Comments on: Today’s Headlines

By: Cap'n Transit

Cap'n Transit — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:39:13 +0000

My mistake, Rlb; I haven't been following the Maryland issues in a while, and I wasn't aware that Erlich was out. It was the governor before him, Parris Glendenning, who was pro-Purple Line. Glad to know that Maryland has put a pro-transit person in Annapolis again.

Nico, I agree about empowering the community boards. They'd have to be much more democratic before we give them any new power. Paris and London have elections at the district level, why can't we?

By: Niccolo Machiavelli

Niccolo Machiavelli — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 20:07:06 +0000

I guess we'll see what a "good chance" is Clover. Squadron's people told us when they rang our doorbell that he favored empowering the Community Boards. He lost my support right there. If you want all this good land use stuff then breaking down the decision making to the smallest local level, much like these decisions are made in the suburbs, is pretty much a guarantee that bad things will happen. That and his pandering to the down-zoning jihad does not square with my concept of "livable streets" and/or support of mass public transit.

By: rlb

rlb — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:35:27 +0000

"The article omits the fact that the current governor won an election by promising to build the "Intercounty Connector" and hold off on building the Purple Line light rail. The previous governor had favored the Purple Line and held off on the highway. Gotta love the voters of Maryland!" The current governor since 2007 is Martin O'Malley (D), former mayor of Baltimore. The previous governor was Ehrlich (R). Before O'Malley became governor, he and Ehrlich were at odds concerning whether funding should be for the ICC or for mass transit - with the former Mayor being entirely for transit in particular in Baltimore. The reason the project exists today is Ehrlich, it having broke ground in 2006. I am from Maryland, but never lived there past voting age. I was unaware of his turnaround on the ICC but nevertheless, O'Malley is a decent politician who was great for Baltimore.

By: Clover

Clover — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:43:21 +0000

While I realize that Paul Newell is getting the attention here, Dan Squadron is very much in touch with the livable streets movement and pro-congestion pricing. And, Dan has a good chance of defeating Martin Connor. Keeping pressure on Silver is critical, but getting Dan Squadron in office would be fantastic too!

By: Susan Donovan

Susan Donovan — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:10:55 +0000

Josh you have a point. It would be a big deal if we enforced existing speed limits on residential streets (I care less about limited access highways and stuff.) --but if we could stop people from speeding on streets with peds it'd be huge-- we don't even need a lower limit-- just enforcement.

By: Josh

Josh — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:56:34 +0000

Re. the Congresswoman who wants to lower the national speed limit:

Does she really think people are going to drive slower? I wouldn't bet on it.

By: Vincent

Vincent — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:52:56 +0000

The NYT Newell endorsement is a big deal, but I wish they'd done it with more enthusiasm and made it explicitly clear that they not only prefer Newell over the other challenger, Luke Henry, but they prefer Newell over Silver. After running such a scathing editorial on Silver before, the Times editorial board should have reminded readers again that Silver is unfit for office in their endorsement of Newell.

Paul, I wish I lived in your district. I'd be recruiting everyone I know to vote for you. Rock on!!!

By: Glenn

Glenn — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:16:03 +0000

I encourage everyone to volunteer for the Newell Campaign. That NY Times endorsement is even bigger considering that not only is Silver the Speaker, but that Newell had to prove to them that he was better than that other guy running (can't remember his name

It's our best shot at putting the fear of an angry electorate into them for the next couple of year. I hope this will enbolden more competitive primaries in the Democratic party, which will only serve to make our elected officials more responsive, more innovative and break the power of the insider political clubs that serve narrow interests

By: Susan Donovan

Susan Donovan — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:53:59 +0000

"NYT Endorses Paul Newell" Oh what GREAT news-- I was worried they would not take him seriously. I want this to be a real race!

By: Cap'n Transit

Cap'n Transit — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:48:57 +0000

The problems, county planners say, started in 2004, when Maryland highway officials conducting a fast-tracked environmental study of the connector dropped plans for an off-road bike path. At the time, highway officials were facing a federal review of the connector proposal, which had been stymied for decades because of environmental concerns.

The article omits the fact that the current governor won an election by promising to build the "Intercounty Connector" and hold off on building the Purple Line light rail. The previous governor had favored the Purple Line and held off on the highway. Gotta love the voters of Maryland!

By: Mark Walker

Mark Walker — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:46:17 +0000

Re the Times endorsement of Paul Newell, looks like the Grey Lady really meant it back in April when she said Sheldon Silver was "unworthy of his office." This is a real race now. Livable-streets constituents in Silver's district really need to get out and vote on Sept. 9.