talkpolitics | Entries tagged with infrastructure

Little boxes on a hill side,
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky...

Here is a bitingly funny look at how suburbia makes us miserable:

The Ghastly Tragedy of the Suburbs

"In James Howard Kunstler's view, public spaces should be inspired centers of civic life and the physical manifestation of the common good. Instead, he argues, what we have in America is a nation of places not worth caring about."

Wouldn't it be great if we more towns and cities could be designed like Europe, greatly reducing people's dependence on automobiles and fossil fuels and using the money instead for universal health care, but the zoning laws in the US just won't allow it. So Americans have to design their landscape to accommodate automobiles because it is against the law, or in the best case just impractical, not to.

The irony here is that lots of American often like to save a fortune for a trip to Europe, take a million pictures of all the charming towns and villages while they are there, and never wonder why Europeans don't do the same with their standard-issue suburb.

( On the other hand... )

airiefairie

A sad picture indeed. Desolate, crumbling buildings, gargantuan financial losses, and exponential growth of crime. These are just some of the characteristics of Rio de Janeiro, just one year after the Rio Olympics.

Last month, the Brazilian government placed 8,500 soldiers on the streets of the city to curb the endless shoot-outs and armed robberies perpetrated by the various street gangs. Control over public security has been almost completely lost in Rio, speaker of parliament Rodrigo Maya recently admitted.

This statement told the whole story about the utter failure in pacifying the drug wars in Rio, which was supposed to happen way before last year's Olympics. Instead, the number of casualties after police raids has doubled for the last four years. People from the many favelas, the poor ghettos, say there is hardly a day when they haven't heard gun shots in the neighbourhood.

( Read more... )

abomvubuso

A huge empty city, but not like those in China. It's a capital, the capital of Myanmar. Built in the middle between the country's two biggest cities, intended to prevent any colour revolutions through sheer size and city planning. Fascinating and disturbing at the same time.

htpcl.livejournal.com

A while back I wrote about life in the so called communal apartments, the huge concrete and iron mastodons hosting millions of Russians in the suburbs of big cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg. They've become something like an institution, an inherent part of the Russian urban and cultural landscape.

Well, guess what. This year, just a year before the upcoming presidential election in Russia, the biggest protests (something like a pre-election tradition) are not organized by the opposition. And not because there's almost no opposition left in Russia (which is true), but because they're inspired by people's fears that they might lose their homes. About a fortnight ago, 17 thousand people protested on the Moscow streets, and the reason was the development plans of the local authorities that have now received green light from Putin himself.

( Read more... )

luzribeiro.livejournal.com

A very ingenious invention that would possibly prevent lots of traffic accidents involving pedestrians immersed in their own parallel words, a.k.a. smartphone activities:

[Error: unknown template video]

Really tells a lot about our modern culture, doesn't it? Some'd argue the general gene pool just too a major hit LOL.

Next up: they'll make an app that would make the signal color appear on the phones themselves. Or a signal sent to the smartphone that turns it off.

Or maybe a Pokemon-shaped traffic warden giving directions amidst heavy traffic. Perhaps that would attract the attention of everybody on the road.

Not that this innovation tackles the real problem in any way, namely bad drivers. Or conversely, idiot pedestrians.

debunkgpolitics.livejournal.com

Originally posted by

debunkgpolitics at U.S. Environmental and Energy Policies

Building oil pipelines will create American jobs and, maybe, energy independence. Environmentalists who argue for “greener” sources of energy must change their tactics to prove that preserving Mother Nature is still important. Thus far, environmentalists have not convinced enough people that environmental stewardship and increasing domestic energy production are not mutually exclusive or a pipedream, no pun intended.
Environmentalists must prove the Keystone pipeline is inefficient in that production costs greatly outweigh any benefit gleaned from Keystone. Environmentalists can also appeal to the religious sympathies of President Trump, which helped him get elected, especially, with the Catholic Church being more vocal about protecting our environment. If enough supporters express their concern about avoiding environmental disasters, then he may change his policies. Though disasters from oil exploration have been relatively few, one spill can hurt the economy. Fishermen may lose income from an oil spill in the ocean. If oil reaches the costs, tourism-dependent business can also lose income.
Another concern is exploration on tribal land. Native Americans could be “forgotten,” if President Trump initiates oil drilling on tribal land against their wishes. Someone in this community provided a story about the Native Americans in South Dakota who won their case. Time will tell whether how long their victory lasts.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/01/24/presidential-memorandum-regarding-construction-keystone-xl-pipeline
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/01/24/trump-gives-green-light-to-dakota-access-keystone-xl-oil-pipelines/?utm_term=.80218423873f

mahnmut.livejournal.com

I don't know why it took them so long, but both government and business might have started taking Native Americans seriously at least a tad more than they used to.

Standing Rock victory: Native American tribes and environmental protesters celebrate as Dakota Access oil pipeline permit is rejected

Fabulous result, but beware. The right will hate this forever and try to overturn it. In fact I expect Trump to overturn this "development" on day one of his presidency. Why? Because the right hates this outcome. For them it's wrong for three big reasons.

1) It interferes with profits for a company (well, the Carrier case is another intervention as we already commented, but still... hypocrisy can be a biach);
2) It represents a victory for indigenous Americans, and the right will hate that with extreme aggression;
3) It was the Obama administration who did it - you know, black president born in Kenya. What's not to hate here, eh?

The Sioux (and other Native Americans) have for centuries been voicing their concerns about encroachment on their land and the genocide of their people, all to no avail. It was way past time they were listened to, even if they had to go through tremendous lengths and endure amazing amounts of harassment as a price. But as they say, "white man speaks with fork tongue" - so we may yet see more of the same the standard theft of Native land and resources that the US was built on so white Americans could brag about being a "free" people.

Sadly, this is probably not the end of the story. It would be totally out of character for the US to honor an agreement with the indigenous peoples it has subjected to genocide and theft on such a scale for so many centuries.

airiefairie.livejournal.com

Obama Rejects Keystone XL Pipeline After 7 Years Of Review
Environmentalists praised the decision, which House Speaker Paul Ryan called "sickening."

Two possible responses to this decision, I am sure you have guessed by now.

( Response #1 )

( Response #2 )

So which of these two positions are you in favour of? Any more nuances you would like to add? Or a third position?

ddstory.livejournal.com

We could be building skyscrapers, hgihways and bridges, but sooner or later, nature takes back its due. Just give it time, and the tiniest crack in the wall, or the abandoned vehicle would soon be overcome by the forces of nature. Cases in point:

California

( See MOAR )

htpcl.livejournal.com

G'day, comrades & comradesses! First off, congrats to everyone around who uses the Cyrillic alphabet. Today is the day of Saints Cyril and Methodius, a celebration of Slavonic culture around the world, as previously mentioned here.

And while we're about Slavonic cultures, and because it's neo-colonialism month, here's the story of modern Serbia. A country still balancing between East and West. Both of these trying to lure countries like Serbia into their orbit of influence, the West offering a future of shared cultural values (whatever that's supposed to mean), while the East offering... well, mostly cash.

This story has it all: spies, suspicious billions, and the damages that intransparent governing tends to bring. There's one Mohammed Dahlan, at first considered the primary successor of Yasser Arafat as the leader of the Palestinians, and then becoming an agent for Israel, who travels to Belgrade to pursue a business career. There's also the EU losing in the race with third parties over Serbia's heart and mind.

( Read more... )

abomvubuso.livejournal.com

While the West Balkans are waiting for Brussels to compose a train with supplies for them (figuratively), Beijing might have already started supplying them with engines, carriages, rails and energy. Quite literally, by the way. Albania, Bosnia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro may well call 2014 the year of Chinese investment and Chinese business. For China, the Balkans are a gateway to Europe, with the extra bonus that these countries are still far from becoming EU members, which means the EU rules don't apply there. Europe is watching with suspicion the new caravans traversing the Silk Road in opposite direction these days, concerned that apart from the obvious benefits, Chinese money would inevitably bring some risks to the region. But China (at least for now) is not exactly Russia.

While the Chinese investments are subject to regulation just like any other investment, and there are some clear signs of the Russian influence growing in Central and East Europe, most analysts still consider the fears of the growing Chinese investments exaggerated. Here's why.

( Context always matters, and economic interest is always at the bottom of it all )

ricomsmith77.livejournal.com

Originally posted by

ricomsmith77 at "The Obama Keystone Pipe Dream: Why Building It Will Be A Nightmare"

Earlier today, the U.S. House of "so-called" Representatives passed legislation for building the controversial Keystone Pipeline....an oil pipeline system that carries dirty crude oil sands from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

cp-keystone-pipeline

( Read more... )

paft.livejournal.com

Last March, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) announced plans to shut off water service for 1,500 to 3,000 customers every week if their water bills were not paid. And on Tuesday, the City Council approved an 8.7-percent water rate increase.

According to a DWSD document, more than 80,000 residential households – in a city of 680,000 people – are in arrears, with thousands of families without water, and thousands more expected to lose access at any moment...

Over the last decade, Detroit residents have seen water rates rise by 119 percent, according to a press release Wednesday.

With unemployment rates at a record high and the poverty rate at about 40 percent, Detroit water bills are unaffordable to a significant portion of the population.

Many of those affected by the shut-offs were given no warning.

Insanity. What exactly do the authorities imagine is going to happen to those thousands of people -- many of them disabled, children, infants, etc. -- without access to potable water?

If Cholera breaks out, how do they intend to deal with it?

You know, I can remember once posting to a board about the privatization of water and the dangers it poses to the life and health of countless low income Americans. Some blase moderate yawned and said, "call me when you can cite large numbers of people in the US being denied easy access to potable water."

Wish I could remember which dozy moderate to call.

ddstory.livejournal.com

A Dutch family friend of mine lives in one of those neat floating houses in the "water quarters" in Amsterdam which were built back in 2011. He told me about what life is like in such a place, and said that, although the architects were claiming those houses were perfectly stable and their residents could hardly ever feel a tremor, in fact whenever a storm came to the area, they definitely could feel it. "But it's not something one can't get used to, anyway - and I can hardly imagine a home more perfect than this", he concluded.

The floating homes as they're called are simply houses that are put on a huge floating concrete podium filled with styrofoam - unsinkable, as the architects say. It's a specific construction where each of the houses is attached to their respective pylons in such a way that would guarantee their immobility. The good thing is they could change their position if need be, which is a big advantage when you want to adapt to an environment where the sea level is constantly changing.

( And change it sure does! )

abomvubuso.livejournal.com

Holding control of the sea routes is far from just being part of the romantic tales of the sailors of old, and one-eyed brigands with expletive-infested parrots perched on their shoulders. Today, more than ever, the so-called Great Powers are ambitiously scrambling to tighten their grip on vast chunks of the world oceans. Especially if those chunks are adjacent to islands teaming with oil platforms, or narrow passages sitting in the middle of hugely strategic trade paths. And naturally, a very special place in this lot is usually occupied by hand-dug canals, particularly those connecting oceans and seas. Especially the two most emblematic ones, the Suez canal and the Panama canal. History remembers all sorts of drama playing out around these water arteries, exactly due to their key geostrategic positioning. Today, these are focusing the attention of the big players once more.

The old veteran, the Suez canal, which this year completes 150 years of age, is as important with the 8% of the world's shipping traffic that's passing through, as it is crucial for the US habit of circulating its military vessels between the Mediterranean and the turbulent Middle East. The short path to the Horn of Africa, which is such a strategic launching pad for projecting influence in the Indian Ocean region, is also a big bonus. Including for the French military, which seems to be getting increasingly involved on this continent. Add emerging India, and the new "tiger" Indonesia, who both seem promisingly close to investment-starved, chronically struggling Europe - and the picture gets somewhat complete.

( But right now, Central America is the big deal )

ddstory.livejournal.com

[Error: unknown template video]

The words "trash" and "mafia" are often heard today being used in the same sentence with "politicians", "business", and "justice" - especially in South and East Europe. The only difference in the case of Napoli is that when the people of Campania use these words, they whisper them and then look around with fright, as if they're being listened. In South Italy, these words are not just part of a political metaphor or some populist rhetoric, it's a murderous reality.

There were mass protests on the Neapolitan streets last year, and the one issue that sticks out was the continuous dumping of dangerous, deadly waste that's being practiced by the Camorra, and has been poisoning the local communities for decades, and is now even taking human lives. NGOs, magistrates, national and local authorities, the police, even the Church are now recognizing the grave threat on people's health and the country's economy that's coming from the criminal disposal of toxic trash, now affecting not just the Italian South but the entire country. Heads are being raised, voices are getting louder, and serious counter-action is being taken.

( Read more )

airiefairie.livejournal.com

I recently came across a collection of amazing roads "you have to drive in your lifetime".

Which reminded me of a recent trip I took in the countryside. It was so gorgeous, so picturesque! And looked so dangerous. The road was literally hanging over the sea cliffs, the waves furiously beating against the rocks hundreds of feet below. That was in the Cape peninsula, here in South Africa. And in a way it reminded me of West Ireland.

So could you share a story or two about the most amazing places you have driven through? With pictures if possible (either yours or ganked from the Interwebs).

( Meanwhile, here are some of the sights from that list )

telemann.livejournal.com

Quite a few New Yorkers have their own chickens!

I know several of talk_politics community participants are from New York City, but this post is by no means limited to New York, it concerns any large city around the United States and the world. I first discovered Jeremiah Moss's blog (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York) (the name is an alias) that chronicles photographs and stories about "the good ole days" in New York City, a period that seems to have been from the 1950s through the 1980s, early 90s, depending on how you measure the growth of gentrification in the city as the economic boom times became apparent. The blog also notes the closings of landmark diners, or bars, or privately owned businesses, usually mostly due to rent increases from what was considered greedy owners.

But about a year ago, Moss had an op-ed rant published in the New York Times (surprising they agreed to let him use his alias and not a real name) about the High Line park, entitled Disney on the Hudson, with a lot of wharrgarbl about tourists, models with shopping bags, and apparently the crowds gave him an anxiety attack.¹

Moss also has a Facebook page, lots of rants about too many 7-11 convenience stores (he's apparently unaware that 7/11 has been in NYC for over 30 years in some parts of Brooklyn), rants about Williamsburg hipsters just ruining everything. And he bemoaned some young man opening a closed newspaper stand, and while he stocked it with traditional magazines, but the real sin was adding vinyl records, "zines," video games and some trendy sports drinks. There was some significant push-back on the whining. Recently, Moss blamed hipsters for a recent spike in abandoned egg laying chickens in Manhattan, based on this linked article.. Urban chicken coops and co-ops have been successfully built for many poorer citizens of the city (and yes "foodies" and "hipsters" too), but any abandoned or mistreated chickens that are found are all the results of hipsters. (According to the Cornell extension office website-- MOST chicken owners in NYC are from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, or have moved to New York from the South; and live in Brooklyn or the Bronx.

The High Line Park in Manhattan

If car repair shops are closed, record stores closed, it's all bad, bad, bad. The irony for me is I'm doubtful many of Jeremiah's New York readers drive, or even have record players. But this issue isn't limited to New York City by any means, large cities in the United States are having this debate over "gentrification" or turning cities into miniature Disney parks.

But there has been a significant push back against Moss and his supporters, and the thinking behind what drives his blog and its followers. For many critics, Moss is the ultimate conservative: he wants to freeze a very specific time frame in a city's history, because that's what he knows.

I think Moss writes from a distinctly American perspective. Caught up in his own moment and place – this particular postage stamp in time, a few decades worth of history – he bemoans the loss and financial suffering of auto repair shops and other businesses that have long been his neighbors. What’s troubling about this point of view is that it assumes that one period of time – the one that Jeremiah Moss is here to document – ought to be preserved in amber over every other.

One hundred years ago West Chelsea was home to lumberyards, iron & bronze foundries, breweries, railroad terminals, even a factory that made elevators. It was filled with shipbuilders, traders, blacksmiths, carpenters, riggers, haulers, oyster merchants, and more. Such men once lived in the former tenement building on 25th Street, where floors that once held kitchens and bedrooms are now filled with Mercedes’ and Lexus’ being serviced by Marty’s Auto Repair. The architect and writer Kevin Bone describes the area during the 19th century as “a tidewater frontier town,” a world unto itself, which for many “was the only New York they knew.”

I wonder: when the auto repair shops were being built on this land in the 20th century, did anyone lament their passing? Even longer ago, much of the area Moss writes about in his op-ed and I write about regularly – the neighborhoods that the High Line park traverses – was part of the Hudson River. Today, I type in a former warehouse (once home to cigarette packers, later furniture makers) that sits on landfill. Who rues the day when the River’s tide washed against the walls of the General Theological Seminary and this place really and truly did feel like a small village where everyone knew (and perhaps even trusted) his neighbor?

It was ever thus. Since the beginning of time New Yorkers have lamented the change that defines our city. In 1856 a writer for Harper’s Monthly complained: “New York is never the same city for a dozen years together. A man born in New York forty years ago finds nothing, absolutely nothing, of the New York he knew.”

Source.

Times Square, vintage 1970s/1980s

And that makes complete sense. My father grew up with Times Square you see in 1940s musicals-- lots of family oriented movie houses, theaters, and shopping areas: in other words, a very different Times Square from the one Jeremiah Moss romanticizes from the 1980s, filled with adult book stores and peep shows, hookers, and pick-pockets. While I didn't live in the city during the 80s, I remember our family visits, and the Times Square of that period was a real shit hole. I completely agree with Moss' concern about affordable housing, the pushing out of lower classes from Manhattan, rent stabilization abuse, etc. That's one of his greatest gifts for his soap-box. But for people that live in Harlem, the opening of a coffee shop (who cares if it's a Starbucks) and bakeries is a welcomed thing! Such things are a sign of stability and economic vitality and it provides a real service to those that live in the area.

Resources:

NBC stock footage that was shot all over in New York City in the 1970s. About 90 minutes worth:

http://www.nbcuniversalarchives.com/nbcuni/clip/51A07130_s01.do
http://www.nbcuniversalarchives.com/nbcuni/clip/51A07503_s01.do

-----------

[1.] The High Line Park was an abandoned rail spur that ran from Midtown area of Manhattan down the western side to the lower end of the city, terminating around the Meat Packing district. Here a highly detailed map.

luzribeiro.livejournal.com

Green light given for vast new oceanic canal across Nicaragua

The Panama canal between the Pacific and Atlantic ocean is considered one of the seven wonders of the modern world. But now Nicaragua has the ambition to surpass that achievement of technology by building a second canal through Central America that would compete with the old one, which would potentially vastly improve the country's economic position in the process.

Possible routes:

( Read more )

nairiporter.livejournal.com

http://www.ibiblio.org/jimmy/folkden/php/images/No_Payday_In_Detroit.jpg

http://newshour.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/2011/01/17/5.2houses_slideshow.jpg

Detroit has amassed a $ 327 million budget deficit this year, and the amounts the city owes to various public employees, pensioners and institutions, already exceed $ 14 billion. Detroit is at the brink of bankruptcy. The Michigan governor Rick Snyder knows this very well. And he may have looked determined to do everything possible to prevent the worst from happening. But, as could be expected, the measures he was planning were insufficient - even though they included everything from drastic cuts, to tearing down the union agreements, to selling out public property. These desperate steps fail were doomed to fail, and now Detroit is heading toward a bankruptcy that would be the biggest in recent US history.

But it would hardly be the first. Last year two towns in California, Stockton and San Bernardino also declared bankruptcy, and they surrendered their fiscal management to their state. And the state of Michigan had to take over six troubled towns, among them such famous centers of automobile industry like Flint and Pontiac.

( Read more... )

Credits & Style Info

Talk Politics.

A place to discuss politics without egomaniacal mods

MONTHLY TOPIC:
Failed States

DAILY QUOTE:

"Someone's selling Greenland now?" (asthfghl)

"Yes get your bids in quick!" (oportet)

"Let me get my Bid Coins and I'll be there in a minute." (asthfghl)

June 2025

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30

Talk politics.

A place to discuss politics without egomaniacal mods.

Entries tagged with infrastructure

First-world problems, ya know

One year after Rio

The ghost capital

And now, about the Khrushchevky

Of light-lines, and smartphone zombies

U.S. Environmental and Energy Policies

The Dakota pipeline

Keystone is dead. For now.

Curious: Nature winning over civilization

Values vs dollars

The year of the Balkan dragon

"The Obama Keystone Pipe Dream: Why Building It Will Be A Nightmare"

(no subject)

Staying afloat (a lesson from the Lower lands)

A tale of two routes

Trash mountain

Friday fun... The most awesome roads

New York is never the same city for a dozen years together.

The world's new miracle

Detroit's fall

Credits & Style Info

Links

June 2025

Summary