Infrastructure

Baltimore’s Water Cleanup Infrastructure Becomes Public Sensation

January 12, 2018 Alastar Boone, Citylab.com Organize! Baltimore, Infrastructure, Water Pollution

When John Kellett invented the Inner Harbor Wheel to collect trash from Baltimore’s popular waterway, he never imagined it would have eyeballs. Or a Twitter account. But these features have made the trash collection contraption—commonly known as Mr. Trash Wheel—beloved by many Baltimore residents, and helped the Healthy Harbor Initiative come alive. “Ever since we installed the googly eyes on Mr. Trash Wheel, the awareness and excitement around this whole idea of cleaning up the harbor has exploded,” Casey Merbler, a project manager of the Healthy Harbor Initiative, said in a new video produced by the Van Alen Institute in collaboration with CityLab. Indeed, Mr. Trash Wheel has almost 15 thousand followers on Twitter. And his fame is well deserved.

US Has Deadly Accidents And Crumbling Infrastructure

January 8, 2018 By Mike Ludwig, Truthout.org Educate! Infrastructure, Japan, Transportation, United States

Japan's high-speed bullet train system carries 1 million riders every day and has a remarkable safety record, at least compared to passenger trains in the United States. Passengers have taken billions of rides on Japanese bullet trains since the system was established 50 years ago, but not one passenger has died due to a derailment or collision. In the US commuters and travelers use trains less than the Japanese, but US passenger train lines have suffered five major wrecks that killed or injured passengers over the past decade, including the recent derailment of an Amtrak passenger train that killed three people and injured more than 50 others in DuPont, Washington on December 18. Among the dead were two active members of the Rail Passengers Association, a group that pushes for greater access to passenger rail services.

Activists Call On Colombia To Provide Infrastructure Improvements

October 4, 2017 Staff, www.blackallianceforpeace.com Resist! Activists, Afro-Colombians, Colombia, Health Care, Infrastructure

By Staff of Black Alliance for Peace - The undersigned gender, racial, social and environmental justice organizations and advocates from around the world applaud the inclusion of the Ethnic Chapter and other racial and gender rights measures in Colombia’s Final Agreement to End the Armed Conflict and Build a Stable and Lasting Peace. If implemented, these provisions will allow Colombia to set a global example of holistic peacebuilding—one that meaningfully addresses the social inequalities that help fuel conflict. We are, however, deeply concerned about the inadequate consultation with and recognition of Afro-Colombian and Indigenous authorities in peace implementation activities to date, and the ways in which this endangers the lives, security, and territorial and human rights of Afro-Descendant and Indigenous Peoples, including women and girls. We encourage the Government to act in good faith to ensure that Indigenous and Afro-Descendant Peoples’ rights are maintained and furthered in peace implementation. It is crucial that the framework plan for implementing the Peace Accord contain indicators to measure the progress and outcomes of policies, programs and reforms in a manner that corresponds to the needs, values, and rights of Indigenous and Afro-Descendant Peoples, including their gender-based rights. These can only be developed with meaningful participation of their respective authorities and organizations.

Crumbling Pipes, Tainted Water Plague Black Communities

August 17, 2017 William Taylor Potter, Brandon Kitchin and Alexis Reese, www.troubledwater.news21.com Educate! Black People, Infrastructure, Water, Water Pollution

By William Taylor Potter, Brandon Kitchin and Alexis Reese for Troubled Water - CAMPTI, La. – Deep in the winding mass of crumbling back streets in Campti, Leroy Hayes sets a glass of water from his faucet in a patch of sunlight on the railing of his porch and watches specks of sediment float to the top. Hayes said the town’s water system has been bad for years, with water often coming out brown and smelling like bleach. The family uses bottled water for drinking and cooking and often has to drive to the city of Natchitoches, 11 miles away, to wash their clothes. The Campti water leaves their clothes with a yellowish tint. “Don’t nobody drink that mess,” Hayes said. Like many poor African-American communities, Campti’s poverty is a significant impediment to making crucial improvements to the town’s infrastructure – including its old water system. Hayes is a lifelong resident of the town, where according to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than half of the predominantly African-American population lives in poverty. Campti’s median household income is only $15,428.

If China Can Fund Infrastructure With Credit, So Can We

May 21, 2017 Ellen Brown, www.ellenbrown.com Create! Banking and Finance, Debt, Infrastructure, Transportation

By Ellen Brown for the Web of Debt Blog. United States - May 15-19 has been designated “National Infrastructure Week” by the US Chambers of Commerce, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and over 150 affiliates. Their message: “It’s time to rebuild.” Ever since ASCE began issuing its “National Infrastructure Report Card” in 1998, the nation has gotten a dismal grade of D or D+. In the meantime, the estimated cost of fixing its infrastructure has gone up from $1.3 trillion to $4.6 trillion. While American politicians debate endlessly over how to finance the needed fixes and which ones to implement, the Chinese have managed to fund massive infrastructure projects all across their country, including 12,000 miles of high-speed rail built just in the last decade. How have they done it, and why can’t we?

‘The Greatest Jobs Producer God Ever Created’

April 7, 2017 Peter Rugh, www.indypendent.org Educate! Infrastructure, Trump Administration

By Peter Rugh for The Indypendent - Last March, as news of the lead-poisoned water supply in Flint, Michigan made national headlines, Christopher Cerf, the newly appointed superintendent of the Newark, New Jersey school district, ordered faucets in Newark schools tested for the presence of lead, a neurotoxin that can cause learning disabilities and behavioral problems in children. When the results came in, Cerf ordered water shut off in 30 of his district’s 67 schools. Statewide testing found that the water in 88 school buildings in 30 districts contained levels of lead that surpassed the 15-parts-per-billion limit set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The American Society of Pediatrics considers no amount of lead safe for children.

The Fraud & Theft Of Public Private Partnerships

March 28, 2017 Gabrielle Gurley, www.prospect.org Educate! Fraud, Infrastructure, Public-Private Partnerships

By Gabrielle Gurley for The American Prospect - Public-private partnerships may indeed provide the dollars that fearful politicians are unable to pry from the pockets of their tax-averse constituents. But P3s, as they are known in the infrastructure sector, are more complex than they appear to people who just want to get where they’re going. In a new Economic Policy Institute report, “No Free Bridge,” researcher Hunter Blair shows just why these partnerships are far from a “eureka” moment for America’s infrastructure woes. “The idea that P3s allow infrastructure to be built for free is economic snake oil,” Blair said. P3s do not end up saving taxpayers money, especially when policymakers obscure the true costs and the risks.

How To Cut Infrastructure Costs In Half

January 31, 2017 Ellen Brown, www.ellenbrown.com Create! Infrastructure, Money

By Ellen Brown for The Web of Debt Blog - President Donald Trump has promised to rebuild America’s airports, bridges, tunnels, roads and other infrastructure, something both Democrats and Republicans agree should be done. The country needs a full $3 trillion in infrastructure over the next decade. The $1 trillion plan revealed by Trump’s economic advisers relies heavily on public-private partnerships, and private equity firms are lining up for these plumbing investments. In the typical private equity water deal, for example, higher user rates help the firms earn annual returns of anywhere from 8 to 18 percent – more even than a regular for-profit water company might expect. But the price tag can come as a rude surprise for local ratepayers.

Thousands Of Invisible Oil Spills Are Destroying The Gulf

December 13, 2016 Emma Grey Ellis, www.wired.com Educate! Gulf Coast of United States, Infrastructure, Oil Spill

By Emma Grey Ellis for WIred - HURRICANE IVAN WOULD not die. After traveling across the Atlantic Ocean, it stewed for more than a week in the Caribbean, fluctuating between a Category 3 and 5 storm while battering Jamaica, Cuba, and other vulnerable islands. And as it approached the US Gulf Coast, it stirred up a massive mud slide on the sea floor. The mudslide created leaks in 25 undersea oil wells, snarled the pipelines leading from the wells to a nearby oil platform, and brought the platform down on top of all of it. And a bunch of the mess—owned by Taylor Energy—is still down there, covered by tons of silty sediment. Also, twelve years later, the mess is still leaking.

More Thoughts On Trump’s $1 Trillion Infrastructure Plan

December 12, 2016 Ellen Brown, www.ellenbrown.com Educate! Donald Trump, Infrastructure

By Ellen Brown for Web of Debt Blog - The Trump agenda, it seems, is not set in stone. The president-elect has a range of advisors with as many ideas. Steven Mnuchin, his nominee for Treasury Secretary, said in November that “we’ll take a look at everything,”even the possibility of extending the maturity of the federal debt with 50-year or 100-year bonds to take advantage of unusually low interest rates. Steve Bannon, appointed chief White House strategist, seems to be envisioning Roosevelt-style experimentation with whatever works. “We’re just going to throw it up against the wall and see if it sticks,” he said in an interview posted by Michael Wolff on November 18th...

Let’s Rebuild Infrastructure, Not Provide Tax Breaks To Big Corporations

November 23, 2016 Bernie Sanders, www.medium.com Educate! Corporations, Infrastructure, Taxes, Wall Street

By Bernie Sanders for Medium - Our infrastructure is collapsing, and the American people know it. Every day, they drive on roads with unforgiving potholes and over bridges that are in disrepair. They wait in traffic jams and ride in overcrowded subways. They see airports bursting at the seams. They see the need for a modern rail system. They worry that a local levee or dam could fail in a storm. During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump correctly talked about rebuilding our country’s infrastructure.

Trump’s $1 Trillion Infrastructure Plan: Lincoln Had Bolder Solution

November 17, 2016 Ellen Brown, www.counterpunch.org Educate! Budget, Donald Trump, Infrastructure

By Ellen Brown for Counter Punch - It sounds great; but as usual, the devil is in the details. Both parties in Congress agree that infrastructure is desperately needed. The roadblock is in where to find the money. Raising taxes and going further into debt are both evidently off the table. The Trump solution is touted as avoiding those options, but according to his economic advisors, it does this by privatizing public goods, imposing high user fees on the citizenry for assets that should have been public utilities.

Why Is US Unwilling To Pay For Good Public Transit?

April 10, 2016 John Rennie Short, www.theconversation.com Educate! Infrastructure, Public Good, Transportation

By John Rennie Short for The Conversation. Officials in Washington, D.C. said this week they may have to shut down portions of the Metro subway system for months because its piecemeal approach to maintenance is no longer sufficient. The disclosure follows a shutdown of the entire Metro system on March 16 for 24 hours. Three-quarters of a million people use the system each weekday, so the inconvenience and cost were considerable. The reason: frayed electrical cables discovered in at least 26 locations that posed an immediate danger. Closing the Metro was probably the safest thing to do. Just two days previously, an electrical fire in a tunnel forced stoppages to busy commuter service.

Lost Opportunity: Jobs, Infrastructure & Water Poisoning

March 1, 2016 Dean Baker, www.truth-out.org Educate! Flint, Infrastructure, Jobs, Water, Water Pollution

By Dean Baker for Truthout - We all understand the concept of trade-offs. If we spend more of our paycheck on restaurants, then we will have less money for rent. If we spend more time watching television we will have less time to read or do sports. There will often be similar sorts of trade-offs in public policy decisions. If we spend more money on health care then we will have less money for education or child care. But trade-offs in public policy decisions don't always work that way.

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