On Mon, 01 Aug 2005 20:59:08 +0000, Doug Kanter wrote:


Wait till they figure out what's been determined elsewhe Sometimes,
widening highways just leads the sprawl someplace else. Once that happens,
you can never build a big enough highway. It becomes impossible to stay a
step ahead of the ever-increasing traffic.

Yup, and with oil with oil supplies getting tighter and tighter . . .
Sprawl just doesn't seem to be the way to go, in the long run.

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...

"Don White" wrote in message
...
NOYB wrote:

Hmmm. The Highway bill appropriated the necessary funding to widen I-75
in Southwest Florida from 2 lanes to 3 lanes. Since most of the working
folks in Naples, Bonita Springs, Estero, and Fort Myers have to sit in
1-2 hours of traffic on that road every morning, I'd say that the money
is hardly "wasteful pork spending".

Sounds like your traffic authorities are as backward as ours. We had a
busy secondary highway into the city widened to 3 lanes from two a couple
of years ago. They should have made it 4 lanes while they were at it.
Seems a number of commercial businesses along the stretch didn't want the
four as it would infringe on their smaller parking lots. A lot of those
went belly-up anyway and the three lane road is already overcrowded at
rush hour.

Wait till they figure out what's been determined elsewhe Sometimes,
widening highways just leads the sprawl someplace else.

Fortunately, the sprawl in Collier County is limited by the Everglades
National Park to the East.

"Don White" wrote in message
...
NOYB wrote:

Hmmm. The Highway bill appropriated the necessary funding to widen I-75
in Southwest Florida from 2 lanes to 3 lanes. Since most of the working
folks in Naples, Bonita Springs, Estero, and Fort Myers have to sit in
1-2 hours of traffic on that road every morning, I'd say that the money
is hardly "wasteful pork spending".

Sounds like your traffic authorities are as backward as ours. We had a
busy secondary highway into the city widened to 3 lanes from two a couple
of years ago. They should have made it 4 lanes while they were at it.
Seems a number of commercial businesses along the stretch didn't want the
four as it would infringe on their smaller parking lots. A lot of those
went belly-up anyway and the three lane road is already overcrowded at
rush hour.

Exactly. Immokalee Road was widened from 1 lane to 2. They just completed
it in 2002. Just a couple of months ago, they started the process of
widening it to 3 lanes.

"NOYB" wrote in message
nk.net...

"Don White" wrote in message
...
NOYB wrote:

Hmmm. The Highway bill appropriated the necessary funding to widen I-75
in Southwest Florida from 2 lanes to 3 lanes. Since most of the working
folks in Naples, Bonita Springs, Estero, and Fort Myers have to sit in
1-2 hours of traffic on that road every morning, I'd say that the money
is hardly "wasteful pork spending".

Sounds like your traffic authorities are as backward as ours. We had a
busy secondary highway into the city widened to 3 lanes from two a couple
of years ago. They should have made it 4 lanes while they were at it.
Seems a number of commercial businesses along the stretch didn't want the
four as it would infringe on their smaller parking lots. A lot of those
went belly-up anyway and the three lane road is already overcrowded at
rush hour.

Exactly. Immokalee Road was widened from 1 lane to 2. They just
completed it in 2002. Just a couple of months ago, they started the
process of widening it to 3 lanes.

If anyone cared to do so, they should find an ambitious reporter to look
DEEPLY into that mistake. There's a good chance it was NOT a mistake.

NOYB wrote:
"John H." wrote in message
...

FOR SPECIAL INTERESTS -- HIGHWAY BILL: On Friday, Congress sent to
President Bush a six-year $286.5 billion highway bill which was
overflowing with wasteful pork spending.

Hmmm. The Highway bill appropriated the necessary funding to widen I-75 in
Southwest Florida from 2 lanes to 3 lanes. Since most of the working folks
in Naples, Bonita Springs, Estero, and Fort Myers have to sit in 1-2 hours
of traffic on that road every morning, I'd say that the money is hardly
"wasteful pork spending".

The Highway Bill had 6,000 pork additions to it. 6000!!!! BILLIONS of
the dollars for the Highway Bill is used up by the pork. Do you think
that those below are "hardly wasteful pork spending"? Its just a few of
them:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Consider these items: construction of a $7 million
''Renaissance Square'' performing arts center in Rochester, New York; a
$1.5 million improvement for the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn,
Michigan; and the $1 million renovation of a historic bus station in
Jessup, Georgia.

There's money for all three -- and much more -- in the new highway
construction bill.

Many people may not understand what such projects have to do with
highways. But that's "How It Works."

Lawmakers of both parties use the massive bill to earmark funds for
local projects that appeal to the folks back home. That's especially
important in election years. Because there's something for everyone in
the bill, it routinely sails through Congress.

The $275 billion dollar transportation bill that the House approved
last week contains at least $11 billion worth of local pet projects.

Rep. William Lipinski, D-Illinois, who pushed through a $4 million
parking garage, wanted an even bigger bill. Last year, he introduced a
$375 billion highway bill -- a full $100 million more than the one
passed last week.

Lipinski may be a Democrat, but pork is bipartisan. Kingston, the
sponsor of the historic bus station renovation, is a conservative
Republican.

Democrats and Republicans defended the spending. "If you don't keep
good highways, you can't keep and grow good jobs," Sen. Christopher
Bond, R-Missouri, said on the Senate floor.

Others see the spending as fiscally irresponsible. "How far and
disgraceful a path we have tread in this pork-barrel laden piece of
over-spending at a time when we have all-time deficits," declared Sen.
John McCain, R-Arizona.

The White House agrees and is threatening a veto -- which both houses
of Congress have enough votes to override. In the end, that means
President Bush will be able to take a stand against pork-barrel
spending, but House and Senate members will still get the pork they so
desire

wrote in message
oups.com...


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Consider these items: construction of a $7 million
''Renaissance Square'' performing arts center in Rochester, New York;

It seems the community is about evenly split about this little gem. I wonder
about the people who've never been asked, which leads me to wonder why we
don't have referendums on such issues, and prison time for officials who
screw up these projects.

On a similar subject: Some years back, the county decided to replace our
aging baseball stadium. The old one could've been renovated, but that didn't
make certain parties happy. When the county executive was on TV to announce
the new one, we found out who the "who" was, via a tasteless error. Sitting
in the CE's office was some fat cat in a 3 piece suit, with a cigar. I
commented on this to a friend, who said "That's Tony so-and-so, who owns
(some name) construction".

Local officials should have their bank accounts audited, and compared with
any large purchases they make.

wrote in message
oups.com...

NOYB wrote:
"John H." wrote in message
...

FOR SPECIAL INTERESTS -- HIGHWAY BILL: On Friday, Congress sent to
President Bush a six-year $286.5 billion highway bill which was
overflowing with wasteful pork spending.

Hmmm. The Highway bill appropriated the necessary funding to widen I-75
in
Southwest Florida from 2 lanes to 3 lanes. Since most of the working
folks
in Naples, Bonita Springs, Estero, and Fort Myers have to sit in 1-2
hours
of traffic on that road every morning, I'd say that the money is hardly
"wasteful pork spending".

The Highway Bill had 6,000 pork additions to it. 6000!!!! BILLIONS of
the dollars for the Highway Bill is used up by the pork. Do you think
that those below are "hardly wasteful pork spending"? Its just a few of
them:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Consider these items: construction of a $7 million
''Renaissance Square'' performing arts center in Rochester, New York; a
$1.5 million improvement for the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn,
Michigan; and the $1 million renovation of a historic bus station in
Jessup, Georgia.

There's money for all three -- and much more -- in the new highway
construction bill.

Many people may not understand what such projects have to do with
highways. But that's "How It Works."

Lawmakers of both parties use the massive bill to earmark funds for
local projects that appeal to the folks back home. That's especially
important in election years. Because there's something for everyone in
the bill, it routinely sails through Congress.

The $275 billion dollar transportation bill that the House approved
last week contains at least $11 billion worth of local pet projects.

Rep. William Lipinski, D-Illinois, who pushed through a $4 million
parking garage, wanted an even bigger bill. Last year, he introduced a
$375 billion highway bill -- a full $100 million more than the one
passed last week.

Lipinski may be a Democrat, but pork is bipartisan. Kingston, the
sponsor of the historic bus station renovation, is a conservative
Republican.

Democrats and Republicans defended the spending. "If you don't keep
good highways, you can't keep and grow good jobs," Sen. Christopher
Bond, R-Missouri, said on the Senate floor.

Others see the spending as fiscally irresponsible. "How far and
disgraceful a path we have tread in this pork-barrel laden piece of
over-spending at a time when we have all-time deficits," declared Sen.
John McCain, R-Arizona.

The White House agrees and is threatening a veto -- which both houses
of Congress have enough votes to override. In the end, that means
President Bush will be able to take a stand against pork-barrel
spending, but House and Senate members will still get the pork they so
desire


There was something like 20% pork in the first Iraq spending bill. Lots to
Democrats also. Why are Byrd and Kennedy so popular in their states? They
bring home the pork! Where was your outrage then?

Bill McKee wrote:

There was something like 20% pork in the first Iraq spending bill. Lots to
Democrats also. Why are Byrd and Kennedy so popular in their states? They
bring home the pork! Where was your outrage then?

I've publicly stated here that I don't agree with Byrd's spending in
his state. I guess, as usual, you didn't comprehend that, huh?

On 1 Aug 2005 10:48:39 -0700, wrote:

~~ snippage ~~

Every major legislative initiative
signed by the president this year has been a boon to special interests,
but ignored the real needs of the American people.

Name one 20th President who has not catered to "special" interests?

Betcha can't.

On Wed, 03 Aug 2005 01:16:14 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:

On 1 Aug 2005 10:48:39 -0700, wrote:

~~ snippage ~~

Every major legislative initiative
signed by the president this year has been a boon to special interests,
but ignored the real needs of the American people.

Name one 20th President who has not catered to "special" interests?

Betcha can't.

make that 20th Century President - sorry. :)