Vectus test track looks a lot like the doomed Raytheon PRT track.

Here's a picture of Andreas Carlgren with Lt Governor John Garamendi:

Bachmann, Kiffmeyer and Rep. Mark Olson meet in Sherburne County

Someone from Saint Cloud called the Jason Lewis Show, during the 5 o'clock hour yesterday and mentioned that there was going to be a "Republican convention" at the Salida Depot at 8:30 in the morning.

Bachmann, Olson and Kiffmeyer were invited.

Apparently this "convention" took place. I'll try to get more information about this meeting later.

Seattle PRT Promoter is Behind Phony Al Franken Blog

Mr_Grant is David Gow, the Seattle contact for the CPRT and web guy for several PRT websites has a blog that's supposed to be about Al Franken, but it's really about attacking... well, look at Gow's profile:

"PRT Proponents are Either Crackpots or Con Artists"

That's what I wrote on the Seattle PI forum ...and it was deleted.

Soul not sold to Road Warriors:

"PRT Proponents are Either Crackpots or Con Artists"

PRTSkeptic: your are correct, sir. Once a nut-job, always a nut-job. Same goes for road warriors like Niles who have determined we will have to "pry his car out of his cold, dead hands." Given the incredible amount of injury accidents our region experiences every week, that may very well be the case for many of these CARnage apologists.

Niles and Bundy have always shifted back and forth between losing "alternative" technologies.

Look at their 10 year love affair with an amusement ride called "monorail".

Niles' own co-editor, Jerry "Moonbeam" Schneider, shifts between "emerging" technologies so often, it makes your head spin. 

Of course, the only thing these anti-rail activists can settle on is...you guessed it: a bus. Now, THAT will peak the public's curiousity!



In Alameda, a cybertranny has an opinion piece... likely a response to this article:

Another Rep. Mark Olson Crazy Movie Friday

More weird stuff...

Intelligent Transportation - The Discovery Institute's Other Wedge Issue

Wedge Issue: (noun) A political issue that divides a candidate's supporters or the members of a party.

The Discovery Institute is well-known as a promoter of "Intelligent Design". What is less known is that The Discovery Institute promotes another divisive wedge issue called "Intelligent Transportation".

First, anything that calls itself "intelligent" should raise red flags.

"Intelligent Transportation" is vague and confusing because its purpose is to confuse and bamboozle the public so that some pretty awful stuff like highway boondoggles that wouldn't pass public scrutiny slips in through the back door while people are scratching their heads trying to figure out the "intelligent" stuff.

Most of the "Intelligent Transportation" concepts are far from being new or innovative. They range from telecommuting to monorails to Bus Rapid Transit to "smart roads".

John Niles is a "Fellow" with Cascadia, the Discovery Institute's transportation division. Niles is one of Puget Sound's leading opponents of rail transit. He works with gadgetbahn professor Jerry Schneider at the Public Interest Transportation Forum.

Niles also works with Emory Bundy of Coalition for Effective Transportation Alternatives (CETA) to oppose LRT. Emory Bundy, the former head of a now defunct PRT company called "Pathfinder Systems" claims to be an "environmental activist" and likes to tell people how much he rides a bicycle. Here's Bundy on a local Televison show, railing against rail for the Downtown Seattle Republican Club:

J. Edward Anderson Promotes PRT Plan of Convicted Felon

From a recent J. Edward Anderson paper on the ATRA website. Direct link to PDF HERE.

Figure 8 shows an application of PRT in Minneapolis, which was laid out and has been promoted by a Minneapolis City Councilman.

That councilman is convicted felon Gary Dean Zimmermann.

Here's the professor with another jailbird:

Republican Caucus Approved of Rep. Mark Olson's Gadgetbahning

The Minnesota Republican House Caucus that kicked Olson out recently was once very supportive of his anti-rail transit, pro-PRT campaign as this House GOP press releasefrom 2001 shows:

NEWS RELEASE

District 19 Legislators to Host Transportation Town Hall Meeting

(ST. PAUL) Representative Bruce Anderson (R-Buffalo Township), Representative Mark Olson (R-Big Lake) and Senator Mark Ourada (R-Buffalo) will host a town hall meeting on Tuesday, March 20 to discuss transportation issues for Wright and Sherburne counties. The meeting will be held in the Big Lake High School Auditorium at 7:00 p.m. Informal questions will begin at 6:30 p.m.

Among those attending the meeting will be Dr. Lynn Woodward and Dr. J. Edward Anderson, a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Minnesota from 1963 to 1986. Dr. Anderson will address the transportation option known as Personal Rapid Transit (PRT).

"We want to keep area residents informed as to the technological developments of transportation systems," said Rep. Olson. "The public should be made aware so that all options are considered. I hope many citizens will turn out for this important informational meeting."

That's just one year after the Raytheon boondoggle went bust:

Raytheon pulls out of rapid transit plan

By Ross Kerber, Globe Staff, 3/29/2000

It may take a bit longer to catch Taxi 2000.

Some transit planners still swoon over the design, an ambitious monorail-like system that would send three-seat cars zipping around urban areas at up to 80 miles an hour on elevated tracks. In 1993, Raytheon Co. said it would invest $20 million to build a test track in Marlborough, in a partnership with the Taxi 2000 engineering firm. At the time, defense contractor Raytheon touted the deal as part of its effort to diversify. But the firm has renewed its military focus since then, and yesterday said it has exited what it calls the ''personal rapid transit'' business.

In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Raytheon also said it has taken a $6 million charge to ''dispose of'' the test track, a one-third-mile outdoor loop built near a company parking lot. A spokeswoman couldn't be more specific about the track's fate, though she said it was part of a number of cost-cutting steps Raytheon took after a series of financial warnings and slowing sales. Executives were not immediately available to discuss the move, she said.

The end of Raytheon's support might be seen as a setback to Taxi 2000 president J. Edward Anderson, a retired mechanical engineering professor who taught at Boston University and the University of Minnesota.

But Anderson, reached at home near Minneapolis, says he's glad for the 
chance to seek new partners and is in discussions with another company, which he declined to name.

... because it probably didn't exist ...

The electric-powered, computer-controlled system Anderson proposes would be cheaper than light rail and environmentally cleaner than building more freeways and automobiles, he said.

Anderson estimates Raytheon spent nearly $45 million developing and 
marketing the project since 1993.

 

... 45 million freekin' dollars!!! ...

He said the three test cars it built, at 5,000 pounds apiece, were far too heavy. ''We lost eight years'' working with Raytheon, he said. ''But we're going to recover.''

One supporter is Ed Porter, a member of the Santa Cruz, Calif., planning commission who says he will urge that a personal rapid-transit system such as Taxi 2000 be included in a mass-transit study the city is now preparing.

Some oppose the idea because it would involve building elevated tracks 
down city streets, but Porter is unfazed: ''As much as you could improve bus or rail service, it doesn't look like they're going to get the job done alone,'' he said.

Now Porter worries Raytheon's move could harm his case.

''I was hoping to come visit,'' he said.

Raytheon's PRT still exists in this online cornucopia of Gadgetbahn concepts... and on Google maps:



I expect more Gadgetbahn scams in response to growing public concern over Global Warming and Peak Oil.

Here's a good article on a gadgetbahn project in Alameda.

Rep. Mark Olson and Michele Bachmann Owe Minnesota Taxpayers an Explanation

Laurie Blake in the Star Tribune:

Four years ago, leaders in Eden Prairie and Minnetonka resisted a planned light-rail line as an intrusion into suburbia. Now they think it's long overdue.

Why? Because reporters like Laurie Blake and Britt Robson listened to the PRTistas and reported their lies about PRT being better than LRT.

But, now things are different because...

...the popularity of the Hiawatha Line, which opened between downtown Minneapolis and the Mall of America in 2004, changed attitudes, said county planner Katie Walker.

...now, Laurie Blake who helped the PRTistas delay planning for LRT for years by spreading their anti-LRT message concedes that every tick of the clock means increasing costs for new LRT lines...

If the Southwest Corridor and the other lines are put off until after 2020, inflation will "eat you alive," said Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin, chairman of a metro counties transit alliance. "We need to do more, faster. Otherwise it's going to cost more and we are going to leave people sitting in congestion for more and more years."

PRTistas like Bachmann, Olson and Phil Krinkie call themselves fiscal conservatives, but they are responsible for a delay in LRT planning and construction that will cost Minnesota taxpayers millions, perhaps billions more dollars because of inflation.

Here's an edited audio clip of Bachmann friend and Taxi 2000 lobbyist, Ed Cain testifying for Rep. Mark Olson's PRT bills back in 2005:

Another Wacky Mark Olson Movie

Here he is again, repeating the nonsense the voices in his head keep telling him to say:

Rep. Mark Olson Gave Homeschoolers Personal Rapid Transit "Workshop" in 2005

A homeschooled student gave this account of a Minnesota Association of Christian Home Educators-sponsored "Legislative Training Day Workshop" in 2005:

"After lunch we spent a good portion of the afternoon participating in a mock committee hearing at which Representative Mark Olson introduced the Personal Rapid Transit Bill as the author. Former Representative John Tuma played the role of committee chairman, and we students had the opportunity to question the author and debate the bill in our roles as "representatives." This really gave us the feeling of what it would be like to be a legislator."

Personal Rapid Transit Proponents Muddy Peak Oil and Global Warming Debate.

When the Saint Cloud Times endorsed Jim Huhtala, they criticized Rep. Mark Olson for muddying the debate over the Northstar commuter rail with 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."

The rapid depletion of petroleum supplies and global warming are serious issues that share one common solution; a decrease in our dependence on fossil fuels.

One part of that solution is a greater public investment in rail transit. Although trains use power derived from fossil fuels, trains are far more efficient. Transit-oriented development is more pedestrian-friendly, allowing people to be less dependent on automobiles.

There are so many websites promoting PRT and other phony "gadgetbahn" transportation concepts. Here's a new one, that brazenly presents itself as a solution to global warming and Peak Oil.... Smart Skyways:

SmartSkyways is seeking a $15 Million joint venture partner to assist us in engineering and building a sales model fn Colorado for our Automated Guideway Transport (AGT).  We will then market our technology for a $5 billion Franchise in the State of Colorado as shown under the routes button. Someday we want to compete for various routes world wide.

Smart Skyways is linked to other websites such as Beyond Oil USA and a grandiose real estate venture called Airpark Village in Fort Collins, Colorado which has gotten the usual puffy media treatment from the news media:

A futuristic 50-block green-research hub is planned for the city. The $1 billion campus would be “a community for the new creative class.”

The promoter of Airpark Village is a wacky real estate developer named Lloyd Goff.

There will always be guys like Goff and Olson around to confuse and bamboozle the public about real transportation choices. It's time the major news media stop publishing gee-whiz puff pieces about PRT. If Global warming and the depleting supply of petroleum are not seriously addressed soon, there will be dire consequences for future generations.

Mark Olson couldn't care less about future generations. He has no children of his own. Olson exploited his step-children in his campaign literature. He beat up the mother of those 2 children (and lied about defending himself against her). After he beat up the mother of those kids, Olson ran away and hid in a church school. At his araignment, Olson cried and clutched a Bible. When confronted by the media, Olson cowardly refused to answer questions. He abused the justice system by delaying his court date so he can keep collecting a check from the Minnesota taxpayers for as long as he can.

That's the sort of person who promotes PRT.

Heidi Olson's Sister Says Rep, Mark Olson's Attorney Told "False Story"

Rep. Mark Olsons sister-in-law has an LTE in today's West Sherburne Tribune::

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Reader: Standards needed

TO THE EDITOR:

I am proud of my sister, Heidi Olson, and her decision not to try to influence the public by making statements about the incidents which landed Mark Olson in jail. However, after attending the latest hearing on Feb. 9, I heard Olson's lawyer tell a reporter the false story that Heidi "came after Olson and he was trying to control the situation". Perhaps a weak case has led him to apply this tactic. It is misperceptions like that which hopefully will be brought out in court, when persons testifying are under oath.

It is my hope that the people of Sherburne County will agree that physical violence is never warranted or justified. In my 32 plus years of marriage, my husband has never been physically aggressive with me. I don't think I could do anything that would cause him to act that way. Unless there is a common agreement and a standard about domestic violence, there is not much more that can be said.

Holli Rebney

Minnetonka, MN

Rep, Mark Olson needs open the Bible he clutches in front of the news media and read the 9th Commandment-- "Thou shalt not bear false witness.... "

Senator Ken Jacobsen is Another Idiotic PRT-Promoting Nutcase

The Seattle Times:

OLYMPIA -- Sen. Ken Jacobsen doesn't own a dog, but wants everyone else to be able to take theirs into a bar.

He also wants companies to pay for roomier airline seats when they fly employees long distances, and the state to designate Oct. 9 as Leif Erikson Day and name the Garry oak the state oak tree. Then there's his idea of a state poet laureate. Washington should have one and give the bard a firkin of beer.

For the most part, he's serious. All 99 bills he's introduced since the session opened in January -- more than any other lawmaker in the state Legislature -- serve a purpose, the Seattle Democrat said, even if most of them die.

"I'm into the theory of chaos. And in the theory of chaos, if this particle exists and this one comes into existence and this one doesn't know that one exists? It still affects the behavior of that one," he said, moving his hands around as if they were giant particles.

Of course, one of Senator Ken Jacobsen's 99 bills is for Personal Rapid Transit.

Friday is Crazy Rep. Mark Olson Video Day

Every Friday... another wacky video starring jailbird legislator Mark Olson. Today's feature flick shows Mark Olson trying to explain why he opposes Northstar:

Two Letters to the Editor from Crazy Rep. Mark Olson

Olson's first letter LTE to the West Sherburne Tribune is a bunch of lame excuses about why he chose the last date offered by the judge for his trial... not too interesting, but the next letter is classic Mark Olson.

Mark Olson compares himself to... get this... John Quincy Adams !!!:

...It should be highlighted that Mr. Beckfeld not only missed the mark by his lack of supporting facts, but also by his definition of effectiveness. Please consider this historical example.

John Quincy Adams, after being president of the United States, served for 18 years in Congress. Then Congressman Adams served in a pro-slavery Congress as an ardent opponent of slavery and became known as the "Hellhound of Slavery". During those 18 years he served 14 years under a gag order from his colleagues that kept him from introducing more petitions against slavery.

In 1839 Congressman Adams had introduced a plan to gradually eliminate slavery in six years, which at the time was over 20 years before the Civil War. This measure too failed and by today's standards for success Congressman Adams was a failure.

However, Congressman Adam's great success was his persistence in doing what is right in the right spirit. In response to his detractors who also raised concerns about his efforts, he is known for having said: "Duty is ours; results are God's." If Congress had been successful to see the truth behind Congressman Adam's Anti-Slavery proposal; America's bloodiest war ever could have been avoided with 600,000 lives saved, and freedom established for all.

For the future I'd like to welcome people to continue writing with their challenges and concerns. Public dialogue is vitally important and healthy for our free society. Especially when the challenges are principle and fact based without rhetorical statements of disparagement. Either of which I purpose to be grateful for with hope that the people are patient and considerate of the truth in the end of each public discourse. Thank you and May God bless America again!

Rep. Mark Olson

Big Lake, MN

Yep, when you think of the sixth president of the United States of America, doesn't Rep. Mark Olson immediately come to mind? Doesn't John Quincy Adam's opposition to slavery remind you of Rep. Mark Olson's "placing" of his wife on the ground 3 times?

Tom Beckfeld has another letter. Tom makes this excellent point about the wife-"placing" legislator from Big Lake:

If I made a statement about Rep. Olson that is not true I would be obliged to apologize and do everything I can to correct my error. I don't believe I've done so. I'm sure that this paper has not done so. However, if what has been said and written is true and makes Rep. Olson appear on the fringe, then maybe he is.