Jon appeared on the Burlington, Vermont local Channel 17 on the Live at 5:25 Call-in show. The show was sponsored by CEDO and focused on the public participation process on the Transportation Plan. Jon appeared on behalf of the Burlington Walking Work Group and presented some information on how the Burlington Walking Work Group provides input in the process.

Jon also described the efforts that led up to the first Burlington Pedestrian Summit and the process that has occured since with the formation of the Burlington Walking Work Group.

Check here for the podcast once it is released.

I think we can almost all agree that the desert is not the best place for booming metropolis. - Now, with a tough water year, Las Vegas is feeling the heat. Lake Mead, the primary water source for the western United States and especially Las Vegas, just to the nort, is experiencing a drought. This is bringing water levels to new Lows -

Read the article here -
Tough times in the desert for the City of Las Vegas.

LAKE MEAD, Nevada — Two wooden piers that once extended into Lake Mead, Nevada, now loom over a desert landscape, monuments to the insatiable need for water in nearby Las Vegas and other parts. A “No Fishing” sign perhaps 600 hundred yards from the shrinking lake and a ring of white magnesium deposits marks the high water level like a giant, half-full bath tub that has dropped more than 100 feet in seven years.

Hello All -

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Come to Prosper.com and check it out. Also search for the Vermonters Unite group!

Coming to us from PBS - given the recent scrutiny of the Nation’s Transportation Infrastructure, the US’s Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters spoke on how the US is addressing the problem.

Transportation Secretary Discusses Concerns About National Infrastructure
The bridge collapse in Minneapolis earlier this month raised questions about the state of the aging transportation infrastructure. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters discusses what the government is doing to ensure its safety.

More on this to come - there is a lot here for thought.

One quick read though came up with an interesting little line from Peters:

GWEN IFILL: Who is spending the money inappropriately?

MARY PETERS: Well, there’s about probably some 10 percent to 20 percent of the current spending that is going to projects that really are not transportation, directly transportation-related. Some of that money is being spent on things, as I said earlier, like bike paths or trails. Some is being spent on museums, on restoring lighthouses, as I indicated.

This is an outrage to anyone walking, biking. For instance - in Burlington, Vermont as stated in the 2000 Cencus, 18% of people walked or biked to work! In the Downtown core of the City that percentage jumps to 30%. Burlington is only 40,000 people! Because Land Use and transportation is so incredibly linked - we need to consider these modes as transportation, and sidewalks, and bike paths as transportation infrastructure.

Mary Peters - the head of our transportation department - doesn’t agree. I may be making too much out of it, since she is a very intelligent person, however, there is obviously a tinge of prejudice regarding biking.

You can read the transcript here

Here is a press-release from the Union of Concerned Scientists on Vehicle Fuel Emissions - come on Detroit! The US Car industry is sinking - dying - and yet we cling to the only manner we know best - whining to the government for help.
August 16, 2007

U.S. Automakers Misleading the Public about Benefits of Stronger Fuel Economy Standards, Science Group Says
Detroit Three Holds Rally in Chicago to Protest Proposed Fuel Economy Bill; Second Rally Slated for August 22

U.S. automakers will host a rally today in Chicago to protest a proposed federal fuel economy standard. Sponsored by General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler, the rally is part of an industry campaign to pressure a panel of U.S. lawmakers tasked with resolving differences between Senate and House energy bills to weaken the standard. The automakers plan another rally in St. Louis on August 22.

The standard in question would set a 35 mile-per-gallon (mpg) fleetwide average target for 2020. If fully implemented, the standard would save American drivers billions of dollars at the pump, cut hundreds of millions of tons of global warming pollution, and generate tens of thousands of new jobs, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). The auto industry is backing a feeble proposal sponsored by Reps. Baron Hill (D-Ind.) and Lee Terry (R-Neb.) that would save approximately 180 million barrels of oil in 2020, which is what we currently consume in about nine days. This approach is significantly weaker than the president’s goal of saving 8.5 billion gallons of gasoline in 2017 through fuel economy improvements of 4 percent per year.

“U.S. automakers are continuing to mislead the public about the very real benefits of a strong federal fuel economy standard and the fact that they have the technology to meet it,” said David Friedman, research director in UCS’s Clean Vehicle Program. “The National Academy of Sciences says existing and emerging conventional technology can boost the fuel economy of all vehicles, from two-seaters to four-by-fours. Detroit can produce 34-mile-per-gallon SUVs, 37-mile-per-gallon minivans and 41-mile-per-gallon family cars. Our own research shows that the auto companies can do even better than that.”

According to a recent UCS analysis, fully implementing the 35 mpg target would:

·  save drivers $25 billion at the pump in 2020, above and beyond the cost of the technology (at the 2006 average gas price of $2.55, in 2005 dollars)

·  generate 22,300 jobs in the auto industry and a total of 170,800 new jobs nationwide in 2020 (for the UCS analysis, go to: www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/fuel_economy/fuel-economy-jobs-and-consumer-savings.html)

·  cut 206 million metric tons of global warming pollution in 2020 alone—equivalent to taking more than 30 million of today’s average cars and trucks off the road

·  save 1.2 million barrels of oil per day—equivalent to the amount of oil the United States now imports from Saudi Arabia daily

“U.S. automakers have a long history of whining that they can’t improve their products,” said Friedman. “Their claims about the Senate proposal are just a reprise of their claims that adding seatbelts, airbags, and catalytic converters would bankrupt their industry. Meanwhile they are being outpaced on their home turf by foreign competitors that are producing more fuel efficient cars.”

A recent analysis from Lehman Brothers based on the actual language of the Senate bill showed that a 35 mpg standard with a size-based approach, which would set different targets for different vehicle sizes - from small cars to big trucks - would have no effect on sales of big pickups and SUVs. The analysis showed that these large vehicles would have to only improve fuel economy by 25 percent to preserve existing sales under the new standard. The National Academy of Sciences indicated that those vehicles could more than double that improvement with existing and emerging technologies.

“It is reprehensible that Detroit auto executives are threatening their workers by telling them they may have to close down plants,” Friedman said. ”It would be a very dumb business decision to shut down an SUV plant instead of investing in existing technology. Why would a company turn over the market for millions of vehicles to its competitors when it has the technology to upgrade its plants to make vehicles that get better fuel economy? If they need help making the investments they should be negotiating for tax credits, not working to undermine our national energy security.”

Regardless of the auto industry’s Astroturf campaign to weaken proposed federal fuel economy standards, many lawmakers recognize that tightening standards not only will save Americans money, cut pollution and create jobs, it will strengthen national security, according to Eli Hopson, a UCS spokesperson.

“The good news is that the Senate and the House Democratic leadership have rejected the industry’s scare tactics and are committed to including strong CAFE standards in the bill when it goes to the president’s desk,” said Hopson. “Without increased fuel economy standards, the bill would not reduce our energy dependence or bolster national security.”