Bigpedia PRT vs Wikipedia PRT

There's something called Bigpedia that uses a lot of the material from the Wikipedia PRT page... but also includes facts that PRT fanatics have kept out of the Wikipedia page including links to skeptical sites like mine and Light Rail Now's "Cyberspace" article.

Go to the Bigpedia PRT page and scroll down to "Disadvantages":

Disadvantages

Most planners say that no economically successful PRT system has been demonstrated, and there have been too many failures for a prudent person to spend public funds. Transit planners normally evaluate a new transport method as part of an intermodal network. In these cases, a PRT line may compete against a rail or bus line. When operated in an intermodal transit network, PRT may not fully realize the travel time reductions advanced by proponents, because connections to other mass-transit modes are only possible when the other vehicle arrives; a disadvantage where infrequent transit can be the weakest link in an intermodal system. Timed connections between conventional mass-transit modes, though rare, can be more efficient than PRT intermodal use.

The claims made by proponents depend on certain reasonable but nonstandard design features (see above). Many planners argue that if conservative ridership, operating expense ratios and inter-vehicle lead distances (for bus and train systems) are used, PRT systems are less attractive than bus and train systems.

In transit planning with standard ratios, if PRT were built in an existing high density corridor, it would be less efficient than trains. Only if additional capacity were required in a low density corridor, would it be more efficient than a bus line or automobile, since the capital costs of streets are already sunk.

Because of network effects, PRT is not fully useful until it is widespread. In this view, a small PRT system will not attract demand because it does not go to many destinations. Many people say that only a large PRT can attract sufficient demand to be self-sustaining. How it could grow from a niche to a local or metropolitan network is unclear to these persons. Growth to a national network is thought especially unlikely.

Skeptics say that PRT just idles entire vehicles, which is true. The effects of vehicular recycling at rush hours are also disputed by some transit planners, because they are simulations. Some skeptics have said that since gross capacities have to be comparable (because the same number of people are being transported in the same time), no advantage can occur. However, comparing capacity (people per hour), and capacity utilization (money per person per hour) is a fallacy.

Some experienced advocates claim that the chief problem is that PRT threatens existing livelihoods associated with cars, busses, trains and related services. Since the market in rapid transit has a limited (government) budget in each city, and existing options are the best-funded, existing options and organizations tend to win political battles. As of 2001, this may be changing, because existing options have been unable to solve traffic problems.

The claimed very high vehicle utilizations (vehicles are usually carrying passengers at full speed, rather than parked), means that there might be less need for, and investment in private vehicles, and auxiliary private services such as repair and insurance. Although these are social advantages, they directly threaten the livelihoods of many persons.

PRT systems may be as unattractive as other public transit. People cannot customize them to their tastes, and therefore rarely have anything approaching the enthusiasm shown for a new car. At Morgantown, most students use, but casually despise the transportation system, and recount stories of its failures. Some jokingly claim the term "PRT" is said to stand for "Pretty Retarded Train."

Some call PRT a prime example of a federally funded "pork barrel" project, one of many located in West Virginia due to the influence of Senator Robert Byrd.

A PRT system is said to have lower costs and automated operations. These could lead to simpler organizations and smaller staff at governmental transportation offices. This directly reduces the responsibility and authority of government officials, which in most civil service systems, reduces their pay. It does not offer much incentive to administrators to adopt it.

Many authorities say that the cost of constructing and operating the system is unlikely to be as low as claimed. Some systems (such as Morgantown) have had much higher costs than planned (Morgantown has to use steam heat to keep its tracks free of snow). Any new technology has to climb a learning curve, and for every new system, promoters must make speculative claims when asserting low construction and operating costs. Historically, costs are underestimated on transit projects and demand overestimated. Further, methods of recovering unplanned cost overruns can cause political and public strife.

The neighbors of such a system could oppose unsightly towers holding an elevated rail system, as well as the guideway itself. New infrastructure is hard to build, particularly without the support of the community.

Dan Severson is Rep. Mark Olson's New PRT Pod Partner

Lawrence Schumacher reports in today's SC Times:

"[Rep. Dan] Severson and Rep. Mark Olson, R-Big Lake, called for new approaches to funding and for studying transportation alternatives, such as a system of elevated rails on which small pods travel a fixed route, known as Personal Rapid Transit."

Rep. Dan Severson R-Sauk Rapids is on the Transportation and Transit Policy Subcommittee and the Transportation Finance Division. I look forward to seeing what kind of legislation Severson cooks up with Rep. Mark Olson.

More Letters Against Pods in Daventry

Good letter in the Daventry Express:

http://www.daventrytoday.co.uk/letters/Straight-out-of-Springfield.3387864.jp

Straight out of Springfield

This whole 'pod' scheme rings a bell to me. I think DDC has been watching too many episodes of the Simpsons. Episode 71 to be exact, entitled 'Marge Vs. the Monorail'.

The plot focuses around the town of Springfield buying a monorail from a conman, which ends in disaster! By the looks of the size of these pods, you won't fit in them with any shopping and if you have a buggy you can forget it! Does this also mean that the Daventry Dart drivers will be out of a job?

I agree with the recent letters in the Gusher – the pods will just get wrecked by the rogue kids of Daventry.

It's about time they stopped skipping with the pixies and thought about a bowling complex, cinema or something similar for families and teenagers alike to do in their spare time. Let's face it, there's nothing else to do in this town!

The pods are just another thing to add onto the 'list of stupidity' by the council alongside a marina with no canal. If it has the money for the pods why doesn't it have the money to build the canal? It's about time it started asking the residents what they would like, instead of trying to get on the 'global map'. We may be on the map as Cllr Millar states, but it will be as a laughing stock, not for anything great.

T Nairn
Braunston Road
Daventry

Anti-Strib Throws Rep. Mark Olson's PRT Pod Under the Bus

"Kermit" in the right-wing blog Anti-Strib:

Earlier today Avidor requested a post and further discussion on PRT, Personal Rapid Transit. We learned that Tracy's wife the LME was in favor, while Tracy himself favored expanding or improving bus service.

... It will be interesting to see if Rep. Mark Olson gets any support from Republicans in the next election for his PRT boondoggle.

PRTista Phil Krinkie, "Pit Bull" (Against LRT)

From a February 2, 2000 City Pages article:

To streetcar fans like Gov. Jesse Ventura and MNDoT commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg, Krinkie has come to resemble a political pit bull with his teeth in his prey's pants leg--an indefatigable yapper who is still fighting a battle many believe he lost long ago.

... Krinkie was furious...

This, Krinkie figured, was the smoking gun. In late September he along with Rep. Tom Workman (R-Chanhassen) and Rep. Carol Molnau (R-Chaska), held a press conference denouncing what he called a cover-up. Though opponents, namely gubernatorial spokesman John Wodele, have referred to the trio as "a small group of disgruntled legislators," the three are not exactly back-benchers: Krinkie chairs the House's State Government Finance committee, Workman the Transportation committee, and Molnau the Transportation Finance committee; in other words, together they control the three panels most likely to consider light-rail funding.

Since then Krinkie has taken to framing the issue in the language of Watergate: "I'm saying [to MNDoT], 'What did you know and when did you know it?'"

.... Krinkie was relentless...

At MNDoT, the mere mention of Krinkie's name is enough to invoke exasperated sighs. "He's received a lot of information," contends engineer Winter, who says staffers have provided plenty of paperwork and spent hours talking to Krinkie. "He's looking for this piece of information that clearly indicates that the department misled the Legislature," Winter maintains, "and it doesn't exist."

Winter adds that Krinkie's crusade has been frustrating for MNDoT staff. "We want to move ahead and it seems like we spend a lot of time rehashing these issues that have been settled, at least in our mind." Krinkie, meanwhile, suggests that he's not about to relent: "The next lawsuit," he announces, "may be with regard to the fact that the department has willfully withheld public data."

That was then.. and now?

Krinkie in an opinion piece in the Saint Paul Legal Ledger (HERE) about Molnau's choice to pick the highest bidder on the replacement for the collapsed 35W bridge, Krinkie sneaks in a jab at the HIawatha LRT:

Let's revisit just how this term "best value" slipped into the state government lexicon? It began with another large transportation project in the Twin Cities --- the Hiawatha light rail line. In order to fast track the construction of the states first light rail line, MnDOT wanted to use the "design-build" process. Under the design-build method, one contractor is selected to do both the engineering design and the actual construction of the project. Under extreme pressure in 2001 to speed the construction of the Hiawatha LRT project, MnDOT was exempted from following the standard procedure of awarding bids to the lowest qualified bidder.

Incidentally, Elwyn Tinklenberg's campaign has informed me that he will make Congresswoman Michele Bachmann's support for PRT an issue in the next election.

Phil Krinkie who like Bachmann has also promoted PRT has even allowed fellow PRTista Rep. Mark Olson to use his name on a recent fundraiser:

Daventry Politicos and Media Promote Pods That Citizens Didn't Ask For

The Daventry Express:

Pods prove a huge hit

By Alice Dyer

MORE than a 1,000 people visited an event to get a glimpse of Daventry's possible future.

The event, which ended on Friday, showcased Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) vehicles, which ran along the cycle path in Eastern Way.

Chris Millar, leader of Daventry District Council, said: “The showcase was a success. Most people, especially the younger ones, loved the concept.

“It was a great success in raising the profile for what Daventry is working to achieve and it’s alerted people to the positives before us.”

Members of the public, local school pupils, businesses, organisations and media from across the world all visited the site to see the driverless vehicles in action and some were given a ride in them.

If plans are given the go-ahead, an £80 million project could be launched to install a state-of-the-art PRT system across Daventry to replace the existing bus network.

It is hoped the scheme will ease congestion and save parking spaces with the town’s population set to increases to 40,000 by 2021.

Cllr Millar added: “The next stage will be looking towards the pilot scheme [which would run from the town centre to Middlemore] in two years time and getting the funding for it.”

... another letter dismissive of Cllr Millar's pod proposal:

Make more of what we have

AS TWO long-serving members of the Grange Residents' Association, we are becoming increasingly concerned with the health and welfare of council leader Chris Millar.

He appears to be suffering from delusions if he believes that the Daventry people share his vision of what we want for the future.

He also appears to be suffering with amnesia, as the promises he made to this estate about investment have been forgotten.
Thereby, the reason for this letter asks one question.

If this vision for Daventry's future, which nobody appears to want, can be achieved with investment, why can't reality come first?

Invest now in what you've got. Bring this estate, and others, up to the 21st century standard we, the people of Daventry, deserve.

Ann Smith (chairman) and M J Coomber (secretary)
Grange Residents' Association

The same old story... Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Duluth, Austin, Denver, Cincinnati, Seattle... citizens ask for a little improvement in their living conditions and the politicians like Rep. Mark Olson, Dean Zimmermann, Phil Krinkie and Michele Bachmann tell them to wait for pods in the sky by and by.

Daventry District Council Promoted PRT While Neglecting Neighborhoods

Alice Dyer in the Daventry Express:

Decay of 'forgotten' estate

WHILE the rest of the town seems to be heading for prosperity, residents living on a Daventry estate feel they have been forgotten.

As Daventry District Council continues to reveal ambitious plans for the future, including state-of-the-art transport systems, new homes, shops and 21st century facilities, residents say The Grange has been left to fall apart.

Ann Smith, chairman of the Grange Residents’ Association, said: “The estates have been left to go into disrepair. Some parts of The Grange look like a slum.

“The council wants the people of Daventry to be proud of the town they live in, but how can they when it’s like this? It’s like a dumping area now and it’s a mess.”

The Daventry Express visited the estate this week with Mrs Smith and Daventry district councillor Colin Poole to see the worst affected areas.

The whole estate is showing signs of serious neglect with broken paving slabs, vast amounts of weeds, broken benches, damage to the children’s play area, inadequate lighting, bushes growing over walkways and litter.

Walls have been smashed, tiles are falling off walkways and garage doors are hanging off. There is graffiti, boarded up windows and doors, broken fences and glass and children’s toys, furniture and other household items which have been dumped in the street.

Mrs Smith said: “I’m angry – we should not have to live in this squalor.

Don't worry, Mrs. Smith you're going to have your pod in the sky by and by.

Pod-Pushing "Dysfunctional" Daventry Disrict Council Reponds to Criticism

Chris Millar, leader of Daventry District Council defends his promotion of Personal Rapid Transit in his LTE in the Daventry Express:

"Be positive about Pods"

IT IS pleasing to note the positive worldwide interest created in Daventry by our recent Transport Conference and Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) Showcase event.

This can only be good news for Daventry district with respect to future investment prospects both from the private and public sectors.

The concept of PRT in a town environment is very futuristic and I can, therefore, understand the concerns of some to its potential future role in Daventry.

However, the fact remains that future transport provision is an important aspect of our planning for growth alongside affordable housing, retail, education provision, jobs, leisure etc.

It is vital that we improve in the longer term public transport across both the town and district.

There are, in my mind, two options to 'tempt' individuals out of their car.
One is to 'tax' them out via higher fuel prices, car tax, congestion charging and high car parking charges.
Or secondly, and certainly far more challenging, is to provide a viable alternative transport option to the car – hence our interest in the concept of PRT.

If a viable, environmentally friendly option was available then I personally would have no problem with the current high costs of motoring!

Cllr Chris Millar
Leader
Daventry District Council

But, the controversy won't go away...

Today's article in the Daventry Express:

'Get off our backs and give us a chance'

By Alice Dyer

DAVENTRY Town Council has hit back at claims it is 'dysfunctional'.
The comments were made in last week’s Daventry Express by Chris Millar, leader of Daventry District Council, following the shock resignation of town mayor Alan Gauton.

He also said there must be something ‘rotten at the core’ of the body, and called for council members to stop squabbling and start serving the public.

Lynne Taylor, town council leader said Cllr’s Millar’s comments were ‘totally unfounded’ and ‘inappropriate’

“To seek to denigrate a public authority and its members without any direct knowledge of the manner in which it conducts its business is improper,” she said.

Mr Gauton quit his role as mayor and chairman of the council because he was unhappy with how the authority was being run.

His departure followed a

string of councillors and staff members quitting the authority.

Cllr Taylor admitted the town council had suffered problems recently, but added Daventry was being served by a ‘dynamic’ mix of people dedicated to serving the public.

“So Daventry District Council get off our backs. Give us a chance to show what we can do for the people of Daventry,” she said.

The town council, which currently has five empty seats, was set up four years ago to look after services like hanging baskets, Christmas lights, the war memorial and allotments. It receives more than £300,000 a year of taxpayers’ money.

....hmmmm.... I wonder if any of that money was spent hosting the PRT pod people conference?

and what did the resignation letter of the former Mayor of Davantry say about the District Council?

"It would appear to be dominated by a self-interest group. This cannot be right, or in the best interests of our community and the people of Daventry."

Letters to the Editor About Personal Rapid Transit in Daventry

Letters About the Daventry Council's plans for PRT in the Daventry Express:

Pod scheme is up in the air

It will be interesting to see how close the test track along Eastern Way for the proposed new transport system comes to reality.
A brief investigation will show that from a safety standpoint any new PRT system will have to be completely separate from existing pedestrian and vehicle routes.

The potential supplier's own web site states that where the track passes over roads there has to be 5.7 metres of headroom and for pedestrian transit 2.5 metres of headroom.

They also estimate that in an urban environment, such as Daventry, over 90 per cent of the system will have to be elevated. So if the system gets approval, much of it including the stations, will be almost 20 feet up in the air!

How much of the test track will be at this level?

Allan Simmonds
Drayton

Living in Disneyland?

I wonder if the people of Daventry share the enthusiasm of the council for the proposed PRT system reported last week.
At an estimated cost of £80 million, which will be inevitably optimistic, the comment "the officers in Daventry have the will and motivation to try something that has never been tried before" raises questions about the council's expertise and judgement.

Coming on top of the proposed marina and canal link, would we be wrong in asking whether the councillors are spending too much time on 'Disneyland' dreams instead of concentrating on the town and county management?

It would also be interesting to hear from them where the funds are coming from for the project; the recent conference and the consultancy firm instructed. Personally, I have considerable doubts about the practicalities of the scheme anyway.

G. Pearse
Highlands Drive,
Daventry

Town is world leader already

Daventry needn't worry about this new pod travel system – as it is already a leader! Leader of the highest petrol prices that is!
For the last four or five months the petrol prices at all garages in Daventry have stayed the same – they do not compete.

The petrol price has gone down everywhere else but Daventry! In the last month I have found petrol in Devon, Somerset, Essex and central London considerably cheaper (up to 5p a litre less) – surprising as the latter two are supposed to be more expensive to live in! Even petrol on the motorway services is the same as Daventry's or cheaper.

Why are we allowing ourselves to be ripped off?
Lets see some competition between the local garages!
G Bottomley
Elder Drive
Daventry

Tackle the real issues

Well done Daventry District Council, yet another brilliant idea...not!
Pods – well at least the kids will have something to do surfing, shooting, burning and wrecking the pods as they go round.

If there's £80 million on offer why not develop something for them to do, bin these crazy ideas and stop this town going completely down the toilet.

There is too much housing, too many people and so very little to do. I've lived in this town for 39 years and watched it slowly be destroyed by the local council who don't have the town's real population at heart. No police, broken roads, run-down estates, feral kids – these are the issues that need addressing not some hare-brained scheme like pods.
Wake up and smell the coffee DDC.

Name and address
supplied

Nice idea but wrong scheme

I have no wish to run down everything Daventry District Council comes up with and indeed it should be applauded for its forward thinking because, like it or not, oil will run out eventually and we must look for alternative soloutions to the car as we know it.
But I have to say I can not really see the pod as a realistic answer because if you think about it a horse and cart, although a lot slower, would be a better form of transport taking you closer to your home and using or causing very little carbon emission.

The pod system is bound to fail while there are still cars giving the public door-to-door conection and if you try to stop the entrance of cars to our shopping centre, people will simply go else where thus killing the town centre.

Leslie Weatherley
Via email

PRT, what a joke.

PRTistas Eating Their Own

The Mayor of Fountain Valley California in the Cyburbia Forum:

Hi,

My name is Gus Ayer, and I'm a City Council member in the fair city of Fountain Valley, California, currently taking my turn in the largely ceremonial position as Mayor.

Recently, I've been working with the Swedish Institute for Sustainable Transportation, which has been working to rescue the concept of Personal Rapid Transit from the clutches of crackpots, ideologues and anti-transit nutjobs. They recently sponsored the PodCar City conference in Uppsala, which I attended and spoke at, and their new Kompass group will help cities interested in new transit solutions to find a common direction.

From the comments of a PRTista's Daily Kos Diary in response to MnRaindog:

I've read your comments in DK history, and I can really appreciate your disdain for Bachman, but PRT as public transit doesn't rely on batshit crazy Republicans. The Swedish Institute for Sustainable Transportation, that has inspired me, is working to reclaim a valid idea form the wingnuts and crackpots.

Congratulations, Gus you're an honorary member of the Pod Squad:



UPDATE: The Daily Kos Diary posts by "Aeolus" on the Podcar Conference have apparently been removed.

Vectus PRT is a Joke

Vectus is the reincarnation of the defunct Raytheon PRT project... with no headroom for passengers!!!

Click To Play

Skyweb Express (Taxi 2000) Scrubs Website

The new Taxi 2000 website is all videos, simulations and a rehash of the usual phony claims. Missing are names of people involved in the bogus PRT enterprise. Catch a glimpse of the old website in this video:

Rep. Mark Olson is Poster Boy for Minnesota NOW

From a recent Minnesota NOW Political Action Committee mailing:

REPRESENTATIVE OLSON CONVICTED OF DOMESTIC ASSAULT!

Representative Mark Olson, District 16B, was convicted of domestic assault in July 2007. The assault against his wife occurred in November 2006, yet Representative Olson maintained he was the battered spouse and he refused to step down from the Legislature. With the conviction, it is hoped that the House Ethics Committee will review Representative Olson’s actions and ask him to resign from the Legislature.

The personal IS political! How can a representative who assaults his wife have any credibility on domestic violence issues? At least 13 women and 11 children were murdered in Minnesota as a result of domestic violence in 2004. In Minnesota, domestic violence crime victims account for over 25% of all crime victims. Minnesotans deserve better representation on this issue than can be given by Mark Olson! The MN NOW PAC demands that Mark Olson resign from the Legislature.

Sweep Out the Convicts!

Daventry Mayor Quits After City Hosts Personal Rapid Transit Conference

Last week the news from the English town of Daventry was:

A UNIQUE public transport system costing around £80million could make Daventry a world leader of innovation, a conference was told this week.

More than 100 representatives from around the globe were in town this week for the much-anticipated Daventry Transport Confer-ence 2007, where talks were given and debates were held over the potential benefits of Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) and other related transport technology.

Ian Vincent, Daventry District Council's head of paid service, told the conference yesterday (Wednesday): "We have an extensive growth agenda and we want to demonstrate to the world that we can lead on something as innovative as a PRT system.

"We want people to be proud of the town they live in. It will have attributes that it doesn't have now and we want to be at the leading edge of town development in this country."

This week the news from Daventry is:

The mayor of Daventry has controversially quit his role as the town's civic head.

...and why did the mayor quit?

During the last year the town council has slowly descended into turmoil, with dozens of councillors quitting.
One described the authority as a 'group of people effectively at war', and numerous reports have leaked out about infighting, in-crowds and bitterness between councillors.

The council currently has five empty seats.

In August town clerk Mrs Paddan quit her job and all four administrative staff at the authority handed in their notice a week later.

Chris Millar, leader of Daventry District Council, said: "It's very disappointing news and the town council is becoming a Whitehall farce.

"Individuals need to take a look at themselves, stop squabbling and start serving the public. There must be something rotten at the core of this body.

"The fact that the latest victim is the mayor shows everyone it is very dysfunctional."

...is the PRT Pod Curse at work in Daventry too?.

Editorial Calls on Minnesota Women to "Clean House" of Rep. Mark Olson

by Shannon Drury in the Minnesota Women's Press

Women of Minnesota, it's time to clean House.

Last July, Rep. Mark Olson (R-Big Lake) was convicted of one count of misdemeanor domestic assault with the intent to cause fear. Sherburne County District Judge Alan Pendleton sentenced him to two years' probation and required Olson pay $400 in fines as well as court costs for repeatedly pushing down his wife Heidi during an argument.

That seems like a pretty light sentence, you say. A person convicted of a domestic assault charge ought to draw a stricter punishment, you think to yourself, and you're not alone. In December 2006, not long after the charges against Olson were filed, Gov. Tim Pawlenty was quoted by Minnesota Public Radio: "If it turns out that he's found guilty or pleads guilty to the conduct alleged, then it's just not appropriate for him to be serving in the Legislature." (Fun tip: At MPR's website you can hear this tough talk for yourself.)

So what happened? Nothing. Olson won't quit. Last fall his Republican caucus dumped him, but no one in the party has made another peep about wanting him to resign.

You don't need to be a state officer of a national feminist organization (as I am) to hear this news and want to puke. You don't need to be a victim of domestic assault and/or know someone who is (as most of us do) to feel repulsed. You just need to give a damn about the people of Minnesota to know instinctively that Mark Olson has got to go.

Would a representative convicted of real estate fraud be allowed to serve in a body that determined the laws governing such transactions? If dear Gov. Pawlenty, heaven forbid, had a file full of speeding tickets, would we want him wielding his veto power over a bill that would put such repeat offenders in prison?

The budgets of women's shelters and domestic abuse education programs are determined by the Legislature. Should Mark Olson be allowed to have a vote when such a bill comes before him? Would you trust him with that kind of power?

It wasn't that long ago that a friend admitted to me that the breakup of her long-term relationship was caused by her partner's abuse. "Some feminist I am," she said, laughing bitterly. My response then was that it's not anti-feminist to be abused; abuse can and does happen to anyone. Victims aren't defined by their class, race, gender, sexual orientation, or even political orientation. "It's feminist to leave," I said, and I still believe that now.

For all the endless hand-wringing over what is and isn't feminist (lipstick? "Sex and the City?" hot pink iPods? heterosexuality?), let's all agree on one thing: It's feminist to speak up and speak out. Even a hater like Ann Coulter enjoys the right to press charges against a partner who beats her up, and she has a hundred years of feminists to thank for the privilege.

The home can be a dangerous place. In my last column, I wrote about the little hairline fractures that develop in one housewife, and the devastating consequences of going too long without help. Reactions among my readers ranged from support ("you nailed it") to admiration ("that was so brave") to embarrassment (one woman told me she was "shocked by the nakedness of your despair"). It shouldn't be surprising news that hurt exists, but that's America. It takes disaster to elicit change.

Yet for every single woman who speaks up, hundreds of her sisters remain silent. And why not? Put yourself in the Crocs of a housewife, radical or no, sitting in her living room one evening last summer as she watches Don Shelby deliver the news of Mark Olson's conviction. As part of the story she sees Olson report that he'll remain in the Minnesota Legislature, and the Republican leadership will let him. She has to move the ice pack from the bruise on her cheek; it's getting soaked with her tears. If a public person like Mark Olson won't have to pay for his crime, how will her partner? She might just change her mind and not file that police complaint after all.

Each of us must call our legislators to demand Olson be brought before the Ethics Committee at the start of the 2008 session. (The House switchboard, at 1-800-657-3550 can assist you. Another suggestion: If you're reading this and you live in Big Lake, Becker or elsewhere in District 16B, do not hesitate for a moment. Run against him.

Men need to join women in booting Olson from the legislature. There's a history of good ol' boys at the Capitol like Steve Sviggum allowing Rep. Mark Olson to avoid responsibility for abusing his staff:

Rep. Mark Olson and the Republicans Who Support Him

Curmudgeon at Pubhouse Dialogues:

It's Monday, 1 October. Convicted criminal Republican Mark Olson is still in the State Legislature. Heck, he's even held a fundraiser for his re-election.

How is it that this criminal Republican hasn't gotten a condemnation, especially since condemnation is one thing the Republicans seem to love to do just now?

Oh yeah, the Law and Order crowd, the folks who flout words like 'responsibility' and 'accountability' (without bothering themselves in the slightest to bother knowing what those words actually mean) at every possible turn seem to have no problem with a wife-beater as a Legislator. 

If the Republicans cannot even keep their own ranks in order, and lack the ability to do the right thing and usher Mark Olson from his seat, why should the Republicans be trusted with public office at all? 

The answer is obvious: Republicans cannot be trusted with public office.

To give you an idea how much of a "Law and Order" hypocrite jailbird Olson is, he has no problem executing innocent people with the guilty: