| Light Rail Now! NewsLog
The route includes 50 streetcar stops, spaced about 3 to 5 blocks apart. (See map, below.)
[Map: City of Miami and Metro Jacksonville]
According to the Fact Sheet, capital investment for the streetcar project, including contingency, is estimated at US$200 million (in 2006 dollars – roughly $207 million in 2007 dollars). Operations and maintenance (O&M) costs are estimated at $7.9 million annually. The capital investment is not exclusively for the streetcar project – as the Fact Sheet notes, the streetcar project "is included in the Citys Capital Improvement Program", and will incorporate "reconstruction, resurfacing, sidewalk repair, and traffic control for public streets in Downtown Miami." To finance the system, Miami Mayor Manny Diaz apparently has cobbled together a plan to use two Community Redevelopment Agency districts as funding vehicles to jumpstart the streetcar and a handful of of other "legacy-building" projects in the city, according to a Miami Herald Dec.
No cause for alarm
They stand like sentinels on sidewalks, providing a subtle sense of security and a touch of nostalgia. But fire alarm boxes - so common on our streets for more than a century - may not survive the high-tech age of enhanced 911, cellphones, and GPS devices. The familiar red boxes are slowly disappearing, as cities and towns deem them obsolete. In doing so, those communities follow the lead of some of the nation's major cities. Washington, D.C., for example, has commissioned local artists to decorate the now-defunct boxes. Still, several south of Boston communities - including Braintree, Brockton, Dedham, Hingham, Milton, Plymouth, Quincy, Sharon, and Wareham - have held fast to these old-fashioned devices. Local fire officials say the wireless world hasn't negated their value.
COOK: Hearing hope in God's voice
As Joan Chittister puts it in her spiritual writings, my own noise had been drowning out the voice of God, which led to the feelings of hopelessness in the first place. When we consume all our inner space with our own sounds, ideas, truths and wisdoms, there's no room left for God, she says. The Word we seek is speaking in the silence within us, according to Chittister. That silence allows us to hear the still, small voice of the Spirit. It isn't easy to get there, believe me, between a noisy office, visiting and fellowship at church and a little one often at my elbow, saying "Mommy, watch this!" Or it's unwinding from the day after the kids are in bed, using an old movie or the Internet to distract ourselves from facing an internal silence. This is a world where being alone with our thoughts, and being open to what thoughts the Spirit brings us, is getting harder to achieve.
Hedge funds find there is nowhere to hide
Hedge funds are on track for their worst month since the Russian default of 1998 – which brought down Long Term Capital Management – with the average fund losing more than 3 per cent so far in January. Investors say most funds opened the month betting that stock markets would rise, leaving them exposed to the terrible start to the year for equities and the wild swings of last week. The average decline for funds are far smaller than the 9.1 per cent drop in the FTSE 100 index of British blue chips so far this year. But hedge funds typically market themselves as investment vehicles designed to go up whatever markets do, so investors will be disappointed. However, computerised futures traders such as London-based BlueCrest's BlueTrend fund and Man Group's AHL, turned in strong profits.
Friday 6th October
Digital multimedia head-end and receiver technology RadioScape has upgraded the Arqiva DAB multiplex that handles BT Movios recently-launched wholesale Mobile TV service. The upgrade is to the latest version of RadioScapes DAB Professional Broadcast System Version 5.1 and enables multiplexes to handle mobile TV broadcasting. The upgrade is part of an agreement that will enable Arqiva to begin upgrading its inventory of 47 DAB digital radio multiplexes in the UK, which forms the worlds largest DAB installation and is used to provide virtually all of the UKs commercial DAB broadcasts.
John Hall, RadioScapes CEO, said that the companys end-to-end DAB technology gave it "a huge advantage" in developing mobile TV solutions which are based on DAB. "Our mobile TV platform uses DAB spectrum that is already available in many countries so that working, reliable mobile TV can be deployed now." Paul Eaton, Head of Radio at Arqiva, added that the move into mobile TV was strategically important for Arqiva and for those using its infrastructure.
Obama isn't 'the black candidate'
Obama has tried to steer voters and the media toward viewing the 2008 presidential election as a contest of ideas. He even got into trouble by citing Ronald Reagan's ability to win through ideas. Presidential leadership should not be about delivering the spoils of government to one's own collection of groups after winning the White House. Candidates need to reach for something higher and more unifying. Obama's Big Idea of "change," however, may turn out to be simply too vague as the big unifier. He can't run only against the past (whether it is the Bush years or Washington's polarized politics) but must be more specific in what he offers as "hope." As for the voters' top concern, the economy, he did offer some specifics on how a state such as South Carolina, which ranks fourth in unemployment, might be helped.
N.J. colleges try for faster, cheaper
With tuition soaring and state support shrinking, New Jersey's public colleges and universities are exploring ways for students to get their diploma quicker and cheaper. Shortening the road to graduation is just one of nearly a dozen suggestions released today by the New Jersey Association of Colleges and Universities, which formed a task force in September to consider improving higher education opportunities at a time of a shrinking state budget. Continue reading "N.J. colleges try for faster, cheaper" » .
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