This is not a shocker, I realize, but sometimes the best content in the paper comes from the readers.

What to Say to the Train Haters

A rising Tide lifts all boats. (photo: city of Norfolk)

A week or so ago the Pilot ran a story that featured an ODU economist who declared among other unpleasant predictions, that The Tide, Norfolk’s light rail, was essentially a boondoggle that would never pay for itself. Today the Pilot published a letter to the editor from Barry Bishop, the Executive Director of the Greater Norfolk Corporation, that highlights the absurdity of the ODU report. It’s worth reading the entire letter, but the essential point is this: light rail is not designed to “pay for itself” any more than paved roads are.

Both roads and rails are maintained by the government, and operated at a loss, because of the benefits that they bring. Bishop writes, “Just as roads are built with taxpeer dollars, it is appropriate that reasonable tax dollars also be used to develop and maintain light rail.” He points out that, even with the cost overruns, the cost per mile of Norfolk’s light rail “is still one of the lowest, if not the lowest, of any light rail system in the U.S.”

People miss Bishop’s point about light rail again and again, because there is a prevailing misconception that the only valid form of transportation is by car. In fact, cars are just one of many options for getting around, including rail, bicycle and foot. In the past, the government has used a blindered approach to fund roads above sidewalks and rails, but it is now widely understood that this policy leads only into a corner. The more roads you build, to more cars will come. You end up with a landscape of paved surfaces decorated with traffic jams. The resurgence of funding for rail projects isn’t a liberal conspiracy designed to take away your cars; it’s a proven solution for managing transportation congestion, promoting economic development, reducing pollution and increasing regional harmony.

Right below Barry Bishop’s letter is another letter from Joseph Trofe in Portsmouth, demanding to know the costs of the rail service between Lynchburg and D.C., and decrying it as “another example of government-subsidized transportation.” I’d like to imagine Bishop and Trofe in a conversation.

Trofe: Norfolk’s light rail is another example of government-subsidized transportation!
Bishop: Who built the roads?
Trofe: The government. But they tax our cars for that! And gasoline!
Bishop: So the government pays for the roads. Do the roads make money? Do the local taxes you pay even cover the costs?
Trofe: I don’t know. Yes?
Bishop: No, they don’t. The state receives significant federal assistance for road-building and maintenance. They are, in other words, another form of government-subsidized transportation. So if you can’t abide a transportation infrastructure supported by government money, better park your car for good, pick up a machete, and cut yourself a path through the forest to get where you want to go. Your brand of self-sufficiency doesn’t include a highway system.
Trofe: Shut up, lib.

If you believe in the train, be like Barry. Stand up and correct the misunderstandings.

Top story: jobs in the area.

The Pilot is trying to be helpful this morning, as in, “We found jobs!” I suppose in the current environment, news that 500 or so new jobs are coming to the area is positive. Looking more closely, though, I’m not so sure. The jobs are in call centers, vast human warehouses where low-paid workers spend all day on the phone, working in shifts, reading from scripts. It’s the 21st Century equivalent of a sausage factory, where the product is words, not wieners.

This is not glamorous work, but it’s work. Call center jobs pay in the low 20s. Supervisors make mid 30s. If you don’t currently have a job, you might head over to the Ryla call center in Norfolk, at 5301 Robin Hood Road, Suite 102, from 10am to 6pm today to apply for one of the 315 openings.

Look Inside the Wisconsin

For months I’ve watched dudes in white hazmat suits running around the deck of the Wisconsin, popping in and out of hatches, conducting some secret operation in the bowels of the ship. On a tour of the ship this summer I asked a docent what was going on. Turns out that after decades of lying unused, the interior of the ship was so full of toxic substances that the only safe way to go inside was masked and covered. I believe he mentioned asbestos and formaldehyde, at least. The work those masked guys put in has finally paid off. They’ve cleaned up some areas of the ship and now, today, for the first time, visitors will be allowed inside. That will definitely make tours of the Wisconsin more interesting, as formerly you were restricted to strolling on the deck.

Iceberg, Dead Ahead!

Nine years to build a replica that no one will buy...

Dude in Portsmouth builds a 9-foot-long replica of the Titanic in his living room. Takes him “nine years, one week and five days to do it.” It’s spectacularly detailed, outside and in, with little passengers on the deck that he painted with a sewing needle. Only problem: no one wants to pay $263,000 to buy it from him. Follow the link for pictures of this thing.

Election News

Follow the Money

Nye and Rigell, the two top contenders for the 2nd district congressional seat, have been raising money to fund their campaigns. Nye is struggling to retain his seat, pulling in money from individuals and PACs. But Rigell has a secret weapon, a huge advantage in this spending battle, his own bank account. Rigell has put in 6 of every 10 dollars that his campaign has spent.

Yawns at Suffolk council debate

There was a debate in Suffolk among candidates for city council. Few attended, but you can read about it here.

SPOILER ALERT

With the elections coming up in a few weeks, and a third party once again making lots of news, it’s worth taking a moment to examine one of the fundamental flaws of our election method.

The U.S. allows third-party candidates (Green party, Libertarian party, Tea party, etc.), but voting for one almost guarantees that the candidate you LEAST want to win will take the election. That’s because the Dems and Repubs split the electorate about 50/50, and if you vote for a more conservative party (Libertarian, say), you will be taking a vote from the Republicans, making it more likely that your arch-enemy, the Democrat, will win. Ralph Nader did this to the Democrats in 2000, and the phenomenon is now officially called the “spoiler effect.”

So, that’s the problem. The solution is called Instant Runoff Voting or IRV. Here’s how it works, in a nutshell (note the David Hasselhoff poster in the background!):

Maybe an AltDaily movement can be started around IRV?