In 1787 the United States Constitution was created over a several month long convention of the states. James Madison, for whom my middle name represents and who was the 4th President of the United States, was the main creator of this government which has been greater than any other government anywhere.
I do understand that the Constitution failed to eliminate slavery at the time, but it did do as much as it could. There was a part of the Constitution that made importation of slavery illegal after 20 years. Unfortunately there were laws passed after that to allow keeping of slavery in multiple generations that actually caused more problems. On top of that the Democratic Party of that time was strongly supportive of slavery and the Republican Party was opposed to slavery but had no real solutions for the freedom of the slaves. SO both parties were at some fault with the slavery issues.
Abraham Lincoln was elected as the first President from the Republican Party and he worked out something that Republicans think ended slavery. Instead of States remaining strong his presidential leadership throughout the Civil War weakened the powerful local governments but did not really provide any freedom for any slaves to be freed. In fact the Lincoln imposed Proclamation of Emancipation did not effectively free any slaves because he had lost power in states that still had slavery and the proclamation only freed slaves not under his control. Any slaves in northern states were not freed by it and those in the south were not under this control at the time.
The United States came out of the Civil War after doing a great deal of damage to all parts of the country and then Lincoln was killed for it. After end of the War and death of the first assassinated president the United States operated very differently. While Republicans still tried for a long time to help former slaves to rise up and the Democrats still tried for a while to keep former slaves down in the end they both used former slavery to advanced their own agendas.
Folks, slavery has now been out of existence for over 150 years, which is well over half the time of this fine nation. Mrs. Obama seems to think that slavery ended in our lifetime but it really ended at least 6-7 generations ago and most of Americans actually are descendants of people who arrived in this free nation after that. That includes almost all people in every race. Many of those who think they must be descendants of slaves are actually not and some who they think couldn't possibly be descendants of slavery actually are. It doesn't matter. Slavery by people has been out of existence for many generations.
Slavery not caused by private citizens still exists in great abundance today. It is now known as Republican and Democratic parties. They both work very hard to use whatever they need to in order to establish voting blocks. While the Republicans speak proudly of being anti-slavery the national party is not at all. While the Democrats speak proudly of building strength for African Americans they really haven't. Both parties use a form of slavery to build a strong party that doesn't support the real system created by the United States Constitution. They both work hard to change our system from freedom to force.
It is time for both parties to lose, but they will not this year and I fear I will not be around long enough to see anything better happen.
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Saturday, June 25, 2016
My New Life
In December of last year I traveled to St. George, Utah, to visit my mother-in-law, Evelyn Bosh. During my visit I experienced my first ever seizure in my brain. I didn't know it was a seizure but I knew it was something strange. While I was there I was found to have a very large Kidney Stone caused by a large amount of calcium caused by a problem with my parathyroid. In January I had the stone removed and in March two of my four parathyroids were removed to make that run properly.
On May 11 I was finally able to get an MRI done on my head. Within minutes the Dr. knew what was wrong, at least a part of what was wrong. They saw a very large tumor, about the size of a golf ball. It was located on the outside edge of the left side of my brain. One week later, May 18, they removed that tumor from my brain.
When I woke up after the surgery I was feeling bad. I vomited a large amount after I woke up but after that I was able to rest. Within a few days I had several people who visited me and were clearly scared about something. By Friday, May 20, I was moved to a regular hospital room and fed normally, with a lot of blood work being done throughout each day. I was also diabetic, a problem I found out was likely before my stone was removed but was told was certainly true about the time of my brain surgery. By Sunday or Monday after that I was released from the Red hospital at Hennepin County Medical Center and moved to the Blue Building of the same place for rehabilitation.
While I was in the Blue Building many people visited and many things happened that I did not enjoy. HCMC was trying to figure out how bad I was after the surgery. Through many tests I was eventually able to prove that I wasn't a vegetable like they thought I might be. I had to do several cognitive skills tests and also walking and strength testing. By Saturday, May 28, I was finally released to go home. I have had many times since then that I had to go back for more treatment at the hospital and have also had several visits by nurses and others at my home.
One thing that I heard from a doctor while in the Blue Building was very uncomfortable. She told me that my tumor was tested and found to be a rare type of cancerous growth. I can't remember the name of the cancer but it is a type that rarely ever leaves the brain. She told me that if I didn't get chemotherapy and radiation treatment I could expect to live short, probably around 6-8 months. She also said that if they were to treat me for this cancer they may be able to keep me alive for around two years. My sister decided I should get a second opinion from another doctor. My sister worked on getting me an appointment at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, about an hour and a half from home.
On Friday, June 24, 2016 I went to the Mayo Clinic. My appointment was at 11:00 and when I arrived they sent me soon thereafter to have some blood tests taken. One person took one small tube of blood from me and then I was able to go out for a couple hours. I had lunch and returned to the Mayo for an appointment around 1:20 PM. The doctor didn't actually see us until around 2:00 and he and another doctor were done talking to us by around 4:00.
The second doctor did not spend much time with me. The first talked about the chemotherapy and radiation I had already heard about from the doctor at HCMC. He suggested that they have a chemotherapy test they could try after my regular treatment and also a possible targeted radiation treatment they could do if I was not eligible for the chemo one. Apparently the blood test was done so they could determine my ability for the chemo testing. Probably by July 1 I will hear if I can do their chemo or their radiation tests.
The doctors at Mayo seemed to give happy faces for the treatments they have but didn't seem to be able to give solid answers about anything. I think they would really like to do the tests on me but they also know that there isn't much probability of success for either of them. This probably means I will not be living much longer from healthcare processes.
For the time I have been out of the surgery and understood I had serious cancer issues I have been praying more deeply than I have ever done. I have asked God for a miracle to heal me but I do not know if that is going to happen. I have heard from multitudes of people who are also praying for me and I have thanked them all and encouraged them to continue to do so.
More than my desire to live for my own feelings I have a strong desire to be here for my wife, JeriAnn. I love her so deeply and she also loves me very deeply. I feel that losing me may be too hard for her to bear. Maybe when I go I can be with her again soon. She believes she will live a long life even if I don't and I don't want that to happen, only because I can tell how hard it will be for her. She does have a strong ability to survive and I do believe it may happen. I am 46 and she is 44 and we celebrated our 21st Anniversary this June. If I die this year she will probably still live for up to 30-40 years without me. I am sure I will not suffer after death. I know that heaven is a place without health problems.
I don't know what to do now. I have a great deal of love for God and for others I will see here if I live and in Heaven if I die. Please keep me in your prayers.
Thank you. I love you.
On May 11 I was finally able to get an MRI done on my head. Within minutes the Dr. knew what was wrong, at least a part of what was wrong. They saw a very large tumor, about the size of a golf ball. It was located on the outside edge of the left side of my brain. One week later, May 18, they removed that tumor from my brain.
When I woke up after the surgery I was feeling bad. I vomited a large amount after I woke up but after that I was able to rest. Within a few days I had several people who visited me and were clearly scared about something. By Friday, May 20, I was moved to a regular hospital room and fed normally, with a lot of blood work being done throughout each day. I was also diabetic, a problem I found out was likely before my stone was removed but was told was certainly true about the time of my brain surgery. By Sunday or Monday after that I was released from the Red hospital at Hennepin County Medical Center and moved to the Blue Building of the same place for rehabilitation.
While I was in the Blue Building many people visited and many things happened that I did not enjoy. HCMC was trying to figure out how bad I was after the surgery. Through many tests I was eventually able to prove that I wasn't a vegetable like they thought I might be. I had to do several cognitive skills tests and also walking and strength testing. By Saturday, May 28, I was finally released to go home. I have had many times since then that I had to go back for more treatment at the hospital and have also had several visits by nurses and others at my home.
One thing that I heard from a doctor while in the Blue Building was very uncomfortable. She told me that my tumor was tested and found to be a rare type of cancerous growth. I can't remember the name of the cancer but it is a type that rarely ever leaves the brain. She told me that if I didn't get chemotherapy and radiation treatment I could expect to live short, probably around 6-8 months. She also said that if they were to treat me for this cancer they may be able to keep me alive for around two years. My sister decided I should get a second opinion from another doctor. My sister worked on getting me an appointment at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, about an hour and a half from home.
On Friday, June 24, 2016 I went to the Mayo Clinic. My appointment was at 11:00 and when I arrived they sent me soon thereafter to have some blood tests taken. One person took one small tube of blood from me and then I was able to go out for a couple hours. I had lunch and returned to the Mayo for an appointment around 1:20 PM. The doctor didn't actually see us until around 2:00 and he and another doctor were done talking to us by around 4:00.
The second doctor did not spend much time with me. The first talked about the chemotherapy and radiation I had already heard about from the doctor at HCMC. He suggested that they have a chemotherapy test they could try after my regular treatment and also a possible targeted radiation treatment they could do if I was not eligible for the chemo one. Apparently the blood test was done so they could determine my ability for the chemo testing. Probably by July 1 I will hear if I can do their chemo or their radiation tests.
The doctors at Mayo seemed to give happy faces for the treatments they have but didn't seem to be able to give solid answers about anything. I think they would really like to do the tests on me but they also know that there isn't much probability of success for either of them. This probably means I will not be living much longer from healthcare processes.
For the time I have been out of the surgery and understood I had serious cancer issues I have been praying more deeply than I have ever done. I have asked God for a miracle to heal me but I do not know if that is going to happen. I have heard from multitudes of people who are also praying for me and I have thanked them all and encouraged them to continue to do so.
More than my desire to live for my own feelings I have a strong desire to be here for my wife, JeriAnn. I love her so deeply and she also loves me very deeply. I feel that losing me may be too hard for her to bear. Maybe when I go I can be with her again soon. She believes she will live a long life even if I don't and I don't want that to happen, only because I can tell how hard it will be for her. She does have a strong ability to survive and I do believe it may happen. I am 46 and she is 44 and we celebrated our 21st Anniversary this June. If I die this year she will probably still live for up to 30-40 years without me. I am sure I will not suffer after death. I know that heaven is a place without health problems.
I don't know what to do now. I have a great deal of love for God and for others I will see here if I live and in Heaven if I die. Please keep me in your prayers.
Thank you. I love you.
Monday, December 28, 2015
My Christmas Struggle 2015
On Sunday, December 20, 2015 JeriAnn and I flew to Las Vegas
and then rode to St. George, Utah, for Christmas. Our plan was to spend a couple days in St.
George and then drive to California on Wednesday to spend a few days, including
Christmas. We were going to return to
St. George on Saturday and to Las Vegas on Monday, December 28, 2015 to fly
home.
Life is what happens when you’ve made other plans.
When we arrived in Las Vegas we were picked up by Mama
Evelyn Bosh and our nephew Jerry Gentry.
The first thing we learned was that, because of some unforeseen circumstances,
we would not be making a trip to California after all. We were going to have a nice week in St.
George. OK! Well that was a great
idea. St. George is a beautiful place to
spend a week. I have always enjoyed being there and it was fun. I thought that
maybe I could even try stopping by the Temple there. I went through the Temple in St. George first
and that was also where we were married.
Monday we had a nice day.
We watched some stuff on TV. I
tried to fix Mama Evie’s Apple computer but I really didn’t know what was wrong
with it or how to make it work. I tried a couple things and then shut it
down. We went shopping for stocking
stuffers and food for a dinner on Tuesday.
The original plan had been to have an early Christmas dinner in St.
George with some of the family that wouldn’t make it to California. We got lots
of good food and treats. It was fun. I got done with the day feeling a little
pain in my sinuses.
On Tuesday my sinuses were still hurting and Evie got me
some Sudafed to take for my sinus headache. I took some right away. Shortly
after that I went to pick up baking soda we had forgotten to buy on Monday. I
went to the grocery store and I had a moment as I was leaving the store that I
was badly hurting and confused and I swore I could smell something burning (I
still don’t understand this part). After a minute I felt better and went home.
By Tuesday night I was really feeling bad. I took some more
Sudafed and had dinner with the group of Gentrys, JeriAnn’s sister and her
family. After dinner they were going to play for a while and then go home. I
felt bad so I went and laid down in bed.
Within an hour I ran to the bathroom and all of dinner came back out. I
thought I was just a little sick so I went to bed the rest of the night.
On Wednesday, JeriAnn and I were allowed to go shop for
something for ourselves for Christmas. We went and shopped for a little while
and then I said I needed to go home and rest some more. By the evening I was
still feeling bad and my side was hurting. I asked Evie if I could get
priesthood blessing. She called one of her neighbors and asked him to find
someone else to help him. I love that kind of response. I got a blessing
quickly and it was somewhat assuring and also mentioned I may need medical
attention. After the blessing I felt really a bit better, for a few minutes. I thanked
them and they went home.
We started talking and then suddenly my good feeling went
away, all the way. I was again experiencing the feeling I had at the store the
day before. This time it didn’t clear
quickly and the pain in my side worsened. I suddenly paled and was staring in
the distance. Evie asked if I was ok and I simply replied “No.” She told me and
JeriAnn to get our shoes and coats on and we immediately left home to head to
the Emergency Room and the hospital in St. George.
When I got there they asked
a lot of questions and took samples of my urine and blood. After the samples
they told me I had a very little blood in the urine and they wanted me to get a
CT Scan to see my urinary tract. It took about 45 minutes for someone to come
take me to the CT Scan Room. He did the scan and wheeled me back to the
Emergency Room. When we got there he said it would be an hour or maybe an hour
and a half to check the CT Scan. We settled in to wait. 10 or so minutes later
we got the answer. My left kidney has a 8mm stone in it. It is completely
impossible to eliminate a stone that large through the usually urinary tract.
I was immediately admitted to a room. I was scheduled for a
doctor to try to break the stone up with some sort of laser treatment. Later on
Christmas Eve afternoon he took me to a surgery room. When I woke up I had a
tube draining my urine into a bag. The doctor came and said he was not able to
do anything to the stone and I would need to see a doctor when I got home. He
gave me several medications and various sizes of bags and instructions how and
when to remove the tube. I got my medications for full price (I have no
insurance) at the last moment of the last open pharmacy on Christmas Eve, but I
got out of the hospital.
Christmas Day was not fun for me at all. I was taking
medicine and draining my urine all day long. Yippee. I ate a few things but not
much. I drank some cranberry juice, which I probably should have done to not get
such a stone.
Saturday after Christmas I got to remove the tube and
urinate normally again, except a bit sore and irregularly. I started feeling a
bit better, but not great. Sunday morning I went to Church with Evie. I had a
good time there, with 2 talks by recently returned Sister Missionaries and a
High Council speaker. The messages I heard were full of gospel faith and the
love of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I didn’t stay for classes but I was very
happy I got hope and took the sacrament. Sunday afternoon I walked to the
Temple grounds and took some pictures and posted to Facebook.
Sunday night we packed and got ready to head home. I still
didn’t feel fully recovered and I still don’t. We flew home today, Monday,
December 28, 2015. At the airport I had a ride in a wheelchair from the airport
entrance to the plane and again at the end from the plane to the baggage
claim. I got home and I was so happy to
get here.
The future is still a work in process. I have a huge stone and apparently I also
have a huge amount of calcium in my blood stream. I probably need part of my parathyroid
removed to get my calcium normalized. I
still don’t know how to pay for this. I
can’t afford the medical attention or the insurance costs.
Friday, May 8, 2015
The "Christian" Thing To Do
We live in a complex world and it is only becoming more so. Nothing is more complex, it seems, than Christianity. It seems like everyone who claims to be Christian has a different opinion of what real Christians do, and everyone else must be wrong.
Homosexual Marriage
One camp believes that marriage is a thing that can be defined any way the participants want. Another camp believes that marriage is and always has been defined as one man and one woman. There are some that believe multiples of one gender can be married to one of the other gender. I am in the second camp (which actually came first chronologically). I don't believe marriage between two individuals of the same gender is valid to God or his Son, Jesus Christ.
That said, I believe Christianity teaches us to love sinners. We are not supposed to love the sins, but the sinners we are commanded to love. This means we need to be willing to let people make bad decisions. This goes both ways in the current debate.
When two people want to marry against God's law we do not need to support the decision but we do need to approach the situation in loving ways. A church that will not perform such weddings is definitely within their right to refuse. When those same individuals want to worship in the church they should be allowed to.
If a business chooses to withhold their services it is probably a bad decision but they should be allowed to. In today's social and economic climate they probably are damaging their chances of success in business. They should be willing to serve those with same gender attraction for other events in any case.
The Muslim Question
Another place where a lot of Christians seem to have lost their bearings is in relation to those of other faiths, particularly Muslims.
Jesus told us to love our enemies and do good to those that despite fully use us and persecute us. When asked how many times we should forgive he said not 7 times as the law of Moses said but 70 times 7. This doesn't mean we should keep count until 490. It means we should forgive so much we stop counting and just keep forgiving.
The Muslims who perpetrate terrorism are not the ones we regularly see on the street. I do not believe that all Muslim people are out to kill all Christians or Jews.
I also believe that the evil forces in the world rejoice when they see people of faith cutting each other down. If they can get Christians to cut down Muslims and Jews and get Muslims to cut down Christians and Jews and get Jews to cut down Christians and Muslims then their job is a lot easier. The real battle is, and should be, people of God vs. godless people. Instead of fighting each other Christians should join forces with Jews and Muslims to win the war with evil.
Christians vs. Christians
The hardest one to understand is the fight between Christians of different sects. In Rome Christians were persecuted, until they became the dominant religion. Then they started persecuting and they've been doing it ever since.
Protestants were persecuted by Catholics then Protestants persecuted Reformers and their new churches. Reformers and Protestants then persecuted Quakers in the new world. I have Quaker ancestors that were persecuted by Puritans in Massachusetts just a few short years after the Puritans fled persecution in England.
When my religion arose through the Restoration through Joseph Smith they were persecuted by all types of Christians. Now that we have the 5th or 6th largest Christian denomination in the world members of our religion have learned how to persecute others.
Why? What is the justification? It certainly is not in the words of Jesus Christ or his Apostles after his ascension. There is no mention of how to persecuted your neighbors in the Bible.
I'm Wrapping Up Now
The bottom line is that the Christian thing to do is to love people. Love your family in all their weirdness. Love your friends, even when they turn on you. Love your enemies, especially when they hate you with a passion. Be kind to everyone in every way you can.
I am not perfect in any of this. I want to be someday and I am trying to be more each day.
Friday, October 31, 2014
Election Time Again
It is time for voting again next Tuesday. It is about time! I am so tired of the never-ending campaign ads on TV. If I were ever to run for an office high enough to do TV ads I like to think I would do it differently. Here are a few points I would remember when making my ads:
- Government does not create jobs. If you are the incumbent you did not create jobs. If you are the challenger your opponent didn't kill jobs. Sorry, it didn't happen. Private companies and individuals create jobs.
- Government is already several times the size it was designed to be here in the United States. We don't really need new programs. Whatever new programs you want to introduce, we don't need them. Whatever programs you want to keep but change, we didn't need them when they started. If you want to cut programs, where would you like to start and how can I help you get started?
- The incumbent and the challenger are both human. There is no sinister intention in your opponents motives. I was on the City Council for 4 years and met a lot of people in elected positions. Not one of them was trying to screw people. Not ONE. They all think they are doing something good for others. Some are really wrong, but not evil.
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Zefram Cochrane
Last night I was watching the movie "Star Trek: First Contact" again. In this movie the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation come to the aid of Starfleet during a Borg attack. As they destroy the Borg vessel a smaller vessel emerges from the large one and jumps through a temporal whole that takes them back a few centuries. The Enterprise follows the Borg back to the time of Zefram Cochrane, the great scientist that developed the Warp Engine in the mid 21st Century.
First the Borg tries to destroy Cochrane and his group of scientists to keep them from succeeding and make them easier to assimilate, a plan that is again thwarted by Captain Picard and his amazing crew. The Borg also try to build a communication device to contact the 21st Century Borg to have them come and assimilate Earth at that time. This is also unsuccessful. Eventually they manage to help Cochrane succeed and make first contact with the Vulcans and save the Earth from assimilation and destroy a 24th Century Borg queen in the 21st century.
When they first meet Cochrane they don't find the heroic figure they've all been taught about in school. What they find is a slobbering drunk who happens to have a great idea and less noble motivations (in the mind of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenbury anyway) than what everyone has been taught for 300+ years. At every turn Enterprise crew members are watching Cochrane's every move in awe and utter fascination until finally he tries to run away from these fanatics.
This makes me wonder what I would do if a bunch of people showed up, purporting to be from the future, and started hanging on my every word and action. What if something I was doing that didn't seem that great to me was something that would change the world and make the future better because I had lived. I guess such a thing may be happening. There is a famous quote that says:
First the Borg tries to destroy Cochrane and his group of scientists to keep them from succeeding and make them easier to assimilate, a plan that is again thwarted by Captain Picard and his amazing crew. The Borg also try to build a communication device to contact the 21st Century Borg to have them come and assimilate Earth at that time. This is also unsuccessful. Eventually they manage to help Cochrane succeed and make first contact with the Vulcans and save the Earth from assimilation and destroy a 24th Century Borg queen in the 21st century.
When they first meet Cochrane they don't find the heroic figure they've all been taught about in school. What they find is a slobbering drunk who happens to have a great idea and less noble motivations (in the mind of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenbury anyway) than what everyone has been taught for 300+ years. At every turn Enterprise crew members are watching Cochrane's every move in awe and utter fascination until finally he tries to run away from these fanatics.
This makes me wonder what I would do if a bunch of people showed up, purporting to be from the future, and started hanging on my every word and action. What if something I was doing that didn't seem that great to me was something that would change the world and make the future better because I had lived. I guess such a thing may be happening. There is a famous quote that says:
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. (Marianne Williamson in A Return to Love)Maybe she's right. Maybe we should step up and let ourselves be great. It may be that we are needed to make the world a better place (we are). On the other hand there is a danger in being prideful. Just ask Saul (Old Testament), David, and Solomon as well as many others in the scriptures. They started out humble and did great things when they were trying to just do the everyday right things. It was when they decided they were great that they made their biggest mistakes. Maybe there is another quote that could also apply:
Don't try to be a great man, just be a man. And let history make its own judgments (attributed to Zefram Cochrane in 2073)I guess I am willing to give it a try.
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Lanes not Trains, but also ...
About 2 months ago now I attended the Republican State Convention in Rochester Minnesota. I am a fan of Jeff Johnson and I strongly supported him from the start and was pleased when he was endorsed. While there I got this button:
This is, of course, a reference to adding lanes to highways and major roads instead of adding light rail corridors in the Twin Cities area. I believe in this. Each new Light Rail track costs more than the previous one.
The Green Line that was just finished cost taxpayers over $1,000,000,000 to build (I apologized for the lack of specific numbers). The Blue Line, as it is now known, cost almost $1,000,000,000 to build and the Bottineau Line, which is an extension of the Blue Line is expected to cost over $1,250,000,000 to build between now and about 2020. The Southwest Line is also slated for somewhere in the same range. This is money that WE WILL NEVER SEE AGAIN. The Line while in operation DOES NOT make money, it loses money on each and every fare, to the tune of 2:1 ratio.
Proponents claim it is needed to serve people in underserved neighborhoods. The Hiawatha (now Blue) Line travelled along a road with the nearest residential areas more than a block away. There was no unfilled need. It has resulted in new construction, which was what they were aiming for, but even with that new construction it will never be able to create enough ridership to not cost more than it makes. The trains can't hold enough people to make a profit. This is also true of the Northstar Line Commuter Rail, by the way. The Central (now Green) Line travels down the middle of University Ave and has, in one month of operation, resulted in more train-car collisions than the Blue line has had in several years. It also loses money and has the added bonus of eliminating A LOT of parking in front of businesses causing it to be economically detrimental to the areas served. There are few places to add new housing, so it can't do the same social engineering that the Blue line did.
Future lines include the extended Blue (Bottineau) and Green (Southwest) Lines as well as another Red Line on the end of the Green Line (maybe we could call it the Santa Claus line) and a possible line to the middle of a farm field in Washington County. Bottineau would connect Target Field and the Target Center to Target's campus in Brooklyn Park (shouldn't that be called the Red Line?). The Southwest Line connects downtown to Eden Prairie, because we all know how much the rich people on that course use public transit.
So I don't want tax dollars spent on dumb projects. I drive, so sue me. I don't like that my vehicle and gas taxes to go projects that at the least don't make my driving experience better and at worst make commuting a headache. I don't like throwing good money after bad. I favor using taxes charged to drivers to improve the drive. So "Lanes not Trains" works for me, to a point.
I try to think rather than follow blindly. I know that an acre is 43,560 square feet. I know that lanes are around a rod in width (16.5 feet) and a lane-mile uses about 2 acres. If you add a lane each direction you are adding about 4 acres per mile to a road or highway. Through North Minneapolis there is a section of I-94 that it 5 lanes in each direction, or about 20 acres per mile, about 1/32 of a square mile per mile. It is actually quite a bit more than that because of median width and side vegetation areas. That is a lot of acreage used on one road. If all highways were 5 lanes each direction it would be FANTASTIC for driving, but you would have to displace a lot of people from their homes. I know this can't be the right answer.
My objective in writing this post is not to provide the ultimate solution to all problems. I think it is important for all involved to think about the future. While I don't think trains are the answer I also realize that you can't just keep adding lanes forever. I have witnessed the opening of lanes and the heaven it creates, for a few years. I have also seen expanded roads become jammed again. I know that part of this is due to people changing their route from unexpanded roads to the newly expanded roads and that some of the new congestion would go away if we expanded all of the highways like they need. I also know that at some point we will need more new lanes as population grows.
One solution I heard while in college was for people to work from home in small communities away from city cores. This was a great idea and it would work NOW if employers didn't distrust employees working from home and if employees working from home actually wouldn't give employers a reason to distrust them. I have a home office that I have been working from for about 8 years without any problem. 5 of them have been working for myself.
Now it is your turn. Think about what you could do to make things better. The country is in need of your brain, in gear. After you think, go out and act.
This is, of course, a reference to adding lanes to highways and major roads instead of adding light rail corridors in the Twin Cities area. I believe in this. Each new Light Rail track costs more than the previous one.
The Green Line that was just finished cost taxpayers over $1,000,000,000 to build (I apologized for the lack of specific numbers). The Blue Line, as it is now known, cost almost $1,000,000,000 to build and the Bottineau Line, which is an extension of the Blue Line is expected to cost over $1,250,000,000 to build between now and about 2020. The Southwest Line is also slated for somewhere in the same range. This is money that WE WILL NEVER SEE AGAIN. The Line while in operation DOES NOT make money, it loses money on each and every fare, to the tune of 2:1 ratio.
Proponents claim it is needed to serve people in underserved neighborhoods. The Hiawatha (now Blue) Line travelled along a road with the nearest residential areas more than a block away. There was no unfilled need. It has resulted in new construction, which was what they were aiming for, but even with that new construction it will never be able to create enough ridership to not cost more than it makes. The trains can't hold enough people to make a profit. This is also true of the Northstar Line Commuter Rail, by the way. The Central (now Green) Line travels down the middle of University Ave and has, in one month of operation, resulted in more train-car collisions than the Blue line has had in several years. It also loses money and has the added bonus of eliminating A LOT of parking in front of businesses causing it to be economically detrimental to the areas served. There are few places to add new housing, so it can't do the same social engineering that the Blue line did.
Future lines include the extended Blue (Bottineau) and Green (Southwest) Lines as well as another Red Line on the end of the Green Line (maybe we could call it the Santa Claus line) and a possible line to the middle of a farm field in Washington County. Bottineau would connect Target Field and the Target Center to Target's campus in Brooklyn Park (shouldn't that be called the Red Line?). The Southwest Line connects downtown to Eden Prairie, because we all know how much the rich people on that course use public transit.
So I don't want tax dollars spent on dumb projects. I drive, so sue me. I don't like that my vehicle and gas taxes to go projects that at the least don't make my driving experience better and at worst make commuting a headache. I don't like throwing good money after bad. I favor using taxes charged to drivers to improve the drive. So "Lanes not Trains" works for me, to a point.
I try to think rather than follow blindly. I know that an acre is 43,560 square feet. I know that lanes are around a rod in width (16.5 feet) and a lane-mile uses about 2 acres. If you add a lane each direction you are adding about 4 acres per mile to a road or highway. Through North Minneapolis there is a section of I-94 that it 5 lanes in each direction, or about 20 acres per mile, about 1/32 of a square mile per mile. It is actually quite a bit more than that because of median width and side vegetation areas. That is a lot of acreage used on one road. If all highways were 5 lanes each direction it would be FANTASTIC for driving, but you would have to displace a lot of people from their homes. I know this can't be the right answer.
My objective in writing this post is not to provide the ultimate solution to all problems. I think it is important for all involved to think about the future. While I don't think trains are the answer I also realize that you can't just keep adding lanes forever. I have witnessed the opening of lanes and the heaven it creates, for a few years. I have also seen expanded roads become jammed again. I know that part of this is due to people changing their route from unexpanded roads to the newly expanded roads and that some of the new congestion would go away if we expanded all of the highways like they need. I also know that at some point we will need more new lanes as population grows.
One solution I heard while in college was for people to work from home in small communities away from city cores. This was a great idea and it would work NOW if employers didn't distrust employees working from home and if employees working from home actually wouldn't give employers a reason to distrust them. I have a home office that I have been working from for about 8 years without any problem. 5 of them have been working for myself.
Now it is your turn. Think about what you could do to make things better. The country is in need of your brain, in gear. After you think, go out and act.
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