Diddling Around With Albuquerque

We (not the editorial we but we the people) had a municipal election yesterday.  A whopping 8% turnout.  Not sure if that's 8% of registered voters or just of those people of voting age living in the City of Albuquerque--aka Burque or just ABQ.  Not important.  It's a dismal number because most of us know that it's useless to vote for any of the politicians that were running.

Oh, sure.  We elect a new politician every now and then.  It takes them about a year to start doing the same damn things the old politician was doing, sometimes doing them even better (worse?) than the old one.  Case in point:  A couple mayoral admins ago, the city started converting perfectly good traffic lanes to bicycle lanes.  It's an if-you-build-it-they-will-ride-their-bicycles mentality.  When we finally got a conservative mayor into office, I expected this nonsense would stop.  After all, everyone continually complains about lack of jobs; and employers don't move jobs into a city just because their new employees can ride their bikes to work.  (Unless the employer is a totally Californicated liberal moonbeam microchipped dotcom 3D animation studio tofu for breakfast lunch and dinner type--and they don't give a flying rat's patoo about Albuquerque even with the bicycle lanes).

To be fair, movies are made in and around Albuquerque and New Mexico--a couple infamous TV series, too.  But I guarantee none of them want their people to show up for shooting on bicycles.  They roar into town with motorcades sufficient to carry a UN full of dignitaries, and convoys of industrial-sized wheels enough to carry on a major offensive in a third-world country.  Not many bicycles, though.

In case you were wondering, I'm telling you the nonsense of converting traffic lanes to bicycle lanes is continuing, depriving residents who do actually need to drive to work of both sufficient roadways and sufficient parking, sometimes in front of their own houses.  Since Albuquerque has never seen its way clear to outlaw overnight street parking, which would make the city look a lot better to outsiders, suddenly taking away on-street parking spaces is problematic at best, a slap in the face to local residents, and a pander to the bicycle lobby.   (I respect anyone who can pedal a bike more than a block at Albuquerque's altitude, and don't suggest we should deprive anyone of the opportunity to do so.  Let's just be smart about it.)

Another interesting diddle is the transit service.  This consists of the bus system and the Richardsonian (not architecture but former Gov. Bill Richardson) commuter train called Rail Runner Express, for which the State of New Mexico is and will be grandly paying for years to come.  The bus system has three subdivisions, that I can see:  The normal bus routes, the so-called Rapid Ride (faster? No.), and the on-call system for disabled and elderly.  Collectively, the bus systems is known as ABQ Ride.  As far as I can tell, the bus system is under-utilized and not particularly convenient.  Sure there are peak times when the buses are full, but then there are times during any day you can see an ad-wrapped bus scooting up the street with nobody on board, convenient for nobody but the lawyer who bought the ad.  (They sell ad-wrap advertising to cover the windows and keep you from seeing this, I think.)  So now the mayor wants to start a BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) by taking more than the usual bike lanes from Old US 66, aka Central Avenue, the city's only iconic business thorofare.  It's feature controlled signalling for cross traffic, special bus stations in the medians, and other golly-gosh fru-fru.  Believe me.  That's what the Rapid Ride (vapid ride?) was supposed to have.

Meanwhile, the Rail Runner was supposed to stimulate TOD (Transit Oriented Development), and hasn't.  The only thing that developed is a drain on the treasury.  And everybody goes ga-ga for these improvements every time they're introduced and nobody ever . . . EVER . . . thinks about the cost of maintenance and depreciation of these systems once they're built.  Only the best way to get federal funding so some connected contractor can have a new Porsche and his crews can have a job for a few months one year.

I'll keep my vote to myself.  Thank you very much.

©2015 C. A. Turek - mistertrains@gmail.com

Giving Thanks

There hasn't been much to say this year.  Albuquerque and New Mexico are still in the recession that the gov'ment says ended years ago.  I look around me and home prices are stagnant and homes in my neighborhood are not selling anything like as fast as they once were.  The job guide in the Sunday paper is down to two pages, with at least 20 column-inches used up by an ad for, what else, putting ads in the newspaper.  Albuquerque is about to lose it's passenger train, Amtrak's Southwest Chief, because some people think that passenger rail is an anachronism and do not believe in a comprehensive multi-mode transportation policy for our country. They are shortsighted at best, and criminal in their assumptions at worst.

Nonetheless, in the coming few years we may get BRT (that's bus rapid transit, not bean rolled tacos) east and west on Central, the showplace of Albuquerque that shows a lot of places the city should not be proud of.

Nevertheless, in this time of Thanksgiving, I want to give thanks.  I am thankful that former Gov. Richardson's Rail Runner Express commuter train boondoggle has not yet bankrupted the state.  I'm thankful that we reelected a conservative governor and still have a conservative mayor of the City of Burque. I'm thankful that the Justice Department, the absolute last word in impeccable police work, has stepped in and told the APD (Albuquerque Police Dept., not another person dead) how to do its job.  Thank you Mr. Holder;

the citizens of Albuquerque and the State of New Mexico are certainly too stupid to figure this out for themselves.

I'm thankful that gas prices are falling.  It'll make up for all the money we now have to put into buying food.  I'm thankful that, according to the feds, there is no inflation, there is no inflation.  If something is repeated often enough, you will believe it.  I'm thankful that New Mexico set up an insurance exchange so that Obamacare can finance the uninsurable with my money.  At least they'll get great care at Kaseman Hospital or UNM Emergency Room (UNM stands for under nano-minute, the time it takes them to ask for your insurance card).

Sarcasm, innuendo, and outright snide comments aside, I am very thankful for my wonderful family and friends, my life, my liberty (such as still exists) and the free Blogger platform on which to spill my guts.  My all who stumble upon this blog and my regular reader have a happy, safe and sane Thanksgiving.

Budget Better Left Undone

NM gov plans special legislative session next week – BusinessWeek

I don’t know about anyone else, but for me, no legislation is good legislation, even when there is no budget. The fiction is that the state will grind to a halt. The fact is that our government will continue to spend money faster than a Vegas drunk (see Harry Reid) even without the budget.

In the mean time, the Albuquerque Journal points out that it might be better to just wait. In today’s editorial, they suggest that maybe reconvening in April when more revenue projections are in, would be the ticket.

That is juxtaposed with an editorial about the winter meeting of state governors in DC. A kernel of truth is there, and I hope our legislators see it. Fact is that New Mexico should be selling off assets to balance the budget.

Start with the Railrunner Express. This albatross is no good for New Mexico, but could be good for private enterprises. Warren Buffet just bought BNSF (see Passenger Rail), on whose former tracks runs the “runner.” Maybe he’d like to bid on Railrunner. Maybe even buy back those tracks for which I believe NM paid $50 million. (We won’t use more than a third of the mileage this century.)

The next to go should be the New Mexico Space Port. And then any real estate owned by a school district that isn’t being used – now!

Instead, I’m sure, the legislature will meet on Wednesday and raise taxes. Business as usual in NM.